Mntsnow's recovery and building of The Beast

[MtnSnow]

Actually didn't do anything to the Beast this weekend but I did pick up Sides/Bows/Cover from Gunzy for my 1968 Johnson 105-A2 trailer. Other than the Cover having been lightly used and stored dirty it's in perfect shape (nothing a bit of cleaning won't take care of) and the sides & bows are the fiberglass pieces except for the tailgate piece which is wood but I couldn't and won't complain for the price!

 

[Gunzy]

Looks good. You must have gone right home and put it all on.

 

[MtnSnow]

Yes I did Gregg....Tried to be the storm and was just finishing up as it started to come down and get me all wet. Btw the AR holsters we picked up at the show fits my SBR perfectly.

 

[MtnSnow]

MtnSnow's recovery and building of The Beast & The Beast II

Well....The 923 was getting pretty lonely the past couple of weeks so I decided I best get a playmate for it.

Welcome to the MtnSnow family "The Beast II" a 1990 BMY M925-A2



Needs a little bit of TLC (Fuel Transfer pump & filters and a good fuel tank cleaning) but not to shabby really. I actually ended up paying less than the original buyer (a local auto dealership) did and I didn't have to truck it home from Nevada either..lol

 

[dawico]

The new truck looks sharp.

 

[MtnSnow]

Updated Unit markings

Well I got the batteries pulled out and in the process of seeing if I can recover them. 3 are May 2010 and 1 is from 2013

At first none of them would take a charge from the "smart" charger" (the red one in front) as it would error out with a Internal Open Cell / Sulfated Condition error code. So hit each one with my "old school" everstart charger set on the 50amp setting for a couple of hours and then was able to finally start using the smart chargers that also do pulse charging to help desulfate the batteries and hopefully in another 20-48 hours I will be able to hit them all with load tests and then see if they will be usable again in the M925.

I also found out from the 2014 VIN thread of Carnac's that BOTH of my trucks came from sister units! What is that chances of that!!

Amazing that my two trucks are truly brothers as they served in sister units under the 450th Chemical Battalion, 209th Regional Support Command, 355th Signal Command... My 923 was with the 369th Chemical Company 4th Platoon out of Waco TX. and my 925 was with the 340th Chemical Company 4th Platoon out of Houston TX.

So it looks like my bumper markings should be something like the following for my 925:
The left Bumper should read
209th RSC
450th CBN
The Right side should be
340th CM
CM490 This line would/should be platoon and vehicle number i.e. 4 90 but I don't recall what the CM (which is on my 925) stands for? see my next posting)

Then based off of the 925 my 923 would/should be like:
The left side should read
209th RSC
450th CBN
The Right side should be
369th CM
CM4?? (replace ?? with vehicle number)

 

[Scott88M]

Great looking addition. I was in transportation units so our markings were slightly different my wife put my first unit's numbers on it for me from Korea. 2nd infantry division 702 main support battalion bravo company 2nd platoon truck 42 (I kept the 42 from the markings originally on the truck. My first issued truck was a M931 #16) in the left is: 2ID 702MSB
And the right: B242. I doubt that helps much and I don't know what CM stands for.... possibly command maintaince? Not that that necessarily makes sense just a guess.

 

[MtnSnow]

Well thanks to Carnac in the VIN thread he confirmed for me the following:
CC would be chemical company
CM is chemical in the official type abbreviation.
CBN is chemical, biological, nuclear

So it looks like I will use CM if I want to recreate their originality (because I can make out a CM through the paint over) but I have to admit while it's cool that both of my trucks come from the same battalion & sister units, I'm torn on using what would have been pretty much their original markings OR do I mark my trucks with unit markings from units that I personally had service time with that are no longer active (folded into other units and/or decommissioned due to the restructuring that has occurred since the original gulf war... One was a field artillery ANG unit 1st/180th out of Mesa AZ and the other was ANG Company A - 1457th Combat Engineers out of Price UT. Guess I have some pondering to do...

 

[Scott88M]

That's what I did. Used my now decommissioned first unit. But as a nod to my trucks history I left it's truck number the same.

 

[MtnSnow]

Well it looks like 2 of the 4 batteries are toast and are not going to be recoverable so they will be core charge turn-ins. I'm leaning towards going to two 8D series heavy duty truck/equipment batteries as they have good CCA and reserve capacity. Still having problems getting the truck started but I did get fuel to the IP by pressure bleeding the system. Next step is to crack open the injector lines and see if anything is happening when cranking the motor over. I'm wondering if I have an IP problem besides the air sucking problems I found at the lift pump (replaced) and the broken bleeder valve on the primary fuel filter canister inside the wheel well (plugged off/sealed and no longer sucking/leaking)

 

[MtnSnow]

The Beast II is ALIVE!

Well after a bunch of diagnostic work The Beast II is ALIVE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2B42G_3BOk

Ultimately what it ended up being is.
A Dead Fuel shutoff (removed for now)
Broken Bleeder valve on the primary fuel canister (the one inside the wheel wheel)
Leaking Lift Pump (primer pump) along with the leaking STE/ICE sending unit that was installed... Just replaced this with a new lift pump & pipe plug (not replacing the STE/ICE sending unit)
And then finally & lastly a Improperly installed fuel return/bypass check valve so the IP was unable to build pressure for the injectors. Once I fixed those issues I was able to get it running!

 

[Gunzy]

SWEET! I got my hood changed out today, and all Dan has for snorkels are the mushroom type. Will finish the hood tomorrow.

 

[MtnSnow]

Thanks for checking on the air snorkle for me. Congrats on getting the hood swapped!

 

[MtnSnow]

Well did some minor work on The Beast II in that I replaced the turn signal control, Replaced the supply fuel line from the tank outlet all the way to the primer/lift pump (bypassing the under the fender filter for now as I will be replacing it with a dual spin on setup when parts arrive).

Looks like I will still need to replace the return line and probably the pickup tube for the supply as I am still losing prime when the truck has sat over night So I'm beginning to think that I have a pin hole in the pickup tube in the tank. But the motor runs great if I pressure bleed the system before trying to start.

Also did a basic wiring up of the PulseTech PCMDS (Pulse Charge Monitor Distribution System) kit I picked up which will give me ( 8 ) 24v power leads & (4) 12v power leads that are all circuit breaker protected as it will allow the solar panel to at least keep the batteries charged up & desulfated along with helping offset any parasitic power drain. Just need to decide where I want to mount the breaker box/power leads.

Also fixed a couple of the marker lights (1 bad ground & 1 had a burned out bulb) and started troubleshooting why the air horn won't sound off. (voltage has been verified at the horn switch at the bottom of the steering column and that I have continuity through the Circuit breaker that supports the horn. Basically whats left is to test the horn solenoid and if the horn button provides the needed ground when pushed.

 

[Gunzy]

If you need the horn air control valve let me know as I have one. Haven't tested but came from the horns that went on Kermie.

 

[MtnSnow]

Thanks bud

 

[MtnSnow]

Well got a few thing accomplished today. Got the Beast through it's annual state safety inspection with flying colors and the tech doing it went over it with a fine tooth comb. But I knew it would so just finished paying my registration fees and it's ready for the road for another year.

On the Beast II I tried out a new air intake snorkel for it as the original had been caved in (looked like someone/something had taken a sledgehammer to it a couple of times). I ended up liking the look so I have another setup being sent to me from Amazon (5" ID to 3.5" OD adapter) & Ebay (the 3.5" ID snorkel) In very quick testing I could see that the Snorkel even with it being 3.5" it flows more air than the stock mushroom cap does as the air restriction gauge didn't hardly move when reset with the Snorkel but it was close to 1/2 way with the stock cap after a quick run after resetting the indicator. When the other arrives I will do more in depth testing to include a drive on the highway instead of just in the storage yard.

Oh yeah here is a pic of it.

Of course I will end up painting the adapter and snorkel when this truck gets re-painted. I will also put a tack-weld or move the clamp that held the mushroom cap on over to this to keep it well secured.

Still need to check on the fuel pickup tube on the Beast II. I just need to get a couple more 5 gallon buckets that I can drain the fuel into (It came with close to a 1/2 tank or more) so I can move the tank out far enough to pull the tube and then get the replacement or fixed tube back into it without having to bend it to do so.

 

[Trailboss]

If you're planning on driving in snowstorms, I'd consider facing the intake nozzle to the rear. Down here, I'd worry about our monsoon rains drowning the air filter

 

[MtnSnow]

Not to worried about that as I have a sock that can go over it if worried about weather. and then it's always easy to point it backwards if over the top weather driving weather...

 

[Gunzy]

Mike, I have 2 5 gallon oil buckets you can use if you need.