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Thread: Loco Beast Runs

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Loco, OK 73442
    Posts
    13

    Default Loco Beast Runs

    This afternoon the old Loco RFD 715 beast ran for the first time in 18 months. I changed the fluids, replaced the gas filter and installed a couple of new batteries. In true Loco fashion, I installed an old VW Bug fuel tank on the rear frame (with the help of a little baling wire) and ran a line forward. One cup of gas and it started. Drove about four miles and found all the gears work, the transfer case and axles are functioning well. None of the guages move and since it is an old fire truck, it has the most bizzare and colorfully array of wires going everywhere - yet nowhere. Oh, and it has no brakes. I recall this board mentioning that E-250 brake cyclinders would work. Anyone recalled which year's fit? Thanks...

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    northern Arizona
    Posts
    1,025

    Default

    congrats on getting another one running! Always a great feeling the first time out.

    I used (I think) 91-93 E-250 wheel cylinders. Expanded the mouse ears downward and slightly outward with a carbide bit on a dremel. Work great.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Giddings, Texas
    Posts
    7,729

    Default

    Good job. You might want to take the wheel cylinders apart before you go buying new ones. My former fire truck had no brakes when I got it either. I pulled each wheel cylinder apart, cleaned all the big pieces of crud out, honed the inside of the cylinders out and put new cups in. Then drove it for 3 years before I changed over to the Ford cylinders because they came with a set of axles I had bought.

    You will need an impact screwdriver to remove the 3 flat head screws holding the drums on. The kind you hit with a hammer is what I am talking about. It is also a good idea to mark the drum and hub so you can put them back together lined up the same way they came apart. Hub bearing tolerances cause some hubs to not be perfectly centered and make your brakes pulse. I used letter punches to mark them LF, LR, RR and RF. A different color paint sprayed onto one lug and part of the drum at each corner is probably easier and better seen.

    Put the 3 drum retaining screws back on too. I put anti-sieze on mine so they come out easier, just make sure you put them on. Members have had torqued down wheels come off while driving down the road before and the only thing people can figure out is that those 3 screws weren't there.
    Remember if you didn't build it you can't call it yours.

    6.2 powered M715, 5 M1009's, M416, 2 M101's, 2 M105's, 3 M35's, M1007 6.5 turbo Suburban project called Cowdog.

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCz...HGkBCfhXZ5iuaw

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Covington, (the other) LA
    Posts
    60

    Default

    Geez Barrman, were you looking over my shoulder last week when I did the rear wheel cylinders on my truck? The only thing I didn't do was stamp them.
    Paint on the drum and lug for index, lube the drum screws, and don't forget to lube and install the wedge thingy up on top the right way 'round.

    I had to drill the mounting holes out and also relieve the top of the hole in the backing plate about a sixteenth of an inch with the air powered die grinder to get a good fit. Is it just NAPA or are those a 3/8" flare fitting and a 10mm bleeder? The 10mm fit better on the flats than an SAE wrench.

    Oh and for the record, they are an E-350 wheel cylinder. Not a 250.

    Next off-hitch I'll do the fronts.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Giddings, Texas
    Posts
    7,729

    Default

    Twodogs, SHHHH We don't want the entire Zone to know what all my new Super Moderator powers are.

    Were you using a 6 or 12 point box wrench on the bleeders? A lot of the time 10 mm is the wrench that fits, but some of these parts just aren't really made to any specific size it seems. I am pretty sure I used a 3/8" on my Ford bleeders. But, bleeder screws get changed out too.

    I have even started calling vehicles in my class "metric" "Standard" and "American Metric." Metric is the Asian products. 10, 12, 14 and 15 wrenches let you take just about the entire vehicle apart. Standard is the old American stuff. No metric anywhere and who knows what size something is going to be, just have a lot of wrenches when you start. American Metric is just about anything domestic made since the late '70's. You could be cruising along using 1/2" and 9/16" all day until you get to one that doesn't feel right. 13MM is what it is most of the time too. GM really uses the 13mm wrench sizes alot on just about everything until a few years ago it seems.
    Remember if you didn't build it you can't call it yours.

    6.2 powered M715, 5 M1009's, M416, 2 M101's, 2 M105's, 3 M35's, M1007 6.5 turbo Suburban project called Cowdog.

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCz...HGkBCfhXZ5iuaw

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Covington, (the other) LA
    Posts
    60

    Default

    Combi. 6 point box X open end.

    Tight fit in betwixt the spring pack and the backing plate, too. The SAE wrench just felt all sloppy at that angle, and I didn't relish the thought of rounding the bleeder off.

    Thanks for the insight. I always though it was either SAE or Metric.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Giddings, Texas
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    No, Ford is pretty bad about mixing different components that have all of one or the other. GM, likes to use both on the same part. I think Chrysler is all switched over to metric and has been for a while now.

    7/16" is the same as far as you can tell as 11mm. So, if you had to use a 7/16" to mount the cylinders, it could have been a completely metric component you just didn't use a 11.
    Remember if you didn't build it you can't call it yours.

    6.2 powered M715, 5 M1009's, M416, 2 M101's, 2 M105's, 3 M35's, M1007 6.5 turbo Suburban project called Cowdog.

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCz...HGkBCfhXZ5iuaw

  8. #8

    Default

    Speaking of wrench sizes, I bought a HF engine hoist and needed a complete set of metric wrenches to put it together. Every nut/bolt combination was a different size. darn chinese engineers. They must have done it that way to get you to buy more chinese wrenches. LOL

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Port Orchard, Wash.
    Posts
    4,572

    Default

    No, Kwai... They only have one wrench of each size, so if they have to use two wrenches on one part, they have to be different!

    (I'm just being funny here, but ya know, there might be more truth to that than I realize!)
    -- Tim Taylor


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