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Many of you know I sold my last truck a couple of years ago. It was my first truck so I was a little said to see it leave on a wrecker (no brakes).
I had been looking for a M915A1 and had basically given up any hope of finding one I could afford and that wasn't in Puerto Rico.
My wife and I made it to the rally at Windrock this year and I mentioned that I had wanted a 915 for a few years and Swiss said "I have one to sell". I looked at a few pics on his phone and said I was interested.
After we were home from the rally I talked to my wife and my Brother and they both convinced me to get. It didn't take much but I sent Swiss a deposit and started the recovery trip planning.
There is only a small handful of people I would ever trust to do a recovery with me and I chose Gimpyrobb. We have recovered another 5-ton together but it was closer and it had a marginal air pack so I let him drive it home.
I packed up last Thursday and met Gimpy at his jobsite and we headed south at 4:45 or so Friday morning. Waze/GPS said to go one way and Google said another.
The drive was uneventful until we headed south on State Route 74 from Interstate 40 in NC. As we were driving the GPS started saying make a u-turn. Well, I'm a guy and knew that SR74 went to Lula, GA. (It doesn't, I missed the turn for SR23 and it goes to Lula)
I continued on SR74 and got to see some of the most beautiful country anywhere in the U.S. called Nantahala National Forest. Pull off spots along the roads and dozens of guys fly fishing in the creak. Waterfalls galore. As missed turns go it was horrible except for the 40 extra miles at 20-40mph.
We finally got back on the correct road and met Swiss at his place about 2:15PM. He actually met us in the 915 and we followed him to his place. When we got there we looked the truck over and did a fluid/fuel check, tires, leaks and that the bed was bolted on and ready to go. We spent some time looking around his place and said our goodbys and head to a hotel.
We made plans to hit the road at 5AM. We started checking things at about 4:50 and I got in to start it to air up the seat and CLICK, nothing, CLICK, nothing. Gimpy asked if I have a multimeter. I have been in electronics for 53 years and the one tool I forgot. Crap!
Do you have jumper cables. Nope, but if I do they are under the back seat of the RAM. Yah! My good ones were in there. Gimpy split the batteries and charged each one about 5 minutes each. Success!! She fired off and as Gimpy put everything into the RAM I monitored the gauges since I had to use a step ladder to get in.
Gimpy had driven it from Swiss' to the hotel and said it was good so I got to start off the drive with Gimpy in the chase RAM. I can tell you that although I have about 75 miles driving a 915 none of those miles were at night and certainly none of them were on strange roads in another state.
I was scared sh___ess until it started getting light out. Checking the EGT and speed was clicking the dome on and off sending Morse to aliens and Keyhole satellites. Fortunately the road north had very little traffic and I got more comfortable and was ready to hit the snake on I40 between Asheville and Knoxville.
My first fill up was cheap (in comparison to Ohio) at Truckstop 440 at exit 440 in TN. Only $290 to put in 72.5 gallons. We got back on the road pretty quick and the drive from there to Knoxville was good
and I headed to north to my next experience, Jellico Mountain. I was burning up the road now at a ripping 60mph. At that speed it felt too squirrelly to me to go faster so the other big trucks were going by me. Payback was at hand though when we hit the climb and it is not a Rocky Mountain climb but it's all we have here.
I went flying by all the trucks that had passed me earlier. The road is horrible with long potholes and it felt like I was in the air as much as on the road the last 30 miles in TN. The downhill side was what I had been worrying about but it was easy. I wasn't towing 20 tons of cargo.
The rest of the trip was good and Gimpy got off at his exit and I continued on to the farm in Dayton.
Google says the trip was about 505 miles. I'm guessing we got around 5mpg as we added another 32gal in KY north of Lexington.
10.5 hours road time
505 miles driven
$808 approximate expenses
Smile on my face - Priceless
Lake Natahala
Three Stooges
Truck in Georgia
Trucks side by side
The Omen cloud the night before we left hotel. In our case it was mostly good luck.
HOME SAFE!!!!
I had been looking for a M915A1 and had basically given up any hope of finding one I could afford and that wasn't in Puerto Rico.
My wife and I made it to the rally at Windrock this year and I mentioned that I had wanted a 915 for a few years and Swiss said "I have one to sell". I looked at a few pics on his phone and said I was interested.
After we were home from the rally I talked to my wife and my Brother and they both convinced me to get. It didn't take much but I sent Swiss a deposit and started the recovery trip planning.
There is only a small handful of people I would ever trust to do a recovery with me and I chose Gimpyrobb. We have recovered another 5-ton together but it was closer and it had a marginal air pack so I let him drive it home.
I packed up last Thursday and met Gimpy at his jobsite and we headed south at 4:45 or so Friday morning. Waze/GPS said to go one way and Google said another.
The drive was uneventful until we headed south on State Route 74 from Interstate 40 in NC. As we were driving the GPS started saying make a u-turn. Well, I'm a guy and knew that SR74 went to Lula, GA. (It doesn't, I missed the turn for SR23 and it goes to Lula)
I continued on SR74 and got to see some of the most beautiful country anywhere in the U.S. called Nantahala National Forest. Pull off spots along the roads and dozens of guys fly fishing in the creak. Waterfalls galore. As missed turns go it was horrible except for the 40 extra miles at 20-40mph.
We finally got back on the correct road and met Swiss at his place about 2:15PM. He actually met us in the 915 and we followed him to his place. When we got there we looked the truck over and did a fluid/fuel check, tires, leaks and that the bed was bolted on and ready to go. We spent some time looking around his place and said our goodbys and head to a hotel.
We made plans to hit the road at 5AM. We started checking things at about 4:50 and I got in to start it to air up the seat and CLICK, nothing, CLICK, nothing. Gimpy asked if I have a multimeter. I have been in electronics for 53 years and the one tool I forgot. Crap!
Do you have jumper cables. Nope, but if I do they are under the back seat of the RAM. Yah! My good ones were in there. Gimpy split the batteries and charged each one about 5 minutes each. Success!! She fired off and as Gimpy put everything into the RAM I monitored the gauges since I had to use a step ladder to get in.
Gimpy had driven it from Swiss' to the hotel and said it was good so I got to start off the drive with Gimpy in the chase RAM. I can tell you that although I have about 75 miles driving a 915 none of those miles were at night and certainly none of them were on strange roads in another state.
I was scared sh___ess until it started getting light out. Checking the EGT and speed was clicking the dome on and off sending Morse to aliens and Keyhole satellites. Fortunately the road north had very little traffic and I got more comfortable and was ready to hit the snake on I40 between Asheville and Knoxville.
My first fill up was cheap (in comparison to Ohio) at Truckstop 440 at exit 440 in TN. Only $290 to put in 72.5 gallons. We got back on the road pretty quick and the drive from there to Knoxville was good
and I headed to north to my next experience, Jellico Mountain. I was burning up the road now at a ripping 60mph. At that speed it felt too squirrelly to me to go faster so the other big trucks were going by me. Payback was at hand though when we hit the climb and it is not a Rocky Mountain climb but it's all we have here.
I went flying by all the trucks that had passed me earlier. The road is horrible with long potholes and it felt like I was in the air as much as on the road the last 30 miles in TN. The downhill side was what I had been worrying about but it was easy. I wasn't towing 20 tons of cargo.
The rest of the trip was good and Gimpy got off at his exit and I continued on to the farm in Dayton.
Google says the trip was about 505 miles. I'm guessing we got around 5mpg as we added another 32gal in KY north of Lexington.
10.5 hours road time
505 miles driven
$808 approximate expenses
Smile on my face - Priceless
Lake Natahala
Three Stooges
Truck in Georgia
Trucks side by side
The Omen cloud the night before we left hotel. In our case it was mostly good luck.
HOME SAFE!!!!
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