M923A2 came home with me today!

[ARMYMAN30YearsPlus]

Awesome Video Chris:
This will be the sweet truck at Aberdeen next to Clints fresh paint and Marks brand new duece, my old girl will be a wallflower but I am still gonna ask her to dance.

 

[steelsoldiers]

I thought all 5 tons had sprag t-cases ???

All the 900's I've seen have had the air-shift. Maybe it has something to do with them being slush-box trucks? I can't speak for the M54's or the 800's not having owned one.


Thanks David. I'll try to get another vid of its maiden voyage I'm sure your truck is no wall-flower! Mine will be running, but ugly

 

[steelsoldiers]

Update after 3/17/07 work-session: It was a heckofa day. My brother came up from NC to help me out again. He had stopped by John Winslow's for me and picked up some parts that came from another fella in NC. He brought the lower rad mount, a cherry fan shroud (rare) and a power steering cooler. There were supposed to be 2 spindle nuts and a lock-washer in the deilivery, but the got left out when the guy gave the stuff to Winslow. He'll be mailing them to me this week so I can finally get the dang wheel mounted.

Me and my brother, Chad, took the radiator to my office and flushed a bunch of rust and scale out of it for about 30 minutes. Then, we made about 4 different stops to get all of the nuts and bolts, 10 gallons of gear oil, 6 gallons of anit-freeze, 6 gallons of distilled h2o, a ball-valve for the front glad-hand and other bits. Then we got to work installing the radiator it took about 3 or 4 hours to get the whole thing installed with Chad having to make 2 more parts runs during the ordeal. The radiator was all the way in, but the lower mount wasn't lining up so it had to come out so we could reverse the mounting plate bolted to the radiator. It came with the plate bolted to it, but maybe it came out of a NHC-250 truck and they use the plate flipped. I dunno, but it was a pain to get everything lined up and hoses connected without busting that precious fan-shroud. Finally it was in!

We opened up all of the pet-cocks on the engine and the plug on the rad top to let the air out and statrted pouring the 50/50 in. Chad stood on the truck dumping in in the tank while I threw him more jugs. Once in quit taking fluid, we fired it up and let it warm up. It took about 20 minutes at 1800 rpm to get the thermostat the open. Chad topped everything off in the tank and about got blown off of the truck when the fan clutch engaged. What a fan!! All was going pretty smooth. I was opening the valve in the hot water personnel and opened it too far and it popped out and dropped to the frame. After all the air was out a big stream of hot coolant was shooting out of the heater onto the engine. I was screaming $%#@! turn it off Chad!!!

After we got that cleaned up, we let it run a little more, just checking everything out. The air compressor pumped primary and secondary systems up to 120 and then shut off so that was good. The low-air/parking brake whistle never shut up. I think that was because I still had the spring brakes caged so it thought the parking brake was on. The CTIS control was blinking unhappily at me. Prolly because both front wheels are still off and it gets no pressure readings. Other than that, it was great. The tranny warmed up and didn't make any bad noises. Man, it sounded good too. I can't wait to get it on the road!! Hopefully next weekend, it will take its first trip around the block!

More pics later!

 

[Recovry4x4]

Fabulous news Chris. I was expecting and update since its the weekend. All in all, sounds like you did very good getting this truck. Alas, looks like it will be going to Aberdeen. Will my winch fit in the bed? Lastly, do you have 2 good tires for the front? Can the passenger tire be repaired? Congrats!
Kenny

 

[steelsoldiers]

Thanks Kenny. It will definitely make Aberdeen. That engine purs like a kitten, mmm. I might be able to find a spot in the bed for the winch Lifting it up there will be the fun part! The one tire is FUBAR, but the spare is brand new and the other is prolly 80% so I should be good to go. I am hopefully going to pick up a new or good used 14x20 for my spare. I think Winslow has some good take-off's.

 

[Stretch44875]

Sounds like your kicking butt! Can't imagine how anxious you are to drive it. Not sure I could sleep with a truck like that waiting outside.

Dennis

 

[Rattlehead]

Chris,
I was told that the low air pressure sensors are known to go bad. Try unplugging them one at a time and see if the buzzer goes off.

Glad to hear you are getting it all ironed out!

 

[steelsoldiers]

Yeah, Bruce had told me that too Dave. I'll try that if un-caging the brakes doesn't shut it up. The park-brake light was blinking with the lever in the down position which makes me think it has to do with the brakes and not an air sensor. We'll see. Hopefully I'll have a chance to work on it some this week.

 

[Jetnoise400]

Chris, I haven't chimed in until now, but I've been following your progress with great interest! Congrats on a SWEET truck, and good job in sourcing all the needed bits and getting her going! I've always wanted a 900 series truck, but just don't have the real estate to keep one or the financial horsepower to get one in the first place. So I'm living vicariously through you! Keep up the good work, and keep those photos coming!

 

[AMTAK]

Truck looks great! Hope to see it at the show. I fixed up two of the M925's and found that hooking them up to shop air was very helpful. There are allot of air lines on these bad boys and finding all the leaks and fixing them is easier with the engine not running.

 

[steelsoldiers]

Thanks Sean. If you ever make it out East you are welcome to take it for a spin!

AMTAK, good thought. I don't have electricity where I have been working on the truck so once I get it driving, I'll bring it to the house and hook the compressor up to it. I am going to uncage the brakes and see what that does for the air/park-brake alarm. Hopefully once I get the front wheels back on I'll be able to get the CTIS working. I'll be studying the manual on that system this week.

There is a ton of airlines! They are all plastic too so it is possible that one may have been cracked or nicked. I climbed under the truck after I shut it off with the system fully charged to listen for leaks. The only air I heard was in the intake stack, which is the exhaust for the air brakes.

 

[steelsoldiers]

Update:

I had a very productive afternoon! I set out to finish the power steering system. First, I had to get the partially removed ball-stud knocked all the way back into the spring mount. Problem with that was with weight on the front end, the stud wasn't lined up with the hole in the spring mount. I took my bottle jack and lifted the frame in front of the spring mount. This allowed the axle to drop and pulled the spring-eye down lining up the stud. Then I just tapped it in with the ball-peen and put the lock bolt in.

After that I had to rebuild both ends of the steering ram. This consisted of cleaning out all of the crusty old grease, cutting new felt pads and putting the ends back together. After I got it mounted firmly in place, I moved on to the PS cooler.

My cooler was missing so I had to source a used one. I cut the old hoses off of the cooler and used them for patterns for the new ones. I had to route the hoses under the radiator and back to the PS pump protecting them with some spiral sleeve. Once I got everything hooked up I filled the reservoir with PS fluid. I started the engine and cranked the wheel back and forth about 10 times to make sure all the air was out of the system. I topped off the tank and checked for leaks. All was good!

I also test fit the new outer wheel bearing. It fits like a champ so all that I am waiting on now are the spindle nuts and lock washer. I figure it will take me about an hour or two, tops to finish putting the hub together. Then it is just a matter of putting the tiny little wheels back on, hooking up the CTIS valves, filling the diffs and un-caging the brakes. Woop-woop! I'm getting close!

 

[BFR]

...Then it is just a matter of putting the tiny little wheels back on...

You may wish to seek medical attention. It appears your OD fever is quickly getting worse.

 

[cranetruck]

Chris, you need a small K-boom to go with your truck. I can't imagine being without one...

 

[steelsoldiers]

...Then it is just a matter of putting the tiny little wheels back on...

You may wish to seek medical attention. It appears your OD fever is quickly getting worse.

No, they really are tiny, I have decided to put 9x20 NDCC singles on there. Eventually I'll pull some leaves out of the spring pack to lower the truck a few inches too. I think it will look sweet.

Naw, just funnin. I really do need a k-boom to lift the tires in and out of the carrier. They are frickin pigs!

 

[rizzo]

...Then it is just a matter of putting the tiny little wheels back on...

You may wish to seek medical attention. It appears your OD fever is quickly getting worse.

No, they really are tiny, I have decided to put 9x20 NDCC singles on there. Eventually I'll pull some leaves out of the spring pack to lower the truck a few inches too. I think it will look sweet.

Naw, just funnin. I really do need a k-boom to lift the tires in and out of the carrier. They are frickin pigs!

lol

 

[Recovry4x4]

Well, lose the 14 footer, put on a 12' deuce bed and get that boom on there. We need more members in the cranetruck club.

 

[cranetruck]

Somebody grab this one in Barstow, CA. I think it has its own powerpack...

 

[steelsoldiers]

Thanks Kenny. It is a pretty exclusive club To think I almost bought that rattle-trap M108. Thank goodness my good sense prevailed!

Man, that's perfect Bjorn. Course, I don't see me doing any major projects for quite some time. Just getting this one up and moving has worn me out

 

[steelsoldiers]

Well, crap, the UPS man just left my office and my box of spindle nuts/lock washer wasn't among the other packages. So, I guess it won't be on the road until next week sometime. Arggh, the suspense is killing me!

I still have to pump the diffs and t-case full of oil. I can go ahead and completely assemble the hub with the exception of the nuts/washer. That way I can get the brake spyder back on and fully test the air brake system. I need to put the stone guard back over the PS ram hoses on the pass side. Then, the spare tire can be bolted on and the CTIS hooked back up. So, it's not like I don't have enough things to do without the nuts

I still need fix my door hinges. The pins are rusted solid so I don't know if I will be able to press or beat them out without trashing the hinge. The passenger side works fine, but the pin is broken off on the top one so I can't put mirrors back on until I get that fixed. Hmmph. Anyone have luck pressing or beating stuck pins out? I have soaked them in Kroil multiple times, but I don't think it phased them. Maybe I could heat them up with a rosebud torch to help loosen things up?