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One of the massive front wheel hubs that carry the front dual
wheels.
Looking thru grille opening in front, we now see the new engine
(green thing) being
positioned for mounting. You can also see the air horns.
Access hole to transmission compartment.
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Stan Bowers (knee showing) is working with Tom Kuhlman who
is below decks hooking transmission up to the engine.
In preparation for the installation of the engine
and transmission, Al picked up 6" X 6" X 4' timbers so we
could build a crib to support the front of the Futurliner. The front
of the Futurliner had to be raised to allow us to roll the engine
and transmission under it for installation. Although we have
heavy duty jack stands under the front axle, we wanted the
additional crib as a safety factor.
Next, the crew of Del, Stan, Tom, and Ron
moved the engine and transmission from the storage area. They then took the engine off of the wheeled dolly it was on, rolled it onto
its side onto a low wheeled dolly and rolled it under the
Futurliner. Using come-alongs, an electric hoist with a chain
rigging, the engine was lifted into its approximate location. From
there it was moved forward so that the transmission could be slid in
place.
The transmission, again using a wheeled dolly,
was rolled under the Futurliner. The engine hoist was set up in the
display area of the Futurliner, rigged to the transmission and the
transmission was raised to its approximate location. The next order
of business was to connect the transmission to the engine. However,
we discovered the carrier bearing was missing from the rear of the
engine. After a few phone calls the closest bearing we could find
was located in the Detroit area so it will be coming for next week's
session via UPS.
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Connie De Jong, Howard Sullivan, and Art Miedema
above working right side.
Ron and Bud worked at installing the rubber trim
on the left front cargo door. Due to all the activity of rolling the
engine and transmission under the Futurliner their work was
interrupted along with them helping this operation.
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Connie De Jong and Don Mayton inspect heavy
rubber bumper material that is mounted on front of Futurliner. The
front and rear bumpers of the Futurliner are large, heavy rubber
castings. The front bumper is composed of two of these rubber
castings while the rear bumper has four smaller rubber castings.
With have the two front pieces but only three of the four rear
pieces. We are missing the "M" portion of the
"GM" from the rear. All these sections require extensive
repairs as they were bent, torn, many cuts, and generally very poor.
Connie has been contacting his old suppliers and today brought along
some modern chemicals to try to start the repair process. Although
he only experimented with one small torn out section, it appears that
we can repair all the sections that we have. We have yet figured how
to make the section we are missing.
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