Should I drive an LMTV with no waterpump belt a short distance?

I want to move an LMTV on which the water pump is not turning (bad bearing and the belt is off). It will have coolant in it, just no circulation. Previous owner had been driving with the belt on with no over-heating, but with high risk of shaft failure.

The truck needs to move to my shop, about 300 feet, but that means building air and driving up a slight incline. Of course I could push or tow it.

What does this experienced SS user-base say?

300 ft no problem. Ran lots of cars that far with no antifreeze in them.

Precharge the brake system with shop air or portable air before you start it. Then you can just take off.

Be sure and chock the wheels! Applying shop air to the emergency port to pre-charge the system, also applies park air/releases the park brake With fluid in it, 300’ shouldn't be a problem...

tennmogger said:

Previous owner had been driving with the belt on with no over-heating, but with high risk of shaft failure.

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You should keep a little bit of concern about this in the back of your head. I've seen vehicles with bad waterpumps (or belts), or no coolant at all, overheat without the gauges showing an overheat, because there is no coolant/circulation to get the really hot coolant to the gauge sender. So the gauge sender is just sitting in cold coolant (or air) and thinks everything is just dandy. If you start to find any other weird symptoms later on, remember back to how it may have been overheated.

It's fine to operate 4 to 6 mins Bob. It operated fine to get it from its spot. Across a little area further than 300ft to get loaded onto the trailer. Like swamp said just rig up a way to charge it with air before hand. Remove one of the tank drains and install a 1/4" npt x 4in nipple, 1/4" shut off valve. Then add your fitting that fits your air chuck to precharge the system if you are worried about time.

For reference I cut the belt due to the water pump having a bad bearing in it so loud that I could not hear the motor running. I needed to evaluate the truck to ensure the motor was sounding fine and had no issues per the owner of the truck so I eliminated the water pump. Engine had no head seepage water Marks, no smoke, no coolant in oil. Just a typical bad water pump bearing and it started to leak past it.

You can charge it through the emergency glad hand too.

tobyS said:

You can charge it through the emergency glad hand too.

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As ronmar said on LMTV as soon as you add air thru the emergency glad handthe spring brakes release on the truck.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Wes, you did the right thing on that water pump, which is now off. It is as rough as any bearing I ever heard!

After careful consideration of the work needed to drive the truck to the shop, like adding water, putting batteries in only to have to disconnect them again to remove the alternator, rigging air, etc, I decided to fix it where it sits next to the driveway. Much less work LOL.

Bought a replacement water pump at a local CAT parts house (Off Road Equipment Parts in Alcoa, TN) and should have the truck back together between rain storms tomorrow.

simp5782 said:

As ronmar said on LMTV as soon as you add air thru the emergency glad handthe spring brakes release on the truck.

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Not if the parking brake is engaged.

Maybe some follow up is needed on this issue to keep someone from running their truck off a mountain?

I know for sure that if air is put in the Emergency/red glad hand UP FRONT, as for towing, the parking brake is released and the truck will roll. The brake system then awaits pressure input to the service brake gladhand to apply service brakes while towing. Maybe the rear glad hand behaves differently?

Rain has shut down my water pump replacement job for a day or two. I did get the WP painted yesterday. (why aren't genuine CAT parts painted yellow?) Baking the water pump in my wife's oven makes the biscuits taste funny. She hasn't figured that one out yet.

scottmandu said:

Not if the parking brake is engaged.

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Scott Air applied at the front emergency gladhand overrides/bypasses the park control and injects air to the park chambers via the second leg of a 2-way check, circled in red on this drawing..

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