M35A3 Owners unite

[EXITNOONE]

WOLFEN- propane might be a very bad idea if your passengers are in a semi air-tight area... the burner will use their oxygen and also emit poisonous gasses. be careful on that. you might be better off with the arctic heater set up, or trying a 24 volt quartz heater system.

 

[Wolfen]

Thanks for the Advice. I hadn't thought about the Carbon Monoxide.

 

[waterguy]

A3 Fuel issue???? HELP!

I own a M35A3. It has just over 3000 miles and i just recently started having issues with the engine. Istarted smoking real bad and when i kill it it taked 15 - 20 seconds to die. Any help is appriciated.

 

[EXITNOONE]

you're welcome WOLFEN. glad we might be avoiding a potentially bad situation.

WATERGUY- sounds like you have an issue with either the fuel delivery, or possibly a cracked head. sounds like un-wanted fuel or oil is getting into the engine, burning up and being exhausted. i would check those 2 areas.

your fuel injectors may be out of whack or leaking, and sending way too much fuel into the heads, so whatever is not used is left over at shut off, and that temporarily keeps the engine running until the excess fuel is burned off.

 

[waterguy]

Thanks for the response. I got this truck last Nov. and it has been running like new. I have put 500 or more miles on it. a few more things to consider..........when it is reved up from idle, it is slow to idle back down. Also, when this first started, i drove it fairly hard for a few miles and it cleared up. Then i got back home and it was idline great and no smoke. Then it died. I tried several times to restart it and it would not until i cycled the fuel shut off valve a few times..........once it restarted it was smoking again. I changed the fuel filter and it has not helped.
Could it have something to do with the turbo?? if it is not getting enough air, then that could cause the smoke??

 

[EXITNOONE]

WATERGUY- doesn't sound like turbo to me. you probably wouldn't be able to get the truck up to top speed if your turbo was having problems.

however, have you gone through your air intake system to be sure it's not blocked in any way. getting too little air, may leave unspent fuel in your heads, but i doubt it.

in the situation you described, and with my theory, running the engine hard might be sufficient enough to burn off the excess fuel because you are at higher rpms. by time you get back home and idle, the excess fuel begins building up and eventually floods the engine once in idle.

if it doesn't die in idle, and you try to shut it off, but there it's still cranking, that's not because of air. it's because of fuel.
if the only thing going into your engine was air (assuming that the turbo was pumping after you cut power) there would be no combustion.

instead it sounds like excess fuel is getting into the heads, which keep turning, which as normal sucks in air, and continues the combustion process until the excess fuel leaking into the heads is consumed.

then the engine dies as you describe 20 seconds later after shut off. or quickly due to flooding.

 

[waterguy]

Got it.
Could it have something to do with the fuel shut off valve?
Or could it be in the injectors?

 

[EXITNOONE]

i'd say injectors most likely. maybe one or more is leaking after being pushed too hard for their setting ?

fuel shut off valve could be a possibility too.

if you're just idling and the fuel shut off valve is actuating on it's own, that would be strange.

but if the fuel shut off valve was closing on it's own while you were at top speed,
wouldn't you be losing power instead of smoking ?

that smoke still points to too much fuel or oil being in the heads and getting burned off.

 

[waterguy]

It has only died on me once and that was at an idle. The shut off valve is no acctuating on its own, when i push the switch it accuates but doesnt shut the engine down instantly like it normally does.
I just didnt know if the shut off valve had any function during normal operation, or if it simply just shuts the engine down.
Thanks for your input.

 

[swampzr2]

Has anyone tried the 4.9 gears from Ouverson? I want to see what speeds you can achieve and some feedback would be great.

 

[EXITNOONE]

i 2nd SWAMPZR2's question.

WATERGUY- let us know what you end up discovering/diagnosing

 

[goodguyzy]

Has anyone tried the 4.9 gears from Ouverson? I want to see what speeds you can achieve and some feedback would be great.

dont know anything about them, would be interested in checking it out

 

[mktopside]

It has only died on me once and that was at an idle. The shut off valve is no acctuating on its own, when i push the switch it accuates but doesnt shut the engine down instantly like it normally does.
I just didnt know if the shut off valve had any function during normal operation, or if it simply just shuts the engine down.
Thanks for your input.

I've never used the fuel shut off switch, I just turn the truck off with the master switch. Does the truck continue to run if you use the master switch?

 

[mktopside]

dont know anything about them, would be interested in checking it out

All I know about them is that you could buy another Allison with an OD and have it installed for a lot less.

 

[treessw]

I finally picked up my A3 just over a week ago and love it !!!!! I put it to work in short order once home. I am interested in the gear conversions if anyone does them would like to know what results people have. I have another question about the wheels and tires. I have the stock stuff still in place and also have the wheel wobble and rough ride at 50 +. I saw the tricks of counter weights and may try that but has anyone forked the money over for the 395s and wheels and what were the ultimate results? I don't care to go 50mph or less but would be nice to be able to achieve a little more on the top end speed with out having my kidneys feeling like they are getting worked over by a mob of angry natives. I will post a pic of my set up. BTW if anyone is local and would like the tarp and bows and rails from my 105 please come get em I don't have a use for them right now and prob wont. Actually in the market for a newer 105. Thanks guys!! Thoroughly enjoying this thread!!! Keep it up.

 

[mktopside]

I finally picked up my A3 just over a week ago and love it !!!!! I put it to work in short order once home. I am interested in the gear conversions if anyone does them would like to know what results people have. I have another question about the wheels and tires. I have the stock stuff still in place and also have the wheel wobble and rough ride at 50 +. I saw the tricks of counter weights and may try that but has anyone forked the money over for the 395s and wheels and what were the ultimate results? I don't care to go 50mph or less but would be nice to be able to achieve a little more on the top end speed with out having my kidneys feeling like they are getting worked over by a mob of angry natives. I will post a pic of my set up. BTW if anyone is local and would like the tarp and bows and rails from my 105 please come get em I don't have a use for them right now and prob wont. Actually in the market for a newer 105. Thanks guys!! Thoroughly enjoying this thread!!! Keep it up.

Welcome to the club!

As far as I know there are only two people that have done anything gear/tranny wise to the A3. Erick from Ericks Military Surplus put a mitchell gear splitter overdrive in his, and another guy on here who put a manual in his. I don't think anyone else has done any more than talk about it.

As far as the 395's go....... I dunno. Lots of guys run them on A2's and on Hemmt rims, but the general thought is that the bead style of the 395 isn't safe on the A3's MPT rims........however, I don't think anyone can point to an example of a bead failure with 395's on A3 rims.

I would add the additional weight to the wheels and see how you like that before doing anything extreme.

On that note: Over the past week I have gotten the impression that my CTIS is a liar, and can't be trusted. It has been leaking down like it never did before, and when checked with a gauge it doesn't fill all of the tires equally. After the drive home the other night I let it run through the process of checking/adjusting the pressure. I then got out and checked the pressures with the gauge. Some were at 45, some were at 32, some were at 38..........

Long story short, this weekend I'm going to pull all the CTIS crap off the wheels, and just set them up like the spare is. I only liked the system because it checked the tires for me. But if I can't trust it to do that, I don't want it there.

 

[treessw]

mktopside-
OK cool, good to know!!! (About the gear stuff). Yeah I checked the CTIS on mine, it is functioning and kinda sorta does what it needs to do, but like you said, different pressures all around, so just turned it off and manually inflated tires etc, seemed to help some. I to had thought of just stripping the CTIS crap off the wheels and see if that helped cause at this rate I feel the system is one thing to lead me in the wrong direction.

I had thought about investing in the Hemmt rims to go with the 395s and use my extras that I pull off for other projects down the line. The extra lugs, where were guys picking them up?

Thanks for your thoughts in the matter!!!

How did the gear splitter work out? I am assuming it gave him a 5Th gear/overdrive.

 

[mktopside]

mktopside-
OK cool, good to know!!! (About the gear stuff). Yeah I checked the CTIS on mine, it is functioning and kinda sorta does what it needs to do, but like you said, different pressures all around, so just turned it off and manually inflated tires etc, seemed to help some. I to had thought of just stripping the CTIS crap off the wheels and see if that helped cause at this rate I feel the system is one thing to lead me in the wrong direction.

I had thought about investing in the Hemmt rims to go with the 395s and use my extras that I pull off for other projects down the line. The extra lugs, where were guys picking them up?

Thanks for your thoughts in the matter!!!

How did the gear splitter work out? I am assuming it gave him a 5Th gear/overdrive.

I don't know much more about Ericks gear splitter other than what is shown on the pics on his site. He is a great place to buy parts though, ships fast. Apparently he's a really nice guy, so if you were interested you could probably call him. I did look into how much gear splitters cost, and #1 they are hard to find, and #2 when you do they are $$$$$.

I've gotten held up with major mods to my truck for the moment because I'm battling with my HOA over the truck. Worst case scenario is I have to bob it to bring it into compliance, if that's the case, that'll be my next big mod. So gearing or tire changes are on the back burner for the next month or two. If I keep it a 6X6 I'm going to go the gearing route, if I bob it, I'm going to put some much bigger tires on it so I don't have to be sitting at redline at 50mph.

As far as the nuts to add weight go, I just went to "Fastenall" (nut and bolt store) and bought a bunch of 3/4" -16tpi nuts, and used those. They are not as beefy as the deuce lug nuts, so I used 5 of them per wheel instead of starting with 3. They were about $1 each at Fastenall.

 

[treessw]

I don't know much more about Ericks gear splitter other than what is shown on the pics on his site. He is a great place to buy parts though, ships fast. Apparently he's a really nice guy, so if you were interested you could probably call him. I did look into how much gear splitters cost, and #1 they are hard to find, and #2 when you do they are $$$$$.

I've gotten held up with major mods to my truck for the moment because I'm battling with my HOA over the truck. Worst case scenario is I have to bob it to bring it into compliance, if that's the case, that'll be my next bog mod. So gearing or tire changes are on the back burner for the next month or two. If I keep it a 6X6 I'm going to go the gearing route, if I bob it, I'm going to put some much bigger tires on it so I don't have to be sitting at redline at 50mph.

As far as the nuts to add weight go, I just went to "Fastenall" (nut and bolt store) and bought a bunch of 3/4" -16tpi nuts, and used those. They are not as beefy as the deuce lug nuts, so I used 5 of them per wheel instead of starting with 3. They were about $1 each at Fastenall.

Sorry to hear about the HOA glad I dont have to deal with that where I am but I am however very sympathetic to the fact. On your wheel lug nuts, were they left hand or right hand thread, just have not been outside to look at mine. 5 per wheel huh? Good results though? So the gearing route is the direction your thinking other than the HOA mods.

 

[mktopside]

Sorry to hear about the HOA glad I dont have to deal with that where I am but I am however very sympathetic to the fact. On your wheel lug nuts, were they left hand or right hand thread, just have not been outside to look at mine. 5 per wheel huh? Good results though? So the gearing route is the direction your thinking other than the HOA mods.

Well, it is what it is. We used to live in an apartment, this house was a massive step up....... but it has taken a few years for me to realize that MV's aside, I want a house with some space so my boys can play. Luckily we have a bunch of equity, so once the kids are a little older and we can ditch the live in nanny were gonna bounce to a place with some space!

Only the lug nuts are threaded to tighten to the front. All the other wheel bolts on both sides are RH thread like everything else in the world.

One other option that might work better that I discovered the other day is "balancing" around some of the nuts on the wheel. For instance, the nuts that hold the CTIS valve on are two RH deuce lug nuts, then you have two more deuce lug nuts holding the guard on. Those are big nuts. If I wasn't going to take the CTIS off, I would replace the two lug nuts on the valve and on the shield with the smaller 3/4" 16tpi nuts, then move the extra lug nuts I now have to the other side of the wheel. I think that would balance things out a bit better than just adding more weight total to the other side......... but I've never tried it so I don't know.