Without sounding judgemental I have to ask if you thought about shipping before you bought the beast.
I drove HEMMT cargos and tankers in Korea and I would not wish a drive to California in one on my worst enemy, especially a bob tailed tractor.
There are stretches of road between here and there that will beat your teeth out in an air ride commercial truck.
The only redeeming quality is that you can run 65 MPH easy if you can hold it in the road.
The down side of that is what you will spend in fuel. That two stroke Driptroit will suck the bottom out of the fuel tank at highway speed. And you are sitting right in front of that 500HP screaming engine ahead of the front axles. Five miles per gallon is a wet dream. I estimate 600 gallons of fuel if you get 5 mpg. The farther west you go the more expensive fuel gets.
Then there is food, motels and misc expenses. You are not going to camp out in that truck after driving it for 12 or more hours. Again, trust me on this. There is no way to sleep in that cab that won't cause major medical problems. You will be praying for that Motel Six sign to appear so you can take a shower, lay down in a soft bed and get the sound of that screaming engine out of your head.
And while we are on the subject of a smoke belching, two stroke diesel engine are you even going to be able to operate it out there? I hear a lot of rumors about what you guys are up against with CARB. Not trying to pick a fight.....just asking.
My guess is that is has no AC so when you are traveling in the sunny south you are going to be in a state of unbelievable discomfort this time of year. There is no way to get a breeze in that cab, trust me on this one, been there, done that, still got the sweat stained BDU's I wore in Korea.
The vehicle weighs 32,000 pounds so if you break down you are looking at one ell of a wrecker bill (depending on how far out in the boondocks you are). Then you are at the mercy of a repair shop that may or may not be able to work on it. It is getting harder and harder to find old school Detroit diesel mechanics. If it can't be repaired quickly or affordablely then you still have to ship it home. These vehicles are a nightmare of hoses, wiring and proprietary parts that you can't get at NAPA or the local parts house. Oshkosh will not take your calls.
How long do you think it will take to drive 2578 miles (according to mapquest) in that vehicle?
We convoyed from Fort Benning Georgia to Fort Irwin, California in M915's and it took 5 days of hard driving and we had several vehicles die on the way out there. We were carrying spares but by the time we got there we only had one bobtail left that was mission capable.
If you manage to stay in it for 500 miles a day that is still 5 days of hard driving if you have no problems. That's at least 12-14 hours of driving a day in a profoundly uncomfortable vehicle. These were tactical vehicles, not road tractors. They are not user friendly.
They only carry 155 gallons of fuel and if you get 5 MPG you will have to fuel up every 300 miles. You do not want to run a Detroit out of fuel, I say again.....trust me on this. They are very hard to reprime, especially on the side of the road in the dark.
My advice is to take out a loan and have it shipped or sell it in place.
