Rhode Island (yes it's a state) to New Castle DE and back

[Scott88M]

I'm (not so) patiently waiting until this Thursday March 13 to head down towards New Castle to pick up my M923a2 I bought almost 2 weeks ago. Even though its not extremely far away the wife and I decided to make a short vacation out of the trip (yay no kids for 2 days). We are taking a train down to the NY end of CT (relaxing after whats been a rough week at work so far) and staying at a nice hotel where we are picking up a free rental (perks of her job) to drive to DE Friday morning for our afternoon pickup. Along the way going to swing by to meet Suprman who has been nice enough to answer the million and one questions I've thrown his way. Knocking on wood the truck won't need too much to get on the road and we will head back to the hotel for any minor repairs that arise. Which means we won't have to push her more than a couple hours all at once until I figure out her quirks. I drive trucks for a living and drove these in Korea 98-99 so I'm not totally oblivious, just rusty. This is the truck

 

[Scott88M]

First annoyance of the trip.... stupid Amtrak an hour late....Wouldn't be so bad if they didn't track on more minutes at the last second 3 times.

 

[InfiniteFoamies]

Let us know how it goes!

 

[Scott88M]

There were a few hiccups on the way down from RI mostly just the train being late which caused us to miss the last hotel shuttle. Luckily got 2nd to last cab. Left hotel and swung by to meet Suprman (Will) great guy very very informative and helpful all around great guy. Wife drove the rental down halfway to DE stupid gps made us miss an exit which in turn blew 20 mins in a long U turn.

Made it to GL site 15 mins early, the people there were helpful and easy going. Found the truck it had a flat and 2 rear tires low (just like in the GL pics and video) I hopped in and it started in a half second of turning the switch. We pulled around front and checked her out. All fluids were at proper levels, 1/2 tank of diesel. Air dryer kicked in etc. Only real problem was ctis didn't seem to work quite right (I assumed that would be the case in the Army I never saw one that worked) and a headlight was out (wires look like they came out, possibly an easy fix unless the connection to light broke off).

Wife in rental was in charge of getting us back to Highway (I was trying to conserve phone battery) she made a few wrong turns (ended up pulling into the local landfill lol). Then she directed me into a gas station (which of course had no diesel pumps) we finally got fuel stopped at McDonald's for a quick bite then headed back to hotel in CT. FYI the tolls are insane. We pulled over for potty break after about an hour, checked the hubs and all just barely warm to the touch small leak on top of rear diff otherwise good. Ctis had lowered pressure in front tires so I disconnected the controller and aired them up manual. Let a trucker air up his front tire and off we went. Truck needs the pump turned up a little but she rode well. Topping out at 65 and about 2200rpm.

Saturday we finish the trip back home no rush. I'll post pictures later (my wife has them on her phone) by the way I have to give kudos to my wonderful wife I know I get hard to deal with when I'm nervous and excited and she didn't let my crankiness upset her when I got pissy about running late and wrong turns. She's a wonderful woman that helped me get this dream come true(also I had to give her my 02 Mustang GT so I could have a new toy...totally worth it).

I'm no expert but if anyone has any questions feel free to ask either here or PM and I'll be glad to try to help.

 

[Scott88M]

Truck parked at McDonald's

 

[Trailboss]

Glad you made it safely so far! You're a braver man than I am driving through Friday rush hour traffic on those roads!

 

[Scott88M]

Driving through New York was not for the feint of heart. I've been driving trucks for 18 years, if I was a new to driving something this size I'd say there's a good possibility I'd have hit someone. They would cut me off with inches to spare while we were going around 45 mph on 95N.

One of the best things was all the smiles I saw, people would wave, kids were taking pictures of me etc. I'd honk and wave just like back in my convoy days, it was a great feeling.

My daughter is 8 and is proud that I was in the Army. She was excited knowing we bought the truck and asked me to bring her to school in it lol. My usual vehicle is an 07 Dodge 2500 quad cab 4x4 on 35" tires. I just found out last week she thought the Army truck was only a little bigger than that. The look on her face when I explained it was closer to the size of my garbage truck at work was priceless, she is going to freak out when we pull up.

 

[ralbelt]

Congrats on a good truck. Hope to see you around town with it.

 

[Ord22]

Congrads!!

 

[Scott88M]

Finally home. Stopped by to visit family and show her off. I'll post some pics soon.

 

[MtnSnow]

Congrats!

 

[ChesterCounty]

Congrats on scoring a good solid truck and making it back safe.

driving 95 to ct. That's surely an experience to reflect on and tales to tell.

 

[Scott88M]

Shortly after firing the truck up at the GL site. Headlight out ended up just being loose wires.

 

[Scott88M]

Had to air up the flat/low tires. So far they're holding up fine.

 

[Scott88M]

Little overdue update on my truck. Registering her was a breeze. My daughter completely went nuts when we pulled up.

I now use the truck as my daily driver, going to start changing out filters and oils soon. The leaky tires are still leaky and I haven't bothered messing with the ctis yet 4 years active duty as an 88M and I never drove a truck that it worked on so I'm not expecting much. It has a few fluid leaks here and there nothing major. Along with a new minor air leak. I've been tinkering with the trans modulator and accelerator linkage and finally hit the sweet spot, put a couple turns on the pump and she rides great it's like night and day from when I first brought her home.