My J-4500

[oregonphil]

So, do you think the old belt just wore out? Or maybe the pulley alignment is off?
I had that problem recently, my 72 Commando's 304 had the wrong year water pump with a 1/2" longer nose. Luckily I caught it before it got shredded as bad as yours. Taught me to put a straight edge on the pulleys whenever new parts get put on the front.

I can relate to your travel story, I've had my share, and I bet most of us here have also. That makes adventures out of plain 'ol vacations.

[Heep-J4000]

I get my new mirrors yesterday The box was kind of beat up and the boxes inside had holes punched in them but somehow they actually survived.


I installed them today and they are now good as new again

Looks good again

[Heep-J4000]

This morning I was about a mile from work on my way in when I heard the noise of something hitting the fan.

A few things run through my mind when I hear that sound and the first one is the fan clutch failed and just destroyed the radiator but there was no antifreeze smell and it was only a momentary sound. With nowhere good to stop I continued the short distance to work before I looked under the hood.
When I did look I found this

Somehow the alternator belt came off, worked it's way under the power steering belt and wrapped itself around the fan.


So I got it untangled it and took it off. It was pretty rough.

Fortunately the auto shop at my work had a new one they let me borrow if I promised to replace it. So, new belt in hand I proceeded to put it on, which shouldn't be a big deal but the 150 amp Powermaster alternator doesn't leave much room for adjustment before it hits the oil filter so it took a little while and effort to get the belt on but it's all fixed now.

While working on it I had flashbacks of the time I lost the belt on my 66 Gladiator which was affectionately known as the "Heep de Rojo"

It was around 30 years ago, I was young and roadkill before roadkill was cool. My old '66 was about as spartan as they came. The only real luxuries were a 283 Chevy engine with a 350 transmission and a Cadillac split bench seat.

It had no power anything and was so low geared it's maximum speed was 68MPH with the engine redlining, literally going down a mountain with a stiff tailwind. At that kind of speed the engine would slowly begin to overheat and I would have to slow down for it to cool down. The truck would go all day at 50 and with the 50 gallon fuel tank it often did.

I was heading to Alaska from Minnesota via Oklahoma and thought I was fairly well prepared until I heard that sound.

I was in the middle of nowhere on the Alcan somewhere 3 or 4 hrs from Whitehorse, Yukon when I heard it and saw the truck instantly overheat

Pulling over and opening the hood I found the bolt that held the alternator bracket to the engine had broken and the only belt the engine had was now missing.

I managed to remove and replace the broken bolt and had what I thought was a spare belt but it turned out to be the wrong size. Looking back at the road I could just make out the old belt about a half mile back so I walked back and found it was in pretty rough shape but still one piece so I reinstalled it.

Fortunately it held together long enough to limp into Whitehorse and buy a new one leaving me one more memory of a great adventure I took when I was young enough to get away with such things.

Luckily it was only a belt and no other damage!
Did you remove the fan cowl for replacing the alternator belt ,or is your jeep running without one?

[Crankyolman]

So, do you think the old belt just wore out? Or maybe the pulley alignment is off?
I had that problem recently, my 72 Commando's 304 had the wrong year water pump with a 1/2" longer nose. Luckily I caught it before it got shredded as bad as yours. Taught me to put a straight edge on the pulleys whenever new parts get put on the front.

I can relate to your travel story, I've had my share, and I bet most of us here have also. That makes adventures out of plain 'ol vacations.

Alignment is spot on, I know that is something you have to really watch on the '72s. I don't know what happened, the belt isn't very old and was in good condition and I see no reason it should have come off. I actually do a walkaround the truck every morning and even look under the hood and saw nothing wrong when I left for work.

Luckily it was only a belt and no other damage!
Did you remove the fan cowl for replacing the alternator belt ,or is your jeep running without one?

I don't have the shroud and would really like to get one. A while back I was going to buy one from Kaiserman but then money got too tight and I wasn't able to go through with the purchase. I'm also considering going with an electric fan setup in the not too distant future.

[Heep-J4000]

Alignment is spot on, I know that is something you have to really watch on the '72s. I don't know what happened, the belt isn't very old and was in good condition and I see no reason it should have come off. I actually do a walkaround the truck every morning and even look under the hood and saw nothing wrong when I left for work.





I don't have the shroud and would really like to get one. A while back I was going to buy one from Kaiserman but then money got too tight and I wasn't able to go through with the purchase. I'm also considering going with an electric fan setup in the not too distant future.

Don't know if you can make one yourself from alloy or metal sheet if you have a template!?
I can make a template from the one i have on my 73'
and put it in a envelope and send it to you if you want!?

[Crankyolman]

Don't know if you can make one yourself from alloy or metal sheet if you have a template!?
I can make a template from the one i have on my 73'
and put it in a envelope and send it to you if you want!?

I think I would like that. I was kind of working on one from scratch but it would help to have a template. I will PM my address but I'm in no particular hurry, the only time I have cooling problems is in the summertime sitting at long stop lights but seldom have to do that.

[Heep-J4000]

Pm received

One of these days I go to make a template and let you know when it's going in the mail.

Cheers

[Crankyolman]

Pm received

One of these days I go to make a template and let you know when it's going in the mail.

Cheers

Thank you and like I said, no rush. My truck only gets hot when sitting in traffic which almost never happens and I may some day switch it over to an electric fan.

[Herk]

I don't have the shroud and would really like to get one. A while back I was going to buy one from Kaiserman but then money got too tight and I wasn't able to go through with the purchase. I'm also considering going with an electric fan setup in the not too distant future.

I think my 72 parts truck has most of one. You're welcome to it.

[Crankyolman]

I think my 72 parts truck has most of one. You're welcome to it.

PM sent.

[Crankyolman]

I've not been posting much because...well, nothing much has been going on in my life as far as the truck but a couple weeks ago something happened that got me started thinking.


What happened was I was given 946 cans of Minute Maid canned apple juice and 166 cans of Minute Maid cranberry cocktail




which I immediately set about fermenting, just to see what I could accomplish with it. This left me with 1,112 empty aluminum cans. So I started thinking about what to do with them all.



I never thought I'd say these words but I am slightly disappointing that there are no fire ant colonies in Wa because if there were I'd start casting some of them. The only ants we seem to have here are sugar ants and I don't think they go all that deep...I might be wrong and I might try it just to see.



Then I started looking up youtube videos and seeing what others are doing with cans. It seems for the most part they are just casting them into ingots, which is rather boring but gave me an idea...well not really gave but brought back an old idea.


What if I melt down the cans and use them to cast a tailgate? According to the internet 1,112 cans should come to around 33 lbs of aluminum. I wonder how many tailgates I can cast from that much aluminum?


I also have 6 or 8 aluminum wheels that I've been meaning to take to the scrapper but I'm thinking those might even be better to make a tailgate out of.



This is the kind of stuff I think about when I'm left to my own device

[Heep-J4000]

The idea is good ,but pouring alloy molds isn't that easy and there is always a bit of slag on top of the liquid alloy that needs to be removed so you have loss of material.

[Crankyolman]

The idea is good ,but pouring alloy molds isn't that easy and there is always a bit of slag on top of the liquid alloy that needs to be removed so you have loss of material.

I've been thinking and studying the process. I know about the slag, that's just part of melting metal. I was thinking open mold so back of tailgate would be flat. It's just something I've been tossing about in my head. It might only be good for a bench, or it might help a lot of people who need serviceable tailgates for the Kaiser era trucks. Worse comes to worse it's just a big aluminum ingot.

[Crankyolman]

The other day I drove my truck over to my son's house and back, about an hour round trip. By the time I got home the fuel pump had become so noisy that I can't stand it any more. So I have been doing research to figure out exactly what fuel pump to replace that piece of crap with.



Damn there are a lot of junk and fake products on the market. As a result buying from Amazon is out of the question. I want something that will actually be reliable for a long time. Looking through the thread I made when I was having trouble someone recommended Walbro. I've read a lot of good things about them so been looking for suitable pumps from them.


The biggest problems I'm finding with Walbro are fakes on Amazon and Summit selling them without any pick up strainers or connectors. So it looks like I'm going to use this website https://walbrofuelpumps.com/ Mostly because whatever pump I choose I can get all the parts without having to guess at what fits what.



So, I think I have narrowed it down to either the GSL394 frame mounted pump or possibly go back to in tank and use the GSS350G3.


The GSL397 will cost a little more due to needing fittings and such but not a lot but after this disaster of a pump I'm kind afraid to use another frame mounted pump but I'm also kind of afraid to use an in tank pump given the pain it is to change should it go bad.


I was thinking about installing a y inside the tank with a check valve that would be closed when pressure is applied but open when there is no pressure so if the in tank pump fails I can switch to an on frame without dropping the tank. Then I start thinking about potential problems, mainly if the check valve were to stick open when pressure was on.


Decisions, decisions

[fulsizjeep]

My experience with electric fuel pumps for carburetor fed engines is varied. If you go cheap, you get cheap. In 2000, my wife's 77 Waggy came with an AC pump that is just like this Carter.

https://www.jegs.com/i/Carter/180/P4070/10002/-1

The next year I bought her dad's 76 Cherokee for a 401 donor. It had the same pump. We carry it for a spare on trips. I have never had to use the spare but have loaned it to people until they get their own. That's pretty long service on my wife's rig.

On mine I went through a couple Mr. Gasket units. POS
It has a NAPA universal unit on it now which has been real reliable. I forget the model and it has no flashy decals on it.

I know people that swear by the Holley Redtop. Not sure you can get new ones any more. I never tried one.

I have bought 2 that look like this universal pump:

Yeah, sometimes I make the same mistake twice. The first one failed in a year. The second one maintained good pressure but did not put out the volume to keep a 401 running at Interstate speeds.