Hello Everyone

[TheQuaker]

Thanks! I know of one near me, and I do own an M928A1 I need to fix up. What are your plans for this big girl you acquired?

Good luck with your 928...that is a long truck to maneuver without a pivot point somewhere...
My first order of business is to check all my truck's systems out thoroughly and get her mechanicals serviced and updated. She has sat for at least 6 years and just sitting in a MV yard is very bad for heavy duty trucks. Several minor things actually went away as the various systems and components were finally exercised, flexed, rattled, shaken, heated up thoroughly, etc. on the drive home. These trucks need to be driven.
She will be getting exercised as a farm truck on the family farm so she will not be a Pavement Princess, that is for sure. No super heavy hauling planned for her but the 14' bed and off-pavement capabilities will be put to good use.
Despite her semi-regular day job on the farm she will still be my hobby truck so it will not be "all work and no play" for her. I will be doing some off-the-shelf updates and mods as well as some custom updates/installations I have in my head I want to engineer and try as I go along.

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[71DeuceAK]

Good luck with your 928...that is a long truck to maneuver without a pivot point somewhere...
My first order of business is to check all my truck's systems out thoroughly and get her mechanicals serviced and updated. She has sat for at least 6 years and just sitting in a MV yard is very bad for heavy duty trucks. Several minor things actually went away as the various systems and components were finally exercised, flexed, rattled, shaken, heated up thoroughly, etc. on the drive home. These trucks need to be driven.
She will be getting exercised as a farm truck on the family farm so she will not be a Pavement Princess, that is for sure. No super heavy hauling planned for her but the 14' bed and off-pavement capabilities will be put to good use.
Despite her semi-regular day job on the farm she will still be my hobby truck so it will not be "all work and no play" for her. I will be doing some off-the-shelf updates and mods as well as some custom updates/installations I have in my head I want to engineer and try as I go along.

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She is indeed awfully long and awkward, but she's a rare oddball and was crying out to be saved, so I practically bankrupted myself (student budget) to buy her.

Re: yours and sitting, that sounds about right! I know someone's tear-jerking (in a good way!) story of rescuing an M925A2 from almost certainly becoming #2 scrap steel. He swore that he and a former-army-mechanic buddy of his who remembered working on them during his time of service went to go pick her up...got her running...fought with stale fuel, long-flat batteries, etc, etc...he swore that they got her running and out the gate, and 20 minutes down the road he swears she perked right up, started running better, riding better, lights just started popping on on the dash, CTIS started to actually work. He coined it: "All I do is add a little diesel and she does all the driving, I'm just along for the ride"

Glad to hear you are exercising her as she needs to be. They weren't designed to sit. When I one day am able, my truck(s) will work for their keep, but will play plenty too!

 

[TheQuaker]

She is indeed awfully long and awkward, but she's a rare oddball and was crying out to be saved, so I practically bankrupted myself (student budget) to buy her.

Re: yours and sitting, that sounds about right! I know someone's tear-jerking (in a good way!) story of rescuing an M925A2 from almost certainly becoming #2 scrap steel. He swore that he and a former-army-mechanic buddy of his who remembered working on them during his time of service went to go pick her up...got her running...fought with stale fuel, long-flat batteries, etc, etc...he swore that they got her running and out the gate, and 20 minutes down the road he swears she perked right up, started running better, riding better, lights just started popping on on the dash, CTIS started to actually work. He coined it: "All I do is add a little diesel and she does all the driving, I'm just along for the ride"

Glad to hear you are exercising her as she needs to be. They weren't designed to sit. When I one day am able, my truck(s) will work for their keep, but will play plenty too!

Yes. Miracles can happen...even with 5-ton trucks!





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[Migginsbros]

Welcome to the site, nice 5ton.

 

[TheQuaker]

Welcome to the site, nice 5ton.

Thanks for the welcome. I'll be posting up more pictures later in the week when I can get out back out to take them. Work is getting in the way of fun again...grrrrr...

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[71DeuceAK]

Yes. Miracles can happen...even with 5-ton trucks!






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Darn right they can. There is something about these trucks, they have thoughts and feelings too it seems!

 

[fasttruck]

While everybody is saying hello, if you haven't thought of it already get the pubs for this truck: operators' manual, organizational maintenance manual, lubrication order. Caging pins for rear brakes present ? I recall the LO authorizes either Dextron or 10w oil for the transmission, but not both at the same time. What does yours have? Don't back up with the transfer case in low range. Have you figured out how to operate an Army light switch yet? The operators manual tells how. It also explains how to operate the isolated air reservoir valve on the dashboard which is a feature not often seen in commercial trucks.

 

[TheQuaker]

While everybody is saying hello, if you haven't thought of it already get the pubs for this truck: operators' manual, organizational maintenance manual, lubrication order. Caging pins for rear brakes present ? I recall the LO authorizes either Dextron or 10w oil for the transmission, but not both at the same time. What does yours have? Don't back up with the transfer case in low range. Have you figured out how to operate an Army light switch yet? The operators manual tells how. It also explains how to operate the isolated air reservoir valve on the dashboard which is a feature not often seen in commercial trucks.

Hi fasttruck.
Thanks for checking with me to help make sure I get a good start. I appreciate it.
Actually, long before I purchased my truck (~2 years or so) I was downloading, reading, studying and becoming familiar with the systems, operation and maintenance of the trucks via all the pertinent documents available.
Now that I own a M923 I have the M939 series -10 TM and -12 LO printed to have hard copies to keep with the truck so I can access or reference them anytime, even when I am elbow-deep in grease and oil and would rather not goober up my tablet. Plastic sheet protectors work great to protect the printed pages and can be cleaned and are cheap enough to just toss if they get too bad. The other various organizational TM's, etc. are already downloaded to my tablet, laptop and on a thumb drive as well for when I am in front of a PC or laptop that is not mine.
During that same pre-ownership period I also spent hundreds (thousands most likely) of hours lurking here on SS reading posts, threads, gleaning information from the members here to help prepare myself.
Because of this preparation I finally felt confident to take the MV plunge myself at this time.
Obviously, you can only get so far with research and reading and I still have much to learn about my big green girl but I think I am as prepared as I can be to start this adventure.
But now that I have her home I am "starting from the start" with the manuals, the knowledge I have gained and with my SS support machine if I really get stumped, need advice on something just not covered anywhere or maybe just some moral support if things get sticky...
Thanks again.




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[TheQuaker]

As requested and as promised, here are pictures of my big girl. A nice, clean, great running truck!

Finally had some good weather over the weekend and the setting sun made for some nice shots out at the farm...

NOTE: Pictures uploaded poorly from my tablet...going to try from my Laptop instead.

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[TheQuaker]

Once more...

 

[71DeuceAK]

Hi fasttruck.
Thanks for checking with me to help make sure I get a good start. I appreciate it.
Actually, long before I purchased my truck (~2 years or so) I was downloading, reading, studying and becoming familiar with the systems, operation and maintenance of the trucks via all the pertinent documents available.
Now that I own a M923 I have the M939 series -10 TM and -12 LO printed to have hard copies to keep with the truck so I can access or reference them anytime, even when I am elbow-deep in grease and oil and would rather not goober up my tablet. Plastic sheet protectors work great to protect the printed pages and can be cleaned and are cheap enough to just toss if they get too bad. The other various organizational TM's, etc. are already downloaded to my tablet, laptop and on a thumb drive as well for when I am in front of a PC or laptop that is not mine.
During that same pre-ownership period I also spent hundreds (thousands most likely) of hours lurking here on SS reading posts, threads, gleaning information from the members here to help prepare myself.
Because of this preparation I finally felt confident to take the MV plunge myself at this time.
Obviously, you can only get so far with research and reading and I still have much to learn about my big green girl but I think I am as prepared as I can be to start this adventure.
But now that I have her home I am "starting from the start" with the manuals, the knowledge I have gained and with my SS support machine if I really get stumped, need advice on something just not covered anywhere or maybe just some moral support if things get sticky...
Thanks again.




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I feel ya on the reading up on them for years straight first! Took me about 3 years of it before I took the plunge on mine. I had several failed attempts at M35A2s and M939s where I'd either get outbid, someone would snap up a private sale ahead of me, or I couldn't make funds flow quickly enough. With that said, those failed attempts taught me a lot about the purchasing process. Mine was the first vehicle I ever owned so it taught me a lot about even getting a vehicle titled or what to look for when purchasing any vehicle. I bought the manuals long before the truck, in fact I bought my first -10 with funds available through my school district as a senior in high school (Teachers couldn't believe it). Ironically I've since given away my manuals to other members before I did buy a truck, but I need to find more of them!

Side note, seeing your photos, she's an awful pretty big girl. Looks just like the one I've been trying to buy but haven't been Able to make funding work out on, except she had some remnants of woodland camo as well, but was also largely forest green. If I could actually score her, I would frankly make her my daily driver once I had my Class B.

 

[TheQuaker]

Thanks, 71Deuce. Good luck.
Luckily here in Michigan you do not need a CDL to own/drive a 5-ton unless you are using it for paid commercial purposes.
She was painted to all desert tan at some point and later had a hasty, almost transparent, green re-shoot done.
The camo hard top is new and was on it when surplused and it is in terrific shape in and out. Interesting that the black and brown camo paint is intact on the cab top but almost 100% of the green is gone. A paint prep issue most likely or maybe a bad batch of paint.
Also, the truck is a 1983 build but the engine was assembled in 1986. So a complete engine replacement was done sometime before surplusing as well.
Based on her unit markings it looks like she was last assigned to an Alabama National Guard Engineer Batallion so that may help to explain her good overall physical condition and lack of any major body rust.
A nice find for me.


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[71DeuceAK]

Thanks, 71Deuce. Good luck.
Luckily here in Michigan you do not need a CDL to own/drive a 5-ton unless you are using it for paid commercial purposes.
She was painted to all desert tan at some point and later had a hasty, almost transparent, green re-shoot done.
The camo hard top is new and was on it when surplused and it is in terrific shape in and out. Interesting that the black and brown camo paint is intact on the cab top but almost 100% of the green is gone. A paint prep issue most likely or maybe a bad batch of paint.
Also, the truck is a 1983 build but the engine was assembled in 1986. So a complete engine replacement was done sometime before surplusing as well.
Based on her unit markings it looks like she was last assigned to an Alabama National Guard Engineer Batallion so that may help to explain her good overall physical condition and lack of any major body rust.
A nice find for me.


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The one I may still acquire for all I know is an '83. She has a camp top and a few other things, but other parts of her are solid green. An early one. She's bone stock sans a couple upgrades and even has the radio mount in the cab. She came from a Yakima, WA NG unit.