Hello,
I have a few questions and concerns you guys may be able to help me out. First let me tell you what I'm trying to do with a truck I bought at an auction. My son and I are trying to start our own business repairing foundations and mud jacking. He lives in NJ with my 3 grand babies and I live in KS the grand babies are my motivation to make this move, so I will move there to start this business.
Money is real tight so I have to buy old equipment and repair it. I bought this 1984 Ford LT9000 truck to make it a multi propose flatbed with a dump, construction type of a truck that will pull a 12 ton equipment trailer and haul anything from equipment, dirt, gravel etc... on the flatbed and tow at the same time. It has a Cummins N14 (auction paperwork says) with 9 spd. tandem axle, Jake brake and feels like it has lots of power for what I need it for. This trucks runs VERY good, starts right up every time with no problem and sound great! The truck was owned by the county fire dept as a 3000 gal tanker pump truck, I took the tank and pump off and sold it, the pump was 2002 so I'm assuming that when the conversion was done . From what I can tell before it was a fire truck it used to be a a semi tractor. It has trailer brake air supply knob but no glad hands and no in cab trailer brake lever? The wheel base used to be from factory 174" the frame was lengthened about 4 feet. It appears a Company out of Commerce city CO. "Denver Truck Sales and Equipment Co., INC." did the tractor to tanker conversion to it because their sticker is right on top of the (at the time) new red paint job and they specialize in tanker trucks etc.. I think they did a major overhaul on it at the time, LOTS of new parts and new paint inside cab and outside cab new parts includes: Brakes, brake cans,auto adjusters, rear springs, starter, injector pump, fuel lines, hoses, belts, alternator, air compressor, radiator maybe repaired or tested it was marked with a grease pin "OK" on it, engine has also been painted but I can tell they painted it in frame, I can tell by the wear on the rubber clutch paddle it had a lot of miles on it maybe during its previous tractor life. I think the Denver Truck set the odometer to zero because it only shows 15,000 miles and I called the fire chef and he said that mileage is correct and said other than maintenance nothing had been done to the truck by them. The reason they got rid of it was mostly because it had a stick and not an auto trans and that the younger kids these days can't drive sticks. He did say it would smoke up the fire house some when they started it and that they did not like the smoke in the firehouse. After setting a few days it will blow a little white smoke but clears right up and only smoke at start up if its been setting, no smoke at all after warm and restart . The engine (by my eye) shows zero blow by. Engine oil is very clear hardly even black and no sign of antifreeze, oil pressure is about 50 psi. An old trucker told me the smoke was raw fuel leaking down into the cup on top the piston and is normal for these engines. I've only drove it 400 miles total and the removed the drive shaft to take the tanker off. the trucks starts but can't drive right now because driveshaft is missing. I wrote off the white smoke as normal until yesterday I was tinkering on it and checked the radiator Antifreeze level, it was down, it took two gal's to get it to the top of the neck. I ran engine at idle some more, up to temp and open rad cap and it was down again, sucked it somewhere, no smoke, clear oil, I think it was just real low? Truck runs VERY cool the clutch fan never kicked on doing the 300 mile drive home from auction in 100 degree temp!!, the fan does work I know for sure I tested it, with no air pressure the fan engages as soon as I have good air pressure fan kicks off. During the 300 mile drive home if I remember right I think the water temp was running about 190. Now Im worried about missing antifreeze and maybe that smoke is something more serious, I may have other problems what should I do?
The data plate is missing can anyone tell me what engine I have and the spec's, it's for sure a Big Cam and I think it’s a III but not sure? here is the serial number I read this number will tell me everything I need to know Serial # 11134503
I'm new at diesel repairs, always had others do most my repairs on trucks where I used to work before quitting my job to make this move, but now money is very tight and I'm forced to learn and do a lot of it myself, so any help or recommendations you guys can give me I will appreciate it very much!! Thank You!
