Guess Who's Back

[john gerding]

Getting down to the nitty gritty now... Ran the engine for the first time today and worked on getting the pulleys and coupling aligned, still more alignment work to do tomorrow but it is mostly staged. A New Generator is going in and the base plate it sits on has to be modified to fit the new generator since the original is no longer in production. That involves drilling and countersinking some new holes in the base plate. Once the engine, blower and generator are all aligned and mounted its just a matter of installing all the hoses, fittings and routing the wiring and such...

 

[john gerding]

I haven't been around here much. Awesome to see you doing well. You were having a tough time getting started. I have never laughed as hard as the post of Randy that showed your blue van with a garage sale in the yard. You had so much gear in that beast. I knew you would make it once you got rollin.

Not sure what you are talking about, I never had a tough time getting started... I began working almost immediately after my van was set up... As for the Yard Sale that was after completing a huge like $1500 job in which I had to use nearly every tool in my van so I was moving it all out of the house back into the van.... Not something you would see from most carpet cleaners because they rarely do anything other then clean carpet... I cleaned damn near everything the house... I still dont see anything funny about that...

 

[john gerding]

Delays due to incompetence of others has been a real pita... First I had a vendor sell me an incorrectly sized pulley for my pump. That added about a week to my projected finish date, then I had an ebay vendor send me the wrong exhaust tip, the correct one arrived today, but the thing that sucked the most was the fact I paid interlink $300 to install my $500 Fuel Tap and I had to almost completely redo their job... The installer hung the pump right on the bottom of the frame rail where it would get damaged by road debris, used the wrong size fuel line, did not leave enough fuel line to properly route it and ran a ground wire from the pump all the way to the machine when it should have been grounded to the chassis right next to the pump... So half of what they did was useless... Took me all day redo their work and relocate the pump into a safer location. Despite the delays it is getting closer every day...

 

[john gerding]

One more probably final update on my Rebuild, it has come a long ways since I last reported and I finally did my first small carpet job with it yesterday, just a field testing job with a loyal client, the job did reveal an issue which I hope to have resolved today. There is too much details and custom work that has been done for me to ramble on about but suffice to say I have built my dream rig and there is much more work left but she is more or less ready for work. I still have to finish installing the last step injection system and waiting for parts on that, I have a brand new Catpump and Clutch coming next week and install my exhaust fan that should help keep the machine temps under control in Texas summer. Today I built these 2 Trim panels that are mounted on either side of the engine, the left side houses my chem Injection valves, and the right side will likely end up being more switches for like interior lights and APO...

 

[Jim Davisson]

Nice looking rig! Always little details to work out for weeks after. We are upfitting the slide in now. Another week or two and it should be done.

I have that Kohler oil cooler on the way, I'm going to be cutting the shroud to install it this week.

 

[john gerding]

It's crazy to look back at everything I have done with this machine, nearly 5 years ago when I was looking for a machine to start my business I saw a Steamway 2100 here on TMF, a member was selling his and although I couldn't afford his price, when I saw it I knew it was the machine for me because all I saw was the potential for customization, easy maintenance and eventually rebuilding it the way I wanted it and then I found one I could afford and it took me 5 years to finally get around to building it but it ended up exactly how I intended... With the work I have done on it I have hopefully built it out for another decade or 2 of service.

I got 5 years out of it as it was when I bought it for $3600, now I have put about another 6k into it.... That is how you do a truckmount on a budget...lol... Not by buying these low quality Amtex/Chemtex,ect junkers that wont even make it 5 years... Buy an old Prochem or white magic something that has nearly no proprietary parts and put in the work to refurbish it. It didn't take any special skills to rebuild it aside from a few pieces I had a welder fabricate for me, it just took hard work, patience and Balls... Big sweaty swamp balls cuz I did this in the dead of Texas summer... I Even learned how to make my own Copper Oil Cooling Coil by hand...

 

[Jim Davisson]

You are running 2 oil coolers, sweet! I couldn't use the steamway copper coil trick because we removed the float tank altogether and love it.

We stripped down our 16 year old 20/45 Chemtex and installed my Cobb WLD55 heat exchanger slated for a different project on it. It's a beast now. It will be ready for new paint by the weekend. It's gone through an exhaust plumbing revision at the heat exchanger since this picture, but couldn't be happier with the results. Amazing heat, vacuum and flow.

 

[john gerding]

You are running 2 oil coolers, sweet! I couldn't use the steamway copper coil trick because we removed the float tank altogether and love it.

We stripped down our 16 year old 20/45 Chemtex and installed my Cobb WLD55 heat exchanger slated for a different project on it. It's a beast now. It will be ready for new paint by the weekend. It's gone through an exhaust plumbing revision at the heat exchanger since this picture, but couldn't be happier with the results. Amazing heat, vacuum and flow.

View attachment 86082

Yeah I dont know how effective kohlers oil Heat Sink really is without Air moving across it in a hot environment like a truckmount but Im sure it helps a little, with both combined it's probably a good bet it helps a lot... Fresh cold water flowing across 15 feet of 1/4 ID copper coil is bound to be pretty effective... I upgraded the copper oil cooler to 1/4 ID all the way through for better flow then the original stock cooler which was 1/8" ID and necked down even smaller at some of the hose fittings it had... Im sure with a solid rework a Chemtex can be something decent, but the way they come is pretty crappy with all the galvanized steel exhaust and plumbing... Thats how they keep those machines costs down by skimping on the exhaust and brass everywhere they can... and using Mufflers instead of Silencers, putting flow restrictions on the engine and blower to produce more heat causes early wear on the engines if they were smart they would just dump the mufflers and exchangers in favor of fuel fired heat...

 

[Jim Davisson]

The copper coil probably does much better than the 30°F that the small Kohler does taking air from the flywheel and both together have to be fantastic. The above machine came with real good components new in 03. We did disable most all the sensors on it Judson style many years ago and plumbed it 2½ iron pipe to the tank, it's still on the original 2½ chambered silencer, which adds heat to the new heat exchanger setup. Working on a simple Venturi for the blower exhaust to gently pull in the Kohler exhaust so neither is tripping over the other one. Prototype worked well enough to have one fabbed up. We are getting 185°-205° to the wand, but my big flow can have it stay at 170° if you stay on it. Any of those temps are perfectly fine with me. This TM has another 15 years of service left in it for sure.

 

[john gerding]

Brand New Catpump is on and the Last Step Injection should be completed tomorrow, although I am pretty nervous about drilling a hole in one of my new pumps check valves... lol... Anyone have a picture of a Modified Check valve they can share with me? I have completed 2 jobs with the machine so far and still working out the bugs, but hopefully I got it sorted out now cuz I got a couple huge jobs coming up next week!

 

[Jim Davisson]

Are you drilling and tapping pipe threads into the pump valve cap for the last step injection?

 

[john gerding]

Are you drilling and tapping pipe threads into the pump valve cap for the last step injection?

I was going to but I couldnt find anyone to tap it for me so I improvised and had a guy weld a nipple onto it... Then I had to drill it out for the hole to be big enough...

 

[john gerding]

Its kinda ghetto but I cant find a catpump distributor that is willing to take the time to add the catpump part number I need to their system, and then order it for me... I heard "Let me call you back" and We cant help you multiple times today just trying to get the stupid adapter.

 

[Anderson]

Its kinda ghetto but I cant find a catpump distributor that is willing to take the time to add the catpump part number I need to their system, and then order it for me... I heard "Let me call you back" and We cant help you multiple times today just trying to get the stupid adapter.

john
call me or text me tomorow i can help...after around 10am
those CAT PUMP last step chemical injections are complicated but can be done with a little help....
i can send you pics....
took me 2-3 months with my cat dealer to get it figured out but we did get it fixed.....

go to my website
americantruckmounts.com
click on

TM Equipment and Pricing
click on
ATM 2236 video for a breif look at the chemical injection
i can show you how to install it.....

marcus
512/868-9008

 

[Jim Davisson]

I was going to but I couldnt find anyone to tap it for me so I improvised and had a guy weld a nipple onto it... Then I had to drill it out for the hole to be big enough...

That will definitely do it. You can always replace parts after you shake it down and work out all the little bugs.

I've fixed a couple issues simply on my build, knowing that they will be replaced down the line when everything runs perfect. The exhaust coupling wanted to loosen up randomly on it's own, drilled and tapped a stop bolt through both and wired it on. It's not going to loosen up randomly again.

Where the exhaust ties into the heat exchanger I added this Venturi to allow the force from the blower to gently pull in the Kohler exhaust vs fighting it.

Motor sounded much better after installing it. I don't think it was a huge deal, but why not address it now. I'll have my son weld a custom exhaust for us when I'm happy with everything.

I appreciate those who take on the challenge of building their own better tools for how they need and want to use them. It's incredibly frustrating at times, but so rewarding in the end. Keep us updated on your progress!