MTFCA Forum

Starting a new thread for the T travelers from Germany.

Below is a link to the first thread, From Coast to Coast.”
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=29295

Below, west of Lincoln Nebraska on June 21, “the longest day.”

The next portion of your route, Keystone to Ogden, should be fairly flat with long but not steep grades but desolate. Not many towns or places to purchase gas so keep the tanks full at every oppertunity. Some towns on the map are now just geographic points so plan wisely

This video shows all ten, in their five T’s, heading west onto U.S. Highway 6 just west of Lincoln after leaving Myron and Barb Smith’s place this morning. Just as on the original Ocean to Ocean race in 1909, there’s a Ford Model K piloting the start. As it should be…..

Click on the blue link to see the video:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5xxaq46smq9xn ... M.mov?dl=0

Rob were you guys able to respoke the wheels for the team members? I believe there were 3 wheels that need real help.
Where in the world did you find 36 hickory spokes on short notice?. Also a nicely framed beginning of the video T models slowly rising above a K hood. Well played.

John,
They were able to respoke one wheel. I think they slathered two others with linseed oil. I believe they had enough new spokes for three wheels, but were only able to press one together. That was a “back alley” affair because the shop owner doesn’t allow customers in the shop. We literally had to be let into the shop from the alley and nothing was said. The owner was very good about it after initially saying no.

I found two new 30-3 1/2 tires and a rim spreader in my shop that may eventually end up “on the continent.” Great folks having an incredible adventure. I hope all goes well, and look forward to reading and hearing about the second half of the trip.

The hardest part of your trip is ahead. Be sure to have good brakes and good cooling systems. You will be going over two mountain ranges with a desert between.
After San Francisco, what will you do with the cars? Will you sell them or ship them back home?
Norm

I have a question to the german participants: I can see a mixture of open and closed cars: What would you recommend for a trip like that? Open or closed cars?
How does the open cars deal with luggage etc when parked for lunch or others?

Michael

I think they have had 5 or more days above 90 degrees, 32 C. in a row. That has to be tough in a closed car. However, I just drove 60 miles in my touring and the heat coming through my firewall was pretty bad, too. 90+ up here.

They are currently traveling across the part of the country where they probably do not have to worry about anyone touching their luggage. The only time they have to worry is lunch, and at most restaurants they can look out at their cars as they eat. Big windows. Besides, who wants to wear lederhosen in USA?

What would you recommend for a trip like that? Open or closed cars?

I'm not a participant in this trip, but for summer I would go with an open car with the top up for shade, and for winter a closed car.

Traveling in a runabout, I don't leave money or credit cards in the car. The only thing I have of much value is a camera, which I put in a part of the trunk unlikely to be noticed by a casual observer in a hurry, especially with a lot of unvaluables packed in front of it.

It will be interesting to hear their thoughts regarding open vs. closed. Personally (although it included no windshield) I find that no top takes its toll on me with wind and sun. I do like how much easier an open car seems on the motor, simply pushing less weight and on these windy days, less wind resistance.

I looked inside each car briefly, and the closed cars appeared to carry more things, and things didn’t have to be secured. On touring has a tonneau canvas too and that appears to keep things secure without fear of anything blowing out (I had a roll of paper towels unroll and blow out in the short, windy drive time I had with them).

Quite an adventure!

"Besides, who wants to wear lederhosen in USA?"

I have a bit of German ancestry as well as Scottish along with my English and Irish. I think you could get me into lederhosen before you could a kilt! I do love the bagpipes, but the kilt doesn't interest me.

I sure enjoy watching this trek across the continent by our Deutsch friends!

Wayne Sheldon wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 22, 2022 4:30 am

I think you could get me into lederhosen before you could a kilt! I do love the bagpipes, but the kilt doesn't interest me.

Oh I dunno. This was five years ago at the St. Louis Scottish Games. (Me, my son-in-law and my grandtwins.)


Now back to our Model T programming....

Day 15, 21st June 2022, 301 km / 188 km today, in total more than 3.400 km in the States
From Lincoln to Broken Bow, Nebraska.
Flat landscape, agriculture, rail road beneath the roads.
Chance of rain, therefore we closed the top.
See also Ron’s update.
Ignition issues on Harald’s and my car, after cleaning the spark 3 (Harald) and the new day timer (me) they worked again like they should and as they did before.
Later again a flat tire / Harald’s T again

Regarding the questions
The cars will be shipped to Germany from Oakland.
I prefer a open car, as I could see better without a disturbing roof.
Both open cars have a cover over the rear end.
Valuables are Passworts, passports, mobile phone and some cash and above all credit cards. If you do not fear that someone steals something, nothing will happen

I am just north of Ogden. I am not a mechanic but do have extra parts, as do all Model T’ers. My phone number is 801-389-6966. Call if necessary.

Regarding the covers

Could someone sell us a split rim with a mounted tire?
Maybe Reiner‘s spare tire is too old and specially too hard

I'm with you Bernhard. Open top car is the best. I have a Fordor and it has its place, but prefer the touring with the top down. It is down far more than up.

BernhardBK wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 22, 2022 11:57 am

Could someone sell us a split rim with a mounted tire?
Maybe Reiner‘s spare tire is too old and specially too hard

That looks nasty, but, its repairable with a press, some blocks & an hour's labor.
This is what happens when inexperience meets impatience & force it.

Couldn’t have spoken your last sentence any better myself John. How can we sell this caravan something when there’s no address ? I still have those wheel lugs Bernhard said he needed but don’t know an address to give them away to ..

There are members in South Dakota. They are headed to Mt Rushmore. Would be nice if someone held up their hand.

Bernhard, Harald has the yellow 15 correct? Are the flat tires he is having the same tire or each different one? Does he have flaps in the tires? If not he may want to consider buying some. Also do you know what tire pressure he is inflating them to? As a general rule for me 30x3 1/2 & 30x3 need to be at a minimum of 55 psi in my honest opinion.
Wishing the team fun and safe travel’s. Best John

Let me start with the answers to the questions:
Harald has flats in his tires and they have more than 60 psi.
5 flat tires because of too hard old tires on the rear axle, tire turned around and valves are broken. 2 leaks at the valve top, where rubber and metals come together, nails…

John is Right with the split rim

But today we learnt again, problems are good.
Without our problems we wouldn’t have met so many friendly and helpful people

Day 16, 22nd June 2022, Brocken Bow to Valentine, Nebraska, 226 km.
No technical stops.

But the whole morning we tried to fit a tire on Reiner‘s split rim. The new one which Reiner bought at Birdhaven was destroyed.
Greg Barker arranged that we could work with Jason Baum in his company Trotter Service in Brocken Bow.
But the first attempt did not work- see photo. Second attempt worked with the old split rim after about 3 hour but not with the rim spreader but with the power of up to 7 men.
Charlie Smith, who stopped as he saw our car, drove home again and came back with an old tire and a rim. Reiner took a new tube and these three parts were brought together in the correct way after a few minutes with the rim spreader. At the same time Jason and Greg could install the tire on Reiner‘s old rim. Hurra, Reiner has a spare wheel! No, two!
After that Greg and his father headed us to a friend of him who has many T parts - 70! Miles north of Broken Bow
Thanks again to Charlie, Jason and Greg, it was very nice to meet them.
We had further 50 mile to Valentine to go, like before no corn, just grassland.

Bernard, that’s great news about the spares for Harald. The story’s of model T owners, that are complete strangers, helping out along this great adventure your team is on is heart warming. No matter where you are the Ford model T brings the best out of folks. The language doesn’t matter we all speak Model T. My good friend, George House is eager to send you the wheel clamps you need to you if you can just provide an address several days from your current location. Perhaps an address of a hotel or person that you’ve set up a meeting with along the journey. Those type clamps are hard to find especially when you’re on this type of trip.
Safe travel and lots of fun to all of you. Many of us are living vicariously through your group. Thank you & Keep us posted.
Best regards, John

Harald has flats in his tires and they have more than 60 psi. 5 flat tires because of too hard old tires on the rear axle, tire turned around and valves are broken. 2 leaks at the valve top, where rubber and metals come together, nails

Sounds like Harald has the usual poor quality tube problem we have been stuck with before Brockleys arrived on the scene. Not going to be easy to get tubes with metal valve stems but as I suggested in the post about BE tire pressures, if you clamp the valve stem with a small clamp or wire twisted around the rubber under the valve end you should eliminate the leaking at the valve top therefor stopping leakage and pressure loss allowing the tire to rotate and tear out the valve stem (and possible trash the tire /and or the rim).
I had the same problem, once clamped only had to worry about nails and the like. In summer a roof over your head is a plus, When we did the cross country USA in 2008 and 2011 we were always being asked "how could we drive without air conditioning!!!" As for security, never a problem, we left the car parked all day in public car parks while we went on day trips and outside motels at night never any hint anyone was looking to take anything.
The Kamper has doors so one has to open them to get at contents which were under the seats, that would normally mean one was looking to break in, against just being able to reach over the side of an open car.
Harald do this to the valve stems, worth the couple of dollars and may completely solve your tire pain.

My previous post was all underlined, thanks to Rob fixed!!

Thanks for the advices regarding the tubes, I informed Harald and the others.

Regarding the loose spokes on my car: I started to „feed“ them with linseed oil. I expect that will extend them and longer than a water bath.

I provided George with an address, thanks a lot, George

And thanks to John Tannehill for reminding Bernd to provide an address. The needed wheel lugs were mailed this morning for expected deliveryMonday at the Ford haus in Diamondville WY. Let’s see how our USPS performs. Tracking # 9505515237712174823685. Someone along the way might wanna show Bernhard to to track USPS...
alles ser gut !

Sounds like you are having a grand time, if you can work it into your time near Mount Rushmore, I would highly recommend driving the Needles Highway . I is not far from Rushmore and is a wonderful old road that runs thru the forest and has a lot of twist and turn so no one can go any faster than you so you can relax and really enjoy the drive. Stay safe and have fun.

DIAMONDVILLE !!!

there are not many more obscure or forgotten places in the world, that's for sure

George House wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 23, 2022 9:31 am

And thanks to John Tannehill for reminding Bernd to provide an address. The needed wheel lugs were mailed this morning for expected deliveryMonday at the Ford haus in Diamondville WY. Let’s see how our USPS performs. Tracking # 9505515237712174823685. Someone along the way might wanna show Bernhard to to track USPS...
alles ser gut !

All one has to do is click on this link https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmA ... 2174823685 and if details are desired click on TRACKING DETAILS in the menu. Note Delivery is during the day Monday If you click on Text & Email updates you can be notified of specific routing changes or all by email or text

‘Her Haw salutes Scott’s hometown - DIAMONDVILLE WY...
HEE HAW !!! .... took my Google Maps 2 tries to find it. First one resulted in “No Results Found” ....But there is a Ford Dealership there and the parts manager has an instruction note to give package to Bernhard

Wonderful adventure. I wish I could have been closer and viewed the Ts. My father's father came from Westhausen Germany when he was 14. I have been there two times. I spent all of 1952 in Augsburg as a company clerk in the US Army. If your troubles with wheels had been in Minnesota, I and others could have provided what you needed.

Darel (turned 90 on June 21)

Video photo collection from the Lincoln Nebraska/Museum of Speed stop. Music includes “Lili Marlene,” the most popular war song of WWII according to some sources. Performed in both Deutsch and English, it was a favorite of both Axis and Allied troops. Click on the link to view the short video:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yx0rkqfb25r2p ... E.mp4?dl=0

George

I'm actually in Clark...now try to find THAT!

Been a long time since I heard that song! Loved it.

Greatly enjoyed the video Rob... Thanks !..And the marching song of the 2nd Panzer Division - Lily Marlene...good touch

Very nice video Rob

I am enjoying the progress of our friends from Germany. Keep the up dates coming.

Rob, vielen vielen Dank für deine Fürsorge und deine Betreuung in Lincoln, die Bilder und das super Video.

I posted the link in my WhatsApp Status, so all my friends could watch it.

Darel, congratulations to your birthday and Willingness to support.

George, thanks a lot for sending the lugs to Frontier Ford in Diamondville. I thought a Ford dealership could be a good place to collect them. Did I get that right, that you contacted them already? That’s on my todo list for tomorrow.

And I am very happy to read that there are still T drivers following our adventure, wishing us good luck and offering support and advises what we should see and how problems could be solved. I thank you all very much.

And Please excuse my english, hopefully you could at least understand what I try to say.

Day 17, 23rd June 2022, was from Valentine to Chadron, Nebraska, 226 km, 141 miles. Again very hot; we used sun-protection and our top was down. So we could see the wide grassland and the cows and horses nearby the US 20.

Today two cars had issues with the ignition.
Haralds spark plugs had some minutes when they did not work like they should, but short time later, the car ran as fast as we know it.
And I had an issue with cylinder 4. I had to stop 3 times to allocate and solve the problem. The spark plug had been okay, the coil box was okay, but it only worked when I pressed the rear end of the box down (yes, I bend the contacts in the case, so that the box contacts should hit the contacts of the case). Finally I exchanged coil box three with four and everything worked fine again.

The next two days we will stay in Keystone. Saturday will be a day off. Then I will go the needles Highway, is this route 87 to the south from US 385 south of Hill City?

Bernhard

It is a pleasure to read your articles and your travel across the US. Many of us would like to be in your shoes.

I wish I could turn off the heat and I hope it cools off in the evening for all of you.

I am not from South Dakota. When you get to Keystone, ask at your hotel and I am sure they can give you a map of Needles Highway.

Enjoy your travels and keep us informed.

Wish I could have met with all of you.

Gute Reise.

"And I am very happy to read that there are still T drivers following our adventure,"
The Peanut Gallery/guys like me that never travel too far from home with their T are enjoying your adventure also!
Thank you!
And your English is very good. Do not worry about that. Alles gut.

Day 18, June 24th 2022, Chadron, Nebraska to Keystone, South Dakota, 241 km, 150 miles.

First through grassland, then slightly hilly and close to Keystone extremely steep.
We made the fault to keep or cars order, which let to Stopps on the way up and boiling water.

We went to Mount Rushmore and two cars also to Crazy Horse, both are very impressive, but I preferred Mount Rushmore as it was a dream of me to see this one time. And now I did it.

The road around the parking space of Mount Rushmore were very challenging, but with no other slow car in front of me, our T did not have a real issue.

Shame on me, one of the things on my bucket list is to actually go to Mount Rushmore. I better start accomplishing my want to’s before I can’t. Again thanks to all of your group for letting us be a part of the journey. Be safe & have fun!

Thank you for the update. If you have time, include more photos please. You have finally left Nebraska. On to the sea. Safe travels.

Here are some photos, hopefully
Yesterday I already tried to post some photos with much more description than you could read.
But the uploads did not work and my text got lost.

We (Heidi und Bernd)

Day 19, June 25th 2022, we still stay in Keystone.
73 km, 45 miles.

Harald had a leakage of oil to his breaks rear right.
Therefore we removed wheel and gasket as well as roller bearing sleeve and exchanged the sleeve and inserted a inner oil seal after cleaning off the oil.

Then we drove to Mount Rushmore again and visited some locations in the way to Crazy Horse, where we could stop yesterday because of rainfall.

After that we climbed up the Needles Highway, very nice narrow road, great view, awesome scenery, very good distance view, we made 300 altitudes, but with the Ruckstell rear end and Rockies it was no issue at all.

When we later came back from a Train Trip round trip to Hill City, we noticed that Gerhard’s car has a flat tire.

Tomorrow we continue to go West, next destination after two nights in Keystone should be Lusk, Wyoming.

Sehr gut!
Looks like you are having a trip of a lifetime!
Wunderbar!

Day 20, June 26th 2022, from Keystone, South Dakota to Lusk, Wyoming, 206 km, 129 miles.

Cold, cloudy, later sunny but still no 68 degrees.

Again grassland south of Custer, but different to that, what we saw before - slightly hilly, with trees. Later no trees any more, flatter grassland scenery.

The Ts drove very good, even the uphill passage of about 300 meters near to Lusk caused no issues.

After check-in I checked the car, as we heard a click in the front, like of a loosen screw.

The fan wasn’t on the crankshaft pulley and the starting was loose and the pulley wiggled.

We tried to find a pin or tension pin in the town, but on Sunday that was without success.

At the gas station I handed out my old parts to the helpful Jim, who wanted to find a solution. 3 hours later he came back with my pulley and two pins. They fitted into the pulley but unfortunately both were to thick for the crank hole.

Harald had a spare but used pin with him, which we used with a smaller pulley, hopefully that works for the last 1.000 miles.

Day 21, June 27th 2022, Lusk to Casper, Wyoming, 200 km, 125 miles.

Warm again, sunny, still grassland, we could see the Rockies now. Beside the cows we saw many horses and old cars today.

No issues with the Ts

George Lugs were delivered this morning to Ford in Diamondville. I tried to contact them, but did not reached/found the right person, hopefully the parts will be still there, till we will be there - that should be on Wednesday afternoon.
George, thanks again.

Greats updates Bernd. Thank you. I wish I had accompanied you for awhile. What a grand adventure. Please continue to post as you proceed west.
Safe travels,
Rob

That whole trip looks absolutely fantastic! Thank you for sharing this with all of us.

-Bryce

Just finally "caught up" with you guys Bernhard!! Wow I envy you, I wish I was traveling with you in one of my T's.
But this is good. One thing, if I did read your post a few days ago about a coil not quite making proper contact in the box, in the unlikely event now that no one has mentioned, it is often helpful to use some sort of "wedge" in those to tighten them up and keep them in their proper place for good contacts. They tend to want to "wiggle up" and hence, the issues. I just use cheap old fashioned wood shims that you can buy at that ACE store or any hardware store like Lowes or Home Depot. Keep rolling, stay safe, we're all enjoying your adventure and pics. I even sent a pic of one of your posts to my "girl friend" in Taunusstein! She also had a Großvater named Gerhard, he has since passed away. Thanks for these posts, they do take a lot of time!

Sorry, I meant LIKELY event someone has mentioned about putting in a wedge! Typing too fast!! Just so you're aware of the idea is all.

Thanks Rob, Tim, Bryce for your post.

Day 22, June 28th, 2022, from Casper to Lander, Wyoming, 250 km, 155 miles

Warm again, grassland with mountains very often on both sides, looked great, better than only flat grassland.
Rockies were to see, with snow.

We had two technical problems.
My Ruckstell lever rod was broker (near to the sediment bowl), we fixed it provisionally. And Peter’s starter did not work, because of contact issues.

All cars drove very good and I managed to avoid using my Ruckstell by driving my own high speed before and on uphill passages.

In Lander I searched for a welding job and found one. Lee did a great job. Within 20 minutes it was perfectly welded.
That was the first time someone of us, yes it was me , had to pay for service on our old Ford Model Ts. 50 USD for 20 minutes, not bad, but I am happy, that my Ruckstell, which worked great, could be used.

On the last miles before Landers, I noticed an ignition problem. I cleaned my New Day Timer and removed the coil box to clean all contacts. Some had been waiting for that. Tomorrow Ruckstell and Coils should work again, even without wedges.

Bernd,
Thank you for the update. Your adventure is incredible to read about, and I am sure, makes many of us envious (myself included). Safe travels, and thank you for keeping us posted.

Bernhard I know you’re happy about having the Ruckstell repaired & in working order. I imagine you will be needing it even more as you continue your travels through the hills and mountains. How many of the model Ts on the trip have a Ruckstell or other auxiliary type transmission/rear axle? Are the tires & wheels holding up after the repairs & replacements were installed? Thank you for sharing this adventure with us including the pictures. I believe everyone is cheering you on and looking forward to your daily post.
Best regards, safe travels and have fun.

Bernhard, I love that Ruckstell shifter link repair with the hose clamps and wrench Karl Friedrich Benz would be proud of your ingenuity keep these updates coming !!

Just a short update to a challenging day

Day 23, June 29th 2022, 242 km, 151 miles from Lander to Kemmerer.

First I had an issue with my coils, after exchanging my 3rd with one of George Schmidt’s everything worked very well.

We had 900 meter uphill drive, and additional extrem headwind, it took longer than expected, but we made it

It was unbelievable that we had wide and flat grassland afterwards. The scenery was great.

33 miles before Kemmerer we had a big problem. Gerhard‘s rear axle bearing disappeared .

Harald an Stefan found a way to enable Gerhard to drive his car to Kemmerer.

And we called Ron Horton, from a place north of Odgen,) who offered me here in the forum to call him, if I have a problem….

And, it’s unbelievable, he made 100 miles to bring Gerhard the parts he needed.
He did not want to have anything for that, and if was also unbelievable to that he was older than 85 years.
He stayed in Germany till 1968 in Idar-Oberstein which is only 23miles from my home. Again, Unbelievable!

We tried to fix Gerhards rear axle, but it did not work without heavier tools.

Tomorrow we try to do this at Rex Rudy’s Frontier Ford Workshop.

There I got “my” lugs, which Geroge House send goo ok them. Thanks again a lot for this, George. Now my front right tire could get flat and I could get it exchanged within a few minutes.

Rex also tried to find the necessary parts for us…

Thanks a lot Rec

That Flash (Ron Horton) is a pretty good guy. We are proud to know him.
Holler if you need any parts here in the Ogden area, we may be able to round them up and have them waiting,
All the best and thanks for the update,
Kevin Fielding
West Point, Utah

Bernhard did the Hyatt bearings just break apart because not enough grease or was the cage loose and the rollers fell out? Did you have to replace the bearing sleeve or was it still in decent shape? I’m wondering if it effected the inner bearing once the front fell apart. Hopefully the rear axle didn’t need to be rebuilt. Hope all went well today and you & the team are getting closer to the finish line. Be safe & have fun. Keep us posted and send more pictures.
Best regards, John

This morning, day 24, June 30th 2022, we finished the repair of Gerhard’s rear bearing at Frontier Ford workshop in Diamondville.
Our thanks go to Rex who allowed us to use the space and additional tools for free.

The reason for the failure is not clear, but we did not find any grease in the bearing.
Around noon we continued to drive to West.
The scenery was awesome, colours changed very often ….

We had to climb to a attitude of 2.735 meters and went down to 1.300 in Ogden.
All five Ts did it without any problems.

As always I'm way behind in reading! Just wanna say Bernd, I absolutely LOVED your ruckstell rod repair!! If I didn't know better, I would call that, what we would say, "Yankee ingenuity"!! Well done!

Bernhard, thanks for the pictures, I’m not sure what I’m seeing in the pictures but it appears you took the drivers side axle housing off and then grinding on the axle shaft. Did the axle shaft break? Is that a coupler on the axle shaft to bring the axle shaft together? Was there a grease cup or zerk fitting on the axle housing for the Hyatt bearing to get grease? Is the bearing sleeve put in correctly so grease will get into the bearings? On A trip like the group is on I would think you’d need to grease much more frequently but that’s just my opinion. I’m glad the group finished the repair and are back on the journey with no problems today. Best John

...we did not find any grease in the bearing.

I think you found the reason for the failure.

Hi John, the shaft was okay. There was installed a modern bearing like you could find it for nearly 200 USD each at Langs. No original rollerbearing.
We could - with some effort - remove this modern bearing and the sleeve with my sleeve puller. But we saw that still something was inside the axle and so far outside that there wasn’t enough space to insert Ron‘s roller bearing.
We could not remove this at our hotel and therefore I asked Rex Rudy from Ford, if we could use a workspace in his company.
Yesterday’s first picture shows the rest of the modern bearing which we removed by grinding.
Yes, I agree, we need to use enough grease!
Hope this answers your questions and was understandable.

Proof that Henry Ford was correct and the original design is superior. Can't beat a Hyatt bearing.

Day 25, July 1st 2022, not a real driving day as we decided to go for site seeing to Salt Lake City.
From Ogden over Pleasant View to Salt Lake City, 144 km, 90 miles.

First we went to Ron Horton, who offered is help here on the forum and brought the necessary parts within a few hours from Pleasant View to Kemmerer, more than 100 miles one way two days ago. Gerhard car was yesterday back on the road because of Ron support.

Ron, his wife, his son and a friend expected us and showed us Ron’s very nice Model Ts. My wife’s favourite is his Speedster, Ron‘s favourite is his 1923 Roadster.

On the way to Salt Lake City Haralds right rear wheel broke down, because of the loose spokes. We had to exchange is against the new spoked wheel including exchange of the break drum.

After repairing this, a strange noise could be heart.
Removing the inner breaks did not help.
We found Wayde from Lake Welding Services in Farmington, who grinded the too long screws to the right length. One problem solved, but the wheel got stuck.
We inserted additional shins and now everything works.
All done in his workshop, he did not want any money, but he gave us cold drinks and the chance to clean our hands…

When Harald!s and my car searched for the hotel near to the airport, Bob Evans from Fox 13 Now stopped us and asked us what we are doing here in such amazing cars. After a short chat, We agreed, that we should do an interview for the 9 pm news and asked the other three cars to come to their studios which where only half a mile from our hotel.

This was broadcasted at 9.45 pm today.

After our TV performance , there needed to be done some work on the cars, …Harald new tube and Harald an Reiner removed wheels for a bath

By the way, my bi-daily linseed oil massage seems to help.

Tomorrow we drive to Bonneville Salt Flats.

The news report on you tube.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wEqyy2OTdMc

Bernhard and all, I’m extremely happy to read your post with explanation and pictures. Very understandable once explained. How are all of you doing physically? The trip is such a long distance and you’re doing some long distances driving each day. I’m glad to see that you are taking time to sightsee and giving yourself a break to recuperate. Wishing all of you a safe & fun trip as you approach the final leg of your incredible journey. Best Regards, John

The Bonneville Salt Flats is great place, but if you drive out on the salt you should visit the car wash in West Wendover and wash off as much salt as possible and the salt is wet at all i would not recommend driving on it at all, there can be real soft spots and it is expensive if you get stuck to be pulled out. You are headed into the best part of the country for T driving if you drive the back roads.

DHort wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 02, 2022 1:06 am

Proof that Henry Ford was correct and the original design is superior. Can't beat a Hyatt bearing.

So your saying that Henry designed the rear axle to use a Hyatt bearing to run without grease?

Frank,

You must have missed Bernard's post on July 1, where he states a modern bearing was installed on the car, not the original roller bearing. I do not believe you can add grease to the modern bearing.

Day 26, July 2nd 2022, from Salt Lake City to Wendover, Utah and Nevada, 260 km, 162 miles.

The warmest day here in the States for us!
The roof of my Touring and Haralds Roadster was not used as sunprotection, we used Creme or Spray!
And we could see without disruption of the roof the very special landscape.

John, we are all healthy and motivated, to start our daily trip at 8 am. 7 am is Breakfast time, my alarm clock rings at 6 am.

Today was the first day we had to use an interstate.
But there was no other way to go to Wendover, with sufficient gas stations for our Ts.

Till Grantsville we drove most times on back roads, and we could watch the great Lake salt state Park, very good view!

But about 2 miles before entering the I80 I recognised a strange sound from the front part of my car. I stopped and saw the mess, the „new“ pin of the crankshaft pulley was missing (installed 5?days ago in Lusk) and therefore the fan cooling wasn’t possible.
We didn’t have the required parts with us.
Therefore we needed to drive to a hardware shop of a workshop.
We first drove on a back road a few miles to the West, but nothing was to find. Then fast but not too fast back to Grantsville.
We did not realise the tension pin solution, but we installed a new handmade Pin with 2 cotter pins.
This took us nearly 3 hours. But we had again a temporary solution.

The I80 was later very crowded and we had heavy side winds.
Furthermore the last car in our order, the Yellow one, had two extrem situations, when trucks recognised to late the slow cars and overtook them on the hard shoulder and one hit his mirror.
And a few minutes before that a truck overlooked slow driving cars beneath our car and had to go in the green field in the middle.

In Wendover I checked the pulley again, it moved and one cotter pin was missing. It put another one in and welded the pin at a junkyard.

Bernhard I’m very happy that no one was hurt, the speeds that are on that stretch of road are extremely fast and in just a second catastrophe could happen. What are the maximum speed the groups model T’s can reach? Most of the interstates & highways in my area have a minimum speed allowed on them, generally they are posted at 40 mph minimum. I realize that sometimes you don’t have a choice but with so many distractions and careless drivers, you can get into a bind quickly. Post some pictures if you can.
Be safe, have fun. Best John

Sounds like you had a dangerously close encounter! PLEASE PLEASE be extra alert when on an interstate highway! Stay in the far right lane with one eye in the mirror and be ready to pull on the shoulder if a vehicle approaches too close too fast. Don't assume that they see you. An emergency triangle or a flashing bicycle light on the back of your car works well at getting their attention.

We are enjoying your adventure and want you all to reach your destination safely.

Dave you're correct. Uou cannot add grease to modern rear bearings. I have them on my '13 and I love them. So far anyway. They run as cool as a cucumber. I've already put almost 11,000 miles on them since acquiring this car, don't know how many were on it prior. The odometer had only 305 miles on it when I bought it in Jan. of 2013.

Bern, your close-call story gave me shivvers, I'm glad all are okay. Praying for your safety as well. Enjoy the rest of your tour, be safe of course. And use plenty of sun cream! I'm like you, I prefer the top down to be able to take in all the beautiful scenery overhead and all around.

Please, No more highway driving unless you have a death wish. Even local state routes are getting a bit too scary for me.

I have modern rear axle floating hubs on my merc, and you just take out the bolt that secures them to grease them. Don’t those bearings secure the same way?

The most important rule for Model T travel: Stay off interstate highways. I even avoid US highways that have lots of big, fast trucks.

Unfortunately there are some places where the interstate is the only road. One such place is crossing the Mississippi at Hannibal. There are secondary roads on both sides of the river, but the I-72 bridge is the only way to cross. What to do? I phoned 911 and asked for a highway patrol officer to follow me with his lights flashing. There was an officer nearby and he followed me across.

There's a nine-mile stretch of I-40 west of Needles where the interstate is the only road. When I go to California by Model T I'll ask for a CHP officer to follow me up the hill until I can exit safely onto US 95. From there I can avoid interstates all the way into Los Angeles.

Steve, you have such good ideas That’s so good that law enforcement is willing to assist our old cars and drivers in a proactive way. And I,too, wish safety on our German friends as they’re finalizing their epic trip....I even make use of paved road shoulders when available.

I noticed the "Fox News 13" broadcast from Utah stopped in mid sentence at 1:09 minutes. I contacted the station and it turns out there was an upload glitch, and there are two more minutes to the broadcast. Below is a dropbox link to the full video. The original link may also work too (haven't tried it). This may be a good time to go to a third segment too, so I'll duplicate this on a "Part 3" Coast to Coast thread so we don't have to scroll down as far to get to the current threads.
Cheers,
Rob

Full Fox News 13 (Utah) broadcast (click on the link below):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8bri2sv63mk6e ... M.mov?dl=0


Still photo from part of the "missing tapes:"


"Part 3" Coast to Coast link:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=30091&p=231851#p231851

WTF ??? Why change a thread with something as important as this? Our German traveling friends need to know a TRUCK TRAVELING AT 70MPH can go over 100 ft a second ! That’s 31 METERS A SECOND ! They need to stay off the highway unless they want to make the evening news again, and a big grease spot as a memorial!!

Class. Pure class.

By the way, Ich schätze, unsere Freunde aus Deutschland kennen sich mit Verkehrsgeschwindigkeiten aus. Sie haben eine Fahrbahn namens Autobahn.

The key word here is “Autobahn.”

I have been on Autobahn! Don't pull into the left lane if you can see ANYONE in that lane behind you!
Norm

Stick your deutsche in yer hat! My grandparents were born in Austria, so if you don’t care about these visitors, I do and perhaps the vast majority of the worldwide model T community does. Getting our friends squashed like a bug would be a big black eye for all of us, and not so good for them, either.
Would they drive their T’s on their autobahn? I think not.

Tim, your sterling personality is coming through a bit strong this evening. Too much holiday cheer?

Come on now, let's all enjoy Independence Day.

As for “caring,” one might take the time and initiative to notice who started this thread. “Part 2.” Of course, why ruin a good rant with facts?

I have battery powered magnetic flashing amber lights that I attach to the back of my Model T. When traveling on busy roads I activate them. I think our German friends could use something like that, at least on their tail-end charlie.

Tim, remember that they had no choice. Where they are currently driving the Interstate is the only road. I believe the New York to Seattle group had the same problem in Montana. Trucker was probably going too fast if he ended up in the median.

There are 2 ways to extend a thread and Rob just did it this way. You end up in the same place either way.

Time to get some ice cream.