MilitaryRestoration
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- Location
- Vancouver/Yakima, Wa
Here is what 'cleb' wrote about his m35a2:
Monday:
We left Moscow at 1545 with one loaded Crown Vic, and made it to Olympia at 2200. We hit some pretty heavy snow on Snoqualmie pass; the road was wet with some slush. It made for a bit of miserable driving. After we got off the pass it was heavy rain for most of the trip, it cleared up by the time we got to Olympia.
Tuesday:
Got up at 0600, and left Olympia/Summit Lake at 0645. We arrived at the Ft. Lewis visitor center at 0715. Todd (MilitaryRestoration) got stuck in traffic, and arrived at 0800. We got our passes, and headed up to the DRMO/GL lot. We got to the truck at 0830. I started checking the fluids, and Todd and his helper replaced the batteries with new ones, and started checking over everything else. I dumped 10 gallons of diesel in then, which added to the ½ tank or so that was there. We had her running by 0900, started right up. All the fluids were full; we did add a little brake fluid for good measure. We both took the truck for a spin around the lot, and everything worked fine. We had noticed the headlamp on the passenger side was out. The only one Todd could get on such short notice was one for $50. Ouch. We went to replace it, and couldn’t due to the replacement which had spade connectors, and the burnt out one had the military style plug connectors. We put the old one back in, and figured since high beam still worked, we could get home on that. Well, not 1 minute later the high beam burned out. Darn. We went on a hunt for spade connectors. The GL guy found us some. I cut the harness off the old headlamp, and put the spade connectors on. We then realized the headlamp had .30in connectors, and our spades were .25in. Darn. We cut the spades off, and I strip and solder the wires directly to the headlamp. Test it, and it looks like someone is arc welding inside the headlamp. Ouch. That was the quickest waste of $50 I’ve seen in a while. We air up all the tires, and decide to head out and make it home before dark. I loaded all the fluids and extra parts in the truck, so the car would be a little lighter. We wait a little bit for the paperwork, and head off the base at 1100. Everything works fine, until the onramp of I-5. I put her to the floor so I could get a bit of speed for the freeway. When I go to shift, the engine revs to the governor. I pull the accelerator back with my toe and try again. Sure enough, sticks again. Well, we aren’t 2 minutes off the base and it’s broken. I pull over to the side of the onramp, and find a broken throttle return spring. The one thing I forgot to buy before the trip. I do a little creative engineering with a piece of wire, and we’re off again. I was a little worried for the first 20 minutes after that, but once we hit Seattle and some sun, her and I had an understanding, and I felt better from then on. My driver followed me in the car, and did interference when I needed to change lanes, which was a great help. Portable radios were a must! We made it thru Seattle traffic in one piece. It then started raining, and I had fun with the little windshield wiper. I'm 6'1, and it didn't wipe where my eyes looked out. About half way home the fuel gauge went gunnysack. It was showing way past full. I wish. She ran about 52-55 on the freeway most of the way, got a little slowed down for a couple hills. We get to Mt. Vernon, about an hour from the ferry, to stop for fuel. $60 later at $4.449 a gallon. We then get semi-lost in downtown Mt. Vernon. Turned a few heads with the loud exhaust, then back on the freeway. We make it to Anacortes, and grab food at Subway. We made it to the ferry at 1445, and $81 later we are on the ferry. Made it home without a problem, and dropped by the local parts store to grab a new return spring.
My favorite part of the trip: Driving through a tunnel in Seattle, and putting her to the floor. The noise echoing in the tunnel was impressive. I’m sure everyone around us heard it. Also had a few people give the thumbs up on the freeway.
I would like to thank MilitaryRestoration for his help during the recovery. He brought me a few extra parts that I didn’t ask for, and was an awesome help getting her running and us on the road. He had a few fits with his M818 after we left, but last I heard (at 1755) he was over Snoqualmie pass (1 ft of snow) and about an hour and a half away from home. I’m sure he will be posting his story here.
Pictures are at http://defcon-3.net/gallery/m35a2_recovery with lots of them and captions.
We are leaving in my car at 0640 tomorrow to head back to Moscow. Should be an easy drive, the hard part is over!
Edit: I would do it again in a heartbeat! Definately a once in a lifetime experience.
Here is my side now...
:
Took off at about 0400 tuesday morning with everything loaded up full, fuels all top'd off and ready to get some work done. Got about half way there and started snowing on us, which was very unexpected. Further more, people in Wa. state I swear do not know how to drive and low n behold...traffic started coming to a stop. Not quite sure if it was just 'traffic' or there was a previous accident still trying to clear but either way got caught in it. Made good time still, arriving at Fort Lewis around 0800. Met with Caleb and his co-pilot checked into the guard station, then proceeded on up to the other entrance closer to drmo.
After completing the duties mentioned above in Calebs post and getting him on his way, I then moved onto prepping my M818. I was there a week or so before so got most of it done already except actually getting it started. Which talking with the gl reps they claimed that it only needed a jump to get it going. So did one more check of fluids, just because who knows if anyone has messed with it since, and proceeded to start taking the batteries out to replace them with four brand new ones I had bought. Then 'tony' from gl stated, 'why dont we just try jumpin it before you go through all that work' so I agreed with him then went and found a deuce that started on its own, took the ol' slave cables out and hooked them up. Luckily i had brought the adapters because the deuce was switched over to 'nato' plug. Waited for five minutes or so n tried again...nothing.... so then decided to wait 15 min or so to really charge them good. Wandered around the lot looking at all the odds and ends and found some brand new roll off flat beds used on the m997 in the demil b pile. They were cutting these bad boys up with cutting torches because someone had stated that they had stress cracks in them...WHAT A WASTE!!! wanted to take one home so bad hehe. So then found some stuff in another scrap pile, and lets just say it's good to always know people...
We then went back to the truck after about a half hour or so, turned her over and over but no start, but wait ether kicked it in and it ran for about 10seconds or so then died. Tried starting again and batteries were once again drained. So then I spot one of the guys driving one of the oversized fork lifts around and asked him if he could just push start me, which was agreed upon. After two full laps around the lot she finally turned over and was running on her own 6feet hehe. However really wanted to die so made another two laps to get her all stretched out a bit then went back over to where she was parked originally and still wanted to die. So pulled the throttle cable out a bit and used vice grips to hold in place, while my co-pilot and i picked up all our stuff, loaded it back into my pick-up, and moved the jumper deuce back to its spot.
Then went and hooked onto the m105, where we then started our full service, greasing every zerk on truck and trailer, once again checking all fluids, topping off the fuel, airing up all the tires which all were no more than 20psi (so that took forever), tightened all the lug nuts, took tags off windows, washed windows, hooked air lines and electrical up, and unloaded all the stuff into the trailer from my pickup because i know for a fact that the m818 would not notice the weight as my pickup would. We then did a light check and everything was working properly and ready to go. Took her over the scales for a combined weight of almost 24000 lbs. Checked back in the office to sign paper work once again and I was on my way, with probably the biggest smile...hehe
Truck drove like a dream... smooth running motor, great power, it wanted to 55+ right away but i only let it do 50, transmission box felt good, brakes felt good, clutch properly adjusted, etc etc. And not but one exit later was already getting thumbs up and waves hehe. Not to mention I could drive with one 'finger', due to the great power steering compared to deuce, and could wave back. Few exits later we went to top off fuels and grab a bite to eat. But while fueling I noticed my lights flicker on and knowing I still had the switch on and truck still running i knew I had a problem. For some reason when hooked to the trailer only...the lights would only come on randomly for a split second. The time now being around 3or so I knew that were was no time to grab a bite and that we needed to get fueled and back on the road to make it before dusk... So almost 400.00 later with diesel being a 4.39 and gas being at 3.59 both the M818 and my pickup were full and ready to go.
Didn't make it but over and hour or so into the trip and I could tell I was exhausted from no personal 'fuel' So started looking for 'food ahead' signs and one came with burger king calling my name hehe so we stopped got food 'to go' (dang headlights), check all the hubs for temperatures, checked tires once again and fluids and back on the road. Trying to eat a burger, hold ur large drink between your legs, shift, steer, etc while in seattle area was a interesting part of the day to say the least hehe but I managed. Trip was going great till we hit the pass and since we had been there, (weather channel only stating 1-3" accumulation) it had snowed about a foot. However did not have to chain up as crazy as it was they were not requiring them and the truck did great in the snow. impressed once again! And from there on out had no problems what so ever and only made one last stop in Ellensburg where met up with a friend and took a pisser but soon right back on the road.
All in all was a great drive/experience and I can thankfully say it's another successful, fun, good recovery trip. The 5ton is by far my most favorite to drive, however there is nothing like driving the deuces. But the 5ton is a blast and can't wait to get her licensed and all the legal stuff so that i can drive it all the time...now just to find trailers for it Was a great pleasure to meet another fellow SS member and fellow fire fighter, 'Caleb aka cleb on SS' and his co-pilot. I tried getting as many pictures but with so many things going on did take as many as i'd like to have but there are always other trips to come
btw- the M818 was repaint CARC in 2005 along with new batteries, and some other things so I'm assuming that it went through a rebuild in 2005 as there are quite a few items replaced and brand new on it. So that was a plus to find. I also woke up early this morning and went out and fired her up and took her to work but when got home quickly realized that i have a right rear axle seal going out so no more play until i fix that... :-/
Monday:
We left Moscow at 1545 with one loaded Crown Vic, and made it to Olympia at 2200. We hit some pretty heavy snow on Snoqualmie pass; the road was wet with some slush. It made for a bit of miserable driving. After we got off the pass it was heavy rain for most of the trip, it cleared up by the time we got to Olympia.
Tuesday:
Got up at 0600, and left Olympia/Summit Lake at 0645. We arrived at the Ft. Lewis visitor center at 0715. Todd (MilitaryRestoration) got stuck in traffic, and arrived at 0800. We got our passes, and headed up to the DRMO/GL lot. We got to the truck at 0830. I started checking the fluids, and Todd and his helper replaced the batteries with new ones, and started checking over everything else. I dumped 10 gallons of diesel in then, which added to the ½ tank or so that was there. We had her running by 0900, started right up. All the fluids were full; we did add a little brake fluid for good measure. We both took the truck for a spin around the lot, and everything worked fine. We had noticed the headlamp on the passenger side was out. The only one Todd could get on such short notice was one for $50. Ouch. We went to replace it, and couldn’t due to the replacement which had spade connectors, and the burnt out one had the military style plug connectors. We put the old one back in, and figured since high beam still worked, we could get home on that. Well, not 1 minute later the high beam burned out. Darn. We went on a hunt for spade connectors. The GL guy found us some. I cut the harness off the old headlamp, and put the spade connectors on. We then realized the headlamp had .30in connectors, and our spades were .25in. Darn. We cut the spades off, and I strip and solder the wires directly to the headlamp. Test it, and it looks like someone is arc welding inside the headlamp. Ouch. That was the quickest waste of $50 I’ve seen in a while. We air up all the tires, and decide to head out and make it home before dark. I loaded all the fluids and extra parts in the truck, so the car would be a little lighter. We wait a little bit for the paperwork, and head off the base at 1100. Everything works fine, until the onramp of I-5. I put her to the floor so I could get a bit of speed for the freeway. When I go to shift, the engine revs to the governor. I pull the accelerator back with my toe and try again. Sure enough, sticks again. Well, we aren’t 2 minutes off the base and it’s broken. I pull over to the side of the onramp, and find a broken throttle return spring. The one thing I forgot to buy before the trip. I do a little creative engineering with a piece of wire, and we’re off again. I was a little worried for the first 20 minutes after that, but once we hit Seattle and some sun, her and I had an understanding, and I felt better from then on. My driver followed me in the car, and did interference when I needed to change lanes, which was a great help. Portable radios were a must! We made it thru Seattle traffic in one piece. It then started raining, and I had fun with the little windshield wiper. I'm 6'1, and it didn't wipe where my eyes looked out. About half way home the fuel gauge went gunnysack. It was showing way past full. I wish. She ran about 52-55 on the freeway most of the way, got a little slowed down for a couple hills. We get to Mt. Vernon, about an hour from the ferry, to stop for fuel. $60 later at $4.449 a gallon. We then get semi-lost in downtown Mt. Vernon. Turned a few heads with the loud exhaust, then back on the freeway. We make it to Anacortes, and grab food at Subway. We made it to the ferry at 1445, and $81 later we are on the ferry. Made it home without a problem, and dropped by the local parts store to grab a new return spring.
My favorite part of the trip: Driving through a tunnel in Seattle, and putting her to the floor. The noise echoing in the tunnel was impressive. I’m sure everyone around us heard it. Also had a few people give the thumbs up on the freeway.
I would like to thank MilitaryRestoration for his help during the recovery. He brought me a few extra parts that I didn’t ask for, and was an awesome help getting her running and us on the road. He had a few fits with his M818 after we left, but last I heard (at 1755) he was over Snoqualmie pass (1 ft of snow) and about an hour and a half away from home. I’m sure he will be posting his story here.
Pictures are at http://defcon-3.net/gallery/m35a2_recovery with lots of them and captions.
We are leaving in my car at 0640 tomorrow to head back to Moscow. Should be an easy drive, the hard part is over!
Edit: I would do it again in a heartbeat! Definately a once in a lifetime experience.
Here is my side now...
:Took off at about 0400 tuesday morning with everything loaded up full, fuels all top'd off and ready to get some work done. Got about half way there and started snowing on us, which was very unexpected. Further more, people in Wa. state I swear do not know how to drive and low n behold...traffic started coming to a stop. Not quite sure if it was just 'traffic' or there was a previous accident still trying to clear but either way got caught in it. Made good time still, arriving at Fort Lewis around 0800. Met with Caleb and his co-pilot
checked into the guard station, then proceeded on up to the other entrance closer to drmo.After completing the duties mentioned above in Calebs post and getting him on his way, I then moved onto prepping my M818. I was there a week or so before so got most of it done already except actually getting it started. Which talking with the gl reps they claimed that it only needed a jump to get it going. So did one more check of fluids, just because who knows if anyone has messed with it since, and proceeded to start taking the batteries out to replace them with four brand new ones I had bought. Then 'tony' from gl stated, 'why dont we just try jumpin it before you go through all that work' so I agreed with him then went and found a deuce that started on its own, took the ol' slave cables out and hooked them up. Luckily i had brought the adapters because the deuce was switched over to 'nato' plug. Waited for five minutes or so n tried again...nothing.... so then decided to wait 15 min or so to really charge them good. Wandered around the lot looking at all the odds and ends and found some brand new roll off flat beds used on the m997 in the demil b pile. They were cutting these bad boys up with cutting torches because someone had stated that they had stress cracks in them...WHAT A WASTE!!! wanted to take one home so bad hehe. So then found some stuff in another scrap pile, and lets just say it's good to always know people...
We then went back to the truck after about a half hour or so, turned her over and over but no start, but wait ether kicked it in and it ran for about 10seconds or so then died. Tried starting again and batteries were once again drained. So then I spot one of the guys driving one of the oversized fork lifts around and asked him if he could just push start me, which was agreed upon. After two full laps around the lot she finally turned over and was running on her own 6feet hehe. However really wanted to die so made another two laps to get her all stretched out a bit then went back over to where she was parked originally and still wanted to die. So pulled the throttle cable out a bit and used vice grips to hold in place
, while my co-pilot and i picked up all our stuff, loaded it back into my pick-up, and moved the jumper deuce back to its spot. Then went and hooked onto the m105, where we then started our full service, greasing every zerk on truck and trailer, once again checking all fluids, topping off the fuel, airing up all the tires which all were no more than 20psi (so that took forever), tightened all the lug nuts, took tags off windows, washed windows, hooked air lines and electrical up, and unloaded all the stuff
into the trailer from my pickup because i know for a fact that the m818 would not notice the weight as my pickup would. We then did a light check and everything was working properly and ready to go. Took her over the scales for a combined weight of almost 24000 lbs. Checked back in the office to sign paper work once again and I was on my way, with probably the biggest smile...heheTruck drove like a dream... smooth running motor, great power, it wanted to 55+ right away but i only let it do 50, transmission box felt good, brakes felt good, clutch properly adjusted, etc etc. And not but one exit later was already getting thumbs up and waves hehe. Not to mention I could drive with one 'finger', due to the great power steering compared to deuce, and could wave back
. Few exits later we went to top off fuels and grab a bite to eat. But while fueling I noticed my lights flicker on and knowing I still had the switch on and truck still running i knew I had a problem. For some reason when hooked to the trailer only...the lights would only come on randomly for a split second. The time now being around 3or so I knew that were was no time to grab a bite and that we needed to get fueled and back on the road to make it before dusk... So almost 400.00 later with diesel being a 4.39 and gas being at 3.59 both the M818 and my pickup were full and ready to go.Didn't make it but over and hour or so into the trip and I could tell I was exhausted from no personal 'fuel'
So started looking for 'food ahead' signs and one came with burger king calling my name hehe so we stopped got food 'to go' (dang headlights), check all the hubs for temperatures, checked tires once again and fluids and back on the road. Trying to eat a burger, hold ur large drink between your legs, shift, steer, etc while in seattle area was a interesting part of the day to say the least hehe but I managed. Trip was going great till we hit the pass and since we had been there, (weather channel only stating 1-3" accumulation) it had snowed about a foot. However did not have to chain up as crazy as it was they were not requiring them and the truck did great in the snow. impressed once again! And from there on out had no problems what so ever and only made one last stop in Ellensburg where met up with a friend and took a pisser but soon right back on the road. All in all was a great drive/experience and I can thankfully say it's another successful, fun, good recovery trip. The 5ton is by far my most favorite to drive, however there is nothing like driving the deuces. But the 5ton is a blast and can't wait to get her licensed and all the legal stuff so that i can drive it all the time...now just to find trailers for it
Was a great pleasure to meet another fellow SS member and fellow fire fighter, 'Caleb aka cleb on SS' and his co-pilot. I tried getting as many pictures but with so many things going on did take as many as i'd like to have but there are always other trips to come btw- the M818 was repaint CARC in 2005 along with new batteries, and some other things so I'm assuming that it went through a rebuild in 2005 as there are quite a few items replaced and brand new on it. So that was a plus to find. I also woke up early this morning and went out and fired her up and took her to work
but when got home quickly realized that i have a right rear axle seal going out so no more play until i fix that... :-/
