Deuce VS. DRMO warehouse

[Ferroequinologist]

Hello Guys,
I just thought I would share this story with you. Not really a road trip, but it could have been.

I went to pick up my first M35 I bought through GL at Fort Jackson, SC on Monday, 12Feb07. Well, I checked the tires, oil, radiator (couldn't see any fluid) and changed the batteries. She fired right up. Air pressure, oil pressure, all looked good. Started to worry about the radiator, hoping it wasn't dry. The GL guy said to drive it up to the water faucet at the end of one of the warehouses. So my brother and I jumped in, released the parking brake, and rolled away, with my dad following in his truck. I was very excited.

So I aimed the truck towards the spigot, and then stepped on the brakes.Well, hind sight is always 20/20, and I should have checked the brakes. DUH! So we go crashing through the rear of this warehouse, with me turning the air blue with sailor talk and my brother just yelling STOP! Put a nice hole in the wall and bent the driver side fender and broke the turn signal.

Luckly no one was nearby, but it just goes to show you what you can forget when your excited. The GL guys were laughing, and telling me not to worry. So the base police show up, and I'm thinking I'm going to court, pay for the building, etc. Low and behold, the cop knew my Dad! (he's a retired Police Officer, 30 years.) So the cop just writes me for "too fast for conditions" which was a grand total of.... $40. WHEW!

I'm Active Navy, and can't get back down there for awhile. My Dad is having it towed to his house tomorrow, where he can work on the brakes.

I've got pictures, but don't know how to post them.

So remember, take it slow and start it last.

__________
Norfolk, VA
1953 Early Willys M38a1
1968 M101a1
1969 50ft Pullman Standard Boxcar (its OD green and yes I can have it shipped anywhere!)
1971 AM General M35a2
1973 Chevy/Bluebird School bus
"Poverty is the best preservation for old machinery"

 

[papercu]

Another good thing to remenber, is that a duce can crank up in gear!!
I have a nephew in the Navy stationed at NAS Oceana. I have some pictures my brother took at
http://ImageEvent.com/wharris19/places/ussenterprise
http://ImageEvent.com/wharris19/places/oceananas
BTW How in the world do you ship a boxcar?? Do you want the rest of the train?
Wayne

 

[poppop]

Simular thing happened to me when I picked up my 813 from GSA. Drove up to warehouse to get air in a tire, lost fuel and quit. Bled fuel system and nice GSA employee offered to try it. Guess he thought the hand throttle was the choke. Cranked up running full bore, he had trans in low, got scared, dumped clutch. Score, M813, 1, warehouse wall 0. You can still see the patch job. The employees there also thought it was funny. My buddy and I loaded as fast as possible and got the he?? out of there.

 

[Ferroequinologist]

Yes, I did find out about no neutral starter cut out when I went to pull it out of the building I wound up going a foot farther in!

I work part-time for a small railroad here in Norfolk, and they store the boxcar there. I can ship it anywhere in the country, all I have to do is make up a waybill and list its destination. Then we can take it to Norfolk Southern and they do the rest. I do have to pay for it, but it isn't much. I get out of the Navy this Nov, and am moving home to South Carolina. When I go, the wife and I are going to put all we can in the boxcar, including my M101 and my M38a1, and have it shipped home. The estimate they gave me was $237 and 4 days of travel. Not bad for moving a 100ton capacity boxcar 450miles huh? Now all I need is a good flatcar with ramps and picking up MVs from out west will be a snap!

It won't attach my signature.... I keep having to do it manually!

 

[papercu]

train

That's cheap. I was thinking more about the cost of moving the boxcar from the rails to your home. I've found cheap cabooses ( for you evil minds out there, I mean a train caboose) but just the cost of moving them from the tracks has been way out of my league. Wayne

 

[citizensoldier]

Did the parking brake work? I have had to slam one in neutral and grab the parking brake!! save my ass!! Something to remember next time your headed for a building.. Should check the mastercylinder too. probably out of fluid...hehehehehehe ..Glad nobody was hurt.. It could have been a disaster..

 

[mangus580]

Re: RE: Deuce VS. DRMO warehouse

It won't attach my signature.... I keep having to do it manually!

see the FAQ's on the left...


as far as pics, check out the 'tips & tricks' forum... a nice How-To there

 

[papercu]

If you have that much time to think AND moving at a slower speed, you should have slam it in 5th (or a high gear) if going faster (and more room) then gearing down might help. Going into neutral lost any help the engine and/or transmission might have given. Wayne

 

[Ferroequinologist]

Yea,
I guess I just froze.

Trust me, I know there was a million things I COULD have done... I just didn't do any of them for whatever reason. Believe me, I tossed and turned that night (and the night after) kicking myself for not doing any of those things... I know better. I've messed with allot of old Iron. I've been a diesel mechanic in the Navy for 7 years and I've had allot of things try to hurt or kill me. For whatever reason, I just didn't do one of those million things that could have prevented it. I'm just glad it wasn't worse and that I don't have to pay for the building. The guys that showed up to fix it said it happens all the time, that same morning an Army guy put a 5 Ton clear into the side of a barricks. If it had been 2 hours earlier, there would have been some very seriously hurt guys in there.

And my Dad checked the brake resevoir- empty. So he added fluid but still no brakes. I hope all it needs is to be bled.

Thanks for the help Mike. I did figure out the signatures.

 

[Ferroequinologist]

Oh, and where are these 'cheap cabooses'? Most of the ones I've seen for sale still on the rails are around $10,000 or higher. I wouldn't mind having one of them too....

 

[devilman96]

Well if it makes you feel any better I did the exact same thing only it was a friends shop after having the truck trailered from the DRMO... I was heading for the water hose... I managed to miss the building... went in through a doorway... and crashed into a welding table... moved the 6000lb table about 16 inches... bad part... I knew I had no brakes, I just got to damnn excited and forgot....

 

[papercu]

caboose

One sold last year for 2 or 3 hundred dollars here in Ga.
"hindsight is always clearer than foresight" and I wasn't trying to tell you how or what you should have done it was already done but I hope it might help someone else in the future.
Most time you don't have time to think, all you can do is react and that where thinking ahead comes in.
BTY Last year I bought a old stakebed truck that came from a Army base and it sat in the front yard while I did a few things on it, then one day I decided to move it, jumped in, turned the key and ran over my pickup. Wayne

 

[Ferroequinologist]

RE: caboose

Hey Wayne,
Your right, hopefully someone else will learn a lesson from my mistake. Sorry if I seemed like I was jumping on you for giving options for preventing it, I guess I'm quick to say something because that's all I've been hearing all week was what I should have done. By the way, if you see one of those cabooses for sale again, please let me know!

Yes, it is an important lesson no matter what you are working on, don't move it unless you can stop it! Glad to hear I'm not the only one! I figured I wasn't.

I've had lots of good luck lately, so if this is the bad luck biting me in the butt so be it!

 

[alphadeltaromeo]

RE: caboose

Ferro

In the next few weeks I'll be picking up mine...I appreciated the "share", as I'd like to avoid issues myself

 

[herc69]

RE: Deuce vs. DRMO warehouse

It was good to know nobody was hurt. I knew he (ferro) wasn't, as he was jumping around, throwing my hat on the ground, and displaying his anger management control (NOT). As he said, coulda/shoulda/woulda. I didn't harp on him, as he knew the score. Luckily the responding cop recognized the name and remembered me!
SERIOUS lesson learned for all of us.

 

[maddawg308]

RE: Deuce vs. DRMO warehouse

Now THIS thread is worthy of this smiley:

 

[Ferroequinologist]

Ok, ok, I finally figured out how to do the pictures....

 

[gasser]

Thanks for sharing Adam! I am stilll looking to get my first "keeper" Deuce ....

 

[DaveP]

looks like the truck won!

 

[jkelly66]

Nice looking truck Adam. I got my m35 there at Jackson they are really a nice helpful bunch to deal with arent they. Glad no one was hurt and welcome to our madness.
John