Finally made it back to the Bunker of DOOM. Woo-Hoo! adventure=accomplish! Unfortunately when I ast down in front of the computer and almost finished entering this post at about 7 PM, I fell right asleep - Sorry about that, was a sort of long day.
Probably a good time to make some notes in no particular order:
M35 mileage TX to IL: 7.2MPG
M8109 mileage IL to TX: 5.6MPG
A good burger and/or plate lunch in Texarkana is at the Old Tyme Burger Shoppe. Buttermilk pie.
Lambert's in MO is a fine place to feast. "The home of the throwed roll". Hot fresh rolls are thrown to you, Servers also come around with buckets of fried okra. This is in addition to your supper.
Coincidentally, commuter pilots at the Burger Shoppe where we ate lunch mentioned Lambert's among themselves.
That inverter welder. - I have never seen anything as redneck as us taking that 3 phase 480V welder, re-strapping it to 240V, and wiring its cable directly to a 240V 50A extension cord socket (the extenstion cord is for another welder). Before we got to that point, we removed a large mud dauber nest on the printed circuit board. The tools available to do that with were screwdrivers and wire brush and ether and a fine job of it was done if I do say so myself.
In the video, the bare 240V connections can be seen clamped safely in a vise for safety. Pabst Blue Ribbon will do that to ya. The video does not do justice to the sounds made by the welder. I think it could be played like a theremin with practice. I half expected for it to "wind up" one of those times and blow but it didn't. I wish we had more time to investigate the other similar welder.
The creampuff - That is truly a fine automobile! I normally dislike minivans but this one really grew on me. I think it was the rust and the 100W halogen baja lights on the roof. They work when the hi-beam switch is turned on. The night we arrived, we accidentally drove past Brian's place, and suddenly the whole sky lit up. I thought it was the cops. I have a pre-damage pic of it somewhere.
The lift gate came off an old Mack delivery van, and was used for moving office furniture. The mechanism of it seemed to have fairly low wear, most of the wear was due to time and the elements. It had no issues at all lifting the 500 LB spare plus Jr. so we could stow the spare for the trip home. On the way home, the spare broke the nylon tie-downs that were holding it upright to the wall. It didn't fall and is now leaning against other stuff in the box. Let that be a lesson about a 500 lb wheel.
The rear deck there between the box and the gate - -it is exactly -between- the box and gate, touching niether. Since the box is made to move a little on the M109 chassis and subsequently the M8109 chassis as we replicated the factory style mountings and hardware, the deck was fabricated very solidly, attached to the frame, and floats 1/8" off the rear wall of the box. This will allow water and dirt to fall down and not get in a corner between the box and deck. It also refrains from attaching such a stout item as a deck to the much flimsier box. When the gate comes up, there is also a 1/8" gap between the gate and the deck. This prevents the gate from crashing the deck which is something that happens on most lift gate installations, and eventually degrades the equipment. So that is real precision work there. Gimpy and Brian did most all of that.
The lift gate operating rod - it is very convenient there on the frame extension and somewhat hidden to avoid miscreants casually operating the gate as a prank. There is also a heavy chain and lock to prevent the gate from lowering by gravity without authorization.
The wheel stud torques - After about 30 miles, I stopped and filled any low tires to about 70 PSIG. One was at 32 originally and the rest were from 50-80. After about 100 miles, I stopped at a TA with a tire service shop and paid the guy a few $$ to inflate all the tires to 100 LBS (Goodyear 16.00x20 rating 17500 lbs at 110PSIG at 55MPH max) and torque all the budd studs and the nuts on the front. On rears it was simple because there are only the budd studs, and on the front which has studs and bolts this meant additionally loosening the nuts and torquing the studs then tightening and torquing the bolts.
Running - the truck ran OK coming home, plenty of power. But there is something wrong with the throttle/governor/injection. I will investgate over the coming weekends.
Starting - I am not so sure we got the suspected air leak fixed because after the truck has been off for 30 minutes to an hour, it has to crank forever to start. It is cranking like a mad dog now that the temp is warmer.
Driving - one or more wheel/tire assemblies is either out of round (suspected) or out of balance. The truck does the bouncy thing at low speeds and this smooths out at 50+ MPH. For all I know this may be normal. The beast has plenty of juice to do 55-60 all day and unlike the deuce I never had to put it to 4th except for one hill. With 16.00x20 tires, 2100RPM=redline=62MPH
Steering - it is pretty touchy and wants to over-steer itself. It's as though the chassis moves then the truck tilts and follows it in such a way that the original steering movement is increased. More exaggerated than the M35 yet the M35 I believe has a higher center of gravity due to the light weight chassis. This truck is right at 144" tall, so it is not very tall as trucks go. The M35 with the S-280 was right at 136" I think. Maybe a toe adjustment? too much tire pressure? I don't know. It is very exciting when the road is narrow and a 18 wheeler is passing. If it were a van or big car I would think "sway bars" but I don't think that can be done on straight axles.
What we did not finish:
The generator covering and mount - the mount is very substantial, but we did not have time to do the covering, only the rear panel (protection from FOD coming off the tire) so I will work the cover myself.
The RADAR - well, not so much as a picture of the screen.. there just was not enough time and that is a fact - -this project should have taken 3 months, we crashed it in thirteen 12-16 hour days and really all that is missing is the finishing of the genset cover and the radar mount. 2 more days would have nailed those.
Loading an ATV - Now, the gate is too short for an ATV with a 70" wheelbase. But slots or another mechanism can be made up that will allow ATV ramps to be attached or slid in to the rearmost section of the gate. I have a set of ATV ramps that can be cut down to fit.
Credits for this stupendous epic job go to the following, and I hope I did not forget anyone!
Brian 54Reo, for being willing to do a great bulk of the work including some amazing rigging, precision fabrication, and for having a place and tools and many, many pieces of heavy stock, as well as many contacts around town for sourcing materials and services.
Big Al - Brian's dad, for both supervising and getting his hands dirty, and putting in equally long days, helping us get the lift gate home, for immense experience and for keeping us from doing things that were too unsafe.
54Reo'swife - for putting up with this, for running the restaurant from which the many fine pizzas came, and especially for picking up the chapstick for me at wal-mart. I just about used the whole thing in that freezing weather.
Gimpyrobb - for bringing the M109 mud flaps and for working on the project with us for a few days, the help was invaluable and was good to see you again. Next time though, try and not bust your wheel studs off!
Stan - for also helping us do alot of wrenching and preparation on the M818 as well as swapping out the hardtop from the M35 to the 818.
Jacob - my 19 yr old electronics apprentice - for doing alot of the dirty work and turning more wrenches under the truck outside in the freezing cold than probably anyone else and doing whatever was asked, although I think he's done with the "Northern Winter Experience" forever and probably thinks I'd make a mean boss.
Steelsoldiers members - for the great support on this trip
The State of Arkansas - for keeping the right lane of your westbound interstate in as bad a shape as I recall, so that I was sure I was not lost somewhere else.
