And for the rest of the story...
I originally purchased this M1028 from brtruckparts on eBay a while back and flew out to Kansas City to drive it home. The seller had converted it to 12V and installed a new battery, starter and alternator. The journey home to Florida started out fine and a friend who is a fellow military vehicle collector had come along for the "adventure", little did he know how much that was about to come true! We made it about halfway across Missouri when the alternator belt self-destructed. At our second fuel stop I noticed the alternator belt was misaligned and riding in the forward belt-groove as it was too short for the driver-side mounted alternator. I had hoped it would make it to the first autoparts place I could find off the interstate, but it only got us within 30 miles. Since there's no temp gauge, just an idiot light, I decided to pull off at an exit with fuel to check things out. We topped off the tank and got what was left of the belt off the fan hub and decided to press on the autoparts store 30 miles up the interstate since the battery was fully charged and it was daytime still. But the truck wouldn't start. Went through the whole routine checking fuel, filter, glow plugs, shut-off solenoid and had the seller on the phone going over the same stuff. Still no start through all this until the battery gave out.
AAA was called and got us up the road to a small town with an AutoZone. Spent the next few hours there getting the proper belt on the alternator, adding a second battery and they charged the dead one as well. Put in all new glow plugs and double checked everything I could possibly think of, unfortunately they didn't have a new fuel filter so I shook and drained the one I had a few times. After all this we got it to start by holding about 3/4 pedal, then got back on the road.
We made St. Louis about 8PM after leaving Kansas City 12 hours earlier, but just on the south side heading out of town the power decreased on the truck the it shut down leaving us on the shoulder of the off ramp. So now we go through the whole by now well known troubleshooting routine while 75MPH traffic whips by. In the dark.
After a couple hours of no success AAA is called again and gets us to nearby hotel and we crash for the evening. The morning brings a fresh start and I give myself a time limit to get things running as it's now Saturday and I've got to be back in the office on Monday. No success on getting it to start by that time limit so I locate a nearby storage facility and get it towed there where I left it for a 6AM flight the following morning home. An interesting night was spent in St. Louis airport!
A few weeks later I got the CUCV trucked down from St. Louis to a friends place in Atlanta for about $1 mile, which added to the hole in my wallet after booking two next-day airline tickets. My friend in Atlanta is a professional race mechanic and tinkered with the truck for a few days still unable to get it to start. By this time I'm beginning the think the flex-ring in the IP has disintegrated, which is the only thing that hasn't been checked.
My wife and I had a day off scheduled to go to the local Sun-n-Fun EAA fly-in which we instead used to take my Dad's Ford pickup and the trailer up to Atlanta. We spent the time visiting friends and then planned to return Sunday with the CUCV on the trailer and stop at Warner-Robbins to pick up a Mercedes OM617 turbo engine on the way home.
My friend and I took our time to load the truck onto the trailer with as much tongue load as we felt safe, which did leave a good bit of overhang at the rear. Then we strapped and chained the snot out of it. Early Sunday down I-85 to I-75 through Atlanta was nice and easy, and my top end limit was 60MPH in right lane. The first 50+ miles went smooth with the trailer getting only a little squirrely after a semi with a 53' box whipped by us early on. A little pedal straightened it right out.
Well, after that first 50 or so miles another big rig with a long box made an even faster and closer pass and the resulting oscillation was much more pronounced. I tried everything, of course, and only managed to keep everything straight as we spun then slid sideways down three lanes of I-75. Just as we were about to come to a stop unscathed the leading left-front axle of the trailer broke at the hub, causing the trailer to turn turtle as I watched in the rearview mirror. One safety chain broke but the other held, lifting the rear of the truck and preventing me from disengaging quickly. As I got out my wife got on the phone for assistance. While walking around the front of the truck to the other side a trucker passing through the remaining open lane stopped to give me a thumbs up and said I "did real good" which sunk in a little later, considering his perspective on the show I just provided. With some help we got the chain off and was able to get our truck off the road, opening another lane. In just that short time we had nine police cruisers, two traffic trucks, a rollback and a wrecker recovery truck on site.
The law enforcement represented Georgia's state, county and city units and were the most professional and helpful group I've yet to encounter. They were also compassionate and supportive, which helped ease things a great deal for my wife and I. We've even got a few compliments from them on the tie downs too!
So now I guess I'll be looking for a civvie cab with AC to replaced the crushed one, and will respray the entire truck deset tan CARC to keep it military. The interior will be made a bit more "comfortable" but kept utilitarian.
For the curious, you can see all the photos we took at and after the scene here:
http://www.planetarydomination.com/M1028/cucv.htm It's just a page of links to the actual pictures, nothing facny as I put it up quick for the insurance folk. The first several photos I took with my phone, the rest Kathy took with her camera. They're big, so be forewarned if you've got a slow connection.
