1977 Cushman Truckster

[CharleyL]

Here are the rest of the photos.

All photos taken seem to have made it. Let me know what you think. I can probably get it in a USPS express mail shipping box, but I don't know what the cost of shipping will be. The cost will be $35 plus what it costs to ship. If you agree, I'll Private Message my contact information. Look for this in the upper right of your screen where it says "Welcome, _______ . When it says "Unread = 1 it will be there. You can respond back with your contact information. Private messages can only be seen by those involved, plus likely the site administrator.
I'll send the Private Message to you when I know the shipping cost.

All I need from you now is that you accept this shipping method and the price.

Charley

[desertjoe]

Hey Charley,,Hoping you are doing better with you ailments,,,,!!! I been working on fashioning some shade tree type plates to keep some Marvel Mystery oil in the cylinders to hopefull free up the pistons / rings on the one new Truckster I got this past weekend. I made some plates from 1/4" plate to block off the intake porton the cylinders and another plate with a 1/4" ell as a riser to fill the combustion chambers with the Marvel oil. I pre-loaded both intake and exhaust valves to keep them open, should let the marvel soak eveery bit of pistons and rings,,,?? I thought I had messed one t of the spark plug holes as I was haveing to bear down on plug to gat it broke free when the dang plug just fell out of cylinder. I was able to screw the plug back on but does not feel goodd,,,?? Have you ever had to install helicoils on these,,?? Do you know who carries them??
On your piston,,is it for a 18 or 22 HP..?? Jack Johnson just told me my engine is in fact a 18 HP,,,!!
At any rate I will buy it from you and will send you a confirming later today. I have a DR's appointment at 2 PM so gotta go,,,PM you later.

[CharleyL]

Joe,
I will be going to the UPS store today because I have an Amazon package to return. The piston is boxed up, so will get it weighed and know the shipping cost. It's packed well, as a $2,000 camera lens came in the box and packing. I doubt that even USPS could break it, but UPS is usually the best way anyway.

If the spark plugs are above center of the cylinders when the motor is assembled, it's a 22hp. If they are below center of the cylinders, then it's an 18 hp. I have been told that the only difference between the engines is the cylinder design. The pistons are supposed to be the same part numbers. Do your pistons look like those in my photos? I tried to show the dimensions using the ruler that I have in the photo studio so by far, not the most accurate.

I will be gone most of the afternoon, but will be back tonight. Can you send me a Private Message with your full mailing address and phone number? Once I have it I'll reply when the package ships and you can send me a check. My reply to your PM will include my full name, address and phone number. I'm quite certain that this is the piston and rod that you need.

Charley

[CharleyL]

Joe,

Click on the "Private Messages" in the upper right of the screen under "desertjoe. It will take you to where you can reply to me without the World seeing your reply.

Charley

[CharleyL]

@desertjoe,

Still waiting for you to contact me. Have you lost interest? That's OK with me, but please respond with your decision. If not interested in the piston and rod, I'll put them back in the garage.

Charley

[desertjoe]

Hey Charley,,,,I apologize as I have been in a world of hurt with so many issues that just will not go away, and have not had time to address them all,,,! I started to get Vertigo some months back and finally got my PCP to get interested and schedule some Therapy three days a week to address it. It does seem to be helping tho, so I'll continue it. Then, I banged my right elbow and it has now filled with some fluid and my PCP has referred me to a specialist to lance it and see how to proceed,,,? Now,,I have personality issues with my oldest son, who does not want to move out and get a life of his own without depending on Daddy for every thing he thinks he needs,,any more!! At this point, I feel my only recourse is to get a restraining order so I can keep my sanity.
On the piston, I'll have to pass as I have been told my engine is a 18 HP and I believe you had mentioned some time back that all your parts were for the 22 HP. So sorry for all the back and forth, Charley but I'm gonna have to address and resolve all these other issues where I can work on my project with a clearer mind. I've had some "OOPS SLIPS" for redos because of all these other issues taking my mind off the project at hand.
Those two other Cushman's I recently bought are both models with the curved windshields and with all my searching have located only ONE person that makes them out of POLYCARBON at the tune of $600 bucks a piece,,,!!! Holy Chit,,!! That is not Capitalism,,thats frigging Hiway Robbery,,!!
I'm hoping you might know someone that has a couple of these in their back pocket ,,,,OR,,know of who is making them from Polycarbon OR some other space age material,,,,???

[CharleyL]

@desertjoe,

Sorry to hear of your problems. I have been through that with some of my adult kids too, but one is back anyway, since he developed muscular dystrophy and is in an electric wheelchair now. When we are gone, he will likely end up in an institution somewhere.

Everything that I've learned about the OMC engines was that both the 18 and 22 hp versions were identical, except for the cylinders, and that the pistons for both engines are identical. I believe that I was told this by the counter guy at www.denniscarpenter cushman.com . I'll leave the piston in the photos packed up and just put it in the garage with the other parts. If you should decide that you want it later, just let me know. My price won't change, but the shipping charges likely will. I'm a very long way to recovering what I paid for those two OMC parts engines that I have, so just trying to be fair about selling any parts, with just the desire to recover what I can of my investment. They sell for much more than I ask on Ebay.

I'm a bit of a time bomb though, with so much already wrong with me, and I can't see the fuse on this bomb, so I have no idea how long before the end comes for me. Look at the Private Mail that I sent and print it out so you can get in touch with me should anything change via all of the contact information that I provided. I was once locked out of this site, due to some kind of password snafu, for about a year. Then, all of a sudden, I could get back on, but in the meantime another good Cushman guy with the name "Turfspray", who had been locked out too, and he never made it back. I think he may have gone on to cleaner grass and is hiding under it now. Searching his older posts may provide some good information though, especially for those older Cushmans. I never had much to do with anything Cushman, until I bought and restored the 1987 Truckster that I have. I did it the hard way, finding parts needed any way that I could, and since then, helping others with similar Truckster and OMC engine problems.

I'll still do my best to help if you have any other questions while on your Cushman restoration journey. I do suggest that you look at the new engines that are available and consider replacing that OMC with something like the new engine from Harbor Freight, or go with something more powerful, like the 4 cylinder water cooled motorcycle engine from a wreck. Shaft size adaptation and keeping it under the seat will be the biggest concerns. Many other engines won't likely meet the "fit under the seat" requirement.

I'm still dealing with my leg pain problems, but I'm improving.

Charley

Charley

[desertjoe]

Well, Charley,, Many THanks for the vote of confidence,,,I am a champion of us Senior Citizens trying to help each other whenever possible ,,So,,if you should need any assistance feel free to just ask. I am going to complete this OMC just cause it is complete and I have fixed it's ails and it should last forever the way I drive and my GF drives much slower than I and is much more careful of equipment,,,!!
I have no idea how this Restraining Order is going to shake out but I'm sure it will be ugly before it is resolved,,,That's just the kind of person he is,,,!! If MY parents wanted me to MOVE OUT OF THEIR HOUSE,I am positive I would have already hauled azz. That is the kind of world we live in,,isn't it,,,??
I would really LOVE to shoe horn a newer design engine like you refer to in the other two Trucksters I have,,, I dislike to always be looking for hard to find parts that are already 30-40 years old and difficult to find and you have to expect to pay premium prices for 30 year old parts.
Do you know anything about the engines that Harbor Freight sells,,??
Take care of yourself, Charley,,,,,

[CharleyL]

In most cases. the Chinese Harbor Freight engines seem to be low budget copies of Honda engines. My son has a few of the single cylinder Harbor Freight engines and has had good luck with them, but no one that I know has the 2 cylinder version. I almost cbought one several years ago, but was also looking for a Honda 1,000 cc wrecked motorcycle for the possibility of using that engine. It would fit under the seat, it's water cooled, and the motorcycle guys say it's very reliable, but very likely motor mounts and shaft adapters would need to be found or made, probably for both engine conversions. A lot of metric to Imperial conversions would likely need to be made for the Honda motorcycle engine too. Then there is the question about reverse. Motorcycle transmissions don't have reverse, so keeping the Cushman transmission would be best, if possible.

Your other two Cushmans likely had Briggs & Stratton 1 cylinder engines or something similar, with centrifugal clutches likely made by Globe. Though likely easier to convert to another similar sized engine, I don't know enough about them to give you any other advice, but they were very likely way under powered for their size and weight too.

A wrecked snowmobile engine is something that I never explored, but may be worth looking into for even your OMC replacement. Again, no reverse but may have the needed power.

Charley