!@*!% mechanical fuel pump


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Posted by D Sherman [72.47.9.228] on Tuesday, July 05, 2011 at 22:33:17 :

I took my best M37 over the hill last weekend for the first time this year so I could drive across the river (my bridge washed out), and drive all the way down the valley to see how the road was. The Forest Circus has been telling people that the Slate Creek road is "impassable", and I was believing it because although a lot of ATVs and dirt bikes came through, I never saw a full-size rig all weekend and there were no tire tracks of any full-size rigs anywhere on the road. The road had some real bad washouts and slides, but the old M37 made it through all of them. That short wheelbase, high clearance and steep approach and departure angle really did the job. Fording the river over a bed of cannonball boulders with water washing across the floorboards was no problem either. This was all with very marginal brakes as I explained before.

So, all's good except it was occasionally sputtering and trying to stall, especially going uphill on bumps. The funny thing is that although it sounded like it was going to die, it would always idle fine if I let off the gas. That is, until I was heading back and I was about a mile from the top of the saddle, when it totally quit. Gas gauge says 1/4 tank, and fuel drips out of the fuel pump inlet when I crack the fitting, but when I disconnect the fuel line at the carburetor and crank the engine, nothing comes out. So, I assume it's a bad fuel pump.

I ended up having to hoof it over the hill and back to town, no thanks to 4 different guys in big macho rigs with out-of-county plates who wouldn't give me a ride. Some of them even slowed down and looked at me begging for a ride, with my old dog who can hardly walk any more, and then just tromped on the gas and took off. Finally a guy I knew came by with his wife on a side-by-side and gave us a ride. The local auto parts wants $80 for a new fuel pump, and I'm not even sure that's what's wrong, so rather than try to work on it up on the mountain, I went up this afternoon with the M35 and towed it back to town. Maybe I'm lucky and it's just dirt stuck in the fuel pump. The good thing is it's so simple there aren't many things that can go wrong.

I got to thinking maybe I should break down and add an electric pump in series with the mechanical one, back near the tank. But they tell me the electric one's don't suck at all, and they will burn out if attached to a tank where the fuel comes out of the top of the tank rather than the bottom -- basically they have to have gravity feed to the pump. Any opinions on that? I don't remember ever rebuilding this particular truck's fuel pump, so perhaps it just succumbed to the modern gas and if I put a modern kit in it it'll be good forever.

Then I have to do the brakes. I found a couple rolls of brake lining and I'm thinking of relining them myself. It seems like a good truck to practice on because it's only going to be used off-road and on back roads. Anybody know how thick the lining is on a fresh set of shoes?



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