1980 Autocar "Construcktor" Returns to the Road after many many Years! 

If that's a military trailer, we have two different sized king pins. The M915's have a smaller kingpin for our fuel trailers and flatbeds. The M916's have a much larger kingpin for the low boys. It's the only truck we use to tow a lowboy, that low boy pin may be bigger than the jaws will close on. Just an idea.

I never give advice on these channels but it may save someone else from the trouble you had so here's a first for me. 1. When trying to get the axle out, instead of fighting with the little wedges, smack the axle center end with a sledgehammer. It will bounce back and drive the wedges out. 2. Caging the brake chamber should have released the brakes so you may have a different problem with the brakes sticking. 3. Not sure if you did because the video didn't show it but you should have filled the hub "well" with gear lube to make sure the bearings had oil right away. The spinning axle will eventually carry oil out to the end of the axle tube but it may take a bit and that's not good for the bearings. Lastly you should change the axle housing vent. If it's plugged it could build pressure as it warms up driving and force oil past old seals. Thanks Matt for what you do!

My name is Lloyd from B.C. Canada, that’s a neat old Autocar, quite a show piece. I rescued a 63 IHC F-250 from a junk yard and restored it, it had a long nose butterfly hood like your Autocar, with a 290 Cummins with a 5x4 trans. I did some stuff to the 290 and ended up that I could out pull a 400 Cummins going up a steep hill carrying the same weight, they’re a great old engine. I love watching your resto jobs as I used to try and restore every piece of equipment I could find but am too old now,79, and not able to do it anymore. But I can relive those days watching you do your restorations, it’s like I’m right there too. Keep up the good work and God bless!

My favorite thing about this video is the truck is going back to WORK. I love to see the old machinery used as it was intended, not just going to car shows. Thanks for the video!

I love how if he makes a mistake, instead of not putting it in the video he corrects himself

I KNEW the truck repairmen were slacking. It takes them three hours to arrive and change a tire, and you got half of a full restoration done in 55 minutes. :) Congrats on the progress.

Just a friendly tip, Whenever you replace a wheel seal jack up the opposite side of the axle when finished so oil runs back in the hub and you won't run on dry bearings at first. Keep up the good work

Those are cone washers holding that axle in. They make a special pliers to get them out easily.

Lifting the grader with the forks was yet another OSHA approved procedure!!

I can't believe I spend an hour watching these videos and it seems like 15 minutes. It's like some kind of therapy.

As a former truck driver, I have a suggestion: Mount some blind spot mirrors to those two poles sticking up off the front bumper. Having mirrors there will help immensely with lane changing and, in some cases, backing your rig in tight spots. I'm talking like huge blind spot mirrors, btw.

Back when I was a truck mechanic to do wheel seals we left the wheels, hub and brake drum all together and simply removed the hub nut and pulled the whole thing as one big assembly. You could do wheel seals in about 10 mins if you got really good at them with no need for retourqes or dealing with the god awful spoke wheel wedges.

A couple of things. 1, Great job so far. Trucks looking great. As for the 5th wheel. There are 2 pins holding it to the mount. Take them out and turn the 5th wheel over. You then have access to all the inner workings. Clean and lube well. 2. Wow, don't hit it that hard. You will crack/break your king pin. All the inner workings of the hitch can be removed. Take it apart and clean it well, then lube it. Keep going. You will have that truck on the road in no time.

Matt you should never remove the lug nuts completely until you free the keeper wedges as some times they can come off like a shotgun blast

This brings back memories of working on my old 92 Peterbilt 379. Sounds and looks so similar in the cab. Even the low air pressure alarm sounded the same

Just got my auto car Construcktor t- shirt in the mail Love It!

Matt, for never doing a wheel seal job on a big truck, you did pretty well. I was a school bus mechanic for 43+ years, so I probably have done literally 100’s of them, a couple pointers, smack the end of the axle after the bolts are out and it will “ bounce “ right out, second, I always used to fill the crater between the two bearings with 80w-90 before I put the hub back on, and then I tipped the whole rear end to the side that I had off so it would send differential grease down the tube and lube the bearings. Nice work. This truck is a beast!

Matt you are a true man when you can admitt to paying your "stupid tax" when you realize later that you done something the hard way or that you made a mistake. I really like the fact you take your lumps but do not give up and get the job done. Can't wait for the shop build videos.

Thats what i like to see.. this old gal goin back to work.. she may be old but she aint tired, plenty of life in her yet.. they sure dont make them like that anymore.. shes a fine rig! 😁👍🇦🇺

Hey Matt, your apportion plate needs to be on front bumper. When you pull a trailer it blocks the plate. This is why you see power units with the registration plate on front bumper. Love your videos

11:12 Should be replaced. The oil will have permeated deep into the friction lining. AT BEST they're simply not gonna grab as hard as the others, at worst you'll get a brake fire.

My brother was a diesel mechanic in the '70's and '80's and I can remember him working on a lot of the same equipment that we see you working on,Matt. Definitely brings back some good memories of when that truck was new

That new stack assembly is a thing of beauty. Makes the old gal look 10 years younger.

Even though these bearings will get oil, I would have put a thin coating if axle grease on them and the races before re-installing them. We had an old Diamond T with a Buda diesel and it hauled rock during the building of the LBJ around Dallas/Ft. Worth. Had to replace a broken axle-I can *still* feel your pain! My *absolute worst* gravel-pit repair was an old IH with a huge gas engine and cable dump. During a lift the cable slipped and it dropped so hard that that one broke an axle. It must have stressed the two-speed gear collar, as we found pieces of it when we pulled the axle. Had to drop the godawful-heavy rear right there in the side of the pit road, replace the two-speed gear, lift the rear end back up and re-engage it with the housing bolts. Naturally, the new paper gasket tore, so we put layer upon layer of cotton string around the housing bolts, each layer bedded in axle grease, one layer piled on the next, then tightened up the housing. This actually worked-didn’t leak a a drop and the truck was repaired. Three days!

Love it. Do yourself a favor after you get the 5th wheel locks working. When backing under don’t slam the pin. You can actually cause more damage. When working properly just bumping it is all it takes. It’s a rookie thing that I used to see pretty often. Can’t wait to see her the road.

Matt, rule of thumb on flap length: Measure from hub center to flap, Set flap 1/3 that distance from the ground.

i dig that old truck! a tip i learned when pulling axle shafts on highway trucks is to hit the outside of the axle right in the center with a few sharp snaps of a sledge. not too hard but its usually enough to pop out those cones and the axle shaft a hair. then you push the axle back in a bit and pull the cones with your fingers.

I always enjoy seeing it, tks. I am 84 years old born 3-11-39. 20 years retired US Army. all good, be safe k

When you inevitably have to do the three other oil seals, on the drive axles (and possible on the front axle) look closely on the locking ring, it is not symmetrical, and that is on purpose, if you turn it around, you get a "new" row of holes, right between where they were a second ago. I commend you for repairing something you have never worked on before, and having success at that. I have never worked on a semi axle before, but have worked on a Dana 70 ( 80 ?) so I would work the semi axle, but I have never dared to take a diesel injection pump apart as you have, and I might never dare to. Keep up the great work.

42:36 Hahaha, I had to timestamp this. Made my day. (: Listening to two voices at once definitely makes it feel like a shop environment.

If you ain't makin mistakes you ain't lernin. There will always be mistakes the first time you do anything. My truck has the same type of wheels and I struggled for 4 hours trying to get one wheel off the hub that was stuck. I got on the internet and a guy said just give it one wack with a hammer on the top spoke, and the dang thang came right off in 1 second. Thanks for the great video, from watching you, I can now change the seals on my truck if they ever start leaking.

Matt, one thing I believe you are in desperate need of in almost every video I've watched and that would be an industrial press. I lost count on how many times you could have used one to make the job go easier and faster. Even home projects demand time management. Love your channel, man!

That truck is going to be the beast of a older “construcktor” autocar, hope it works flawlessly!

Take the pivot bolts out of the fifth wheel plate, flip it over, clean and inspect the underside of the plate. You are probably missing at least one spring. That fifth looks ancient but you still might be able to get a spring kit for it. Also, take that problem very very seriously. The last thing you want is a disconnect.

I’ll give you a tip. When you’re doing an axle seal and you go to pull the axle out of the hub, take about a 5 lb sledge hammer and hit the axle right in the middle pretty hard, and it should pop right out. When you hit it from the back in a small area with a pick, you could risk messing the flange up

Beautiful how these guys put this older stuff in service instead of going in debt..

Matt , on your mudflap problem , first shorten the length so they don't drag on the ground . Second , place pins on both sides of hanger bracket to keep the hanger level to the frame. And, PA tractor license plate are required to be on the front of the truck. Keep up the good work.

Hey when I first got out of school in the 80's I worked on trucks for 5 years before moving on to cranes. I used to rebuild alot of fifth wheels, I would pop out the pins on flip them over onto a bench and replace everything and had a dummy pin to adjust the latches. That axle seal you were replacing ya cage the brake then back off the S cam. When you set the bearing preload on the axle hub if the locking ring does not line up with the tit slide it off flip it 180 and reinstall and will probably line up the holes on the ring are offset to the tang that is on it.

Beautiful sight of a true old legend of the heavy duty tow rig back out on the road 😊

You should mount your tail lights on the inside of the frame. If you blow a tire it will rip your light right off the frame.

Wish I was 40 years younger to go up there and watch you do your thing. These are wonderful videos, and they show a determination, intelligence and cleverness that makes the USA a great as it is. Thank you Matt!

Don’t worry about leaving a cliff hanger, you worked incredibly hard. The only relief you really had was cordless electric tools lol.

When you drop the trailer always leave the legs short of the ground by a few inches, when you back under, the trailer lifts, and the kingpin engages properly...provided it is the right kingpin size for the fifth wheel.👌

Love that old truck, it’s a real weapon

Matt, you really need to weld up at least 2 truck stands for that thing. That lil bottle jack can lift the weight, but your safety req's a wee bit more support. Stay safe man, we really enjoy watching you struggle every week to complete projects the rest of us would most likely fail at. You're doing a great job at the videos too, you've come a long way and it shows. Cheers for the weekly content.

Matt, I'd take the windshield out and seal and repair the rust and any missing metal under the seal, new seal won't last long with a compromised base metal. Love your channel, evertime I watch I gives me the motivation to work on both my '48 Willys pickups.

The beautiful thing about that truck is that it comes with a rap around front porch 😅

Should always fill hub with oil and lube bearings. The proper tourqe for bearing is 200 lb then loosen then 50 lb then back off 1/4 turn.

As a retired truckie from down under. That rust bucket is in need of a lot of loving Matt. I'm not going to tell you what needs doing, the truck will tell you that. I look forward to watching your videos. Your a hard worker mate. 👌✌🙏

Haha sometimes you’re the reason for the safety meeting, other days you’re the one they call when they need to do something sketchy

South East PA here. Talking about registration. I was absolutely floored when you said $2500. $44 a year for my car. Truck is triple. And I thought that was a lot!

I love this auto car you know what you should do you should paint that front bumper black that thing would look like a beast congratulations on everything that you do you are a true mechanic

My grandfather delivered in a Model TT which is in a museum. My dad started driving in 1939 and then an M8 in WWII. He retired in the late 1980s and died in 2012. That whole side of my family were Local 299 teamsters. I went the maternal way and became first a UAW worker then a high school teacher, but I still have diesel in my blood. Love the Autocar.

Check the diameter of the kingpin. I read somewhere that military semi-trailers of that era had larger diameter kingpins. When I had my trucks, when removing the wheel to do brakes I left the tires on. I jacked up the wheel high enough to slide a sheet of oiled thin metal under the tires. after taking off the hub nuts and backing off the slack adjuster I just wiggled the whole assembly and slid it off the hub. That is what I did.

She would look amazing Matt with twin stacks on her and painted up in Red and Black. It does have the 5 &4 Twin Ladies in her doesn,t she not ? Mazing Job Matt .

I'm really happy that you put a nice looking stack on that old girl. I LOVE those older trucks and when they look nice, it always puts a big smile on my face.

As soon as you started wriggling the hub I said to my phone "he hasn't backed the brakes off" Not because I'm smarter, just because I've done it. More than once. I didn't get the puller out but. That was next level!

If this truck passes a DOT safety inspection you’ll be a very lucky person! I was in trucking for 30 years and I’m retired and I don’t want no part of your headaches. Good luck! Remove the fifth wheel and The mechanism. There’s also a pen that you can buy to put in there just to help release the jars.

I've been driving a truck for 43 years, I've always had the license plate on the front of the truck and one on the back of the trailer!

Diesel Creek, Never try to reuse oil soaked brake shoes, That's a no-no; whenever you work on brakes, safety comes first! Now whenever you step on the brake pedal, the truck will pull to the right. Also before you put the axle bearings in place make sure you coat them with the same type oil they normally run in, Otherwise there's a strong chance the bearings can be severely damaged before the oil from the pumpkin reaches the hubs to lubricate the bearings. You can't spray some thin penetrating oil from a spray can on the bearings, it won't work. I learned that the hard way.

Thanks Matt, great update, Being Ex military we used to run a different sized King Pin to standard road users, check that diameter, also with the older style turntable / 5th wheel the release handle should pull and turn to release the locking mechanism not saying the one you have does that but worth checking instead of pulling it apart , Good luck mate, looking forward to the next Diesel creek upload

Great job, Matt! LEDs always are polarity sensitive, unlike incandescent bulbs.

I worked for a guy here in Texas and he had two of these big trucks.Nothing like driving these beasties!

A lot of resistance by the machines. Christine isn't the only princess on the pea here, Matt. But I'm confident you'll solve the problem. Tom😎

I heard you honk the air horn, your electric "City" horn has to work also. The wipers have to work on all speeds it has, (if electric) and if it has washers, they have to work also! Don't forget about reflectors also! Go to the DMV and get a book that tells you all the requirements for the DOT inspection! Air brake leak down test, and warning buzzer and light have to come on a 60 PSI. I cut my teeth driving a 71 Diamond Reo, and a few old Autocars, great trucks to learn on back in the day! That shot of looking out over that big ol hood, brought back many memory's of a time long ago past! Thanks Matt!

Hey, Matt! Next time you need to change a wheel seal, try this old trucker's trick: Get a sheet of plywood, grease it up down the center, jack up the wheel you want to change, cage the brake chamber, back off the slack adjuster, slide the plywood under both tires, lower the wheels so they barely touch the greased plywood, pop the axle, and just slide the whole shebang off. Save yourself a bunch of time and aggravation.

My first job driving a tri axle or as Pappy called them Coal Buckets was driving around a miniature version of that with the dump bed on it no air bags had huge leaf packs with the rubber blocks on it. You knew it when you were done on a 10-12 hour runs hauling the coal. The good old days I guess, LOL.😊

paint the roof and that front massive bumper awesome truck

Matt, love the vid. The Autocar Construcktor is a beast! BTW, you'll need a couple of Diesel Creek flags in the flag mounts up front. I think your channel is the best for resurrecting old iron. Really have to hand it to you for the way you dive into a problem and explain the fix as you repair/replace the problem. Its amzing you have such patience for these projects. Your "hobby" is both inspirational and educational. Keep up the great work.

been watching since you started the channel and i love every episode but the number 1 thing that intrigues me the most is the fact that matt does all this work alone! that is simply amazing! now ive been playing with trucks and equipment all my life and let me tell you that none of this is easy! its grunt work everything is heavy and dirty and rusty. one must be very strong physically and very determined to win with these old iron creatures! i have tons on respect for you sir! if more men were like you this world would be a much better place! as for the autocar. that is one of the toughest trucks ever build they last forever and just dont break reminds me of the old pacific trucks! probably related? but not sure? anyway. great video as always youre a great achiever! and thats why we watch your videos! keep on the good work! thank you!

i really do love that old auto Car. That is a real truck. Pure class.

we all do it the hard way some days. Here is the irony. You HAVE a you tube.. Why didnt you look it up?I wouldnt have thought of it either. Keep doin what yer doin, cause its good honest life you live ,, and we need more folks showing how that works.

Matt, I learned a trick to make removing the axle wedge locks easier. Take an old pair of channel locks and grind the top jaw down to almost a knife blade but leave the bottom jaw alone. Remove all the axle nuts and hit the end of the axle shaft, this should bounce it out some. Shove the axle back in and use your new wedge lock tool to open the wedges more and pull them out easy. Hope this helps. I used to work on trucks and tractors in my younger years and still love watching your channel. They probably make a tool for removing those wedge locks but an old truck mechanic showed me how to make one using a old pair of channel locks and now I’m sharing it with you.

Nice work Matt! The straight exhaust pipe probably added $5000 value to the old truck! Before you go anywhere you need to give the truck a good tilt towards the side with the seal that you replaced to make sure the bearing is lubricated well.

Good work youngster you took the best shortest path. You please us without the shiny paint just clear paths to the next day. Working smarter quicker harder

I have a feeling we are going to see a "disassembling and cleaning a 5th wheel" video in the near future! 😂 Really enjoy your videos!

Hey Matt always love your videos got a few tips for ya I'm a diesel mechanic up here in Canada that might help ya out I sees ya figured out about backing off the brakes to remove the hub easier great job brother Tip 1 To remove then cones on the axles put the nuts back on the axle just at the end of the treads then hit the center of the axle hard with a sludge hammer and the vibration from hitting the axle will pop the cones out exactly like the wedges for the spoke wheels ( leaving the nuts on will stop the cones from flying off ) Tip#2 pre lube your inner bearing - little lube on your unitized seal when installing then little lube on the spindle to allow the hub to slide on easy - put the hub half way on to alway you to fill the hub with oil then hub goes on pre lube the outer bearing befor installing - install hub Torque the inner nut to 250 lbs spin the hub 1 full rotation Torque again to 250 and repeat a 3rd time, then back off the nut 1 full turn Then Torque to 50lbs do not rotate the hub wile torqu8ng this 50 lbs the back off 1/4 turn and that should be good Tip 3 the lock ring has the tab and holes on it -if the dowel is 1/2 way in the hole of the lock ring ,flip the ring over it is designed that it will line up 1/2 a hole length from one side of the ring to the other Then last Torque the outer nut to 250lbs

That's one of coolest autocars I've ever seen,I know it's alot of work but we'll worth it ,I don't think anyone will mess with ya out there driveing that tractor.take care.

Bud wheels; never completely remove the lug wedges,,,,,,, 42:15 I stand corrected, you are informed! and I saw the grader was too close. I have to admit; looking down that long shark style hood of the Autocar while your driving it, IS REALLY COOL! 52:46 you might take a close look at that inside dual on the front axle, right side; big chunk out of the tread (might pass inspection, might not?). Seems weird to see the kingpin unlock handle on the passenger side of the vehicle, but I'm not a trucker, just an observer. WHAT A GREAT PROJECT! REALLY LOVE THE LINKS TO ALL THE VIDEOS (here and other multi-part projects). You really do a great job with that and I sincerely appreciate all the thought and time expended in camera locations to show all the different views. It really does add so much to the videos! Well, 2AM CST; Matt has once again kept me in the man cave way past a normal bedtime, but as always, I learned a lot and was greatly entertaine doing it!

Matt if you hit the center of the axle it will “bounce “ the axle off the hub. The keepers will come out also.

I can tell you this for the next time you do this. You should replace the shoes because they soak up the oil like a sponge and you really can’t get them clean enough by doing what you did. The risk you take is having those shoes start on fire because of the residual oil in the material of the shoes. I would also suggest that you shorten up or relocate that airline on the drivers side of the fifth wheel before you run into an overly ambitious DOT officer. They love to make a big deal out of small things.

Nice Truck I had a Model of one when i was a kid , a AMT KIT of a Autocar dump Truck and it was the same color , very cool to see one of the BEST USA TRUCKS EVER MADE FOR FORESTRY .....

8:52 - Reminds me of my nephew trying to get the rotor off with the parking brake engaged.

For future reference, a sharp rap with a hammer on top of the axle flange will pop those tapers right out of their seats. As mentioned before there are 2 sized king pins on the 172 trailer. and the color is Omaha orange.

Matt: Works hard for hours in front of a camera. Me: watches Matt work from the comfort of my couch in the AC AND feeing like I accomplished a job well done. Thanks Matt!!! I needed that boost of self esteem!

I can operate graders! I learned on a Cat 16G, had way more power then the 16H! Then the crazy joystick M model came out. When it came to tires and oil leaks I left that up to the fitters to sort out! God Bless America! From Australia!

Reminds me of an old White Construcktor I used to drive. It had a 250 Cummins with a backdrop manifold and a 5x4.

Was kinda kringing when i saw you take the lug nuts off without making sure the wedges were loose. Those have enough force to bust a knee when they break loose. Also having worked as a truck mechanic i can smell that job! Haha

Had to laugh on a video or so back when you were struggling in the metal (gravel) with your floor jack and I was thinking - "man I bet there isn't going to be a day too soon for your new workshop", to where I had hardly thought it and you said virtually the same thing! Haha, hopefully that day isn't too far away - you deserve it! PS. Hopefully you share the build of it too Matt.

Back in 96 I was driving in 85 Peterbilt and the muffler exploded It almost caused me to have an accident because it sounded just like a bomb went off and all this black smoke and debris filled the cab craziest damn thing I ever witnessed.. those tag fees actually all tag fees are ridiculous.. You definitely need to fix that one eyeball I used to know where so many autocars sat but sadly they are all gone.

I've seen this video before but it came on on autoplay so I'm watching it again. It brought back memories when it gets to the part where you rip the mud flap off. About 25 yrs ago I was new to driving a dump truck and would rip a mud flap off once a week, lol. I was tagged with the cb handle Mudflap from then on.

Great video Matt. Just a suggestion from an old trucker is to spray down the underside with some diesel fuel. It works into the old grease & loosens stuff up. We always used 1202 during the winter time on the 5th wheel because the grease would freeze up running here in northern Ontario.

Tip, if the seal has a spring that is used for tension , pack the seal with grease so when you "persuade" the seal back on, that the spring wont pop out . Once grease, diff fluid, or brake fluid has soaked into brake pads or shoes no matter how clean them , once they get hot, the matter will come out and cause a lock up of that wheel. Replace only.

Matt, I grew up watching and following what my father did. He always used Kerosene to wash his car parts, you could reuse it till it was really dirty. I have never seen any American mechanics use kerosene. An old jam tin and a paintbrush.

This is very sentimental to me ! Awesome job so far ! When I was around 10 in the early 90s I remember an old tandem dump truck grandpa had, most were international S series or Ford L9000 but this was a 73 White konstuctor , with the 555 Cummins and a Allison auto. At 12 I was stockpiling on-site. Great memories!

From working years in the field, a tip. When doing brakes and wheel seals, etc, Yes, cage the brake first. Do not take the wheels off, leave on the hub as an assembly, pop the axle shaft in the center to remove the split cone washers. If not using a crane or lifting device, Lift the truck enough to put a small sheet of plywood twice the width of the dual under the wheels. (You wont need plywood if working on concrete.) Now, On a piece of cardboard, twice the width of the dual wheels also, put a thin layer of grease, set the truck down until just touching the cardboard, remove the lock nuts, then with the wheels just resting on the card board, you should be able to pull the wheel assembly off, sliding on the grease. A pressure washer works great to remove all the oil, dirt etc. Then when assembling, you may need a bit more grease on the cardboard, slowly line up the spindle to not damage the seal, push the assembly back on. The etc, reassemble.

Matt, I’ve been changing all the lights on my equipment to LED’s. I’m sick of blown bulbs and they’re not over priced anymore. Also, it would be better to mount those tail lights inside the frame rails to protect them , just a suggestion. Nice job resurrecting that Autocar.

Perhaps someone has already observed, but oil soaked brake shoes will never get cleaned. Always replace such shoes. Great videos. Have subscribed.

Awesome tractor. I absolutely love old Autocars. There has never been a truck built as beautiful as an Autocar. What a beast.

Once she's repainted that's going to be one great lookin' rig! A lot of work for a truck that'll work so hard for you, Matt.