Ice Cream Truck

[TGESIOR]

Hello, I have just purchased a 1966 ford good humor truck. It has a Brunner Compressor with a large drive motor. The motor blows the breaker after 5 minutes. This is not the orginal motor. It has no tag on the motor. What is the rpm speed the pump should run at so I can replace the motor? Also I would like to know if there is a way to upgrade the system to a more efficient one?

[TGESIOR]

Also this is a 110 motor not 220.

[tbirdtbird]

The original compressors on these trucks were Copeland semihermetics. Upgrading is possible but way outside the scope of a shade tree mechanic. Can you post some pix of what you have for a refer system?

[tbirdtbird]

BTW you will need to check the integrity of the Dole holdover plates inside the box. To do this you will need someone small enough to crawl inside one of the hatches or remove the back panel off the box. Once inside, you want to thump hard in the middle of each cold plate (there are 4) with your fist. You should hear a dull thud much as tho you were hitting a formica desktop with your fist. If you get a hollow sound then the plate has leaked and is no good. Also if the plate has swelled at all it is no good. Lastly, look carefully at the floor inside the box. If it is rusty then a plate has leaked its brine out and it has rusted the floor, that plate is no good.
You need to know that a plate could leak its brine (salt water) into the refer piping inside the plate. This piping is steel. If this has happened then the entire inside of the system is highly contaminated and the compressor has been ruined.
There are only a few of these trucks left , probably less than 100, but most have many many refer mechanical issues.
Good Humor switched to step vans in the early seventies, and dry ice boxes gave way to a compressor operated cold plate holdover system in the early fifties. A properly operating cold plate system pulls down to -20 or so overnight (the brine is formulated to freeze at -12 or -15) and will keep the ice cream frozen the entire day that the driver was on his route out in the hot sun. Then you plug it in at night and start all over.

[TGESIOR]

Tbirdtbird Thankyou for the info. The inside is clean. I was going to remove the rear section of the box because there is some rust i wanted to repair and i wanted to get the lights working. The freezer worked last fall untill the motor cut out. The wires inside the motor were cracked. I did my best to repair with shrink tube. I will check the holdover plates this week. Nice truck you have. Looks like a 1953.

[tbirdtbird]

"The freezer worked last fall untill the motor cut out."
Do you know this personally?

Did you get this from Bill G? (Blue SkyBar?)
This link may help
http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=144779

[TGESIOR]

Yes it did work, the motor was sparking. I did not get the truck from Bill, I did speak to him because I need the large box which goes under the glove box. He was not able to help.

[TGESIOR]

TBIRD,
I finally checked the plates. They are clean and no bumps on the surface. I have priceed a new motor to run the compressor. However I contacted Nelson manufacturing in Ohio. They can sell me a brand new condensing unit for $390.00. It is model #N 60030/ SC12CLX.2. This will replace everthing I have. My concern is the price. The motor alone to power the old unit is $450.00, and I still have to have the Brunner compressor serviced. Do you think this will work for my truck?

[tbirdtbird]

Sorry i am just now seeing this post dated 15-2-2011, i don't usually follow this in the winter. Am not fully sure of what combination of components you will end up with. I also have a brand new Tecumseh condensing unit available which would work nicely. Maybe we should switch to email. Let me know

[TGESIOR]

tgcompany1@aol.com