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About a month ago I bid and won one of the "fluids drained" trucks out of North Ft Hood. I didn't have the time off work to go get it then, so I had it towed to a storage place in Killeen. This past weekend I had the time to go get a look at it and try to get it going.
First off, I found a few surprises, like the rebuild tags dated 2010 from Kansas Readiness that weren't shown on the GL ad. Neither was the deepwater fording kit, or the pioneer toolrack. These are the kind of surprises I like. The nonworking passenger door handle was the kind of surprise I can live without, but no complaints.
The winch appears to be new, with the shipping ties and cloth cover still on the wire rope. The ether bottle still had the cap on it. The soft top appears to be new but sunbaked and the paint on the truck is much better than it looked in the ad. Very faded from the sun, but only very minor rust here and there. Nothing I can't fix in an afternoon with a wire brush and rattlecan. Interior of the truck is like new. The ladder was still present in the bed (looks like off a m934) as was a wheelchock.
I don't know what fluids were drained, but I can tell you what fluids were not drained: the crankcase was full, as were the diffs, transmission, power steering, hydraulic reservoir for the winch, coolant, and even the windshield washer. Four brand new looking batteries dated 2010 were present, but very very dead.
The tach is disconnected, as is the fuel gauge and trans temp. The fuel filler cap has holes in it. There was indescribable nastiness in the fuel strainer.
A few hours of basic PMCS and addition of new batteries resulted in it cranking. One brief squirt from handheld ether (I didn't want to open the pristine one under the hood) and it roared to life and began building air. When I released the park brake the *expletive* buzzer even stopped buzzing. (The one on my other truck buzzes intermittently just to be obnoxious.)
Off we go, only 1000 miles to Tucson.
The customary "driving with one hand while the other hand holds the soft top that just let go across the front" experience occurred less than 10mi into the drive, before even getting on a hwy. We came prepared with nice black Gorilla tape, as this event was anticipated. A good time to look the truck over again, with no deficits noted.
The rest of the drive home was uneventful. Some comments I have comparing this to my M923A2: I like the way the NH250 sounds better than the 8.3. Power seemed roughly identical, but the 8.3 might be losing some due to turning the super singles. This truck seems to ride a lot better than the M923A2 even though I expected it to be stiffer due to the shorter sidewalls and duals. Cruising speed was a whopping 58mph, compared to 63mph or so on the A2. I averaged 6mpg with my foot on the floor the whole drive, compared to 9ish on the A2 under similar circumstances.
I changed the oil in it today and converted it to the spin-on filter. The oil seemed like it only had about 1000mi on it, not dark and no grit. Full fluid and filter changeout are on the agenda for my next day off, then I'll start scritching at the rust and wiping it with a rag soaked in ospho. An upgrade to 16.00R20 super singles is planned in the near future also, and I need to find a cargo cover canvas.
All in all the retrieval went as well as could possibly have been hoped for.
First off, I found a few surprises, like the rebuild tags dated 2010 from Kansas Readiness that weren't shown on the GL ad. Neither was the deepwater fording kit, or the pioneer toolrack. These are the kind of surprises I like. The nonworking passenger door handle was the kind of surprise I can live without, but no complaints.
The winch appears to be new, with the shipping ties and cloth cover still on the wire rope. The ether bottle still had the cap on it. The soft top appears to be new but sunbaked and the paint on the truck is much better than it looked in the ad. Very faded from the sun, but only very minor rust here and there. Nothing I can't fix in an afternoon with a wire brush and rattlecan. Interior of the truck is like new. The ladder was still present in the bed (looks like off a m934) as was a wheelchock.
I don't know what fluids were drained, but I can tell you what fluids were not drained: the crankcase was full, as were the diffs, transmission, power steering, hydraulic reservoir for the winch, coolant, and even the windshield washer. Four brand new looking batteries dated 2010 were present, but very very dead.
The tach is disconnected, as is the fuel gauge and trans temp. The fuel filler cap has holes in it. There was indescribable nastiness in the fuel strainer.
A few hours of basic PMCS and addition of new batteries resulted in it cranking. One brief squirt from handheld ether (I didn't want to open the pristine one under the hood) and it roared to life and began building air. When I released the park brake the *expletive* buzzer even stopped buzzing. (The one on my other truck buzzes intermittently just to be obnoxious.)
Off we go, only 1000 miles to Tucson.
The customary "driving with one hand while the other hand holds the soft top that just let go across the front" experience occurred less than 10mi into the drive, before even getting on a hwy. We came prepared with nice black Gorilla tape, as this event was anticipated. A good time to look the truck over again, with no deficits noted.
The rest of the drive home was uneventful. Some comments I have comparing this to my M923A2: I like the way the NH250 sounds better than the 8.3. Power seemed roughly identical, but the 8.3 might be losing some due to turning the super singles. This truck seems to ride a lot better than the M923A2 even though I expected it to be stiffer due to the shorter sidewalls and duals. Cruising speed was a whopping 58mph, compared to 63mph or so on the A2. I averaged 6mpg with my foot on the floor the whole drive, compared to 9ish on the A2 under similar circumstances.
I changed the oil in it today and converted it to the spin-on filter. The oil seemed like it only had about 1000mi on it, not dark and no grit. Full fluid and filter changeout are on the agenda for my next day off, then I'll start scritching at the rust and wiping it with a rag soaked in ospho. An upgrade to 16.00R20 super singles is planned in the near future also, and I need to find a cargo cover canvas.
All in all the retrieval went as well as could possibly have been hoped for.
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