Started the Lube and Servicing Unit today

Well, like the title says, I pulled the trailer up out of the yard today and started going over it to start it up. I had to remove the broken tank drain valve, just plugged it lightly for now so I can still drain it when the air pressure bleeds off some. Put a few gallons of gas in the tank. Looks like the engine has a new oil filter on it. I checked the oil and it was full and clean, took the glass bowl off of the fuel line before the carb, I assume that's a water separator and filled it with gas. Hooked up the jumper cables to the deuce batteries. Then I choked it and cranked for about 20 seconds. I didn't want to over heat the starter. I left it cool a minute and cranked again, this time fuel was finally getting to the engine and it seemed like it wanted to start, but didn't. After letting the starter cool for another minute, I set the choke to half way and cranked again....she fired up that time. Oil pressure came up pretty quick, probably because of all of the cranking. Left her warm up a few seconds and removed the choke and she purred like a lion (too loud for a kitten).

Now I have to reset and probably replace the governor for the air, the first time the engine didn't throttle back until it was at about 200 psi. I turned on the air to the pumps and they took right off, of course they did because the tanks are empty. That drained the air enough to kick the engine back up, but instead of coming up at about 150 psi like spec, it didn't come on till about 100 psi. I don't know what happened that first time, because it cycles at about 100 and 120 to 125 psi. Not 150 and 175 like spec. I'll post some pictures a little later, I'm kind of swamped because we're leaving to go out of town tomorrow. I'll work on it more when I get back. I'll try to get the pics up later this evening.

WHAT A BEAST !!!!

Here are the pics of the beastie. You can see in the last picture, the air pressure gauge and the governor. There is an air leak out of the top of the governor, and like I said, the settings are no where near correct. I assure I could probably take it apart and rebuild it. I don't know for sure. At least all of the metering valves on the hoses were there. Probably, I'll do like aboonski did with his and put individual valves at the inlet of each pump so I can isolate them, since I can't grease and oil at the same time, there is no need for them to all be on at the same time.

Look good, id like to have one of those

If you are using pump gas you might consider turning the fuel off and running the carb dry when unit is going to sit. The carb float is foam and it WILL swell up and stick if there is ethanol in the fuel. I am already on my second carb on my trailer. I am going to coat the float with epoxy paint at the same time I coat the lube tanks. I hope this works. I also replaced my batteries with two lawn tractor batteries as I can't see spending $100 per battery to start a 6 horse motor.

cornrichard said:

If you are using pump gas you might consider turning the fuel off and running the carb dry when unit is going to sit. The carb float is foam and it WILL swell up and stick if there is ethanol in the fuel

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. I had read in one of the posts about floats swelling, but was unaware of what caused it. I need to work on the petcock for my fuel shut-off, then I will definitely empty the bowl. I assume that just letting it run till it shuts itself off would be good enough?

Has anybody ever looked into replacing the float and maybe jerry-rigging up one out of a small carb like a 4 wheeler or motorcycle, I would think that plastic would work much much better.

The float is a doughnut shaped thing. I have not found a similar one in a bike or 4-wheeler but I am going to check lawnmower parts for a plastic one.

I just had the carb off of my atv earlier this spring and the float is small, but I don't know if it would fit or not. I may have to look into it a little more. If you come up with anything please let me know. Rather than replace the carb, I think I would just look for a plastic float.

Speddmon, glad to hear your unit fired up! I am still working on mine which is very stubborn - wants to start but only does so when I prime the carburetor through the air intake. I have been using ethanol free fuel for the motor which is available locally (at least for now). I did pull the carb off and went through it - lots of garbage in the bowl where the jet picks up the fuel. I blew everything out really good but did not soak the parts in carb cleaner (probably a mistake!). The float looked good and the needle seat was perfect but now I have another problem - a stripped fitting for the gas line that goes from the fuel pump to the carb. I will replace that today. Also think my fuel pump is bad so I am utilizing a 24 volt electric fuel pump to push the gas where it needs to go. Your lube trailer is in superb condition compared to the one I got which was pretty much stripped when I picked it up from the GSA lot in South Carolina. I still need to see how the alcohol injection system works for the air that goes to the pumps. How do you fill the reservoir anyway? Lots of questions about this thing but fun to troubleshoot and modify for my use here at the house. One of the things you might also consider is the installation of ball valves for each of your pumps. I did that with mine which allows me to isolate the pump or pumps that I want to use from those that might not have oil or grease in the reservoir. I know you can accomplish the same thing with the regulators on each pump but this just goes one step further and the cost is minimal too. Right now I can still use my trailer even though the compressor inside does not work by hooking into my shop compressor via a quick disconnect and a double male-ended lead in hose. After pulling this thing home almost 500 miles with my M1008 CUCV I really do not plan on moving it very far from where it is sitting at the present time. Also found a brand new air filter unit on Ebay that will replace the one that came with my trailer for $14.00 plus shipping; the one I had was subjected to severe moisture damage during its two year storage up in Columbia SC and the element was toast. Lots of parts and even brand new motors for these things showing up on Ebay now that the government is liquidating the trailers all over the country. It would be nice to find a new carburetor somewhere - right now I am looking for a replacement fuel pump that has the priming lever on it. When you get the chance you should do a video of your unit running and post it on Youtube.

I posted some photos of my carburetor to show how some clown went crazy with the green paint. Pretty much everything inside my unit was showered with olive drab and now it is flaking off and causing me all sorts of headaches when I remove things like the carburetor, etc. I guess I should not complain since my trailer only cost me $604 plus the cost of the run to pick it up.

aboonski,
I just got back from an out of town trip, I will get a video in a day or two for ya'll and post it here on the forum. In my original post I had mentioned I was going to install ball valves like you did, I think that is a way more practical way to do it. Since it isn't going to be used by a fleet of mechanics doing a bunch of trucks any more, you really don't need air to all 3 pumps all the time. I think it's better to just turn on the air to the pump you want and then you can leave the regulators set where they belong.

If you still have your carb off can you pull the float bowl and take a couple of measurements of the float. I think the carbs on these motors are pretty good carbs, just the foam floats are crap. It would be nice to be able to find a plastic one you could modify to make it work. I still need to do a little work on the unloader valve for mine, and I need to clean the throttle cable and the linkages as mine are pretty tight. Other than that it seems to work pretty well.

About the alcohol evaporator on these, I haven't looked into it much, but I imagine you would fill the alcohol bowl to fill the system, the TM should have instructions. If your unit is the ENG-3 I have the TM's if you need them, I can e-mail them to you. I'll make another post to this thread when I get a video worked up. If you want those TM's PM me.

aboonski,
Here is the video of the Lube Trailer running. I took it today after the rain settled down. In the beginning, when I'm cranking the engine you can hear it wanted to start but didn't. I'm still learning the characteristics of this engine, so rather than stopping and setting the choke to half like I should have, I kept cranking a little while longer. But she started up ok, and was making air really good. Then you can see me go around and mess with the air unloader a little bit. That thing is pretty screwed up, and needs some serious work, nothing I can't handle though, I hope. I opened the valve to the pumps and you can hear them take off too. So far it looks like everything is working out just fine with it. I need to re-secure the control panel, and probably get a new throttle cable for it, but it runs really good.

I will need to find a supply of air filters for the engine though, the one on it is ok, but it will not last forever.

Finally, I am no cameraman, so the picture is a little off and bumpy, but on the bright side, it was shot on the good video camera, so the quality is good enough for full screen viewing.

Enjoy.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPWd3oM9e1k[/media]

Call me sick but I sure do like the sound of a 4A032 engine.

That's a nice trailer you have there! I can get mine to run but have to work more on the carburetor which I know is my main problem that causes hard starting and rough idle. I wanted to pull the plugs today but did not have the proper plug socket to work with the waterproof military spark plugs so I will need to acquire one of those somewhere. I lucked out and bought a brand new air filter, housing and all, from and Ebay seller for $14.00 plus shipping; also found two others that I bought which look like they use the same elements but have different housings. My air filter was totally ruined by moisture so the new one was just what I needed. I tried to find replacement elements for the filter housing but could not locate anything in Florida. I need a source for new spark plugs now. I am also using an electric fuel pump because the one that is one the motor does not seem to function; I am working with a guy on Ebay to buy a new one of those that has the primer lever. I bought a reel of the "fuel line" which is actually "air line" from another Ebay seller here in Florida. It is composed of Nylon 11 which has been replaced by "nylon 12" (according to the manufacturer) so I feel fortunate that I found a suitable replacement for the fuel line only it is red instead of black; 1000 feet for $55.00 plus shipping and he has more if you want a roll. The person who had the air filters is an Ebay seller in Delaware. I'll know pretty soon if they will be the exact replacement for the one in the lube trailer.

I enjoyed your video too by the way. Once you get all the tanks full of oil and grease you will have to make another video of the trailer in use.

most of the fuel lines on mine have been replaced over the years with copper tubing. In the video you can see the copper line running up to the glass fuel/water separator at the top. I would think that the copper would be a great replacement since it's not going to be moving a whole lot.

I still haven't decided what to do with the trailer yet. I really don't need the air compressor. I'm not planning on servicing my equipment anywhere but in the shop, or outside of the shop if it's too big to get in, so having the trailer is kind of unnecessary. I do like the idea of the oil and grease pumps though. It will certainly make lubing the deuce and the little farm tractor a lot easier.

Saturn Surplus has NOS spark plugs. NAPA also can get them from the warehouse. (more for new than the NOS) The NOS one I got form Saturn works great on my 1a08 engines.

It looks like Saturn has the Fuel pumps with the levers as well.

Thanks for the tips on locating the spark plugs and the fuel pump. I'll give them a shout today. Still need to get some way of removing the plugs right now. There must be a special socket for that purpose. I know there are plumber's sockets that have the reach so I am thinking about trying those once I can figure out the size of the plug nut. Looks bigger than your average spark plug.

Nice video Speddmon. Now I really want one!!! Have army trucks must service!

Saturn had the 11/16 12pt extra deep (made by S&K) sockets as well.

Here are some pictures of my float after I dipped it in epoxy. I had to bend the metal tab as the float is a little heavier now. I have no idea how this will work long term but it is working good now. The epoxy is sherman williams epoxy paint that I am going to put in the tanks after I sandblast them. It is way to expensive to purchase just for the float upgrade and I think it only sells in gallons.

aboonski,
I don't know if you found this in the TM or not. Or if you figured it out already, but here is the operation instructions for the alcohol dispenser for the trailers.

right click and "open in a new window" for a larger picture. It's not the best but it's what was in the manual I downloaded from logsa

well, I did a little more work on the trailer today. I took off the air unloader, and took it apart and cleaned it, and took off the cylinder that actuates the throttle and cleaned it as well. I also cleaned the throttle cable and de-greased the throttle linkages to they work a little more freely. After I reinstalled everything, I tried things out, now the motor actually throttles back some when the compresser is at pressure. I still need to do a little work on that throttle control cylinder...it doesn't act the way it should. It takes about 5 to 10 seconds for the motor to throttle back and it doesn't go all the way back to a slow idle like I want it to. I can make it get there, but something is still amiss in that area. I also adjusted the unloaded valve to load at about 140 PSI and unload at about 170PSI.

Here is a little video for ya'll. It's hard to hear the motor change speed because I hadn't finished all of the adjustments before I took this video, but it does slow down some in the vid. Also, if you look closely at the stem of the unloader valve, you can see it shifting now, and you hear the crisp whoosh of air as it shifts. It's hard to see the pressure gauge once I move back to the outside of the trailer, the glare is pretty bad on the gauge.


[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8ygPD3fr0Q[/media]