Polymerc
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- Snohomish, Washington
So this trip was pretty stupid from the start, I should have never attempted this. I was somewhat motivated by some of the stories of people having success with towing M923's with M923's, so I figured I should be alright. Granted pulling 27000-29000 pounds with a 22,000 pound truck is never that great when flat towing. Specially from Snohomish, Washington to Devils Lake, North Dakota.
So I left Snohomish, Washington in my m923A2, which is a great runner and in the middle of a paint job. Its slow going since I got stationed in Hawaii, so I fly over to do work on it when I can. My brother was nice enough, or as crazy as I am and volunteered to come with. So here is a pic that I took at the first rest stop.
So we traveled non-stop, problem or glitch one. We looked at the gauges and have always filled up the truck around a quarter tank. My brother was driving and decided that we could make it (it was at a quarter tank) through spokane and get some gas. Well didn't really turn out that way, apparently there might be a leak in the gas tank at around quarter or 22 gallons left in the tank. Needless to stay we ran out of gas around 22 feet from an exit with a gas station in sight. Being problably the luckiest people alive, I started my walk to get some gas, I got to the gas station with my gas can (never leave home without it) and found out that station had only regular. Once again people are awesome and a guy with a 2500 dodge with a 20 foot trailer saw me and took me to get gas and even gave me a ride back. Talk about a nice guy. We got some gas in the truck and filled it up at the same place. 5 gallons wont get you far, so glad the next exit was right next to the gas station around a mile down the highway.
Now as a note our route had us go through stevens pass (not as busy as I-90) because we didn't want the huge inclines that are on I-90 knowing that we had a load that was substantially larger than rated. I have no idea why I just didn't say we wouldn't do it. So on I-90 we made it into Montana and got on to the 2. While on 2 we decided to hit up a gas station, which had only two pumps. Naturally we shut down the truck and filled it up, used the restroom and got some snacks. Went out side and the went to start the truck. The truck did a slow turn over and wouldn't start. Well, knowing that the new truck would need new batteries, we had brought an extra pair. Now I had just assumed that my brother who bought the batteries would get the screw stems instead of the compression. But he got the compression fittings for the battery. Since I had left the fittings inside the truck just in case, it took me around an hour to put it all back together. We got everything set and turned on the power and "click." I was thinking "wow already screwed and didn't even get there yet. We tried a few more things, checking connections and all that. Didn't work, so I closed the seat, and for whatever reason, it started right up. We continued on wards and got to the hotel in Devils lake, no real incidents, roughly around 8 mpg average.
Yeah I know that green isn't that great, when the truck is wet it really makes it look alot different in color, but I guess you can see where I am going with it.
So we stayed the night and had some pizza next door, obviously we were beat, after 1400 miles without stops. We got there around 1800 that night and had to be at the base at 0800 for pickup. At 0700 We went to O'Reilly autoparts where I had picked up the batteries and threw on the chargers. They weren't too bad, but we didn't have enough time to get them fully charged. The night before we bought a battery charger, but it didn't charge them over night, so we hoped the quick charger at the store would top them off. Which it didn't at that point we put the batteries in the truck and went to pick it up.
So we saw the truck. There was a few things that I found that weren't as advertised. First was after inspection, between the time of the auction and time of the pickup someone had stolen the alternator out of the truck. So while we did the inspection I got the towbars and air hoses hooked up, the second problem I noticed was there isn't a tow connection in the front. I should've known but didn't do the proper research. But we mentioned it to the Staff Sergeant that was there and he ran off, cause we needed some pliers to get one of the pins out of the front of the other truck for the towbars. He came back with not only the pliers but also the tow cable. I was going to make them but he had them. So pretty awesome guy helped us out the whole time. He saw the problems with the alternator and apparently the had a scrap truck on the lot, it was an m818 so we were able to grab the alternator out of that. He went off again while i hooked it all back up, and got all the batteries ready. So as I hooked up the alternator I had another problem, when the people who stole my alternator took it. They had cut the power lines with a knife or something, so I couldn't hook up the leads to the battery. Apparently opening the small box on the top of the alternator was took difficult or something. So alittle upset, I decided that we should just get on the road and tow it. So I go back to the M923A2 and "click," its like little gremlins are attacking my brain at this point. So we sat around till SGT came back and he grabed a CUCV and jumped my truck. Now the M820A2 we hooked up the jumper and tried to turn the engine. It didn't work, there is plenty of things that it could be, so I didn't think much of it, just that it sucks. So we went to pull out the m820A2 and it was buried in large ruts, so put it in 6x6 and slow pulled it out. The lights obviously didn't work with the m820A2 so we ended up putting the emergency flashers on with the m820A2 and took off.
So the drive back. So we started the drive back around noon that day, trust me when I say you could tell it was back there. Although that is kinda stating the obvious, it had some very large problems wanting to get it going, but we ended up getting it up to around 50mph till it started to want to go its own directions. I think at around one hour into the trip I turned to my brother and said "NEVER AGAIN." Knowing the power issues we were having we decided to keep the truck running while refueling. Going through North Dakota we saw that HWY 2 can bypass alot of I-90 and was quicker and looked like it was a bit flater since the M923A2 was not having a great time but could still pull it. So sometime around 8pm we came on our first major incline. Honestly it shouldn't have made it, but we took it all the way up at around 10 mph, it had also started to rain. So when we got to the top we noticed road construction ahead. At that point we had built up speed and I told my brother to slow down before we hit the road. It didn't seem like he did but when we hit that gravel he hit the brakes. Since the hoses we had for the air connections were cheap and not large enough (found this out later) the truck in the back didn't want to stop. The lead truck got more than few degrees off twice then slowed down. Lucky to be alive at that point, the road was so bad and the lack of real suspension in the M923A2 we went around 15 mph. Probably the worse part of the trip as for life threatening instances. We stopped the first chance we got, the detour was very narrow, at a gas station for some gas and that.
Its somewhat hard to tell how much mud is all over the truck. But the rocks had broke both of the round mirrors on the other truck. There also was about an inch of mud coating all the forward parts of the truck. Enough that we had to clean off the blinkers so you could see them again. We continued the trip and also continued to swap drivers. Got another shot of the trucks at the gas station. I forgot to mention or forgot when it happened, but we had to goto a gas station and it wasn't really designed with flat towing trucks so I took a rather short turn around and snapped an air hose on the emergency side. Didn't find out till I tried to stop at the stop sign by the onramp. I pulled off to the side and only one place had them, which was napa. They only had one set because a trucker ordered them and never picked them up. They were $100 for a set, so not having a choice I got the new hoses installed, which was a blessing because it really came in handy later. It almost seemed like the rear tuck had more breaking power at that point.
So we got to spokane, washington and decided to stop back at O'reillys to get the batteries in the trucks charged again. M923A2 had lost its lights and the M820A2 had really dim blickers. We got there at around 5pm, so with plenty of time to charge the batteries, but no parking near the place. I carried all four to the O'reillys. Now I hook up mine as just two in series, which can be a mistake but also works. When we started charging them, two were almost dead, and two were just about charged. I have alot of guesses of why that is, but probably all wrong. Either way we had some dinner and waited outside. While I was there, I fixed the bad alternator wires and had it all ready to go. So we put all the batteries in the trucks and go to start my M923A2, and "click." At this point I am really getting frusterated and obviously tired as its our 4th day of travel with only one hotel. I called the seattle cummings emergency line, and it just so happened that a guy was working that used to be in the army working on those trucks. He suggested that I swap out the starter switchs on the truck since I wasn't getting the battery gauge to work. The lights worked but not the gauge. So I started trouble shooting, and while talking to my Girl, which she also has worked on big trucks, she got me thinking about the CTIS. During the trip I had unplugged it to conserve power, well I plugged it up and the truck started right up. Honestly I think its some weird coincidence, but might indicate were the power problem is. But I will take it! Here's a pic of me waiting for the batteries on top of the M820A2.
So we started to drive at around 10pm, and prayed for nothing else to happen, which of course it did. Somewhere before we hit I-90 the batteries in the M923 had gotten so bad that the headlights stopped working. Apparently there is a ground somewhere, the battery gauge indicated green, but the trucks batteries were gone. So we drove without lights for about 1/4 mile to a weigh station and parked her at around midnight. Defeated, we decided to wait till morning, unfortunately my brother had only requested off so much work and had to be picked up. Around 120 miles from home. I also had to keep the truck on the whole time since it wouldn't start again if I shut it off. Trust me these trucks get very cold without power in the middle of the night. Specially by yourself. My girl was nice enough to talk to me for most of the night till around 7am when I had day light. I did the bad thing and decided to turn on the emergencies on the rear truck and drove the rest of the way home. Sorry for all those that are crazy about laws, but I wasn't going to leave 28 tons of trucks sitting at a weigh station.
So I got it back around 3 miles from home and realized that my M923A2 wouldn't be able to pull the M820A2 up the large hill before we got there. So I called my other brother to come down and see if we could pop start it. Since the rear truck still had power and I put the power switch from the M923A2, which might be bad since it didn't turn on the guages again. I decided that I just wanted to see if I could get the engine to turn. So I told my brother to just leave it in first gear and I would slow pull. Don't pop it, just want to see if the engine will turn. Well he dropped it into gear and left skid marks down the road. Being in the military, people who don't follow instructions then do their own thing really irritate me, but regardless I had to call places to get it stored. Which is alot harder to do, since most places won't accept vehicles that wont start. We ended up pulling it around 30 min away. With seattle traffic its pretty much ****.
So when I got there I managed to get the truck there and they wanted me to back it into the stall. SIGH, so the took me around a long way. When I saw the situation I was in an end parking space and they had dirt/mud ends on the parking so the RV's would make it around. The guy thought I would get stuck, but hey my m923A2 can go anywhere right? So I looped the whole thing around and had it lined up. I pulled off the tow bars and turned around the M923A2, rehooked up the hoses and pushed it back nose to nose. Where it is currently sitting now. Which is pretty much yesterday.
The m923A2 I had my brother escort back to the house because of the lights, and a guy in a delivery truck pulled out in front of me, and I slowed down, but not enough and his truck took out my drivers side mirror. The bastard ended up taking off when I pulled over. So down a mirror I got it all the way home and shut it down. Sorry was so tired I forgot to take pictures of everything but will take more of both on request.
So the plan now is to find out where the ground is on my M923A2, and figure out whats wrong with the M820A2. I am leaving back to hawaii very soon so I don't expect to be able to fix it before I leave. My guess is that the engine is seized, but my brother read the TM on it, and it could be a few different things that could be causing the engine not to turn.
So rant and rave at me, tell me I am stupid. I am absolutely dumb for doing what I did, but my M923A2 was a trooper and got me through it. Saved me thousands costs of trying to get it towed or whatnot.
If you guys have something for me to try, please I am all ears. At this point I am almost looking for an engine swap.
So I left Snohomish, Washington in my m923A2, which is a great runner and in the middle of a paint job. Its slow going since I got stationed in Hawaii, so I fly over to do work on it when I can. My brother was nice enough, or as crazy as I am and volunteered to come with. So here is a pic that I took at the first rest stop.
So we traveled non-stop, problem or glitch one. We looked at the gauges and have always filled up the truck around a quarter tank. My brother was driving and decided that we could make it (it was at a quarter tank) through spokane and get some gas. Well didn't really turn out that way, apparently there might be a leak in the gas tank at around quarter or 22 gallons left in the tank. Needless to stay we ran out of gas around 22 feet from an exit with a gas station in sight. Being problably the luckiest people alive, I started my walk to get some gas, I got to the gas station with my gas can (never leave home without it) and found out that station had only regular. Once again people are awesome and a guy with a 2500 dodge with a 20 foot trailer saw me and took me to get gas and even gave me a ride back. Talk about a nice guy. We got some gas in the truck and filled it up at the same place. 5 gallons wont get you far, so glad the next exit was right next to the gas station around a mile down the highway.
Now as a note our route had us go through stevens pass (not as busy as I-90) because we didn't want the huge inclines that are on I-90 knowing that we had a load that was substantially larger than rated. I have no idea why I just didn't say we wouldn't do it. So on I-90 we made it into Montana and got on to the 2. While on 2 we decided to hit up a gas station, which had only two pumps. Naturally we shut down the truck and filled it up, used the restroom and got some snacks. Went out side and the went to start the truck. The truck did a slow turn over and wouldn't start. Well, knowing that the new truck would need new batteries, we had brought an extra pair. Now I had just assumed that my brother who bought the batteries would get the screw stems instead of the compression. But he got the compression fittings for the battery. Since I had left the fittings inside the truck just in case, it took me around an hour to put it all back together. We got everything set and turned on the power and "click." I was thinking "wow already screwed and didn't even get there yet. We tried a few more things, checking connections and all that. Didn't work, so I closed the seat, and for whatever reason, it started right up. We continued on wards and got to the hotel in Devils lake, no real incidents, roughly around 8 mpg average.
Yeah I know that green isn't that great, when the truck is wet it really makes it look alot different in color, but I guess you can see where I am going with it.
So we stayed the night and had some pizza next door, obviously we were beat, after 1400 miles without stops. We got there around 1800 that night and had to be at the base at 0800 for pickup. At 0700 We went to O'Reilly autoparts where I had picked up the batteries and threw on the chargers. They weren't too bad, but we didn't have enough time to get them fully charged. The night before we bought a battery charger, but it didn't charge them over night, so we hoped the quick charger at the store would top them off. Which it didn't at that point we put the batteries in the truck and went to pick it up.
So we saw the truck. There was a few things that I found that weren't as advertised. First was after inspection, between the time of the auction and time of the pickup someone had stolen the alternator out of the truck. So while we did the inspection I got the towbars and air hoses hooked up, the second problem I noticed was there isn't a tow connection in the front. I should've known but didn't do the proper research. But we mentioned it to the Staff Sergeant that was there and he ran off, cause we needed some pliers to get one of the pins out of the front of the other truck for the towbars. He came back with not only the pliers but also the tow cable. I was going to make them but he had them. So pretty awesome guy helped us out the whole time. He saw the problems with the alternator and apparently the had a scrap truck on the lot, it was an m818 so we were able to grab the alternator out of that. He went off again while i hooked it all back up, and got all the batteries ready. So as I hooked up the alternator I had another problem, when the people who stole my alternator took it. They had cut the power lines with a knife or something, so I couldn't hook up the leads to the battery. Apparently opening the small box on the top of the alternator was took difficult or something. So alittle upset, I decided that we should just get on the road and tow it. So I go back to the M923A2 and "click," its like little gremlins are attacking my brain at this point. So we sat around till SGT came back and he grabed a CUCV and jumped my truck. Now the M820A2 we hooked up the jumper and tried to turn the engine. It didn't work, there is plenty of things that it could be, so I didn't think much of it, just that it sucks. So we went to pull out the m820A2 and it was buried in large ruts, so put it in 6x6 and slow pulled it out. The lights obviously didn't work with the m820A2 so we ended up putting the emergency flashers on with the m820A2 and took off.
So the drive back. So we started the drive back around noon that day, trust me when I say you could tell it was back there. Although that is kinda stating the obvious, it had some very large problems wanting to get it going, but we ended up getting it up to around 50mph till it started to want to go its own directions. I think at around one hour into the trip I turned to my brother and said "NEVER AGAIN." Knowing the power issues we were having we decided to keep the truck running while refueling. Going through North Dakota we saw that HWY 2 can bypass alot of I-90 and was quicker and looked like it was a bit flater since the M923A2 was not having a great time but could still pull it. So sometime around 8pm we came on our first major incline. Honestly it shouldn't have made it, but we took it all the way up at around 10 mph, it had also started to rain. So when we got to the top we noticed road construction ahead. At that point we had built up speed and I told my brother to slow down before we hit the road. It didn't seem like he did but when we hit that gravel he hit the brakes. Since the hoses we had for the air connections were cheap and not large enough (found this out later) the truck in the back didn't want to stop. The lead truck got more than few degrees off twice then slowed down. Lucky to be alive at that point, the road was so bad and the lack of real suspension in the M923A2 we went around 15 mph. Probably the worse part of the trip as for life threatening instances. We stopped the first chance we got, the detour was very narrow, at a gas station for some gas and that.
Its somewhat hard to tell how much mud is all over the truck. But the rocks had broke both of the round mirrors on the other truck. There also was about an inch of mud coating all the forward parts of the truck. Enough that we had to clean off the blinkers so you could see them again. We continued the trip and also continued to swap drivers. Got another shot of the trucks at the gas station. I forgot to mention or forgot when it happened, but we had to goto a gas station and it wasn't really designed with flat towing trucks so I took a rather short turn around and snapped an air hose on the emergency side. Didn't find out till I tried to stop at the stop sign by the onramp. I pulled off to the side and only one place had them, which was napa. They only had one set because a trucker ordered them and never picked them up. They were $100 for a set, so not having a choice I got the new hoses installed, which was a blessing because it really came in handy later. It almost seemed like the rear tuck had more breaking power at that point.
So we got to spokane, washington and decided to stop back at O'reillys to get the batteries in the trucks charged again. M923A2 had lost its lights and the M820A2 had really dim blickers. We got there at around 5pm, so with plenty of time to charge the batteries, but no parking near the place. I carried all four to the O'reillys. Now I hook up mine as just two in series, which can be a mistake but also works. When we started charging them, two were almost dead, and two were just about charged. I have alot of guesses of why that is, but probably all wrong. Either way we had some dinner and waited outside. While I was there, I fixed the bad alternator wires and had it all ready to go. So we put all the batteries in the trucks and go to start my M923A2, and "click." At this point I am really getting frusterated and obviously tired as its our 4th day of travel with only one hotel. I called the seattle cummings emergency line, and it just so happened that a guy was working that used to be in the army working on those trucks. He suggested that I swap out the starter switchs on the truck since I wasn't getting the battery gauge to work. The lights worked but not the gauge. So I started trouble shooting, and while talking to my Girl, which she also has worked on big trucks, she got me thinking about the CTIS. During the trip I had unplugged it to conserve power, well I plugged it up and the truck started right up. Honestly I think its some weird coincidence, but might indicate were the power problem is. But I will take it! Here's a pic of me waiting for the batteries on top of the M820A2.
So we started to drive at around 10pm, and prayed for nothing else to happen, which of course it did. Somewhere before we hit I-90 the batteries in the M923 had gotten so bad that the headlights stopped working. Apparently there is a ground somewhere, the battery gauge indicated green, but the trucks batteries were gone. So we drove without lights for about 1/4 mile to a weigh station and parked her at around midnight. Defeated, we decided to wait till morning, unfortunately my brother had only requested off so much work and had to be picked up. Around 120 miles from home. I also had to keep the truck on the whole time since it wouldn't start again if I shut it off. Trust me these trucks get very cold without power in the middle of the night. Specially by yourself. My girl was nice enough to talk to me for most of the night till around 7am when I had day light. I did the bad thing and decided to turn on the emergencies on the rear truck and drove the rest of the way home. Sorry for all those that are crazy about laws, but I wasn't going to leave 28 tons of trucks sitting at a weigh station.
So I got it back around 3 miles from home and realized that my M923A2 wouldn't be able to pull the M820A2 up the large hill before we got there. So I called my other brother to come down and see if we could pop start it. Since the rear truck still had power and I put the power switch from the M923A2, which might be bad since it didn't turn on the guages again. I decided that I just wanted to see if I could get the engine to turn. So I told my brother to just leave it in first gear and I would slow pull. Don't pop it, just want to see if the engine will turn. Well he dropped it into gear and left skid marks down the road. Being in the military, people who don't follow instructions then do their own thing really irritate me, but regardless I had to call places to get it stored. Which is alot harder to do, since most places won't accept vehicles that wont start. We ended up pulling it around 30 min away. With seattle traffic its pretty much ****.
So when I got there I managed to get the truck there and they wanted me to back it into the stall. SIGH, so the took me around a long way. When I saw the situation I was in an end parking space and they had dirt/mud ends on the parking so the RV's would make it around. The guy thought I would get stuck, but hey my m923A2 can go anywhere right? So I looped the whole thing around and had it lined up. I pulled off the tow bars and turned around the M923A2, rehooked up the hoses and pushed it back nose to nose. Where it is currently sitting now. Which is pretty much yesterday.
The m923A2 I had my brother escort back to the house because of the lights, and a guy in a delivery truck pulled out in front of me, and I slowed down, but not enough and his truck took out my drivers side mirror. The bastard ended up taking off when I pulled over. So down a mirror I got it all the way home and shut it down. Sorry was so tired I forgot to take pictures of everything but will take more of both on request.
So the plan now is to find out where the ground is on my M923A2, and figure out whats wrong with the M820A2. I am leaving back to hawaii very soon so I don't expect to be able to fix it before I leave. My guess is that the engine is seized, but my brother read the TM on it, and it could be a few different things that could be causing the engine not to turn.
So rant and rave at me, tell me I am stupid. I am absolutely dumb for doing what I did, but my M923A2 was a trooper and got me through it. Saved me thousands costs of trying to get it towed or whatnot.
If you guys have something for me to try, please I am all ears. At this point I am almost looking for an engine swap.
It is best to pull start something in a higher gear.