Bobbed M813 from Anchorage, AK to Deadhorse, AK

[BARROWCANYON]

Richard Hutchinson, Barrow Alaska. Just finished bringing this bobbed 5 ton up from Anchorage. Bought it from C&C Equipment. Not what I expected it to be. No four wheel in forward, no heat, the horn didn't work, a fuel line rattled loose between Anchorage and Fairbanks, blew the right rear tire after Fairbanks, slicker that snot in the icy roads and had to back it up Atigun Pass on the Dalton Hwy. along with several other icy hills! Did I mention NO HEAT?! LOL. It is currently parked in Deadhorse, AK. I had planned on bringing it over the true ice road from Prudhoe Bay/Deadhorse to Barrow, a 200+ mile walk in the park, but, didn't quite make so I am planning a repower with a CNG application in mind. I made friends with a bunch of long haul drivers who helped me along the way, Alaska West Express, Carlile, Colville etc. My starter solenoid froze up and one extremely foggy night about 130 miles from Deadhorse I spun out on a hill and didn't catch the clutch fast enough and killed the motor. A Colville driver and a couple of Alaska West drivers helped me, one of em chained up and pulled me up the hill to a pull out, thanks guys. The motor knocks awfully loud now. I guess I had a petcock open on the radiator and ran it hot. Did I burn it up?

 

[BARROWCANYON]

It only has about 56 hours now on the reman and I don't remember if it always knocked like that, but, it does knock pretty loud. Power is good and it only smokes when I get into it, so maybe just how it's supposed to sound? I did run it hot that first night between Anchorage and Fairbanks until I found that steam coming from the open petcock and had to put several gallons of coolant in it, I'm kinda scared that I burned up the motor. That old Colville driver Mr. Dave told me that those old Cummins were easy to burn up like that. It was down around zero degrees out and the temp gauge would come right down when I let off the throttle. Awsome truck! I wish that it had four wheel in forward! Are all 5 tons this way and if so what do I got to do to get four wheel in forward gears?

 

[BARROWCANYON]

I didn't get many pics with the cell phone. The first one is at Hilltop Sourdough just outside of Fox, AK. I blew the right rear tire 30 miles from there and walked it about a mile up the hill to Wickersham Dome Trailhead. Found a used spare at Giant Tire in Fbks. Phil charged me $400 and they mounted it backwards. Instead of using a ratchet strap to compress the beadlock to fit in the tire they used the spreader and lots of grease so as I drove down the road again I could see where air was coming out around the bead when I hit bumps. The next pics are at Coldfoot, AK on the Dalton. Anyone?

 

[BARROWCANYON]

I bought the truck with the idea of leasing it to SHELL or CONOCO PHILLIPS as an oil spill response truck and it represents ALL of the money we have in the world so yea, I'm kinda frustrated. I only could afford the **** thing because we got a settlement from my daughters' drowning accident so to me it is a special "investment". I figured that for $15,500 that the heat, starter solenoid, the horn and the glad hands should work. They advertised that "all controls work..." etc. so...When I filled the coolant reservoir I made sure to open the petcocks as it says on the sticker and filled the system with the heater core being filled but still doesn't get hot at all lol. Precious. Did I get ripped off and if I did...I'm used to it. I wish I had just bought a ticket and come down to look at the truck but I figured that these are honest hard working AMERICANS right?

 

[BARROWCANYON]

It runs great, but, all of the controls do not work. I had it delivered from Seattle to Anchorage via Alaska Marine Lines and the Alaska West told me that they had to pull it off of the train car and that they had tried to jump it with 12V. Maybe something got burnt in the control box. I just think that for $15,500 C&C could have dropped a new starter in and MAYBE gave me new door handle internals, you know, the little things that matter to a person. My wife doesn't understand what I have done.

 

[RangerBob]

Holy smokes, sounds like you had an unfortunately eventful trip! I just drove some of that route in February, but in a non-MV. I hope to bring my deuce up there in the summer. The plan is to get it super-singled by the end of Weare, then head NW. Meanwhile, here's a video from my February trip...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkMuO_7ypP8


Sorry to hear about your daughter. I can't imagine how devastating that must be.

 

[sigo]

Great pics. Sounds like a great adventure. I know Hilltop very well, one of my favorite places for breakfast. Makes me miss Fairbanks and AK even more. Wish I was still up there, I would have helped with your adventure.

Based on my past inquiries with C&C they don't do anything to their trucks prior to sale other than top off fluids. I was eyeing one of their M35A3's awhile back and asked what had bed done to it to justify a $12,000+ price tag. The answer... Topped off the fluids. C&C does awesome work on a lot of stuff, it looks like he puts a lot of engineering work into some special project trucks, and parts prices are pretty good, but the answer I got on their stock trucks was disappointing. Then again, we don't know what your arrangement with C&C was, and your M813 is a 40 year old surplus truck. You are a brave man taking that up the Dalton, but what excitement!

Your truck has 4wd if it is all still stock. It has a sprag clutch that engages the front when the rear wheels slip. It not selectable 4wd.

 

[BARROWCANYON]

sigo, Brother! Thank you! haha. Yes indeed no place like home! People have no idea how beautiful the place is! I wish that everyone could come up and enjoy Alaska, ALASKA! The fishing on countless creeks and lakes, I am actually kind of glad that I didn't get all of the way to Barrow on the ice road, Now we have an excuse to drive the Dalton in summer time and perhaps camp for a few days along the way. So...SPRAG CLUTCH. must be stuck or jammed up because my wheels did plenty of slipping and nothing could get the front drive to engage. makes sense now! Thanks Bud.

 

[BARROWCANYON]

Thanks RangerBob. Yes beautiful and deadly and it keeps getting better the farther north you go! It sure is nice to be a member here and to have such a valuable resource and all of you living encyclopedias with thousands of hours of experience to draw upon! It will be a good truck to learn on with my sons, we are kind of looking to repower now, any thoughts on the new TIER 4 motors from Cummins? The plan is to repower and apply CNG as we have a CNG station in Prudhoe and here in Barrow. Freight/fuel hauling in the winter and SPILL Response standby in the summers. This truck will be all off road now so I need to lock it up permanently, weld the spider gears etc.

 

[BARROWCANYON]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d51sJXufyYQ&feature=player_detailpage

 

[jcappeljr]

Thats why I went to the 939 series trucks.The sprague transfer case does that alot.I like the 800 series trucks ,but you never know if the front axle will engage.I had quite a few trucks that the front axle engaged in rev. but not forward.

 

[BARROWCANYON]

Thanks John. So is there a fix, maybe a different transfer case or can I get it locked in permanently? Thanks guys.

 

[BARROWCANYON]

So probably NO FIX.

 

[BARROWCANYON]

Staged, waiting for a response from SHELL USA in Alaska on a lease agreement for spill response on the North Slope in Barrow or Wainwright. I receive a positive response from a Mr. Howard Hill at Shell in Anchorage, so hopefully they will get back to me this summer.

 

[BARROWCANYON]

VHF ch.68 local

 

[akfiremedic]

Hey, saw this truck in Deadhorse on my way to work. Got a phone number from C&C but it says out of service. Do you still have plans for it?