niferous
Member
- 715
- 6
- 18
- Location
- Houston, TX
So here is my tale of the M1009 recovery from Redstone Arsenal. We left Houston on Monday afternoon and had an uneventful trip but got to Huntsville very late finally getting into the hotel room at 4 am. We made it DRMO the next morning at 9:30 am though and proceeded to wait for someone to help us load out. By the way our vehicle was not searched before we went on post.
The folks at GL were very nice and helpful however the truck was not as accuratley described as it could have been. For instance they said in the auction that the front right window was broken. Well so is the back glass! Also there is a fist sized hole in the floor where they usually mount the radio rack. I don't think it's rust at least. Just a field done job to run wires for the radios. It had the forklift damage on the right side and a few other dents that didn't show up in the pictures. Nothing really major though. The description said the truck stated but when we got there it didn't. The GL yard guy asked if we brought ehter which we didn't. We tried to crank it to no avail and I noticed the batteries were dieing out. I had him pop the hood and all the belts were shredded. It does have Optimas so I'm hoping that some new belts and a charge will get it going. It was cranking well and there was white smoke coming out of the exhaust. Let's see the spare is there as well as a jerry can holder on the driver's side of the cargo area. So we went ahead and hooked our tow bar that Daveo let us burrow and it bolted right up! We pulled the truck to a dry spot in the yard and I got underneath it to unhook the driveshaft. The bolts backed right out and all was going well but the ujoint was really in there. I tapped it with a hammer and tried to break it loose with a wrench but no avail. The GL guy had a pick ax head so we stuck the small end in there and popped out with a lot of force! The cups actually fell off the ujoint and man they were void of grease. anyway we tied driveshaft up with a 1" ratchet strap and headed out!
The first stop was WalMart just outside Gate 3 to get my new tires put on. The ones on there had full tread and even the little nipples still on them but I just didn't want to trust them. We asked the guy if we could just tow the rig through the bay and disconnect it from our truck so they could change the tires and he said flat out no. We picked up an extension for our trailer ligths (our wires were just a little too short) and went back to the counter and another guy was there and had a manger tag on. We asked him and he said sure! He said he had never seen one of the trucks there but that it looked just like a K5 Blazer so he would "attempt" it. He pulled it right through their bay and got it on the lift and we unhooked it no problem. We went for lunch and to get our bags at the hotel and by the time we made it back they were done and had even puched it out into the parking lot for us. They did a good job and the 32" tires look great. The only hickup we had was when we were driving over to the gas pumps before we hit the road people were starring at us like "what is that!?" My buddy Scott made the comment that they must be thinking "What the heck is this traveling gipsy show?" We were about half way through the lot and turned a corner I looked back and saw the driveshaft dragging!!! It had slipped out of the back of the transfer case! I guess we didn't tie it up right. Oh well I just took it our from under the truck and through it in the cargo area with the old tires. Probably lost some fluid so I will have to refill that!
Well we got on the road and the rest was just driving. 807 miles to Houston without hickups doing 70 mph the whole way. The truck didn't jerk or wonder around at all. Tracked right behind us the whole way. When we got to Houston it was a bit of a chore getting it into the garage (angled driveway) but I'm glad we did as it rained like heck last night. Below are some pictures. Sorry I don't have any of the driver's side. Just forgot to take any. We drove it back with the windows down just to air it out.
Edit to add: The hood has "Go Forrestry" on it written in white paint. Not sure what that means. Maybe the truck was supposed to go to the Forrestry Service? I am trying to upload a pick of that as we speak.
The folks at GL were very nice and helpful however the truck was not as accuratley described as it could have been. For instance they said in the auction that the front right window was broken. Well so is the back glass! Also there is a fist sized hole in the floor where they usually mount the radio rack. I don't think it's rust at least. Just a field done job to run wires for the radios. It had the forklift damage on the right side and a few other dents that didn't show up in the pictures. Nothing really major though. The description said the truck stated but when we got there it didn't. The GL yard guy asked if we brought ehter which we didn't. We tried to crank it to no avail and I noticed the batteries were dieing out. I had him pop the hood and all the belts were shredded. It does have Optimas so I'm hoping that some new belts and a charge will get it going. It was cranking well and there was white smoke coming out of the exhaust. Let's see the spare is there as well as a jerry can holder on the driver's side of the cargo area. So we went ahead and hooked our tow bar that Daveo let us burrow and it bolted right up! We pulled the truck to a dry spot in the yard and I got underneath it to unhook the driveshaft. The bolts backed right out and all was going well but the ujoint was really in there. I tapped it with a hammer and tried to break it loose with a wrench but no avail. The GL guy had a pick ax head so we stuck the small end in there and popped out with a lot of force! The cups actually fell off the ujoint and man they were void of grease. anyway we tied driveshaft up with a 1" ratchet strap and headed out!
The first stop was WalMart just outside Gate 3 to get my new tires put on. The ones on there had full tread and even the little nipples still on them but I just didn't want to trust them. We asked the guy if we could just tow the rig through the bay and disconnect it from our truck so they could change the tires and he said flat out no. We picked up an extension for our trailer ligths (our wires were just a little too short) and went back to the counter and another guy was there and had a manger tag on. We asked him and he said sure! He said he had never seen one of the trucks there but that it looked just like a K5 Blazer so he would "attempt" it. He pulled it right through their bay and got it on the lift and we unhooked it no problem. We went for lunch and to get our bags at the hotel and by the time we made it back they were done and had even puched it out into the parking lot for us. They did a good job and the 32" tires look great. The only hickup we had was when we were driving over to the gas pumps before we hit the road people were starring at us like "what is that!?" My buddy Scott made the comment that they must be thinking "What the heck is this traveling gipsy show?" We were about half way through the lot and turned a corner I looked back and saw the driveshaft dragging!!! It had slipped out of the back of the transfer case! I guess we didn't tie it up right. Oh well I just took it our from under the truck and through it in the cargo area with the old tires. Probably lost some fluid so I will have to refill that!
Well we got on the road and the rest was just driving. 807 miles to Houston without hickups doing 70 mph the whole way. The truck didn't jerk or wonder around at all. Tracked right behind us the whole way. When we got to Houston it was a bit of a chore getting it into the garage (angled driveway) but I'm glad we did as it rained like heck last night. Below are some pictures. Sorry I don't have any of the driver's side. Just forgot to take any. We drove it back with the windows down just to air it out.
Edit to add: The hood has "Go Forrestry" on it written in white paint. Not sure what that means. Maybe the truck was supposed to go to the Forrestry Service? I am trying to upload a pick of that as we speak.
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