Whoo.. I'm tired, half deaf, but happy. Completed recovery of my "new" M1028 CUCV tonight. 600 miles on the road.
After talking with the custodian *the local Fire Chief) he told me the truck had been "retired" 6 months ago, and turned in over 4 months ago. Guess it takes GSA a while to put the listing up, and wait to see if any other agencies want them. Anyhow, he said it was retired due to age, and that a set of fresh batteries and it should drive right off.
Well, it was once said the "Fortune favors the foolish" so I took a gamble. Rather than risk crossing a Mountain Pass in January with a deuce with NDTs, a trailer, and no trailer brakes (still haven't found an economical -read: costs less than $200- way to run 12V trailer brakes off a 24V truck) I decided to try and drive teh CUCV back. If it wouldn't start, I'd rent a Uhaul and put it in storage in the next major town until I could properly come get it without having weather be a factor. Anyhow, my Folks drove me over (they're retired and it's good to get them out and about), I loaded up recovery supplies including a pair of charged-up batteries.
City hall in Almira is about 500 square feet and one person. She looked at my paperwork, handed me the key, and wished me luck.
The truck was parked next to the fire station, and loaded with garbage. Tried the key- the idiot lights all lit up, glow plugs cycled (took forever, it was maybe 35 degrees out), but tried to crank and it just groaned.
SO I got my multimeter out, checked the (less than 2 year old) batteries- the "low" battery had a nice 12V charge, but the "high" battery only was at 11.3V. SO started out just swapping that battery.
Cycled the glow plugs (which went much faster), cranked it over. Cranked good, couple coughs, so I reset and cycled the plugs again. Almost started that time. Tried again- and it fired to life, cleared out the cobwebs and revved along at high idle.
Dash voltmeter showed zero volts, no movement at all. The Gen 2 light never came on at all, the gen 1 light had been on but turned off with the engine start.
Took my multimeter back out- had 14.5V at the "low" battery, but only 12.3 and climbing slowly on the "high" one. Don't think it's charging, but since everything runs on the "low" battery except when starting up, AND I still had one fresh battery in reserve, it would probably be safe to run it that way. All lights looked good, tires were aired up and lots of tread, oil and other fluid levels were good, so clamped down the battery, then set to work securing/disposing of all the junk in back. The truck has no tailgate and the bed was full of cut up/old/rotten foam hoses, tank straps, and a pile of garden trellises. And 3-4 dozen empty plastic water bottles. So strapped the trellises down with bungees, threw the bottles in a convenient nearby dumpster (well, they'd blow out all over the road), and less than 2 hours after arriving hit the open road.
Oh, forgot to mention the fuel gauge... "Full" is USUALLY 2-o-clock on the gauge... this was reading at 4-o-clock, WAYYY past the full mark. I figured the gauge was dead, but I could head fuel sloshing around in the tank, and it sounded like a lot. Almira doesn't appear to have a gas station, neither does the next town (Hartline, though we didn't explore to find out), so it was a 20-mile trip to the nearest gas station in Coulee City.
I kept the speed down at 55 (speed limit was 60) just to get a feel for it. Ran fine, just a lot of tire vibration in back. Came and went, like a harmonic balance issue. Stopped at the first gas station... and only managed to get 4.5 gallons in it before it was trying to run back out the filler tube. Guess the truck had a mostly full tank. Went to check tire and hub temps, front tires were kinda warm... then noticed the front hubs were locked. Eh, guess I should have checked that BEFORE driving at highway speeds for 20 miles. Unlocked and what do you know, it steered much nicer.
Rest of the trip was plain uneventful. Ran mostly 60-65 back up and down the pass (speed limit 70), got caught in evening rush hour, got home in the dark.
So, now I just need the SF97, which should be forthcoming, and lots of cleanup. Gotta get rid of all this leftover firefighting equipment (hoses, valves, pipe, etc) that's bolted to the bed, hood, brush guard, etc. Plug the holes in the roof where the lightbar was. Fix the GEN2 issue (if it really exists), give the interior a bath (it's full of mud), and then start personalizing it. It won't ever be a 100% resto Military truck, too much is gone (all blackout lights, slave receptacle, tailgate, not to mention being painted white with faded red doors and "EMERGENCY 911" on the sides) but like everything I own it's meant to be used, not made pretty. I'll eventually repaint it, though not woodland came- maybe urban camo.
YES... I know, pics. Well, I forgot my camera, and it's too dark now. Tomorrow, pics, promise. This thing is covered in residue firefighting equipment, nothing of value. They cut most of it off but threw it in the bed with the garbage. Couple nice brass ball valves there though.
Edit: you could pull the rear driveline......