Sheila's evisceration and birth of an HJ62 -> Tofudebeest (5 Viewers)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Your clutch fork might not be moving far enough to get it in gear. Does it shift with the truck off?


Hope today is better.
 
Your clutch fork might not be moving far enough to get it in gear. Does it shift with the truck off?


Hope today is better.

Maybe...
Nope.
And why, all of a sudden???
Quite confusing, spontaneous, and apparently cause-less.
It is, thanks.
 
Could be worse.... You could be a taxpayer.... :doh::doh::doh::doh::doh:
 
Damn Brian, sounds like a s***ty day indeed...

And such a shame with the Benz. That's one nice example of a TD wagon, and it sounded great just a few weeks ago! :doh:

Here's to hoping you have better luck with Tofu.. :beer:
 
Damn Brian, sounds like a s***ty day indeed...

And such a shame with the Benz. That's one nice example of a TD wagon, and it sounded great just a few weeks ago! :doh:

Here's to hoping you have better luck with Tofu.. :beer:

Oh hey dude, what's up?

Yeah, I'm not shocked...probably an oiler pump chain snapped, oil quit, rod/ring/bearing quit, easy sequence. Bummer.

Craig's listed it here:
1983 Mercedes-Benz 300TD (wagon) turbo diesel
better pictures here:
MobileMe Gallery

All tranny troubleshooting should go to the link below because I got deep into it already over there...:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-...if-you-can-help-h55f-problem.html#post3718266
 
Did the shifter go back in with the selector fork misaligned??? Hard to tell with the tranny cover (not to ...

There is a lever that can flop over when the reverse selector is not connected and cause what you described.
There is an easy fix but Im not sure how. I think Crushers can tell you;)
 
Tranny resolution, in all likelihood:

I had put it in gear to make phasing the rear drivshaft easier and then took the shiftter out. It wasn't in N.
All I have to do is remove the shifter and use a screwdriver to pop it back into N, and reinstall the shifter.

Had I had food in my stomach, a little daylight left, and a few minutes to calm down, this night could have gone very differently. But, someone would have bought that MB from Dennis (his plan was to eBay it), the rod would have gone on them instead of me, and they'd be gunning for my hide or Dennis'...
So, this is a better turn of events.
 
Tranny resolution, in all likelihood:

I had put it in gear to make phasing the rear drivshaft easier and then took the shiftter out. It wasn't in N.
All I have to do is remove the shifter and use a screwdriver to pop it back into N, and reinstall the shifter.

Had I had food in my stomach, a little daylight left, and a few minutes to calm down, this night could have gone very differently. But, someone would have bought that MB from Dennis (his plan was to eBay it), the rod would have gone on them instead of me, and they'd be gunning for my hide or Dennis'...
So, this is a better turn of events.

Whew. Makes me nervous about installing an H55 in my own truck. Glad you were able to figure it out, and I hope that the rest of this process goes relatively easily! Good luck!
 
Thanks. As a Cruiser wrencher (or any kind of wrencher), there will be plenty of days where you come close to tears, throw your tools in the dirt and stomp off in frustration. A good night's sleep and something else to do and accomplish before you return to it will make a world of difference.

Got a buyer for the Benz it seems. I asked too little, apparently. Since the Craig's List posted (~4:00) yesterday, I've received about 10 or so calls, including several serious ones. Guy coming to meet me today after work, allegedly with cash...
 
Alright. I snuck out of work and headed down to Ocala. Before pulling the top cover off the tranny, I decided to see if I could figure out how to get this bitch out fo gear and all set through the shifter hole...

I used the OEM lug nut wrench, and poked and prodded around to the right side of the cup where the shifter's ball end sits. There you'll find at least two things you can push and slide. I'd move one thing and reinsert the shifter to test. Repeated about four or five times (blindly) and bingo. 1-5 + R, R + 5-1, and back. Feels right. I'm surprised that not every H55F owner ends up putting it in gear, removes the shifter and then is similarly screwed.
 
So, FL Cruiser, what's up with your brother's bad experience with his Taiwanese 2H rebuild kit?? David was perplexed when I asked about this issue.

He doesn't remember which supplier he purchased the kit from. I think they came from California.
1st issue was the gaskets were very cheap. Kind of cardboard like. Head gasket didn't look like they would seal all the passages. He tossed them and bought Toyota gaskets.
2nd issue was that no machine shop in the country (Costa Rica) wanted to press in the pre finished cylinder liners. They all wanted to press in unfinished liners, then bore and size after they are in the block. So he ended up buying new unfinished liners.
3rd issue was just the fact that the pistons were made in Taiwan. In North America we get the “better” Taiwan and Chinese parts. In other areas of the world they get the worst of China and Taiwan. Just the fact the pistons had “made in Taiwan” stamped on them he felt he got ripped off. I personally don’t think the pistons being from Taiwan is that big of an issue since they looked all right.
The kits didn’t end up being that much of a bargain after purchasing new gaskets and liners.
On one of the H powered farm trucks he cheeped out and used the liners that came with the kit against the machine shops recommendations. The truck smokes and uses oil. Don’t know if it’s the result of using the liners or not. I do know that prefinnished liners get used in lots of diesels. Don’t quite know what to think of that.
 
He doesn't remember which supplier he purchased the kit from. I think they came from California.
1st issue was the gaskets were very cheap. Kind of cardboard like. Head gasket didn't look like they would seal all the passages. He tossed them and bought Toyota gaskets.
2nd issue was that no machine shop in the country (Costa Rica) wanted to press in the pre finished cylinder liners. They all wanted to press in unfinished liners, then bore and size after they are in the block. So he ended up buying new unfinished liners.
3rd issue was just the fact that the pistons were made in Taiwan. In North America we get the “better” Taiwan and Chinese parts. In other areas of the world they get the worst of China and Taiwan. Just the fact the pistons had “made in Taiwan” stamped on them he felt he got ripped off. I personally don’t think the pistons being from Taiwan is that big of an issue since they looked all right.
The kits didn’t end up being that much of a bargain after purchasing new gaskets and liners.
On one of the H powered farm trucks he cheeped out and used the liners that came with the kit against the machine shops recommendations. The truck smokes and uses oil. Don’t know if it’s the result of using the liners or not. I do know that prefinnished liners get used in lots of diesels. Don’t quite know what to think of that.


Engineering wise, I always wondered how they got away with pressed in pre-sized liners on diesel rebuilds. When your press a sleeve into a bore, the inside diameter will always shrink or change in size. That's probably why the local shops wanted to do the final bore after pressing them in.
 
I take this to mean that any decent rebuild will require plucking the motor and bringing it to a machine shop...

By the way, I have purchased two different oil pan gaskets for this 2H, among other gaskets. One was a blue, flexible paper gasket (from 4WD Auto, in Edmondton), and the other was an extremely brittle tan paper gasket, purchased from, believe it or not, Specter. I ended up not using the $OR one, due to it being either an inferior product, or having become VERY stale after presumably sitting on a shelf for years. In fact, it broke upon gently taking it out of the cardboard/shrinkwrap packaging. Both were about 2 to 3 mm thick. Couldn't tell you what the brands were, but I learned that with diesel-specific stuff, G&S, 4WD and Radd are the places to go (other than RooDogs in AU). But the full rebuild kits sold by the forklift supply company I mentioned before seem to be a good deal too.
 
Last edited:
tofu has left the shop. It has made the 1 hr trek north to its home and all went well. Good luck and enjoy your rig .

Hey now, bitch, that was my story to tell (but thanks)!

64 miles, no issues other than a belly and rear window totally covered in gear oil. (Yes, rear window...wind vortex causes it) Looks like the transfercase needs a rebuild afterall!

Drove 75 mph, bumpy roads, plenty of stops. Brakes are dead on and strong, steering is tight, and there are no unusual sounds. Even the IP ticking is gone. Once I muffler this thing, she'll sound just as Sheila did.

Turn signals, horn, and radio non-functioning. Gotta swap back the HJ gauges because the coolant temp and the oil pressure guages were way off.

Q: after replacing the contacts and plunger in the starter, it was still tempermental, but did start after 7 or 8 tries. Do they need to get "situated" after a rebuild or do I have to drop that p.i.t.a. again and do the brushes too? If so, is soldering involved???

Thanks Dennis, you saved my ass.

Photos and audio to come...
 
Success! Back driving a Cruiser again. congratulations

Gotta swap back the HJ gauges because the coolant temp and the oil pressure guages were way off.
62 dash? Maybe easier to screw in some 3FE senders?
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom