Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

[Speed5]

Wow ich bin immer wieder begeistert was du dir für eine Mühe gibst und welchen Aufwand du betreibst.

Hut ab!!!!


Gruß Michael

[domagoj]

I just came upon this thread, and only can say I admire your will and patience ...
I know I would give up ages ago :-)

I have same 2626AK (6x6 built in 1979) here in Croatia in similar condition yours originally was :-) but it is still operational.
6x6 is really helpfull and I see why you insist on it.
These things were made to run forewer...although engine is a bit too weak for really big loads.

What do you plan with your engine and gearbox ?
Upgrade to more powerfull?
Maybe you have said it, but I have not read all of the thread...

P.S. sorry for offtopic; but I need to change gearbox/transfer box oil on mine and can not locate plugs for drain/fill.
Actually I see several plugs but I am not sure which is for draining, which for fill and which for level control.
Can you or anyone else help with some photos or pictures from manuals?
it is same separate (splited from engine) gearbox as on yours (do not know produstion model, it is ZF...something)...

[pairospam]

@ Petra and Stefan: I surely have thousands of questions! Wonderful pictures of wonderful places you have been in so far. But you are near, and it will be better to have a chat, face to face, when you reach San Felipe. Thanks a lot.

@ Michael: Thanks for your supporting words. And Twain was right: I should have kissed her...

@ domagoj: welcome to the thread. I do not own the page but I believe that this is what it is intended for, to help in any way, so your question is not off-topic. Glad if I can be helpful but unfortunately I don't know how to upload the Acrobat Reader file right for you. I will see what I can do.


Cheers.


Pairoa

[pairospam]

@ domagoj:

No way. Send me your e-adress and I will post you the complete file. Mine is pairospam@gmail.com.

Oh. And I do not intend to modify the engine, at least for a while. It should be powerfull enough to move the Merkabah, far from her maximum payload. I am just a little affraid for the performance in high altitudes as it has no turbo. If ever need more power I will just swap the engine.

Cheers.


Pairoa

[Wilmaaa]

Only pictures can be uploaded here; that the upload of pdfs doesn't work, is not your fault. We want it like that.

Wilmaaa

[pairospam]

Thanks for the clarification Wilmaaa. I can easily understand the preference.

Sorry for this, because it is really off-topic, but... is Wilmaaa your actual name? You must know already that I am terribly curious, about everything, sorry again.

Cheers.

Pairoa

[Wilmaaa]

That's a topic for a personal message

[pairospam]

Thanks, Wilmaaa.

[JStefan]

Pairoa,
Just wrote a mail to the address above.

Cheers Stefan

[pairospam]

Hi again:

Well, let’s continue. I am pretty aware that this can be a quiet boring phase of the story from the point of view of a reader, but for me it was very important and significant, and every detail was crucial as I did want to make no mistake in reassembling the bogie.

Back at the shop next Monday, with renewed spirit (and aching thighs) and the rest of the bolts and nuts, I dedicated some time to tighten everything I could on the tail of the truck. The bolts I brought were not enough, as usual, but… what the heck.

I put on the inner covers and they looked very good after the reparations and the paint. Then, I undusted the brake chambers, kept closed in their boxes for so many months, and put them in to watch and calculate the length of the push rod. I realized then the very unpleasant detail that one of them lacked of the rubber bellow, just the one that I never inspected. Christ… and I had bought them more than one year before!





I called the distributor and the boss said that he would try to help me in some way as there was no replacement for the bellows. It was only a matter of asking for help to the very big Boss, then.

As it was a little overcrowded now, moving in between the frame rails for adjusting, putting and tightening pieces was much more difficult. I could only fear of when it came the time to install the tecalan to connect and to organize all the different systems.

Slow and all, I did reach to put the brake shoes bracket of the right side of the second axle and the brake camshaft, with all the retainers. Please do not laugh, as it was actually a very slow job, though not as slow as in the beginning.



The last thing I did was to close the tray for the winch with its front cover, and said – Okay, that’s it! At that precise moment a doubt came into my mind: Would this thing withstand the lateral forces if the truck got stuck at the side of the road? Good God… would this thing ever come to an end?



As you already know all the members of my family I will introduce to you the last arrived, Cachito. A few days ago I went out to take the car out to go to work, and when I opened the gate this guy showed up, fearless of Deva that stared in distress at him like saying – What the hell this thing is!? He just gave me a glance and entered the patio. I’m back! I think I heard him say. And he stayed, at Pairoa’s Foster home for missing dogs. I don’t know what is happening to me. I was not like this.



Looks like my patience has been growing as the Project goes on (and become stuck), and even Carmen profits of it to use me as her dummy for her last wool tricot creations while I try to concentrate in front of the computer, opened on the Allrad LKW pages. I think I am just growing older.



Go on. Too much intimacy.

Instead of enjoying that thrusday holyday I stayed dusting out other parts to continue with the assembling and I found the last pair of brake shoes, just the one that had the broken and missing metallic rims. Fortunately I had well kept the spares in the little sparebox many months before. Unfortunately, though, I missed the right number of retainers so I could not put the brake camshaft of that, the last hub. I put on the shoes provisionally and the rest of the assembling was dependent of when the retainer would be available.




I continued with the rest of the hubs and installed shoes and camshafts as well.

[pairospam]

As you can see I had marked the brake camshafts the wrong way (L for Links and R for Rechs, in German, you know…). That’s why I worked so slow and aware, too many possibilities of mistaking.



The next thing to do was to assemble the wheel hubs and for that the lanes of the axles had to be uncovered, and so they saw the light after many months covered by plastic and dust. The heavy pieces and the bearings fitted perfectly though the effort was not minor. The planetaries followed and when it came the time to tighten them I could not remember the order of the bolts and washers so I appealed to the photographic record again. As I was not sure about the torque I called my brother in law and we agreed to do it together the next day, to avoid screwing up something.






The pile of discarded carton and plastic was huge and exceeded the trash can capacity, but I was happy.



I put together the three ensembles of hubs and left the one that lacked the retainer and when I was leaving I stumbled up with something I had absolutely forgotten… to fabricate and weld the supports for the second axle shock absorbers. Ops. The imprecations I kept to myself, of course. Now I would have to work and weld uncomfortably, trying also not to harm the hubs.





To make the story short, I could not find the famous last brake camshaft retainer so I bought one that was slightly different but worked as well, even if it was chinese, so I ended the assembling of the wheel hub that was uncomplete and then Eduardo and I torqued the bearings and finished the issue by bending the security washer flange. Good.

[pairospam]

Then I went to the corner where the halfshafts were standing for so long and, pretty clamly, I unwrapped them one by one, cleaned and put them on the axles. I had a moment of thrill when I had difficulties trying to push two of them to the bottom, but after a little recess and a cup of tea they went in with no more trouble.






The next morning I was early at the shop, profiting of the first lights of Saturday’s sun. It was the turn of the reducer hubs, and the first thing I put in was the sealing o’ring; if not, it surely would have been forgotten. Then I cleaned the interior of the hub, for the tenth time, and removed the masking tape that left a lot of glue stuck to the paint, which had to be removed as well prior to assembling. Then, and only then, I put a lot of graphite grease on the o’ring groove and put the hub in, hoping that the back and the arms would hold the effort. They did, but I discovered the hard way that the reductor hub had only one position respect to the wheel hub and bolts and threaded holes would not match if that precise aligment was not taken into account. Hmm…

[pairospam]

The operation was replicated, faster and easier with other two hubs, even though ther were not free from trouble, like some marks that had to be grinded before tightening. I was pretty happy but I had to stop because it was late and because I could not find the rest of the Allen bolts to close the hubs.





Remember the brake chamber that lacked the rubber bellow? Well, the guy from the store would do an exception and change the whole chamber for one that was complete; it was only necessary that I returned the part in the same conditions as when bought. And so the drum boarded a bus back to Santiago, in its very same package. Good.



As expected, the last of the reducer hubs fought a lot at the time of the assembling because the bolts were minimally but effectively bent and there was no way to make them enter the holes of the heavy hub. I tried to un-bend them with a lever but I was afraid of damaging the hub or the bearings or both so I went out a moment to look for some inspiration (and to rest my back). When I came back I used gently a big hammer to release one of the bolts for they were not welded to the hub like in every other hub. It got loose easily so I loosened all the conflictive bolts and then pushed the hub to the end; after that I put the bolts back in place easily through the matching holes.



The successful manoeuver consumed quiet a bit of time, but in the end all the reducer hubs were back in place. What I did not do was to put on the Zegers lock that blocked all the ensamble because I had not the precise instrument nor the time or the moral support to do it.



When I was leaving I passed by the rusted and forgotten brake drums. Soon their turn would arrive.



One of those days the Pickerings came back from England, and soon after they came to San Felipe to see the truck carrying a few tons of stuff that they brang to continue with their trip. Can’t say how many packs and suit-cases went into the Tatra.



Jago was pretty concerned because the engine needed major servicing; he overheated the truck following the Dakar rally on one of the high crossings between Chile and Argentina. Eduardo had already made the diagnosis and asked for the medicines, but the Englishman did not get quiet properly how bad was the damage and seeked advice from a lot of people in England and the Czeq Republic, which only retarded and confused the problem.

The overheating had screwed up many components of the engine, but as these things are made to run no matter what, it kept going and came back to San Felipe without loosing power noticeabily, but oozing oil from many spots and burning more oil than usual. To Jago’s fortune, my brother-in-law would fix the engine better than Tatra’s most qualified engineer.

The kids, unaware and unconcerned, were the happiest of them all, and as soon as they got up on the truck they jumped into their personal cabins and nobody took them out from there until they fell asleep.



But not only pieces of baggage and concerns brought the Pickerings from their trip; they also took with them a couple of parts for the Africa Twin, among them the windshield to replace the one broken in the past March fall. The repair made at my father’s had accomplished its mission brilliantly and it was now allowed to retire. Naturally, it had to be approved previously by Regalo, and she did it with joy.

[pairospam]

But, if from one side I gain, I loose something else from some other side, and so I lost the stereo of the Montero, stolen with the worst manners. It was protected by a cool alarm, but it didn’t sound, not even a little. Christ… I really hate these guys!



I was at the shop the next afternoon when Mr. Farfan - an old client and reknown tinsmith - and his son showed up with the resuscitated muffler of the Merkabah. He did a great job preserving the interior stuff, pretty well conserved, and building a new can with a thicker steel plate. The truck would have its original sound, which was very important from the point of view of the restoration.



Once we finished the barter, muffler for bucks, I took one of the brake drums piled at the entry and began to sand the braking race. A really boring thing. Then I removed the superficial rust all around with the polisher. This time I listened to my brother-in-law and did not the whole treatment as he said that it would be a waste of time and materials; the paint would come off the steel at the first brake application due to the heat, no matter if the paint was labeled “Fireproof” or made in Saturn, it would go off.



Once dusted and put in place, the drum pauperized the look of the renewed tail of the truck, but it was just a detail. The crucial issue was that it was ready to get the wheel and move on to the next phase of the project. Of course, there were three more drums to go.



In the weekend I made a pause and replaced the damaged windshield of the bike for the new one. The former, so skillfully repaired (ha!), would go to rest… finally. Then, I put in the shields for the optics, a detail that I wanted to concrete since I bought the bike. Good.




I had a lot to do and many social activities not related with the project but I made it through to dedicate a couple of hours, late that Sunday, to the Merkabah, and I cleaned and put in two of the remaining brake drums. Again hand sanding and again powergrinding, at least one hour per drum. Hmm…




Anyway, one call from home and the working session ended abruptly. I left halfway the last of the drums and the guardian dog Dakar took charge for watching over the Merkabah and the workshop.

[pairospam]

When I went back to the shop, Monday afternoon, I was well aware that the unfinished drum would give a good fight. That was the drum of the left, second axle hub, the one that had problems from the very beginning, the one that was soaked in oil, the more difficult to disassemble and to clean up, the one with the wheelbolts bent and the one that, invariablily but unintentionaly, was always the last for preparing and assembling.

And so it was. No way to put the drum in because almost all of the bolts were misaligned. I tried shifting the position of the bolts but did not work. Tried also to bend them using a big lever, but only got my hands and back aching. Finally I gave up and decided to buy new bolts, hoping that the bolts were the problem and not the guiding holes of the wheel hub. The guys of the store would send them in the same package with the new brake chamber from Santiago the day after.




Ignacio Casale and I had a chat on the phone about some different subject and suddenly he asked if I knew about the auction where four NG class Mercedes trucks, 2636 6x6 were offered. My heart stopped at once. What? Where? When?

Right, four trucks, 1983 to 1985 with no more tan 20.000 kilometers each were auctioned last Sunday (two days before this was written). They belonged to a mining company and they were used to spread salt over the routes. They were sold for good money, but less than I paid for the Merkabah, and their engines had 100 HP more and many hundred thousands kilometers less than the old lady. I remembered the recent question asked by domagoj about engine upgrading. You see… coincidences do not exist.

Oh, Ignacio… you shouldn’t have told me.

[DäddyHärry]

Pairo,
don´t worry about these pickle-trucks!
steel + salt = rust

I admire your work.

Greets Haerry

[pairospam]

I know, I know Haerry... but I made some research and it seems that the trucks had little or no use at all and they were less rusted than the Merkabah was.

Anyway, it was the engine that drove my attention and...well... maybe some parts of the cabin, probably the left hub, also the box should be tested and...and...there's no cure for this.

Cheers.


Pairoa

[Lassie]

and...there's no cure for this.

.. hehehe....

Best regards
Jürgen

[a90]

Nice writeup, keep posting !

[pairospam]

Hello everybody:

Life goes on, harder for some, not so hard for others.

The package arrived as promised with the new and complete brake chamber and the new wheel bolts. Of course there were many places in San Felipe where to buy the bolts but I preferred to order them to Santiago’s dealer as they were pretty helpful and nice changing the chamber after more than one and a half years.



By the way, the guy that bought two of the “pickle” trucks contacted me and offered one of them, without the salt container, in the same amount I paid originally for the Merkabah. Tempting… but no, thanks!

With a few sledgehammer strikes the old wheel bolts flew away and the new ones got their places on the hub. I asked some help to the Boss and almost got shocked when I could not put the drum at the second try. I caressed the brake drum and rotated it clock and counterclockwise, and only then, with a smooth movement the drum went on to the bottom, as asked. Good; all the brake drums were in and the hubs were complete.



But now I had a lot of heavy useless wheel bolts and a box of extra new nuts that made some three dozens when put together with those from Spare. No, I did not know that they sold the nuts and the bolts as a kit.



Before saying it was over I had to fabricate the supports for the shock absorbers of the second axle. I gave the issue a lot of thinking and I almost left for Verardo’s machineshop to ask him some pieces of steel and his tools to make the supports, but at some given time I found the cardboard model and suddenly I changed my mind. How couldn’t I be able to fabricate them by myself? Besides, going to Verardo’s ment to loose at least two days among conversation, making the cutting pattern, waiting for the right time for cutting, if there was a moment for that, etcetera and etcetera. Too much.

I marked and cut the steel of what was still left of the frame of Spare, strictly avoiding any welding lines this time. The most complicated would be to double curve the pieces, as the original support of the old yellow Mercedes left to die on the Aconcagua riverside; remember?




After a lot of tries I found the best possible way to bend the pieces with total control using the few tools I had at hand; do not forget that we are talking of 8 mm thick steel plates. A few burns and efforts and I had to leave, though. Someone had to work to pay for the amusement.



But the time was always pretty scarce, and the progresses quit slow. As every single thing about this project, fabricating pieces and parts always required a lot of time.

The thing is that I finally reached to bend the plates properly and then marked and cut the lateral reinforcements. It was not easy nor fast, as you could imagine. I prepared the pieces, pinpricked them and then MIG welded everything. Only at that point I realized that the supports were too short and so I had to stretch them by 25 milimeters; another afternoon spent at marking, cutting, preparing, welding and grinding the bloody little pieces.

[pairospam]

When the stretching was done I cut the pieces for the bushings of the shock absorbers. I drilled them until I run out of drill bits and I had to go to Verardo’s for the right powerdrill and the right bit.

After all the pieces were ready I pinpricked them trying to maintain the perpendicularity using the same shock bolt and nuts. It went all right, but the working week was over.





Saturday morning the cats had their appointment with the veterinarian, and Regalo behaved, as always, like the lady she is; Jinx, on the other hand, was furious… as always. Not even four people reached to make him swallow his pills. That’s personality, my friends. He turned his back at us the rest of the day.



In the afternoon I went to the shop, again, to continue welding the pieces. Once finished I grinded and retouched the supports for good. Some minor adjustements and then the final test with the actual shock, that fitted pretty well. I was just about to finish with the bogie, and so was the gas for welding, right on the last mark of the manometer.



I pinpricked one of the supports to the axle and tested how the shock absorber was placed respect of the suspension air chamber and of the superior support; spectacular, as planned. Good, but I went away with Eduardo to help my colleague with the installation of his new HD satellite TV system, leaving the mess behind.



I woke up early in the Sunday morning and went out for a run, but my injured ankle protested a little. Ops, maybe it was too long a run. The spring was arriving and the trees, including Carmen’s peaches, were starting to deploy their amazingly beautiful flowers at the countryside, and Cachito and Amanda were pretty curious about a pregnant horse that pastured around. It would be the third spring for the Merkabah since the beginning of the project. Late that day I came back to the shop and made some order, but I had not enough time left for working.




The next Monday, even if there was some progress, was a pretty weird day. I prepared all the necessary to weld both supports for the shocks and quiet calmly got to work; but there was no way of feeling good because nothing came straight and I had to repeat many manoeuvers until things came out as desired. When it came the time for arch welding I could not find the exact point nor the precise pulse, and it was worse when welding from downside the bottom of the supports to the axle. I was there, trying to weld, uncomfortable as hell, when the photosensitive screen of the welding mask started to blink randomly. It was so unbearable that I took it to the store where I had bought it, knowing that it already had lost the guarantee, only to ask if they knew what to do to fix it. Of course, when I showed it to the owner of the store it worked perfectly well. To save the face I profited to order a new MIG gas tank to replace the dying one and he said that they would take it to the shop whenever I wanted, with no cost, of course… sir.

Back at the shop after riding through the middle afternoon traffic, the mask did not fail again, but the pulse and the patience were put under stress one more time, and they did not precisely won. The welding cords came out not that fantastic, at least not as to feel proud of them, but at least the welding was deep and firm. For the rest the powergrinder would take charge… if I ever could be able to introduce it between the support and the hub.





I finished pretty late again, without even realizing it, for a change. A little order and then eating something at home. Later on I would drill the frame for bolting the superior supports, I would finish and paint the inferior ones and, finally, I would move on to other thing. But…when I was dreaming about the future and watching the pictures… I realized that I had screwed up… again.

[Slarti]

Hi there,

The welding cords came out not that fantastic, at least not as to feel proud of them, but at least the welding was deep and firm. For the rest the powergrinder would take charge… if I ever could be able to introduce it between the support and the hub.
But…when I was dreaming about the future and watching the pictures… I realized that I had screwed up… again.

Pairoa you did a very good job - it looks durable enough. Nobody will be looking at the welding from underneath of the axle or wheel. Only you know what went wrong (or you think went wrong) and nobody is going to point a finger...not with you self-sufficiently "building" a new piece from scratch.
Put some paint on it and forget the process of making it - then look again and be happy about another piece in place.

My respect for getting along so well!
Not much to do, till you can make a brake test (Bremsprobe)

Cheers, Hans-Joachim

[pairospam]

Hi Hans-Joachim: Thanks, it is precisely what I try to do after finishing any job on the Merkabah: paint, smile and go on.

The thing is that I realized that the original design included a central fin to reinforce the welding to deal with the long lever, and I had forgotten it completely trying to go on faster. Bad… and it was not the first time that I underestimated the forces involved. I want to do one and many Bremsprobes, of course, but convinced that the results will be remarkable.

And, by the way, if you know me a little by now, I am not the type of guy that worries about pointing fingers, he, he.



As soon as I arrived to the shop again I made a layout of the forgotten fins with cardboard and then chopped a little more the already skeletric frame of Spare and formed the fins using the power grinder. Once I was sure about the shapes and the measures I pinpricked the pieces in position. I decided to weld with the MIG at full power, just for the fun of it and to avoid welding again downside-up with 70/18 electrodes; it was not easy nor fun the last time.




Well, what’s the difference between the previous and the next picture? Let me tell you: two hours, many burnings on the fingers and the neck, repeated head strikes, low back pain, cramps and a dozen cursing and interruptions because the welding nozzle became obstructed continuously by molten electrodes - a gravity issue. I show you the worst support, the one with the less elegant welding cords, but that’s the way it came, proudly speaking, though.



I put in one of the old shock absorbers to calculate the right height for the superior support to maximize the range of movement of the axles with that given shock (stock). I marked the shock to make it centimeter by centimeter, to avoid mistaking; the idea was to profit of the range of the shock as much as possible and use it also to limit the vertical inferior movement of the axle, but it was already late and the game finished for that day.



The working place was full of dirt and metallic debris and before I started to work I powerblown and then swipped and cleaned the floor. When it was all a little more decent I took the hydraulic jack and lifted one and the other axle to make the bogie swing to examine the movement range, again, and also to check how the struts of the sway bar performed. All okay.

I marked the precise height for the support but there was a problem because there were only three supports at hand, two even, taller than necessary, and one with the right height, but alone; if you remember, I got them from the yellow Mercedes at the riverbed junk yard.




Almost started to fabricate a new pair of supports but I opted for the easier way and decided to modify the long supports; cut and drill… that was the solution. The simplicity and strength of the design could well manage the shortening.



There was another problem, though: the hole for the bushing bolt of one of the supports was torn, repaired and then torn again. I wanted to go the machineshop to use heavy tools for repairing it but in the end I decided not to complicate the issue more than necessary; I applied a little welding and then, patiently, grinded and powergrinded it until the result, far from professional, was at least acceptable.




After marking where the bolt holes went on the right side of the frame it was the turn to drill them. Oh, super-extra boring job! I really hate drilling the frame. After a while the holes were drilled and clean, and this time it came not so nasty because I put on the earphones with a selection of the very bests songs ever, at full volume. The music also blocked the radio station listened every day by the workers of the shop, with their unbearable regaeton and cumbias, at least unbearable to me.



Unfortunately the drill holes were closer than I wanted or recommended, but at least they would be near a couple of rivets, that are like two welding points between the rail frames. This time I allowed myself to say WTF!



I installed provisionally the support and the shock, make sure of all the measurements and put again the air spring to check if it all fitted and made sense, but it was late and I did not want to drill again not a single hole. I made some order and took Carmen back home on the Africa Twin, to eat something good.



Obviously, the next thing to do was to drill the bolt holes for the support of the left side of the frame, and so I did. Looking at them again they look not too bad, and the actual distance between them and the rivet holes is almost 4,5 mm.



But that was a strange day, and things were like that, strange; many difficulties to accomplish even little tasks and very few time to do it. It was time for priming the recently born/modified pieces but it was cold and someone said that it was probably going to rain.

I left the paint gun apart, took the broom and for the next hour I swept the hole place and made order, again. Every time I make some pressure to follow my own desired/imagined schedule things go wrong. Better take it easy now. Yes… I am learning.

[JStefan]

Holla Senior,
It is always a pleasure to have a Look here. It alway Remonds me on our work.... Was the Same Fun than using the Truck. By the time we meet for a beer..

Greetings from the other side, Buenos Aires, on the way south
Stefan

[pairospam]

Hello again.

@ Stefan: I look forward to drink that beer.

Well, it was difficult to go on with the Project as the holidays for the Independence Day came in without notice and the weather didn’t change. We made a little promenade to the countryside and found an old 4x4 Mercedes ex-military, parked since a while on a yard, with neither engine nor hope. I asked if it was for sale but in the end I did not understand what would be the fate of the poor truck.




At the pasture, the mare had given birth to a healthy and nervous filly. The dogs couldn’t approach it because the mother chased them in angry.



And the robbery continued in San Felipe, and I was again one of the victims. Profiting of a moment of unawareness, a MF got in the shop inadvertently and got away taking with him the arc-TIG welder. It was an ugly strike under the belt; it was not a cheap tool.

I had been warned (even if I do not remember when) about not leaving the tools too near the entrance so, after grumbling a couple of hours and listening to Eduardo’s preach I healed and the anger subsided. It all happens for a reason, and the big Boss is never wrong; there were many things that I needed to review and to change, and I needed to learn, the hard way, as usual. When I realized it I could understand and accepted it.

So, I left for the store and came back a new welder, the spare for the old and wounded Bosch powerdrill and a lot of stuff that I had left uncompleted, pending or forgotten for a long time.

I bought the same welder because it proved to be excellent and versatile… and the price was now very convenient also, of course.



Unfortunately this event forced to raise the defences and the picture shows the sad reality of the moment, putting chain to the tools. Bad.



However, this train is unstoppable (see Breaking Bad) and, notwithstanding the rain, the snow, the hail, the sun and the assholes that steal from you whatever they want, the Merkabah goes on. The first day that the temperature and the humidity were appropriate I cleaned the pieces again and primed them. It was not easy because of the incomfortable position and there were some drips but nothing serious. The rear end issue was finished… at last.





I decided not to put in the caps of the hubs, don’t ask why, and to put the wheels like this; but I had to clean the rims before because they were dirty and stained with differential oil from when the Merkabah was parked at the cattle.

Taking them out was an adventure on its own, maneuvering between the cars and the stuff of the workshop. I had forgotten how heavy they were. Washing them wasn’t easy neither, with heavy brushing and lots of detergent and water. The result was brilliant, though, almost overshadowed by the fact that that I was unable to raise up by my own hands the ones that I put flat on the ground. A little lever and it was all okay again, but Christ… I thought I was stronger!

[pairospam]

A couple of hours and some precise movements later the wheels were where they were intended to be, back on the bogie. The assembly of the rear end was complete for this stage; adjusting the brakes, tuning the suspension up and completing the pneumatic systems would be done when the front end work of the truck was ready.



I tried to move the Merkabah a little forward to unlock the cabin that was in conflict with the beam of the second floor, and suddenly there was a spark and the shop fell into darkness. A metallic conduit opened up and pinched the energized cables within. I inspected the cables and could not find the broken or damaged one, and the automatic fuse did not work again. As there was not enough sunlight at that time for a good a safe repair I left it for the next day.



I put the chain and the lock on the tools, cursing for the need to do it, and went home.

The next day was Sunday, and I could not help having to go to the workshop because some lights, including those of the bathrooms, were not working after the shortcircuit. The Merkabah was standing on her six wheels after a very long time, and the vision was a pretty nice gift for the soul, even if it wouldn’t last. I managed to restablish the power but sincerely I don’t know which of the many repairs and maneuvers accomplished the miracle of light.



Unfortunately the conflict between the cabin and the beam was unsolved and, even if I tried hard, I could not lift up and free the cabin. I would have to wait and ask for help the next day.

I cleaned a little under the frame and crawled under to put the hydraulic jack, hoping for the roof not to get damaged when lifting the truck. I took the front wheels out very smoothly to avoid damaging the paint and left the axle kneel on the stands. Good.



Now that I had a clear view of the engine and the frame under the cabin I saw the upcoming tasks of cleaning all the dirt, the rust and the oil, covering the engine watertight, grit blasting the frame, modifying the suspension and servicing the axle and the steering. Wow… it was a lot of work.

I was removing the jack, thinking on a nice Sunday afternoon, when there was another strike and some sparks in the highlands, and the power was off again. The same problem with the conduit and the cables. This time I identified properly the right cables and with a little help from the Boss I repaired them and the conduit in record time so I was able to enjoy of the warmth and the breeze of the last hours of sun with Carmen and the dogs at the countryside.

The next afternoon, just entered the workshop I started with the deep cleaning of the place, necessary for the next working steps. Eduardo and the mechanicians of the shop helped to lift and unlock the cabin and I secured it with a strut and a rope, just in case.




My brother-in-law and I thought about the best way to proceed and decided to leave the stands under the axle and begin by disassembling the hubs for cleaning and servicing. That way was more secure than putting the higher stands under the frame to allow the axle to be removed and be serviced out. Too many kilos of cabin, frame and engine to mess with. Safety first.



I worked a lot to clean and to make a little order all around the truck and I still lacked time to leave everything ready to start working on the front section. Again, pieces of steel, parts and dust had accumulated in every possible corner. Maybe you cannot see the difference on the picture, but the work behind it was not minor, that’s the reason for it.



As the afternoon became night I was left alone at the shop until I decided that I was done, still with a pile of parts to classify and to store in boxes, and a couple of bruises on the head because of some nasty strikes while cleaning under the frame. It was a very good day, though.

[RD71]

Hi Pairoa!

It seems, you`ve some bad luck with with some guys in your city!?

Sad but true - dont worry about that!

Many greetings,

Ralf

Magirus...

[pairospam]

Well… yes, Ralf; but I do not worry indeed, not any more.

I had not much time, as usual, to work on the Merkabah the next days because of my regular work so she slept a while waiting for better conditions to progress a little.

After a couple of days I wore again the overall and loosened some bolts, nothing significant, and I had to go to work again.

When I could finally find the time I started by emptying the oil of the axle casing and the drum hubs and then began to disassemble them. As a pretty curious fact the oil of the axle was incredibly clean, quiet rare for the standards of the truck so long. When I removed the right brake drum I found that the brake shoes were as new but everything was soaked in oil; looked like the retainers were out for a while. It was a relief, though, to find that the size of the components of the hubs was smaller than those of the rear hubs and then the cleaning job would be easier, or so I thought.




On the pilot’s side the scenario, even if dryer, was not happier; the brake drum clearly showed that its glory days were long passed and that there was no resuscitation for it, the wear was terrific. The brake linings were practically inexistant and even the rivets were worn from rubbing against the drum. Comparing both sides I couldn’t decide which was worst, and I did not know either if I should try to preserve the oil-soaked brake shoes. The front brakes are the most important ones and it is better to be safe than sorry. Anyway, it was now clear why the truck refused to stop and when the pedal was near the limits the rear wheels blocked and it tended to yaw. Of course… it had no front brakes at all!





At first I mumbled some cursing because I should have to replace the brake drum and probably negotiate it with the lady owner of the yellow truck dumped at the riverbed (it still had one), but then I remembered that the truck that donated the sun shade and the big diesel tank near the coast could also be of help. There were alternatives so I calmed down a little; there was not need for new, big and terribly expensive drums. Only later that day I remembered that the front end of Spare was still at the cattle, with both brake drums. It deserved a look but I had an uncomfortable hunch about it, though.

I continued disassembling the right hub, struggling with the dirt and the oil. The good thing was that the oil preserved pretty well the components, though preventing them to work properly. The locking bolt of the pins of the brake shoes was loose, probably because they forgot to bend the lock plate.




On the outside there was rust, dry mud and still some grams of pebbles on the corners.

When I loosened the brake shoes there was a fall of oil and dirt; I had long forgotten how disgusting was to disassemble and find that kind of mess that should be cleaned sooner or later. Horror.





I snapped the bolts of the end cover and… nothing happened. In the end I had to knock it down with the sledgehammer because more subtle ways didn’t work. When the cover was removed another bit of oil fell down and I had to leave because I had more productive things to do than waiting for the hub to drain completely.

[pairospam]

The next day I started the working session with a task that was unconcluded since quiet a few months, and finally changed the rear tire of the Africa Twin; the spare was there, growing dust in a corner. Good.



Soon after, I went on with the hubs of the right side, taking pictures of everything, as usual, to have the precise reference when the time to assemble came. The lock washer had a broken pin and was a little distorted and was a little difficult to take it out; of course the distortion worsened after the manoeuvers.





With the drum hub out, the brake anchor was unveiled and the pins could be removed thanks to the sledgehammer. Even with the locking bolt completely out the shoes wouldn’t have moved a millimeter.

Well, the brake anchor, locally named “skull”, was easily removed but I could not do so with the bearing bracket, that thing that holds the brake camshaft and the brake cylinder. I would have to look after it later as all I wanted to do was to reduce the steering kuckle to pieces. And here I made another mistake by removing the inferior steering arm without loosening first the drag link end. Ops.





Anyway, I kept going unaware of the mishap and loosened the superior expansion plug. The picture is not real, as it was necessary to do a lot more of levering before taking it out.
Naturally, you could count decades since the last time the mechanism was serviced and cleaned.

[bandulu]

Hello !

every time if i open your thread i can not believe how perfect you work is ! RESPECT !!

sorry i have a question ! in which country do you live ?

kind regards