Freight Dog's M35A3

[Freight Dog]

In October 2009, I bid on an M35A3, down at Warner-Robins. To my amazement and my brides consternation, I won!
After jumping through the, “Hoops”, so many Steel Soldier members are familiar with, I had a 10’ tall machine sitting in front of my 7’ tall shop door.
It was 3 days after Christmas and 10 below zero. The specific gravity of the radiator fluid was just a tad better than drinking water. The new “Cat” engine only had a few hundred hours on the meter. I could just see myself with a cracked block …Merry Christmas…by morning. ( No…making a bigger opening, in the garage, with the chain saw was not an option )
I didn’t know a thing about military vehicles and a year later I only know a little more. But, shortly after mid-night I had whittled the, “Deuce” down to 3 inches taller than the door frame. After no small amount of prayer, it came to me to let some air out of the tires.
You couldn’t have put a dollar bill between the top of the muffler and that door sill, but my rolling, “erector” set was finally in her heated shop.
Thanks to all of the guys on this site for their wisdom, insight and humor.
My small piece of military history will continue to roll because of it!
I’ll try to attach a picture of the Georgia Deuce, sitting in the cold,
December 28, 2009, waiting for her new home.
I’ll also try to attach a picture of the spring, “Roll-Out”.

Freight Dog

PS
For over a year now, I have been a curiosity to the citizens of Forest Lake, MN,
a hero to my Grand-kids ( 3, 5 and 7 ).
My wife has actually gone cruising with me a couple of times…things are warming up in Minnesota!

 

[drgreg]

Time to build a bigger shop, winters-a-commin'

 

[AceHigh]

You did not have to let the air out of the tires- they come with that factory option!

Nice looking truck.

 

[srodocker]

nice a3!

 

[wsucougarx]

Nice lookin' truck. That first pic made me shiver. Temps are expected to drop below freezing by the end of the week.

 

[Freight Dog]

Thanks for the good comments guys.
It IS cooling down a bit. We had about a foot of snow a few days ago.
There is a bumper sticker here that says:

"Minus 30 Keeps the Riff-Raff Out"

That can't be true...I live here!

Freight Dog

 

[lonegunman]

I like it, mine will barely fit thru the door to my shop, I am going to shoehorn it in there this winter as well. Nice truck, my A3 learning curve started last April and all by myself I had to figure out a lot of stuff. SS has been an awesome resource.

 

[mikey]

Very nice deuce!

How does your a3 handle in the snow/ice?

Thx

Mikey

 

[cessnatwin]

Lets just call this your FIRST one, cause you will buy more, trust me they are addictive!

 

[lonegunman]

I droved through a little snow in the high country on the recovery with no problems. With the tires aired up I am sure it will slide on ice and snow. I have driven mostly A2's in snow, this will be my first A3 year.

There are a couple of things to remember. The brakes are grabby, the tires need aired down to about 30 pounds and it works better with an extra ton of weight over the rear axles. A big truck empty tends to be slippery anyway. When I drive my truck this winter I am going to go slow and start stopping early until I get it figured out.

 

[Karl kostman]

fieight dog that is a SWEET looking A3 and trust me I do understand the COLD, I live in Fargo and and drive an A2 and this is my second winter with that truck. My preferance is to add about 2 tons to the rear of the truck and drop the tire pressure down to about 20 pounds per tire I am running all original tires and wheels I would think that yours will be a fair amount better. Glad you got the poor beast inside, mine also sits in a heated shop all winter and I am pretty sure we ALL like that better than sitting out in -20 temps, good luck you have a darned nice truck frieghtdog!
KK

 

[dieck]

I would love to see some pics of the deuce crammed in a 7 foot garage door. I've been contemplating the same.

In October 2009, I bid on an M35A3, down at Warner-Robins. To my amazement and my brides consternation, I won!
After jumping through the, “Hoops”, so many Steel Soldier members are familiar with, I had a 10’ tall machine sitting in front of my 7’ tall shop door.
It was 3 days after Christmas and 10 below zero. The specific gravity of the radiator fluid was just a tad better than drinking water. The new “Cat” engine only had a few hundred hours on the meter. I could just see myself with a cracked block …Merry Christmas…by morning. ( No…making a bigger opening, in the garage, with the chain saw was not an option )
I didn’t know a thing about military vehicles and a year later I only know a little more. But, shortly after mid-night I had whittled the, “Deuce” down to 3 inches taller than the door frame. After no small amount of prayer, it came to me to let some air out of the tires.
You couldn’t have put a dollar bill between the top of the muffler and that door sill, but my rolling, “erector” set was finally in her heated shop.
Thanks to all of the guys on this site for their wisdom, insight and humor.
My small piece of military history will continue to roll because of it!
I’ll try to attach a picture of the Georgia Deuce, sitting in the cold,
December 28, 2009, waiting for her new home.
I’ll also try to attach a picture of the spring, “Roll-Out”.

Freight Dog

PS
For over a year now, I have been a curiosity to the citizens of Forest Lake, MN,
a hero to my Grand-kids ( 3, 5 and 7 ).
My wife has actually gone cruising with me a couple of times…things are warming up in Minnesota!

 

[Freight Dog]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the good comments!
I haven't really had much experience with the A3 in the snow yet.
I plan to treat it like a Rattlesnake in a phone booth!
I'll see if I can find a few pics to attach of the, "Garage Door Entry Configuration".

Freight Dog

 

[Heavysteven]

Ok, so do you drive it in or pull? How do you get it out?

I have a similar garage but do not want to lose my head (literally) doing this same process.

Thanks for the info so far.

 

[JeepMan]

If you ever import a vehicle from Europe, the first thing you want to do is check the antifreeze. It's usually close to water as well.

 

[JeepMan]

Ok, so do you drive it in or pull? How do you get it out?

I have a similar garage but do not want to lose my head (literally) doing this same process.

Thanks for the info so far.

Put a electric winch on the back wall. To get it out put the winch on the neighbors mailbox stand

 

[Freight Dog]

You guys have given me some terrific advice for A3 “Winter Ops”. I will definitely heed it regarding, “grabby brakes“, airing down the tires and putting some additional weight in the back. My CTIS has worked normally from the git-go…at least the way I use it. I always select “Highway”. It looks at manifold pressure first, then it shows me current tire pressure. Finally, it brings them all to 45 psi, if they weren’t already.
I have driven about 2300 miles this year. I usually drive locally, around 1500 rpm, which gives me a comfortable 30 mph. I haven’t checked the mpg but I suspect it is reasonable. I manually air down the front tires only, to get in and out of the garage door. As a result, I haven’t tried to air down with the CTIS yet. I guess it falls into the same category as knowing the mpg. I don’t want to open, “Pandora’s Box”.
As an aside, I’m getting an unusual bit of wear on the front tires only. The “knobs” in the middle are wearing down unevenly. Possibly pressure related due to CTIS operation ??? … or maybe alignment ???

You guys have come up with some good questions about getting a big truck through a small garage door.
Maybe the following will be helpful if you are seeking shelter for your Olive Drab mistress:
My door frame height is 7’ 0”.
The first thing I did was remove the canvas, hoops and seats.
Then I removed the doors, which allowed me to remove the mirrors. The doors can stay on as long as the windows are down. But, since I was pulling the hinge pins out to remove the mirrors, I just left the doors off for painting and maintenance.
Since it is a convertible, I took the top and it’s frame off. Where the canvas slides into the top of the front window it was REALLY stuck. I squirted,
“Armor-All”, liberally, into the channel and it slid right out.
At that point I loosened the big wing nuts and pushed the windshield forward, so it was parallel to the hood.
DO NOT use much WD-40 to loosen things if you are going to paint them later. The paint won’t adhere to a surface with WD-40 on it and it is a bear to remove. Don’t ask me why I know this!
Anyway, that left only the smoke stack to remove. There was an easily accessible bolt and it’s clamp to loosen and I was finished.
After airing down the front tires only, I started the “Cat 3116” (By the way, don’t let anyone tell you that it’s anything but a tremendous engine!)
and I drove slowly, nose first, into my 26’ x 36’ shop.

CAUTION: Be sure to duck when you get to the door frame!

In the spring just reverse the process…don’t forget the caution!

I’ll try to attach a few more, “In the shop” pics.

Freight Dog

 

[tie6044]

Nice truck! Maybe I'll see you out driving around some time!

 

[bratpackdad]

Pretty cool, its surprising to see it actually fit in there.