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What did you do to your deuce this week?

rtk

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
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Lockport N.Y.
I am looking for the pins for the west coat mirror setup , I picked up some shoulder bolts from McMaster-Carr , should work ok , slightly oversize , which is good for a worn hinge.
 

RAYZER

Well-known member
3,380
59
48
Location
sanford/florida
I am looking for the pins for the west coat mirror setup , I picked up some shoulder bolts from McMaster-Carr , should work ok , slightly oversize , which is good for a worn hinge.
I drilled the holes out to 5/16 and used 1/4" stainless bolts, this worked well.
 

rtk

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
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442
83
Location
Lockport N.Y.
That is exactly what I was going to do , I picked up some nice Alloy 5/16" shoulder bolts from McMaster-Carr . I will drill them out , and use LOTS of NEVER SEIZE on the bolts ,should help tighten the hinge up also .
 

Dipstick

Well-known member
1,101
1,267
113
Location
Effort PA
Brutus decided we should try out my latest .38 Spl reloads at the pistol club. He insisted on parking in the field. Later, we went to vote. The expression on the face of a young guy as I pulled into the tight municipal building parking lot amongst the puny civy cars was priceless. Got a bunch of thumbs up, smiles and waves today. Ladies grinning from ear to ear who seem to understand that I'm nuts....and most importantly nothing broke. Good Deuce day overall.
 

Dipstick

Well-known member
1,101
1,267
113
Location
Effort PA
I installed a winter front today. GoHot229's pictures were invaluable. I also topped off the anti-freeze (added 1/2 gallon). Checked the oil level...good. Tightened the air compressor belt. Easy with C&C Equipment's tool. Drove to downtown Phillipsburg to the hardware store (closed for some strange reason). I parked in a metered car parking space. Easy to do in a bobber. My passenger side mirror ended up about 6 inches from a telephone pole. I don't have the guts to parallel park it yet. No rear window in my hard top. Hit 50 mph for a few minutes. My new Whistler Turbo was laying the sound down my SS brothers!!!
 

Kloakndagr

New member
266
4
0
Location
On The Road/California
Been busy all week....
1. Sprayed u-pol raptor tintable bed liner on the inside of the cab, and roof.
2. Painted entire duece OD Green (Behr) 3 coats with a combo of airless sprayer and roller. Looks **** good.
3. Will reinstall custom stainless steel propane tank mounts in the morning.
4. Painted new windshield glass trim OD green, will also install new glass in the morning.
5. Will reinstall cab back window and roof.
 

Kloakndagr

New member
266
4
0
Location
On The Road/California
U-Pol Raptor Tintable Bedliner

Been busy all week....
1. Sprayed u-pol raptor tintable bed liner on the inside of the cab, and roof.


So. How do you like this bed liner so far? Did it spray well? Any pics?
I haven't figured out how to add photos, but if you PM me with an email address I'll send you photos.

sprayed really well, it was harder trying to figure out the mixture ratio as the instruction were wrong, and it wasn't until I found instruction on the net that I got it right. I got the tint from Napa because Carquest was unable to do it because the "computer" wouldn't read the sample. Go Napa, plus it was cheaper. Prep is important, I set the pressure at 40 lbs and got the texture I wanted. I am very happy with the results.
 

USAFSS-ColdWarrior

Chaplain
Super Moderator
Steel Soldiers Supporter
18,538
5,820
113
Location
San Angelo, Tom Green County, Texas USA
It's been a busy couple of weeks.

Last week prepped The ARK (Deuce) for the 2013 Toys-For-Tots toy drive season.

Last Saturday had the on-station at eh USMC TFT Toy Drive at a local H-E-B Grocery store which is situated at a major, high-traffic intersection. The Marines mustered about 1,500 toys (estimated average value $15-20 each) in the donation boxes inside the store, and those holding ammo-can-donation-boxes in the store and on the street corners brought in about $17,000 for Toys-For-Tots ! ! !

YAY ! ! !

Then, on Monday, I finally addressed the charging problem The ARK has had since we got her. Pulled the alternator (NOT a stock alternator, but a BIG HUNKIN' DELCO that the VFD had installed for all their lights and radios and stuff to run off.) Turns out that the regulator on the back was FUBAR, so they adapted a more modern/better/heavier voltage regulator.... BUT that created a minor dilemma.... The changed regulator needed to get a 24V signal current to "engage" the charging under an "engine running".... SOOooooo.... I pulled the Oil Pressure Sending Unit and installed a brass TEE between it and the engine block. Then, on the side leg of the TEE a "normally open" switch was installed (trips at 6 psi) and wired in-line between the battery side of the Starter Solenoid (always HOT) and the signal input on the modified alternator. Essentially, if there IS oil pressure, then the regulator will charge the batteries, whereas if there is NO oil pressure the circuit opens, thus saving the regulator from problems AND not draining the batteries.

THEN, came the "Icing On The Cake".... we dropped in TWO BRAND NEW Mil-Spec 6TL Continental Batteries and cleaned all the connections!!!

WOW - No more worries about drained batteries or failure to start!

NOW, this morning we rolled in the San Angelo (TX) All Veterans Parade carrying the TOYS-FOR-TOTS banners, and toting the COMBAT VETERANS OUTREACH troops (a group that meets at our church for Christian Spiritual help and care in dealing with PTSD and related issues from a Biblical perspective.

This coming Monday (Veterans Day) The ARK will be standing guard at San Angelo's Fairmount Ceremony for the Veterans' Day Program that will be occurring there.

Then, the TFT banners will get hung again, and on Friday SANTA will be arriving at Sunset Mall via "Deuce Transport".

I LOVE this time of year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some Parade pics.....

2013-11-09 Veterans Parade - San Angelo TX 002.jpg2013-11-09 Veterans Parade - San Angelo TX 011.jpg2013-11-09 Veterans Parade - San Angelo TX 012.jpg2013-11-09 Veterans Parade - San Angelo TX 014.jpg2013-11-09 Veterans Parade - San Angelo TX 003.jpg2013-11-09 Veterans Parade - San Angelo TX 004.jpg2013-11-09 Veterans Parade - San Angelo TX 008.jpg2013-11-09 Veterans Parade - San Angelo TX 009.jpg
 
Last edited:

m3a1

New member
6
0
0
Location
Boerne/Texas
Friday I spent getting the M109 it's antique mil-veh registration. Well, almost. Filing a Texas SR-2 requires mailing the darned thing to Austin with a self-addressed, stamped envelope in the hope they'll get right on it and send the copy back. Until then, the registrar won't do squat. Naturally, Saturday I found the original SR-2 from the previous registration. But, what the heck…I'm nearly through with that. By the way, if any of you expect to get past the Austin Texas Dept. of Public Safety menu and talk to a real, live person….forget it. At the end of the menu it tells you to dial zero if you want to talk to a customer service representative. If you dial zero, the menu says "good bye" and hangs up on you. That's a dirty trick if you ask me.

Saturday, I finally got all the honey-do's out of the way. Time to pull the M109 out of it's parking space after replacing an in-tank fuel pump last week.

Pulled slowly forward onto the concrete driveway and….no brake pedal! (Note to self - Check brakes BEFORE moving next time!) Master cylinder reservoir was e-m-p-t-y. I admit I haven't checked that since I bought the truck. My bad. Took a ride on the creeper and inspected the belly of the truck and there was NO evidence of leakage. Bizarre. Was it nearly empty when I bought the truck from GL? You might argue I should have checked way back when but I was spending a lot of time in Afghanistan back then. I was busy, OK?

Anyway, I refilled the reservoir with DOT 5 and bled it. I had some resistance now, but still, a fairly lousy pedal. I gently pumped the brakes, observing what I expected to see…bubbles coming up from the bottom of the reservoir. Did that till the bubbles stopped coming and (Success!!) ...now I have a nice firm pedal.

GL mangled the tail-light brackets and the right rear mudflap, along with the floor channel the mudflap hangs from. I had planned to replace the mudflap and even have a brand new piece for that but I was feeling so good about the brakes I took the mudflap off and took a hammer to it, which is no small task given the thickness of the metal. Grandpa was a body man wielding a hammer and dolly, way back when cars were made of heavy steel. I must have inherited some of that because having no formal training, I've always been good at straightening mangled metal with a hammer. I took a thoroughly FUBAR mudflap and turned it back into a nice, straight piece.

Tomorrow, I hope to straighten those tail-light brackets and repair the floor channel!
 

USAFSS-ColdWarrior

Chaplain
Super Moderator
Steel Soldiers Supporter
18,538
5,820
113
Location
San Angelo, Tom Green County, Texas USA
Friday I spent getting the M109 it's antique mil-veh registration. Well, almost. Filing a Texas SR-2 requires mailing the darned thing to Austin with a self-addressed, stamped envelope in the hope they'll get right on it and send the copy back. Until then, the registrar won't do squat. Naturally, Saturday I found the original SR-2 from the previous registration. But, what the heck…I'm nearly through with that. By the way, if any of you expect to get past the Austin Texas Dept. of Public Safety menu and talk to a real, live person….forget it. At the end of the menu it tells you to dial zero if you want to talk to a customer service representative. If you dial zero, the menu says "good bye" and hangs up on you. That's a dirty trick if you ask me.

Saturday, I finally got all the honey-do's out of the way. Time to pull the M109 out of it's parking space after replacing an in-tank fuel pump last week.

Pulled slowly forward onto the concrete driveway and….no brake pedal! (Note to self - Check brakes BEFORE moving next time!) Master cylinder reservoir was e-m-p-t-y. I admit I haven't checked that since I bought the truck. My bad. Took a ride on the creeper and inspected the belly of the truck and there was NO evidence of leakage. Bizarre. Was it nearly empty when I bought the truck from GL? You might argue I should have checked way back when but I was spending a lot of time in Afghanistan back then. I was busy, OK?

Anyway, I refilled the reservoir with DOT 5 and bled it. I had some resistance now, but still, a fairly lousy pedal. I gently pumped the brakes, observing what I expected to see…bubbles coming up from the bottom of the reservoir. Did that till the bubbles stopped coming and (Success!!) ...now I have a nice firm pedal.

GL mangled the tail-light brackets and the right rear mudflap, along with the floor channel the mudflap hangs from. I had planned to replace the mudflap and even have a brand new piece for that but I was feeling so good about the brakes I took the mudflap off and took a hammer to it, which is no small task given the thickness of the metal. Grandpa was a body man wielding a hammer and dolly, way back when cars were made of heavy steel. I must have inherited some of that because having no formal training, I've always been good at straightening mangled metal with a hammer. I took a thoroughly FUBAR mudflap and turned it back into a nice, straight piece.

Tomorrow, I hope to straighten those tail-light brackets and repair the floor channel!
WHOA ! ! !

Let me make sure that I understand what you just said....

You're filing a Texas Form SR-2 so that you can operate your 7+ TON M-109 Truck WITHOUT INSURANCE and then you say you just hop in and drive it only to discover you have NO BRAKE FLUID?!?!?!?

Please WARN us whenever you're going to be driving it so we can stay off the roads and out of the way of your UNINSURED former military vehicle.

I STRONGLY advise you to READ & HEED the insurance advice given in this thread: http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?67255-Texas-FMV-Laws-(Former-Military-Vehicles)

Reference: TX Form SR-2 here:
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/internetforms/Forms/SR-2.pdf
 
Last edited:

m3a1

New member
6
0
0
Location
Boerne/Texas
Jerry Reed said it best. When you're hot…you're HOT!

Today I went out and straightened out the damage the GL forklift operator inflicted on the M109. As I had already hammered out the mudflap, that was ready to go. But the issue of the taillight brackets was another story. I laid out a length of heavy gauge square steel tubing and backed the inner tire up over it, securing it the ground. Then I bolted a loop of chain to the taillight bracket and winched the bracket back to it's original position with a cable hoist which was attached to the end of the tubing and the chain loop. By moving the truck forward or back on the square steel tubing and then reattaching the cable hoist, I was able to change the angle of the pull to optimize the adjustment to the bracket. To sort out the twist in the bracket I put a large crescent wrench into a length of pipe and wrenched the bracket until it was straight. Unless I pointed them out, you'd never notice they had been damage. It's a farm-boy fix but until I find a nice set of brackets for free, I don't think there's any need to replace them.

The last thing to do was reattach the cross-member that the mudflap hangs from. The wire-feed welder made short work of that.

Having read the posts on taillights, I thoroughly cleaned up the steel at each bolt hole (as each bolt performs as a separate ground) and bolted the taillights up with star washers. Now EVERY light works, front and rear and you'd never know she got stabbed by a forklift.
 
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