Plane Fast
Member
- 408
- 3
- 18
- Location
- Panama city FL
Hello All. I had my first successful 5 ton recovery! I'm not going to lie, I took some long odds. I've had great success with my trailer and part recovers. So I went for a M930. I have been reading the forum for some time. It's a great wealth of information. So I read up on the trucks TM. Got some ideas of pit falls, and I made my best educated guess on which truck to buy. (Or ignorance is bliss) 
I will admit I went over my self imposed limit. (Not by much, but I did hit the bid button again!) Green can make you lose green! So off I went into the unknown. "Will it start" , "are the tires flat", "are the brakes locked", "will the engine blow up as I go off the lot", "good grief it's 1984, what was I thinking!"... All these haunted my dreams. So with nothing more then my tools and my trusty jeep, I headed off on my 800 mile round trip. My wife came along, and was not upset with the truck purchase. (I think she was just glad to get a break from the kids for a day)
We drove all night to get to the base by 8:00am. I've had very good luck with the GL staff, and this was no exception. We went to the truck and I did a safety check, as well as checked all the fluids. I looked at the nice GL lady and asked "will it start?".. She did not hesitate, "Oh Ya she'll start". She was right..started faster then some new cars! So far so good. Built good oil pressure, air, electric,.. Looking good. Put it in drive, released the brake and off the lot I went! I let it idle for a bit before we left the base. (Looking for leaks and temps are normal)
Drove off base and went for breakfast. It was fun looking out the window of "Awful Waffle" at the new beast sitting outside. Lots of smiling kids.(and dads) walked by.
My plan was to stop and get a temp tag to drive home. Unfortunately the google directions to the tag office was old. No building. Gone. So I decided to just try in the next town. Well the day was so nice and everything was running good. Why stop now. My wife drove behind me with the Jeep. Most law enforcement officers just waved as they passed. Looking good.
It was slow going up the back country hills (25 mph some of the time). Although there was plenty of truck passing lanes. Most cars did not want to pass. I guess they liked looking at the truck. A few hours in, and sitting at a stop light. The truck started running rough! Oh No! I quickly realized the fuel indicator was on the other tank! I had not switched tanks. Luckily there was a gas station on my right. I quickly pulled in and shut it down. I decided not to switch tanks during the trip, so that I would not run the risk of possibly getting air in the line if the valve failed.
On the road again and purring along. (Well, rumble) The trip was going good. I was only three hours from home and the sun was setting. Time for headlights. Wait... I did not try the headlights!
Well guess what? No light! All other lights worked. So it was either the headlights were bad or the switch. I stopped at an auto parts store to try my luck. No dice. Only 12 volt lights. Dang! Well maybe I can bolt some bright driving lights on the bumper. No go, lights would not have lasted 30mins at 24volts. Man not good, I have to be on a plane in 8 hrs. I decided to take a break and get dinner. I looked over the forum about headlight issues, trying to find an easy fix. It did get the noodle going and came up with a plan. I would just run wires straight from the headlights through a toggle switch and to the batteries under the seat. Simple and it worked.
Made it home by 12:00 am.
Man that was fun!!
I will admit I went over my self imposed limit. (Not by much, but I did hit the bid button again!) Green can make you lose green! So off I went into the unknown. "Will it start" , "are the tires flat", "are the brakes locked", "will the engine blow up as I go off the lot", "good grief it's 1984, what was I thinking!"... All these haunted my dreams. So with nothing more then my tools and my trusty jeep, I headed off on my 800 mile round trip. My wife came along, and was not upset with the truck purchase. (I think she was just glad to get a break from the kids for a day)
We drove all night to get to the base by 8:00am. I've had very good luck with the GL staff, and this was no exception. We went to the truck and I did a safety check, as well as checked all the fluids. I looked at the nice GL lady and asked "will it start?".. She did not hesitate, "Oh Ya she'll start". She was right..started faster then some new cars! So far so good. Built good oil pressure, air, electric,.. Looking good. Put it in drive, released the brake and off the lot I went! I let it idle for a bit before we left the base. (Looking for leaks and temps are normal)
Drove off base and went for breakfast. It was fun looking out the window of "Awful Waffle" at the new beast sitting outside. Lots of smiling kids.(and dads) walked by.
My plan was to stop and get a temp tag to drive home. Unfortunately the google directions to the tag office was old. No building. Gone. So I decided to just try in the next town. Well the day was so nice and everything was running good. Why stop now. My wife drove behind me with the Jeep. Most law enforcement officers just waved as they passed. Looking good.
It was slow going up the back country hills (25 mph some of the time). Although there was plenty of truck passing lanes. Most cars did not want to pass. I guess they liked looking at the truck. A few hours in, and sitting at a stop light. The truck started running rough! Oh No! I quickly realized the fuel indicator was on the other tank! I had not switched tanks. Luckily there was a gas station on my right. I quickly pulled in and shut it down. I decided not to switch tanks during the trip, so that I would not run the risk of possibly getting air in the line if the valve failed.
On the road again and purring along. (Well, rumble) The trip was going good. I was only three hours from home and the sun was setting. Time for headlights. Wait... I did not try the headlights!
Well guess what? No light! All other lights worked. So it was either the headlights were bad or the switch. I stopped at an auto parts store to try my luck. No dice. Only 12 volt lights. Dang! Well maybe I can bolt some bright driving lights on the bumper. No go, lights would not have lasted 30mins at 24volts. Man not good, I have to be on a plane in 8 hrs. I decided to take a break and get dinner. I looked over the forum about headlight issues, trying to find an easy fix. It did get the noodle going and came up with a plan. I would just run wires straight from the headlights through a toggle switch and to the batteries under the seat. Simple and it worked. Made it home by 12:00 am.
Man that was fun!!
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