Cushman Truckster Saved From The Forest

[bdog742000]

Hi Charley L. I work at a campground and we just bought a truckster. For some reason I cannot get it to run smooth. It does for a while then dies from what I've found I believe Its a daihastu 27hp 3cyl. Any help would be great. Lines and filters cleaned and replaced. Any suggestions would be great.

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[CharleyL]

WOW, you have been digging into ancient history with this post. It's nice to see it back on top though.

Welcome to BGW. Please take the time to edit your "User CP" in the left end of the second dark blue bar at the top of the page. At the very least a first name would be great, but it sometimes helps us respond to your questions if you take the time to fill in the rest. An approximate location like City and State sometimes helps too. One of us might be located just around the corner from you and give some "hands on" help and maybe a new riding buddy and friend.

Sorry, but I have no experience with the water cooled Trucksters, but this is what I would try..

Have you rebuilt the carburetor? I had to clean my carburetor three times before I got the accelerator pump passages clear. I ended up using one strand of a piece of 20 gauge stranded copper wire and carburetor cleaner spray to rout out the varnish and debris in those ports and get the whole inside of the carburetor clean.

If that Truckster has sat unused for several years it's quite likely that the fuel has dried out in the carburetor and left a sticky varnish behind, plugging or restricting internal passages and needle valves. It would be wise to change the float too, and not just the gaskets and float needle valve that are usually part of the standard rebuild kits. Old plastic floats absorb fuel over their extended lives and then sit lower in the float bowl. This raises the fuel level in the float bowl and causes a rich fuel/air mixture to the engine.

Does it have a mechanical fuel pump? Old fuel pumps don't pump fuel very well and the rubber parts go bad over time, frequently letting raw fuel into the crankcase. On my OMC 22 hp engine the fuel pump was bad and identical replacements are no longer being made. So I purchased an electric fuel pump from O Riley Auto Parts, mounted it low near the outlet port of the fuel tank, and connected the tank outlet through a filter direct to the inlet of the fuel pump. Then the outlet of the fuel pump connects direct to the carburetor inlet. The electric pump is self regulating to maintain the correct fuel pressure at the carburetor, so the bypass filter and return fuel line to the tank are no longer necessary, Wiring for it is easy. The black wire connects to the Truckster frame and the red wire connects to the key switch or any place where there is power when the key switch is on or in the starting position. I spliced my red wire into the wire going from the key switch to the first coil.

To close the hole where the old mechanical pump had been located, I made a flat 1/8" thick steel plate and a gasket with two mounting holes for the old fuel pump mounting bolts, but you could probably just leave the old pump in place too.

Is the fuel tank rusty inside? KBS Coatings makes a fuel tank restoration kit that cleans and coats the inside of fuel tanks to stop them from rusting. It's a three step process, but the result is an epoxy like coating that completely coats the inside of the fuel tank and puts an end to any further tank rusting problems. It even plugs pin holes, if you can seal them temporarily during the coating process with duct tape, clay, etc. I used the motorcycle tank size kit. It's available online from Amazon and it took me about 2 hours total to do, spread out over about a week.It probably could have been done in about 3 days if you can get back to it often. The cleaning/etching steps take time to work, especially if you have 1/4" of caked rust in the tank bottom like I did. The coating step takes about 15 minutes and then it must cure over night (about 16 hours) before using.

Now, after doing all this to my Truckster -

When starting my engine cold in the morning, it helps to use a little choke, but then after that first start, my OMC engine will start within the first revolution every time for the rest of the day without using the choke at all. With an electric fuel pump you should turn the key on and then wait a few seconds for it to build fuel pressure before running the engine starter. If you do this and the carburetor is in good condition the motor should start very quickly. Mechanical fuel pumps usually require several revolutions of the motor before they build up fuel pressure, even when in perfect condition. My Truckster engine is now the easiest starting, and best running small engine that I own.

Charley

[flharleycop]

Here are my after many many hours of cutting, welding and sanding it was a real rust bucket when this project started

[CharleyL]

Hey, that one is interesting. Is it a 1991? It looks like maybe a converted police special. Is it?

Charley

[flharleycop]

Originally Posted by CharleyL

Hey, that one is interesting. Is it a 1991? It looks like maybe a converted police special. Is it?

Charley

Yes it is you have a good eye.

[DaleK]

Beautiful job on that old American classic!

I am sure that older gentleman would be proud of your good work.

Originally Posted by CharleyL

I guess it's about time that I started a thread about my Cushman Truckster, it's discovery, and it's restoration.

I found my truckster when visiting a friend. He had it sitting next to his woodworking shop in central North Carolina. After asking about it I asked if he would sell it to me. He told me that it had belonged to his dad who had died back in 2000 and it has been sitting there untouched ever since (about 1/2 of it's total life) and he said that since he was never going to do anything with it, that maybe it was time to let someone else have it who would put it back into shape and use it. It's a model 898532-8710, which I've been told was built in 1987. It had 4 flat tires that were sinking into the ground, and solid layers of spider webs though out the whole inside of the cab. The door hinges were so badly rusted that I had to pry the doors open enough to get my hand and arm inside holding a can of WD-40 and then spray the hinges as best as I could. The door latches got a good spray too. About an hour later the hinges and latches on both doors worked perfectly.

I took the attached photos that first day, while I was discussing it's possible purchase. Notice the close up of the speedometer - 1651 miles is the actual original miles on this truck. It's almost new! Well, by it's mileage anyway. These pictures make it look much better than it really was that day. Notice the black spots on the seat. They are a mixture of the disintegrating ceiling foam and black mold. The whole inside of the truck cab was covered in this mess. Paper wasps had also built many nests in there (good thing it's Winter) and vines were growing up through the pedal holes.

I loaded (dragged) the truckster up onto a rented trailer with a winch and towed it the 140+ miles to my home the following weekend. Unloading it required tying it to a large tree and then driving the trailer out from under it in the dark, since I was working alone and could think of no other quick way to get it off the trailer. The trailer had to be returned early the following morning.

I've been a bit lax in my photo taking since then, but promise to take and post some more soon. My plan is to restore the truckster enough to make it useful for yard maintenance chores, and to have some fun doing it. It will not be super modiified or made better than it was new like some of you have done with your carts. They're beautiful and all that, but I just want my truck to be a useful and reliable yard maintenance vehicle, (and toy). I have a very large yard to maintain.


I quickly decided that new tires were a must for the truck so that I could at least push it around to work on it and then be able to push it out of the way when I was not working on it. Of course, you can't put new tires on rusty/ pitted rims, so they had to be sand blasted and painted before the new tires went on. I had wanted wider turf type tires, but in the interest of getting the truck to move easily as quickly as possible I settled for the original 5.70 X 8 tire size, at least for now. During the holidays, etc. not much progress was made, except for the tires and getting the motor running. My son offered to help me get it running one December Saturday, before the new tires were even on the truck, and within a few hours the carburetor had been cleaned, a new electric fuel pump, new fuel filters and fuel lines had been installed, the oil and oil filter changed, and the battery replaced. The motor was up and running by the end of that day. After an initial puff of smoke the rings seated and it didn't smoke at all anymore. It was running, and very smooth.

The brakes were a total disaster. The left rear brake shoes were rusted to the drum, all 4 wheel cylinders and the master cylinder were full of rust, and no fluid in the brake system at all. I also discovered that sometime in it's life someone had replaced most of the wheel studs with metric studs that almost fit the American standard nuts. There were 3 distinctly different types of studs and nuts that did not interchange. I ended up figuring out which were standard american and replacing the rest so they are now all the same.

I had the wheel cylinders and the master cylinder honed, and found that early 80's Ford F100 pickup trucks used the same wheel cylinder rubber parts, so I purchased and installed them. I also discovered that the front brake lines were plugged and I passed a coat hanger wire through them, followed by a blast of compressed air to clear them out. I failed to find an automotive equivalent for rebuilding the master cylinder, but discovered that a local fork lift sales/service shop had an identical master cylinder on the shelf for about 1/2 of the lowest listed internet price. It seems that this same master cylinder is used in several models of fork lifts. I also discovered that the flexible line running to the front axle had been rubbing and the braid was exposed and rusting. The auto parts store found that a 1968 Dodge truck uses the same length line with the same end fittings, so I replaced it. I also replaced the brake pads on both of the rear wheels. These also came from the fork lift service shop, again for 1/2 the price of the same shoes on the internet. After assembly and bleeding, the brakes now work like new.

In the past 2 weeks I have been wrestling with fuel tank problems. The years of sitting in the forest with a defective fuel cap has allowed some heavy rusting in the fuel tank. So much so that there was a water (rust) line in the tank about 1/2" up from the bottom and the whole tank bottom was caked with rust and scale. A fuel tank repair kit from KBS was ordered from Amazon and I spent several days cleaning, etching, and then epoxy coating the inside of the fuel tank. I also sanded and repainted the outside of the tank while it was out of the truckster. This week I have no more fuel problems and the truck is running fine.

So far this week I've been correcting some electrical issues, mostly with the lighting circuits. Cushman didn't provide high beam headlight capability, since my truck was supposed to be for off road use only in an industrial environment. The different wiring harness for the headlights left the high beam wire out of the headlight connectors and a high beam / low beam switch was not provided. Today I replaced this harness to add high beam capability. It only took a few additional wires. I also added a small high beam indicator to the instrument panel in an existing hole that had been designated by Cushman for this purpose and I added a high/low beam toggle switch just below the instrument panel (I don't like floor switches) so I can dim the headlights easily when needed. I've also been working on the tail light circuitsb and a "Slow Moving Vehicle" sign has been added to the rear of the cab between, and just below, the rear windows.

I finally located a Cushman parts listing for the Keihin carburetor about a week ago, and ordered new rubber parts, gaskets, a float, and a float needle valve from my friendly fork lift parts source. He said that all of what I wanted was available, but it would be 2-4 weeks before they would arrive. I'm glad my carburetor is at least working now. I can't wait to see how much better it will work with the new parts installed. Maybe a little, or maybe a lot.

When I finish the electrical repairs and upgrades I'll be working on replacing the stake body fencing. The original fences were white oak, stained a light brown, and were probably very nice looking before 12+ years out in the weather ruined them. The deck was made from treated lumber, probably yellow pine, and although it's not in perfect condition, it is still holding up fairly well. A neighbor has offered some leftover TREX decking boards to make the fences, and I think I'm going to take him up on the offer. It should hold up very well to the frequent moist weather here.

That's about it so far. I'll try to post a few more photos soon.

Charley

[CharleyL]

Thanks, @DaleK. My Truckster is kind of a work in process. My intention is not to make it like new, but to make it reliable and use it, so it's never going to be as shiny as the one in post #23. So far, it has been helping me maintain my 3+ acres and to just ride around for the fun of it. I have knee replacements and can't get around very well on unpaved areas. The Truckster helps as kind of a powered wheelbarrow/utility vehicle (wish it had 2 speed differential). It also qualifies as a "Farm Vehicle" here in NC (have slow moving vehicle reflector plus flashing yellow lights front and rear) plus head lights, stop, and turn signals) so I can drive it on the secondary roads. I have had it almost 20 miles from my home a couple of times, but it's reliability isn't good enough for this, so the nearest gas station, Lowes and Walmart, all less than 2 miles away are likely all the road travel it will see from now on.

Welcome to BGW. How about updating your user information (see "User CP" in the left end of the second dark blue line at the top of the screen) so we can know a little about you and your little "buggy" ? It helps us learn who you are, roughly where you are located (town, state, etc). All of this helps us answer questions that you may ask. I met a guy who lives across town from me through BGW.

Charley