Chateau Marquis
New member
- 19
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- Location
- Laguna Hills, CA
My father and I live in Southern California and bought a non-running M35A2 in Las Vegas 3 weeks ago not knowing anything specific about military vehicles. 2 weeks ago we had it towed to my friends house thanks to the Las Vegas Club, specifically Warren Willis who referred William, with the two thumbs up in the picture and his 5-ton. Through becoming of member of this forum and reading through the threads, buying parts from members and talking to Chris Robb (Gimpy) as our phone expert, we were able to drive her 300 miles home. We spent the last 10 days in Vegas with some mechanical friends in order to accomplish the mission. Thank you guys!
Day 1-3 Setup shop. Assembled and installed new battery cables and batteries, including a keyed master cut-off switch in the dash. Cleaned the gas tank. Replaced all filters, fluids and belts. Added a Donaldson muffler. She started right up and purred like kitten at 800-900 RPM, but only 40 psi and you could hear the air leak under the dash, but no buzzer alarm. Thanks to GimpyRobb who overnighted us a replacement air fitting part. Once the replacement part was installed we got 120 psi the next day. Low beam on one headlight was out and no stop lights. We replaced all broken bulbs and the headlight, but same issue, no low beam. We tracked down the short and the front wiring harness was bashed and needed 5 wires reconnected. Filled tires with air and re-threaded one valve stem.
Day 4-7 Removed buzzer, checked for power and ground, everything checked out. We finally went old school and gave the buzzer a hard bang and it stated working. Removed the stoplight switch and sprayed the posts with WD-40 and moved them around. We used the air compressor to bench test the switch and we got it working. Used a thermal cam for radiator flow check. The previous owner stop driving the deuce 4-6 years ago after the brake pedal hit the floor. We installed a new airpack and new master cylinder. Installed speed bleeders and bled the system using the power bleeder we made based off of Recovery4x4's thread. Greased all fittings. Flushed and replaced the 3 differentials and the transfer case oil.
Day 8-9 Test drove. Then we removed the seats. Lined the cab floor and fire wall with carpet pad foam for sound. We cut the back off the driver seat then raised it up and screwed it to the cab frame. We also moved the seat back a few inches and screwed it on top of 2x4s to raise it up, because seat springs were so worn and to create more room. Spent 2 hours at the Nevada DMV getting a 15 day drive-away permit for $9.25. We packed everything up in the back of deuce ready to head home in the morning.
Day 10 Packed up and ready to go we pushed the start button at 8:00 am and nothing. We spent an hour tracking it down to the relay and ended up having to tap it lightly with a hammer each time to get her started while someone pressed the start button. It took 11.5 hours to get home with some serious overheating issues, coolant loss, road-side radiator tube soldering and then leaving drops of oil everywhere from the new rear main seal leak. I must have climbed up and down the deuce 30 times on the way home, but she is home. Mission accomplished. It's a beautiful thing opening the garage door in morning and seeing her there.
Day 1-3 Setup shop. Assembled and installed new battery cables and batteries, including a keyed master cut-off switch in the dash. Cleaned the gas tank. Replaced all filters, fluids and belts. Added a Donaldson muffler. She started right up and purred like kitten at 800-900 RPM, but only 40 psi and you could hear the air leak under the dash, but no buzzer alarm. Thanks to GimpyRobb who overnighted us a replacement air fitting part. Once the replacement part was installed we got 120 psi the next day. Low beam on one headlight was out and no stop lights. We replaced all broken bulbs and the headlight, but same issue, no low beam. We tracked down the short and the front wiring harness was bashed and needed 5 wires reconnected. Filled tires with air and re-threaded one valve stem.
Day 4-7 Removed buzzer, checked for power and ground, everything checked out. We finally went old school and gave the buzzer a hard bang and it stated working. Removed the stoplight switch and sprayed the posts with WD-40 and moved them around. We used the air compressor to bench test the switch and we got it working. Used a thermal cam for radiator flow check. The previous owner stop driving the deuce 4-6 years ago after the brake pedal hit the floor. We installed a new airpack and new master cylinder. Installed speed bleeders and bled the system using the power bleeder we made based off of Recovery4x4's thread. Greased all fittings. Flushed and replaced the 3 differentials and the transfer case oil.
Day 8-9 Test drove. Then we removed the seats. Lined the cab floor and fire wall with carpet pad foam for sound. We cut the back off the driver seat then raised it up and screwed it to the cab frame. We also moved the seat back a few inches and screwed it on top of 2x4s to raise it up, because seat springs were so worn and to create more room. Spent 2 hours at the Nevada DMV getting a 15 day drive-away permit for $9.25. We packed everything up in the back of deuce ready to head home in the morning.
Day 10 Packed up and ready to go we pushed the start button at 8:00 am and nothing. We spent an hour tracking it down to the relay and ended up having to tap it lightly with a hammer each time to get her started while someone pressed the start button. It took 11.5 hours to get home with some serious overheating issues, coolant loss, road-side radiator tube soldering and then leaving drops of oil everywhere from the new rear main seal leak. I must have climbed up and down the deuce 30 times on the way home, but she is home. Mission accomplished. It's a beautiful thing opening the garage door in morning and seeing her there.
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