5 ton drama..

[Rene M]

So, last week " Wednesday a buddy an i left Houston Texas on a trek to pick up a 5 ton M809. It was one state over in Lake Charles LA.

I should of known that we were in for a long trip when the guy i was trying to buy the truck from kept insisting it was a Deuce.. " look buddy 10 lug nuts means 5 ton or bigger". Nope , i just could not get through to him...

Any way other than a bit of low on the power side all seemed good. We exchanged cash for a title and off we went..
We swapped out the two bad tires and filled the rest up with air all seemed good.

We got 10 miles down the road and just about had to push the truck over a tall bridge. Some how we made it over the top and coasted down....

I thought **** that lucky there are no more of those..... Then, a very loud hiss starts up... oh ****, i think we have a flat.... Bbboooooommmm..
The left front tire just explodes in to pieces " still coasting down the bridge"..
cars and trucks scatter every where as rather large chunks of rubber fly all over.. I have to say that even with no left front tire the truck steers rather well.

I limp off 210 and on the the feeder road for I10. My buddy Adam tells me "man, i lost sight of the truck in all the smoke and rubber."

I got out and looked at the damage and started to pull tools out to change a tire... Well, the brake drum was 0ver 500 degrees " inferred heat gun."
So we figured out real quickly that the tire blew out due to the heat.

The drum spun freely but there was lots of play in the wheel bearings. I mean LOTS of play. As if there were no wheel bearings.
We pulled the axle cover off and the hub was full of water,rust and most of the bearings were destroyed or missing.
All, i could think was how the **** are we going to get a 5 ton behemoth 160 miles home to Texas if it cant even roll? We cant leave it here one the side of the road it will be hauled off. We were screwed...

Then a black truck rolled up and out steps "4x4 forever" .." need some help boys?"
Just like that we had help .. One by one all the Steel Soldiers came out of the wood work.

A place to Work on the truck, a place to run and get parts and a place to stash the truck when all of that failed.

We gave up around 10 pm and went home and left the truck behind with our tails between our between our legs.

Bill gave us a place to leave the truck where it would be safe. So if you went to the over flow parking lot at the Isle Of Capri Casino you would of seen a huge black truck in a sad state.

Eventually, i found a transport company that moved it to Houston this last week and its home safe in its new home.

M819 Retreival

 

[Lorax]

Well at least no one got hurt crossing the bridge. Nice looking truck. Sounds like the previous owner didn't do PM on the truck.

 

[area52]

Looks like you got a M813A1, good luck with the repairs and getting her home.

 

[1stDeuce]

That is a pretty sweet deuce!

I put a good 1000 miles on my deuce before I got to flipping the hubs. One of the rear inner bearings was all rusty and nasty when I took things apart... It wouldn't have finished the next 300 mile trip for sure... Just got lucky with checking it I guess. Even luckier, the local Napa had the race and the bearing IN STOCK. Well, I had to get them from the two locations in town, but stilll, what are the chances??

Glad it's finally home!
C

 

[Rene M]

Well actually the truck has a very prestigious history. After serving in the military it was sold off to the Sheriffs dept for Lake Charles which has a problem with flood issues for a river.
The truck was used for high water rescue in two hurricanes and mutable floods. We actually found people who were rescued or knew some one that was rescued by this truck.

The Heavy haul driver who brought the truck to Houston actually had family members saved off of their roof top by this truck.

The roof and the hood are dented by the amount of people that have walked or ridden on it.

So, i can be mad that the truck is in sad shape but.... A life is worth much more.

 

[Rene M]

Well, at least i got a spare herc engine and trans with it..

 

[bryan70546]

Well, at least i got a spare herc engine and trans with it..

Well you had a spare

 

[4x4 Forever]

Its gonna cost you that spare Hurc Rene! No, wait, Bryan got it . Rene, did Bryan give you that hi-lift jack that HE came by and got out of the back of YOUR truck-just wanted to make sure Glad you got it back home and sorry I could not been of more help.

BTW, Our GM wants one now!! (I'm not in trouble~~)

Dang, after looking at the pics, I see my 'box top office'! Be safe and hope ya have fun on the mod!!

Bill

 

[bryan70546]

Yea he got it Captn Jordon , We even made a few repairs to it so it would work a little better for him next time.

 

[4x4 Forever]

You know I could not resist that one Bryan, Happy New Year!

 

[vtdeucedriver]

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

It's nice to find a truck with a "history". Bummer of a recovery story though.

I trust she'll be a wunnerful truck for you

 

[Rene M]

lol And as most of you guessed these two " character's" were my saviors..
Im lazy so i brought that jack as a back up i used a 20 ton air over hyd jack to lift that monster up...

 

[Rene M]

The saga goes on...
Ok, so i complained about the low power problem and found the rot cause..
Water and MUD.... Yes boys and girls mud, two inches of to be exact in the bottom of the fuel tank.

My fuel was a rusty tan/ orange color and i figured, **** the tank is rusting..
So, i pulled the truck in my shop and drained out the fuel tank that was 80% full.
It was a lovely shade of tan.. When the fuel/water was all out i looked in and to my total surprise there was silt two inches deep in the bottom of the tank.

But no rust? So, i used a pressure washer to force it all out the drain and let it dry over night. Then used a solvent gun to flush out the rest.
I pulled all the fuel filter housings off and ran them trough the Vulcan machine " generally a really big high heat dish washer".

With some fresh fuel and fuel filters my low power problem went away. When they say multi fuel i dont think they meant hydrogen? I guess i need a fuel cap seal because this one must leak , ya think?

I also figured out why the drive shaft for the winch is missing. The brake housing on the winch is broken all the way around.
Any one close by have a drive line i can use as an example to have a new one made up? I have looked at the price for a used one and for that i can have one made up local. aaaahhh the drama...

It is all better when i start it up and listen to that monster idle.. it makes all the pain go away..

 

[drgreg]

Multi fuel??????
I think that you have a Cummins.

 

[bryan70546]

So rene you going to keep the old girl , sure she needs a little love but heh most big uns do looks like you have a lot of PM work to do . Wish I would of know about that unit i would of got it instead of the deuce and right here in my back yard I have to admit thats one big truck and the spare engine you got with it seems to be in great shape no leaks on it barley looks used . Good luck with it

 

[Rene M]

Multi fuel??????
I think that you have a Cummins.

LOL that was a joke. Yes its an NHC 250

 

[4x4 Forever]

It is all better when i start it up and listen to that monster idle.. it makes all the pain go away..

Yeah, I totaly agree! When I pulled up behind yall and walked by the young lady, listening to the engine, I just about.....Well lets just say, I had to smoke a cig after!!

That is one sweet truck Rene, as it's been said, "It's a keeper"!!

Hope all goes well and good luck!!

As for 'characters' comment, Thanks for the compliment!!