• Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!

  • Microsoft MSN, Live, Hotmail, Outlook email users may not be receiving emails. We are working to resolve this issue. Please add support@steelsoldiers.com to your trusted contacts.

What did you do to your deuce this week?

whatadeuce

Active member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
959
38
28
Location
Loxahatchee, Florida
What maintenance logs? I guess its time to start one! The trip home was only 6 miles, and I have a contract with a tow swervice . I am still taking it all apart, but I think it was an overhweated ( un greased ) whell bearing

I had to set up my bearing puller in a vice to remove the overheated axle shft from the damaged spindle Whew!
 

Attachments

rustystud

Well-known member
9,254
2,941
113
Location
Woodinville, Washington
Well I was criusing down the road and struck by the sight of a tire rolling ahead of me. why that looks like my front tire!my front tire! So I pulled over and, IT WAS MY FRONT TIRE!
I have personally seen this happen before. I was working at the transit department and one of the mechanics either forgot to tighten the outer jam nut or (like he claimed) the jam nut was defective and came off the spindle by itself. He was immediately fired but the union but up such a stink he got his job back in just two weeks.
The poor bus driver was on the freeway when the right front wheel assembly came off and passed the bus. Since it was a 60 footer bus the added length and weight kept the front axle from coming into contact with the pavement.
 

whatadeuce

Active member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
959
38
28
Location
Loxahatchee, Florida
Well I am glad I was only at a speed of 25 MPH when this happened, and while I was making a right turn. So may peo-ple pulled over to heklp; one fellow went home and returned with water and a snack!

Now I shall check all 3 of my vehicles for graese ! I shall also wrench tighten the proellers on my drive shafts!
 

Attachments

FloridaAKM

Well-known member
2,699
392
83
Location
Gainesville, Florida
Glad to hear & see that you got home safely & that traffic was not a major problem. In a month or so, I am going to have to go thru the front end of a 1985 Deuce straight out of the Air Force because it has issues that you can see from the outside. Having a repeat of your problem is not something I want to see. Be safe.
 

Menaces Nemesis

"Little Black Truck" Conservator
Steel Soldiers Supporter
333
262
63
Location
Denver, Colorado
Well I was criusing down the road and struck by the sight of a tire rolling ahead of me. why that looks like my front tire!my front tire! So I pulled over and, IT WAS MY FRONT TIRE!
Seems nobody wants to be the bad guy by stating the obvious here…
This happened due to sheer negligence. As many members have mentioned over the years, the age and suspect maintenance history of these trucks warrants a thorough, bumper to bumper service at the first reasonable opportunity, anytime we take delivery of such a vehicle, regardless of what the seller or previous owner said was done to the truck, and regular maintenance needs to be THE priority if we intend to drive these vehicles (and hub service is an often discussed, core maintenance item). Befuddles me that so many of us take more pride in how many trucks we own, or what accessories we've installed, rather than what condition the truck is in. If you’ve got a fully-functioning, well-maintained deuce, then you’ve got a treasure. If you’ve got a whole parking lot of trucks, and none of them have been regularly serviced, then all you have is tremendous liability every time you get behind the wheel of one of them. A deuce wheel/tire traveling with any significant speed is certainly capable of killing someone, let alone a 14k pound truck if it gets away from us. If someone gets hurt in an instance like this, and we find ourselves in the defendant’s chair, a decent attorney for the plaintiff could quite possibly take you for everything you own. I know what I’ve written here is pointed, but that doesn’t make it less true, and in the interest of preserving our right to own and operate these trucks, it needed to be said.
 
Last edited:

Privatewrench

Member
127
19
18
Location
Kentucky
My 2 younglings (cadets) like riding with me in the Deuce. I added some seat belts today to keep everyone safer on our rides. Soldier B and soldier C, climb aboard!

20190213_171257.jpg
 

Privatewrench

Member
127
19
18
Location
Kentucky
So, after painting the interior of my cab, i've been polishing off some details. I've been trying to paint the lettering on the pull cables and light controls. For the record, I'm no artist (obvious) and I have a hard time keeping my hands steady enough to paint the tiny lettering. Does anyone have any "tricks" or words of wisdome to help get the raised lettering colored on the light switch module? I know purchasing a new one is an option, but I really don't like replacing functioning equipment. It's a minor issue, but I like going the extra step to dial in the details....if I can.

20190216_173928.jpg
 

Tracer

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
6,543
13,912
113
Location
Hawthorne, NV.
Private, paint the T handle the color you want, and then paint in the letters with the color you want. Then buy a small 1in. diameter, and narrow hand paint roller with hi-density foam. Then spray the color you painted the T handle on a flat clean surface, then run your roller over the wet paint, then roll it over the front of the T handle making sure you use a light touch so you don't fill in your letters or numbers. Try not to use a fast drying paint. The handle and roller are usually cheap. Hope this helps.
 
Last edited:

Privatewrench

Member
127
19
18
Location
Kentucky
Private, paint the T handle the color you want, and then paint in the letters with the color you want. Then buy a small 1in. diameter, and narrow hand paint roller with hi-density foam. Then spray the color you painted the T handle on a flat clean surface, then run your roller over the wet paint, then roll it over the front of the T handle making sure you use a light touch so you don't fill in your letters or numbers. Try not to use a fast drying paint. The handle and roller are usually cheap. Hope this helps.
10-4...That's a solid idea Tracer. I'll give that a try.
 

Kwaligura

Member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
98
1
8
Location
Adena, Ohio
I bought a sibling for my deuce as I thought it might be lonely. Still looking for one for the local American legion post. They want one to put in their side yard next to the flags and wheeled artillery guns. I had one in the works by Marietta Ohio for $1,750 that I was going to buy and donate to them but it was sold before I could get a day off.
 

Ajax MD

Well-known member
1,569
1,414
113
Location
Mayo, MD
I bought a sibling for my deuce as I thought it might be lonely. Still looking for one for the local American legion post. They want one to put in their side yard next to the flags and wheeled artillery guns. I had one in the works by Marietta Ohio for $1,750 that I was going to buy and donate to them but it was sold before I could get a day off.
Your deuces will start breeding now. ;)
 

URSATDX

Member
138
19
18
Location
So Jersey, NJ
Coolant change and filter

I thought my antifreeze/coolant was clean as it always appeared clear and green(think it was ethylene glycol) in the surge tank.

Off roading last week and put my A3 through some vigorous hill climbing and descending. Brought it into my shop for a chassis lube.

Checking the fluid levels I opened the surge tank cap to find a stinky black mess. I guess the rigorous driving stirred up some hidden sludge from within the cooling system as I have inspected the reservoir numerous times.

Drained the black antifreeze into 5 gallon buckets thru the petcock. Removed lower hose and began to flush into buckets for proper disposal. Removed thermostat housing and thermostat and flushed. Removed hose to heater core and flushed. Removed the surge tank and flushed it and noticed the small return port from the top small hose from the radiator coming into the tank was blocked. I cleared it using a small drill bit.

New thermostat and gasket(NAPA) and refilled with +/- 30 qts of Peak FleetCharge SCA precharged antifreeze. Drove to operating temps and opened surge cap to find my new antifreeze was still dirty. Decided it's time for a coolant filter. Bought NAPA #24019 filter base and #24079 coolant filter. As I began to drain the coolant to do the install I noticed the lower radiator hose was cracked. NAPA was no help so I'm hoping Big Mike will be available tomorrow as his page shows it in stock and he's about an hour from me.

I am hoping that someone might chime in with the plumbing for my coolant filter on my M35A3 Cat 3116 with cab heater. I removed the 1/2" unused port plug(3/8" drive) from the thermostat housing and plumbed that to the inlet side of my filter. For the return from the filter I put a tee into the hose coming from the heater core that runs to the return at the water pump. I am a bit confused as the heater core shutoff is on the same return hose. That would mean that the cable operated shut off valve would block the return of coolant from the heater core and not block the flow to the heater core. This just seems a bit odd to me. I'll probably put another valve to block the flow of coolant the the core if, in fact, I am not confused as to the flow of coolant to and from the heater.

Here are some pics and I would appreciate any/all advice on the plumbing route I have chosen.

Love my truck and the SS site.

God Bless America!
 

Attachments

Tracer

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
6,543
13,912
113
Location
Hawthorne, NV.
DSCF2154.jpg I have done nothing this whole week, and the weather next week looks like more of the same. I need to do a front brake and bearing check, then paint the Deuce and the M105A2, but I don't think the weather will be warm enough until April. This has been a real cold and wet winter.
 
Last edited:

Kwaligura

Member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
98
1
8
Location
Adena, Ohio
I don't have enough property for alot of trucks yet. One 40' x204' lot with 2 garages on it 40 x 70 and a 16 x 26 take up the majority of the room. At the house it is about an acre all hillsides with 2 natural springs. The wheelhorse tractor gets stuck mowing the grass with chains on it.
 
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website like our supporting vendors. Their ads help keep Steel Soldiers going. Please consider disabling your ad blockers for the site. Thanks!

I've Disabled AdBlock
No Thanks