I've been in and out over the past few months with lots of lurking, searching, reading, and occasional questions. I want to express a massive shout out to this forum and its members, many of whom I have had private messages with both here and via personal emails and the such, discussing numerous topics and answering numerous questions. It is rare to find a forum as helpful and as professional as this which keeps it exactly to the point of what the forum exists for, and it has been thoroughly refreshing. So to that, thank you all.
I am doing my best to capture the nitty gritty and plethora of information that I can in a separate type-up to hopefully pass on in order to help anyone else in this endeavor, so I wont get into it much here with this thread. However, I do want to share the (mostly) end product.
In Nov. 2019 I stumbled across a posting with the following photo while looking for a vehicle for log/wood hauling. 1964 C60, 292L6, SM420, 2 speed axle. Thru what can only be described as fate, 4 weeks later she was on the lowboy and headed to the farm shop. After trying unsuccessfully to get her running well, I pulled the engine and trans together to "refresh." Upon pulling the head and finding a 0.020 wear ring on every cylinder, I realized it was an all out rebuild. While engine and trans were at respective shops, I tackled the entire brake system which is all new with stainless lines bent and flared. Its got a very rare brake system that led to a lot of confusion (old threads are in here somewhere) but brings this thing to a stop in the blink of an eye. Rebuilt the 2-speed shifter, entire vacuum system, entire front axle, pulled original wire harness and replaced with my own custom built harness and fuse setup (a tad overkill), rebuilt driveline, rebuilt dash and interior, rebuilt fuel system, and replaced all 6 wheels with lock ring style. The 292 was punched 0.040 over (minimum to get smooth cylinder walls again, she was that wore out) and the 420 rebuilt from the ground up.
Original grain bed was rotted beyond repair, but was going anyways in favor of a log bed. I custom fabricated the dump body subframe, fabricated a massive headache rack protection system, fabricated an entire bunk system, fabricated a lower toolbox storage system, then topped it all with a custom wood with tung oil bed floor with stake pockets placed. As pictured below is the log configuration, not picture is the removable bed sides transforming it into a dump truck. Stackable bed sides are fully modular to allow a short topped dump body at 22.5" tall or a tall dump body at 45" tall based on the load of the day. Bed sides sit inside the uprights which serve as the outer structural supports.
I am not yet sure of curb weight of the girl, I need to roll her across the scale. As is with the bed and tools (saws, bars, chains, fuel, oil, etc etc) her empty weight will be greater then her old dump body form. There still some hassle with the brake parts, but she is safe and rolls well. The new custom exhaust has enough back pressure to support engine braking from the high speeds and is quiet so as not to deafen me on the long hauls.
Last Thursday was the maiden voyage with only 2ton of logs on the bed for testing purposes. Friday I ran again, upping the load to 3-3.5ton with minimal change in drivability. Here in the next few days I will made run number 3 and up her to 4-4.5ton load. As is with the fresh bored 292, she really likes 57-58mph and jumps right to it. Its a 75mile one way trip, half 4 lane highway half state route, and she has consistently pulled 7.5mpg both empty and loaded now that the rings have finally broken in and seated.
The original idea of repower to diesel for mileage issues is dead for good with the numbers I am seeing now. She's rough when empty, a caddy when loaded, and likes hitting that right lane and sticking in line with the 18 wheelers. 56 years old, well cared for, freshly rebuilt, and working again for the first time in nearly two decades, all of which made possible by a lot of you here, so once again, thank you!
Looking good! That kind of work is exactly what the 292 was designed for - - - - -pulling a heavy load and keeping up with traffic at the same time. Now all you need is Marcel Ledbetter riding shotgun with his "Talkin' Chain Saw"! Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
