[Silly Little Cars] help 89 truckster

Sun Jul 28 09:29:53 PDT 2013

Charles,

You should go to the manuals section of Sillylittlecars.com and download the service manual and it's supplement. They contain a lot of information that you are going to need to revive your Truckster that I wish I had while doing mine. 

It's getting difficult to find many parts for Trucksters. The motor parts, like gaskets, etc. are quite readily available from places like Directparts.com but you will likely run into problems locating things like gas tank caps, brake cylinders, brake shoes, brake master cylinders, etc. Fortunately, Cushman used many standard parts that are still readily available from the automotive and forklift industry. The only problem in finding them is that there seems to be no industry cross reference information to the Cushman part numbers. One member of the service team at my local ORiley store, with many years of experience, was able to help me by using his experience and good memory to find parts that matched my needs. The older parts guy at the forklift shop also has many years of experience and has helped me the same way. Cushman Trucksters are industrial vehicles, so they were originally serviced by shops that repaired industrial vehicles, such as forklifts. Cushman didn't make all of the parts they used. Most were sourced from the automotive industry. Cushman made the body and chassis parts, but sourced many of the other parts and then assembled the Trucksters from them.

I was able to find the exact same brake master cylinder (new on the shelf) at a forklift repair shop for $31. This same master cylinder is used in several models of forklifts. It is currently selling on the internet for 2-3 times that price when you search for it as a Cushman part. The wheel cylinder rebuilding kits for my truckster are identical to early 1980s Ford F-100 pickup trucks. I bought them from ORiley Auto Parts store for about $5 each. Identical brake shoes came from the forklift shop for $10 each. The fuel filters (even the bypass filter) are readily available through ORiley Auto Parts and other auto parts stores. I will post the source and part numbers for the parts that I found this way, but it may take me a few days to get this list together, I had intended to do this for myself, but other priorities in my life have delayed me. I saved the box tabs with the brand and part numbers for each part that I bought, but just put them in an envelope. I guess it's now time to put the list together from them.

A note about the brake systems used in these Trucksters: They aren't sealed systems like the newer automotive brake systems. The master cylinder has a vent in the cap that allows air/moisture to enter/exit from the reservoir. The brake fluid used in the Truckster brake system is alcohol based and the alcohol part of the fluid will absorb water vapor. When sufficient water has been absorbed it will begin rusting the steel parts of the brake system from the inside. 

The brake system in my Truckster was a complete rusted mess internally from sitting in a damp forest and absorbing moisture through the vent with every atmospheric pressure and temperature change that occurred for the 12 plus years that it had been sitting there. Now that my brake system has been completely rebuilt, I've considered trying to find a more modern sealed system alternative for the master cylinder, but will likely just completely remove the brake fluid from the system and replace it with new fluid on an annual schedule. 

Charley
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Charles Shearin 
  To: Silly Little Email List 
  Sent: Sunday, July 28, 2013 7:09 AM
  Subject: Re: [Silly Little Cars] help 89 truckster

  thanks for the info think i can fix it from your email. 

  can't thank you enough

  charles

  On Sat, Jul 27, 2013 at 6:54 PM, Charley <clent at carolina.rr.com> wrote:

    Charles,

    You have a 22 hp OMC 2 cylinder engine (22 hp = spark plugs on top of cylinders - the 18 hp version has the spark plugs on the lower side of the cylinders). The cylinders are horizontally opposed (one out each side of the crank case). There are 2 coils, one for each spark plug. Both spark plugs fire at the same time since they are connected in series to the same points, but the cylinder that's on the compression stroke is the only one that lights (this is called a "lost spark ignition system" ).

    It appears as though you have the original mechanical fuel pump and the bypass filter (necessary when using the original fuel pump) and it is quite likely that this pump is bad. These original fuel pumps are hard to find and expensive if you do find one. I switched to an electric fuel pump. The pump itself costs $53 and it self regulates the pressure, so you can eliminate the bypass fuel filter and just use a single inline filter between the tank and the electric fuel pump. The hole where the mechanical fuel pump was mounted needs to be plugged with a thick metal plate and gasket if you switch to the electric fuel pump.

    I would first check the inline fuel filter nearest to the tank. Disconnect the fuel line on the output of the filter to see if gas comes out. If it does, put the line back on the filter and go to the fuel pump and disconnect the line that goes from it to the bypass filter (the filter with three connections). Turn the engine over and see if fuel comes out of the fuel pump. If it does the pump is OK, so you can replace the fuel line connection. Now remove the fuel line connection from the carburetor and turn the engine over. If you get fuel coming out of the line, the carburetor is your problem and it will need to be cleaned and possibly re-built. If it is a Keihin carburetor, first look in the end of the carburetor connection where the fuel line connects. The Keihin carburetors have a tiny fuel filter screen on a tubular plastic frame that is inserted into the fuel fitting of the carburetor. You will need a sharp knife to catch the edge of it to remove it. Before rebuilding the carburetor, check this screen to be sure that it is clean. If there is no screen or the screen is clean the next possible problem is a stuck needle valve and/or damaged float inside the carburetor. If you have to go inside the carburetor, be prepared with replacement gaskets, a replacement float and needle valve, and an accelerator pump diaphram to completely rebuild the carburetor. You will need to run a cleaning wire through all of the internal ports and use carburetor cleaner to remove all of the varnish and dirt before reassembly. Carburetors are complicated. If you have never done this before, find someone who has and let them do it.

    My 1987 Truckster had been sitting untouched in a forest for a bit over 12 years and it needed everything that I described above, plus the removal, derusting, and cleaning of the fuel tank and all new fuel lines, fuel filter, and electric fuel pump and a new fuel tank cap before I could get my truckster running. For the tank cleaning I bought a cleaning/relining kit from KBS Coatings through Amazon. Although the cleaning and relining of the tank was time consuming, it wasn't hard to do and it worked very well. 

    Charley
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Charles Shearin 
      To: silly_little_cars at lists.sillylittlecars.com 
      Sent: Saturday, July 27, 2013 8:15 AM
      Subject: [Silly Little Cars] help

      just bought my 1989 cushman and can anyone tell me the size of the engine?

      attached are pics of the engine it is a one spark plug engine

      Also cannot get gas from tank to carb

      pic of one of the gas filters it has three lines to it, can I just remove this filter in the pic and will it matter?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

      _______________________________________________
      Silly Little Cars Email List
      sillylittlecars at sillylittlecars.com
      http://lists.sillylittlecars.com/listinfo.cgi/silly_little_cars-sillylittlecars.com
      To unsubscribe, click that link above.

    _______________________________________________
    Silly Little Cars Email List
    sillylittlecars at sillylittlecars.com
    http://lists.sillylittlecars.com/listinfo.cgi/silly_little_cars-sillylittlecars.com
    To unsubscribe, click that link above.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  _______________________________________________
  Silly Little Cars Email List
  sillylittlecars at sillylittlecars.com
  http://lists.sillylittlecars.com/listinfo.cgi/silly_little_cars-sillylittlecars.com
  To unsubscribe, click that link above.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sillylittlecars.com/pipermail/silly_little_cars-sillylittlecars.com/attachments/20130728/cca787a5/attachment-0004.htm>