Superthermal's M813 Build, THE BOT

[Superthermal]

Had a great outing with the local MV guys here in Utah. I had to drop out a day early due to some clutch disengagement issues. The peddle lever connects to a shaft that is mounted to the top of the frame and a shorter shaft then pushes a forked rod that connects to the actual clutch fork. I could not see that either lever was twisting on the shaft so I can only conclude that the clutch fork may have gotten bent or something. Will check it out a bit more when the BOT gets its shower.
In any case the lockers were working absolutely solid and had no issues whatsoever driving where ever I pointed the rig. Ran 25psi in the rears and 35 in the front. I could have gone down to 20ish on the rears since I don't have much weight in there but the tires were biting plenty.
The sprag style transfer case was absolutely killer in the sloppy mud. I never once noticed the front be late to engage or anything like that with the sprag.
Did bend my flag pole for the umpteenth time. I might just remove that thing when wheeling in the trees for now on .
The 1 to 4 air chuck I made was used several times to lower my/others PSI evenly and raise them back up. Liking that thing and highly recommended.

 

[Superthermal]

The rest of the drive up.

 

[Superthermal]

Friends M916 6x6 having some fun on the way out

 

[Superthermal]

Another 1300 mile round trip, this time down to LA to picka part. I was able to find through a fellow 809er an in the can 6453 transmission. This is the same transmission that is stock to my rig, the 5 speed with an overdrive, but this will be one with some synchros that actually work.
I have thought to swap out the transmission for something more exotic, like an Eaton RTO 10 or 13 speed, but that would require some heavy modifications and a fair number of custom parts. Not to mention I would have to figure out how to drive a slit case, etc... LOL, this swap is not impossible as I have read some of the builds here on SS where this has been done, but an RTO would benefit mostly the on road drive-ability, where I am more concerned with wheeling. The 5 speed seems to be flawless off-road and would keep the truck stock simple enough for my wife to drive it.




Now modifying something important that will definitely be noticed, I am contemplating on how to change out the clutch foot peddle/release for a hydraulic setup so there isn't any issue with how the cab/frame/clutch all flex and shift when wheeling. It is very obvious that the clutch linkage gets bound when the passenger side goes high and the drivers side goes low, such as when you drive trough a ditch diagonally. I have also had the transfercase get knocked out of gear with the flex. I will be looking into that too. Either way the drive-ability off-road would be enhanced with a mod like this.
Volvo has these two. Looks like near 3/4 master or so. I'll need to go out and see what the mechanical advantage is on the manual linkage and what the stroke needs to be to have some better ideas.

Volvo Amazon/1800 Clutch slave cylinder - CVR

[b]Fits: Volvo Amazon -1968 With B18 Volvo 1800 -1968 with B18 Size: 20,6 MM (Replacing both 3/4'' and 13/16'' cylinder)[/b] 673030, SC3030 Use DOT3 or DOT4 brake fluid only!

classicvolvorestoration.com

Clutch Master cylinder Volvo Amazon/1800 -1968 - CVR

[b]Fits: Volvo Amazon 1957-68 Volvo 1800 -1968 Size: 19mm [/b]

classicvolvorestoration.com

 

[Superthermal]

Pulled the transmission today. Remember clutch issue symptoms were that the clutch began to release closer and closer to the floor, also the clutch would "snag hop" significantly when attempting to ride slip the clutch when doing precision maneuvering.
In the end the clutch throw out bearing had bit the dust and was wearing away at the pressure plate fingers. No choice but to pull and replace.

The newly rebuilt transmission I bought does have a throw out bearing on it but is slopped with 20+ year old grease. I expect to remove it from the housing and clean the grease as best as I can from it and then repack it with some grease that is thick and tacky. With the Transmission, I had been running Lucas full synthetic 90w but I have read that some of the synthetic lubes are not friendly on the syncros of older transmissions and actually desolve the brass. I wasn't worried about this with the last transmission as the syncros were very much gone when I bought the rig. I'll give Lucas Oil a call and see what they recommend as I consider what to pour into the new transmission. If anyone reading this has any suggestions on this subject let me know sooner than later.

 

[Superthermal]

Today I spent a few minutes removing the old throw out bearing I noticed it actually had a zerk fitting on the bottom of it. There would be no way to lube this fitting unless you removed the inspection plate and had someone fully press the clutch so the bearing was pressed fully forward, note: if the clutch is not pressed, the zerk would be hidden behind the steel pivot rod that is just below the bearing. Only with the clutch depressed could you even dream of putting some lube into it which looks like it would be a pain to get to up in the housing, but I would highly recommend doing if you haven't ever done that on your rig. If I had known it was possible I would have done that first thing after purchasing the rig when I did all the other zerks on the truck.

Here is a pic of my new bearing where the zerk would be on the drivers side pointing down at the inspection plate.



I was also able to get the old input shaft out of the old transmission so I could have an alignment tool for the new clutch when I get to that step.
Took the pressure washer to the inside of the cab since the passenger bench and the floor plates were out. Cleaned up nicely.
I may get some motivation to mount the 100 amp 24 to 12 Volt step down into the cab so I can wire up a few items that require the lower voltage. I would definitly like to get the rig wired while it is warm outside.