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Camp Withycombe Deuce Recovery Trip

wsucougarx

Well-known member
6,951
67
48
Location
Washington State
Let me first start off saying...it was one heck of a long day:roll: and THANK YOU TODD (MILITARYRESTORATION)!!!!!!!

Ok, so I've been working overtime to help fund my OD Fever. I worked 6 days in a row (60 hours) and got off monday night at 2100 hrs. I get home load up my dodge ram w/tools and the family. We head down to Vancouver to stay the night, err spend the morning. We get to Vancouver around 0130 hrs. Finally find a Holiday Inn Express and get settled in around 0230 hrs. Sleep for 3 hours get up and eat breakfast. Get on the road around 0700 hrs to meet Todd (MilitaryRestoration) for a much needed windshield (Todd you saved me from getting frostbite:-D). We arrive at Camp Withycombe at Clackamas, OR. around 0810 hrs. What a great bunch soldiers!!!! They were so willing to help, in fact I had a PFC shadowing me for a good hour. He was just there to offer a helping hand. Thanks PFC Burke!!!!! Well, got all the pre-trip inspections complete, got a jump, she just purred. I went to put my headlights on only to find that the headlight rings are too small. My 1971 deuce rings wouldn't fit the 1967 deuce, so I ended up putting 100 MPH tape on it...it worked. I was ready to go by 0930 hrs. I drove her 20 yards to test the brakes and she stopped on a dime. I proceed out of the yard, turned the corner and that's when the day slowed down. Seems the rear passenger tires didn't want to move. I dragged the tires 5 feet only to hear my wife's screams of stop sound through the 2-way radio. My blood pressure shot up and the anticipation of what happened screamed through me. Got out checked it out, backed up and boom....rear passenger side locked up. Drove forward and she released. Drove a few more feet and barely touched the brakes.....not only do the previous tires lock up but now the front rear driver side now locks up. I say a quick prayer and proceed to drive a bit more to see if it duplicates.....yes, it duplicates. Frustrated I drive the truck back into the yard and bleed the brakes. Try it again...locks up. Called MilitaryRestoration and Todd offered some great advice. (Thanks again Todd for being on standby:-D and thanks AaronW for being on standby). Brakes still locked up. Said some more prayers. Then 3 Nat'l Guard soldiers come out wondering what was going on. I explained what was going on and the SSGT (Cheyenne)gave orders for the SGT to call over to the maintenance shop to see if they would look and work on my truck (I was like wow are you kidding me? These soldiers are great). The SGT returned to tell me to drive around in circles and gently apply brake pressure to brake away any rust inside the drums. Bingo 2 hours of doing just that and driving the deuce around the Camp fixed her!! Finally, a mere 5 hours after getting the deuce we are finally on the road.
The 160 miles trip was uneventful. Went through 5 huge rainstorms (thanks again Todd for the windshield). Passed a huge Washington State Patrol sting. Seems they were on some kind of kick of pulling trucks over. I counted at least 13 pulled over in a 15 miles stretch. Luckily I wasn't one of them. Got the truck home in one piece and I am ready for bed......thats it.
 
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AaronW

New member
870
3
0
Location
Napavine,WA USA
Mike, Glad you got home OK. Thanks for the story and pics. I was also on standby for you all day....the call never came so I knew you must have had it under control. Congrats on a successful recovery!
 

54reo

Well-known member
1,503
49
48
Location
Chester IL
Glad it all worked out for you!

Very good story.

You lucked out on the brakes, although I would suggest taking all of the drums off to inspect what you have there. This should be done to every truck someone buys.

When I got my truck the brakes worked well, but I decided to tear it down and look anyway. I had a couple of weeping wheel cylinders, and two of the brakes were assembled incorrectly while it was in the service.

With the much discussed single circuit brake systems on these (unless you are one of the lucky later AF Deuce owners like Dan Martin), there is little room for error.
 

wsucougarx

Well-known member
6,951
67
48
Location
Washington State
Mike, Glad you got home OK. Thanks for the story and pics. I was also on standby for you all day....the call never came so I knew you must have had it under control. Congrats on a successful recovery!
Oops sorry AaronW you were on standby. In fact when I was passing thru Napavine I thought it would be a good idea to do a deuce horn driveby but my wife told me my son had a 6:10 swimming lesson in Hoquiam. Made it, but 5 mins late:-D Oh what a busy day it was, busy day indeed. Now it's all over and time for another adventure...another deuce;-)
 

wsucougarx

Well-known member
6,951
67
48
Location
Washington State
I think everyone's favorite part was the 100 MPH tape holding on the headlights. I was informally inducted into the motorpool w/this craftiness of field expidited project. The tape held up through all the bouncing and jarring from the trip as well as through the numerous rain storms. Good stuff!!!!
 

MilitaryRestoration

New member
1,279
1
0
Location
Vancouver/Yakima, Wa
Good to hear you made it some what uneventful ;-) And not a problem for helping. Always nice to have a back up plan when I go out and about so to be that for someone else is a good feeling as well. Good luck with the truck!
 

wsucougarx

Well-known member
6,951
67
48
Location
Washington State
Wonderful to get some help from the base....

nice truck
It was outstanding of the support I got. I think those young guardsmen where more suprised that a "prehistoric truck" (as they called it) could start and run as beautiful as it did. No joke though this truck ran like a new truck, it just doesn't look new :p But that will change soon enough with some fresh Gillespie paint
 

quarkz

Supreme Galactic Cleric
Steel Soldiers Supporter
805
71
28
Location
Kennewick, WA
Great pics, glad you made it back relatively unventfully.
So let me get this right.
You drove around in a cirlce tapping the breaks for two hours?

[thumbzup]WOW[thumbzup]
 
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