wsucougarx
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- Washington State
WARNING: LOTS OF PICS AND WAY TOO MUCH DETAIL.When I do a thread like this, I basically use it as my build diary. So lots of nonsense details that no one would otherwise be interested in. I like to look back on my builds to see what I did. So forgive me for the rambling on with some of my future posts. You've been warned!!!
On 02JAN13, I made the small journey to JBLM to pick up my highly anticipated M925A1. Going into it, I was a bit nervous as I didn’t get a chance to start her up and idle her. I’m pretty meticulous when it comes to inspecting a potential GL purchase. It is not uncommon for me to spend at least 40 minutes on one truck. I go over them and inspect everything I can. During this particular Event, I made 2 trips to JBLM to inspect the 16 M939 series trucks. I had my heart set on a M925 ,but if things went as they previously did with the past auctions, then I’d be settling on a M923A0. Up to this point, theM925A1’s I have been after have sold well past the $6000 mark (not includingfees/taxes).
The week prior, an M925A1, of similar condition/mileage/hours/accessories, sold for $7400!!! After this utter defeat,I pretty much gave up on the elusive M925 and was ready to pick up a non-winched & non-super singled truck. Heck, I was ready to buy one without a cargo cover. So much so, I bought a 5 ton cargo cover kit from a fellow SS (wheelspinner) in preparation of a win for an "undesirable" truck. I figured a bare bones M939 would go cheaper than one with accessories. Plus I had to make haste, as my wife knew I had $6500 saved and mentioned it a few times. Now when I say mentioned, it was typically after discussing a bill that had come up or if something needed to be purchased. I was in survival mode and had to secure something before it was spent on something non-MV. GL was my solution and it needed to be quick. Desperate times call for desperate measures
(I know I’m terrible)
So here I was. I had my $6500 cash ready to throw down on a truck that I had saved up for the past 5 months. My cash was saved up from buying and selling various military parts and lights I bought off of Craigslist. I disciplined myself to save up, rather than buy the truck on credit and struggle to figure out how I was going to pay for it. I passed up several trucks when EUC’s were still required for the M939 series trucks. As it would happen, the drop of the EUC’s caused the M939 bids to skyrocket. So much so, my now measly $6500 wouldn’t cover the final prices on the trucks with tax and fees included. I was a bit frustrated but decided to keep at it. Then came Event 11360. None of the trucks really caught my eye, as I was after a nice and clean Red RiverArmy Depot Truck w/fresh CARC etc. In this auction, there was but two RRAD trucks.The M925A1 RRAD truck had too many issues for me (3 flats, broken throttle cable, no troopseats, peeling paint, dead batteries, jerry rigged fording kit).The other RRAD truck was an M923A0. It was in really nice shape. I decided I’d go after this truck.
While inspecting, I looked at the row of trucks in the rear. One truck caught my eye and made me chuckle (ended up being the truck I won). I chuckled at the driver’s name stenciled on the windshield “SPC COLON”. I thought, oh gees that poor dude probably really got harassed by his fellow soldiers. I decided that was sign I didn’t want this truck. I decided to take a look at her anyways. First thing I noticed was she had really low juice in the batteries. So much so, I just got a click when I tried to fire her off. Plus she had two flats in the passenger drive tires (only odd ball tires on the whole truck). The flat tires were Michelin X. The other tires were all Goodyear AT/2A's. Also, she was yellow tagged as having a broken coolant reservoir bracket and leaking exhaust manifold. I peeked under the hood to find a brand new coolant reservoir and what appeared to simply be loose manifold bolts…easy fix. I could see there was a little black exhaust soot around one of the joint between the engine and exhaust manifold. Got to be a cracked gasket or loose bolts. Plus I thought the truck would go for a ton because she had super singles, winch, hardtop, new cargocover, and new CARC job.
Bidding day came and found my #1 choice (RRAD M925A1) went above $5000, #2 choice (RRAD M923A0) went above what I wanted to pay, and my #4 choice (Colon truck) wasn’t having much activity on her. I threw down my last bid and it went uncontested until closing I was at work just staring patiently at my phone waiting for it to do the 60 second refresh. I know you guys do the samething! You wait for the refresh and hope the truck you’re after still shows Green. The last minute probably sounded like I was watching the close to a football game. Where your team is down on the 5 yard line ready to punch the ball in during the closing seconds of the 4[SUP]th[/SUP]. Needless to say, I let out a loud "Ooorah!!!" at the closing second.
On Christmas Eve, I made the drive up to JBLM to check out my newly won M925A1 and found the Logistics Gate was closed. Then it dawned on me…Federal Holiday! More than likely DRMO was off and the yard would be CLOSED! Oh well, I might was well try. I already drove the 62 miles to get here…what’s another 2 miles. I arrived at GL’s building to find all the usual GL employee cars parked out front. That was a good sign. I went inside and was told the yard was closed. Having been to GL at least once every 2-3 weeks, the GL office person smiled and said I could go into the yard. I was able to look my truck over and used another truck to air up the flat tires. Lurking in the cargo bed,I found the gov’t was nice enough to leave 1 stave, 1 bow corner, 2 pallets, 2r ubber oil pans, 1 metal tire chock, 1 rubber tire chock, and 3 new Scepter 5 gallon fuel cans. Of which, 1 can was full of JP8 Anyways, I hoped there would still be air in the tires when I go back to recover the truck. I said aclosing prayer and left.
Recovery Day -1
Got my ¾ ton Cummins Dodge Ram loaded up my recovery tools and parts. Here’s what I brought in no particular order:
-Paper Items:
-M939 Operator’s TM
-WA State 3 day trip permit
-State Farm Insurance card from my M923 (covered 1 month w/new vehicle purchases)
-2 Copiesof Paid In Full Invoice for GL (one in case they don’t have mine and one for GL to sign to initiate my temporary State Farm Insurance)
-Parts:
-Spare Goodyear AT/2A (Thanks Ray! You the man!)
-Cummins Fuel Shut Off Solenoid
-M939 Black Control Box
-Wiper Blades
-Spare Headlight
-Fuel Filter
-Brake Caging Bolts
-Tools:
-RoboImpact24v Wrench w/sockets
-Breaker bar 4 ft
-Slave Cable 20’
-Glad-hand Air Hose
-BottleJack w/wood blocks
-Tire Lug Wrench w/Breaker Bar
-Emergency Triangles (DOT requirement more than anything)
-100 MPHTape (everyone needs a roll or two)
-Flashlight
-FireExtinguisher
-Tire PressureGauge
-IR Temperature Gun
-TireChocks
-Fluids:
-25 Gallons Diesel
-Lucas Fuel Injector Cleaner
-Rotella T 15/40 Gallon Jug
-Distilled Water (Coolant and battery)
-ATF
-PB Blaster, Brake Cleaner,
-Misc:
-BIBLE
-Rags
-Bungie Cord
-Heavy Duty Tow Rope (Stryker Vehicle)
-Zip Ties
-Camera (Iknow how much you guys love your pics )
-Droid BeltClip to use fasten to windshield (speedometer )
-Walkie Talkies (comms b/w me and chase vehicle)
-Sunglasses
Recovery Day(02JAN13)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0gnDiMvajA
Well, as many head to work for the New Year, I head to Joint Base Lewis McChord to pick up my anticipated winning. Originally, I scheduled pickup for 03JAN13 morning with work starting at 12:00 Noon. Well, as things would have it, my work had an opening for a pharmacist to take vacation. So, planning for the worst, I decided to take the week off to tend to any unforeseen issues that make spring up during recovery. Plus with everyone having new insurance prescription plans and formulary changes, I really didn’t want to deal with all the busy work associated with this. The earliest I could pickup was 02JAN13 as the GL yard guy, Tony, would be back from vacation. I got a bit of a later than usual start due to my 6 month old daughter’s 6 month check up appt. Any time my kids have a shot appt, I go to their appt’s. So on recovery day, I would be at the doctors at 0900 hrs, then head up to GL right thereafter (74mile trip). Everything worked out as my chase driver, John, lives 1 mile from my daughter’s appointment.
The trip to JBLM was uneventful. The trip was great in that it allowed my chase driver, John, to get use to driving my pickup truck. Turnsout he has never driven a diesel and never drove a 6 speed manual. No big deal, but one less thing to worry about. Turns out the weather was outstanding. It was clear and COLD! The whole trip was a steady 31-34 degrees. Nevertheless, as many who know me, know Iwear shorts no matter the weather. I dug out my recovery shorts the night before (yes I have a pair of shorts I wear on my recoveries). Been wearing themon all my recoveries since my first one back in 2008. Albiet, I think the dryer temp has been increased. They feel a bit tighter than from what I remember…hahaha.
Anyways, on my way up to JBLM, I was looking out for AaronW in his M931A2. When I got down into the Nisqually Valley,what do I see? A nice looking M925A1 heading southbound I-5. Now if I wasn’t already excited, the M925A1 sighting really got me going. All of a sudden my 60 MPH pickup truck accelerated to 70 MPH.
We got to JBLM in good order, arrived at GL around 1115 hrs and quickly went out to my truck to get her ready. I immediately noticed the two tires were still holding air…whew! However, they were a little bit low. There were already a few other guys picking up their trucks. I immediately located a truck with good batteries and fired her up to jump my truck (that coldblooded NHC250 didn't want to start on the slave truck). My once nervousness now got worse as I attempted to fire off my truck. After 5-10 seconds on the starter, she immediately fired up and maintained an even idle. My once nervous anticipation was now a huge smile on my face. Thank you God!!!! I did another look over and everything looked good to me…with one exception however.The darn ABS light continued to be lit and just stared me in the face. I knew at this point my drive home would be at 40 MPH. I found out quickly why theM939’s got the ABS MWO. While in the shaded icy area at 15 MPH, the brakes locked right up with a subtle tap on the brake pedal. She did the same thing in a gravel area and wet pavement. My once honeymoon “Got a new truck” attitude turned to a “Oh crap,you better pay close attention and drive defensively”. I did notice the brakes weren’t as touchy as the drive progressed. We left GL around 1330 hrs and made the drive home. I did one safety stop to look things over. The hubs were cold to the touch and the pumpkins were all at 84 degrees. I did discover one pleasant thing with this truck. She maintained 50 MPG while negotiating hills. My M923 would bog down to 35 MPH up the same hill! The motor is one strong runner and I am very pleased with how she shifter. I didn’t get the harsh downshift to first gear like my other M923.
I got her home and shut her down. Then needing to move my truck I went to restart her and......click,click,click. So I pulled out my 50 ft slave cable and slaved her off my M923. She wasn't hooked up no more than 30 seconds and she fired up. Thinking I have one bad battery in the lot. Going to test each battery tomorrow with my voltmeter.
I backed my truck into my "5 ton"designated area. Wow! I only have inches to spare. She was meant to go there
Information regarding this truck:
Though rattle canned over, you can make out 555E 14E on the rear of the truck. This is the 555th Engineer Brigade (Combat Engineer Bridge) AKA Triple Nickle
GL ad: http://www.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=5898946&convertTo=USD
Plans for the truck:
I am going to completely gut out the cab and start from the ground up. I am going to get rid of the nasty brown floor insulation pad. Beerslayer has a nice green one enroute to me. The hardtop also needs some tending too. Seems the hardtop looked like a park bench for soldiers to sit on -or- maybe they thought it was a trampouline. I'm not sure but the center is caved in about an inch or two. I plan on using a bottle jack and a post to push the hardtop back into shape. Also, I am going to replace the hardtop foam with the foam sleeping pad material. Seems the old foam is resident to many varieties of moss and mold. Also going to do the interior with the Behr CARC 383 Substitute using my trusty Wagner Power Sprayer. May need to wait for the weather to get a bit better.
On 02JAN13, I made the small journey to JBLM to pick up my highly anticipated M925A1. Going into it, I was a bit nervous as I didn’t get a chance to start her up and idle her. I’m pretty meticulous when it comes to inspecting a potential GL purchase. It is not uncommon for me to spend at least 40 minutes on one truck. I go over them and inspect everything I can. During this particular Event, I made 2 trips to JBLM to inspect the 16 M939 series trucks. I had my heart set on a M925 ,but if things went as they previously did with the past auctions, then I’d be settling on a M923A0. Up to this point, theM925A1’s I have been after have sold well past the $6000 mark (not includingfees/taxes).
The week prior, an M925A1, of similar condition/mileage/hours/accessories, sold for $7400!!! After this utter defeat,I pretty much gave up on the elusive M925 and was ready to pick up a non-winched & non-super singled truck. Heck, I was ready to buy one without a cargo cover. So much so, I bought a 5 ton cargo cover kit from a fellow SS (wheelspinner) in preparation of a win for an "undesirable" truck. I figured a bare bones M939 would go cheaper than one with accessories. Plus I had to make haste, as my wife knew I had $6500 saved and mentioned it a few times. Now when I say mentioned, it was typically after discussing a bill that had come up or if something needed to be purchased. I was in survival mode and had to secure something before it was spent on something non-MV. GL was my solution and it needed to be quick. Desperate times call for desperate measures
(I know I’m terrible)So here I was. I had my $6500 cash ready to throw down on a truck that I had saved up for the past 5 months. My cash was saved up from buying and selling various military parts and lights I bought off of Craigslist. I disciplined myself to save up, rather than buy the truck on credit and struggle to figure out how I was going to pay for it. I passed up several trucks when EUC’s were still required for the M939 series trucks. As it would happen, the drop of the EUC’s caused the M939 bids to skyrocket. So much so, my now measly $6500 wouldn’t cover the final prices on the trucks with tax and fees included. I was a bit frustrated but decided to keep at it. Then came Event 11360. None of the trucks really caught my eye, as I was after a nice and clean Red RiverArmy Depot Truck w/fresh CARC etc. In this auction, there was but two RRAD trucks.The M925A1 RRAD truck had too many issues for me (3 flats, broken throttle cable, no troopseats, peeling paint, dead batteries, jerry rigged fording kit).The other RRAD truck was an M923A0. It was in really nice shape. I decided I’d go after this truck.
While inspecting, I looked at the row of trucks in the rear. One truck caught my eye and made me chuckle (ended up being the truck I won). I chuckled at the driver’s name stenciled on the windshield “SPC COLON”. I thought, oh gees that poor dude probably really got harassed by his fellow soldiers. I decided that was sign I didn’t want this truck. I decided to take a look at her anyways. First thing I noticed was she had really low juice in the batteries. So much so, I just got a click when I tried to fire her off. Plus she had two flats in the passenger drive tires (only odd ball tires on the whole truck). The flat tires were Michelin X. The other tires were all Goodyear AT/2A's. Also, she was yellow tagged as having a broken coolant reservoir bracket and leaking exhaust manifold. I peeked under the hood to find a brand new coolant reservoir and what appeared to simply be loose manifold bolts…easy fix. I could see there was a little black exhaust soot around one of the joint between the engine and exhaust manifold. Got to be a cracked gasket or loose bolts. Plus I thought the truck would go for a ton because she had super singles, winch, hardtop, new cargocover, and new CARC job.
Bidding day came and found my #1 choice (RRAD M925A1) went above $5000, #2 choice (RRAD M923A0) went above what I wanted to pay, and my #4 choice (Colon truck) wasn’t having much activity on her. I threw down my last bid and it went uncontested until closing
I was at work just staring patiently at my phone waiting for it to do the 60 second refresh. I know you guys do the samething! You wait for the refresh and hope the truck you’re after still shows Green. The last minute probably sounded like I was watching the close to a football game. Where your team is down on the 5 yard line ready to punch the ball in during the closing seconds of the 4[SUP]th[/SUP]. Needless to say, I let out a loud "Ooorah!!!" at the closing second.On Christmas Eve, I made the drive up to JBLM to check out my newly won M925A1 and found the Logistics Gate was closed. Then it dawned on me…Federal Holiday! More than likely DRMO was off and the yard would be CLOSED! Oh well, I might was well try. I already drove the 62 miles to get here…what’s another 2 miles. I arrived at GL’s building to find all the usual GL employee cars parked out front. That was a good sign. I went inside and was told the yard was closed. Having been to GL at least once every 2-3 weeks, the GL office person smiled and said I could go into the yard. I was able to look my truck over and used another truck to air up the flat tires. Lurking in the cargo bed,I found the gov’t was nice enough to leave 1 stave, 1 bow corner, 2 pallets, 2r ubber oil pans, 1 metal tire chock, 1 rubber tire chock, and 3 new Scepter 5 gallon fuel cans. Of which, 1 can was full of JP8
Anyways, I hoped there would still be air in the tires when I go back to recover the truck. I said aclosing prayer and left.Recovery Day -1
Got my ¾ ton Cummins Dodge Ram loaded up my recovery tools and parts. Here’s what I brought in no particular order:
-Paper Items:
-M939 Operator’s TM
-WA State 3 day trip permit
-State Farm Insurance card from my M923 (covered 1 month w/new vehicle purchases)
-2 Copiesof Paid In Full Invoice for GL (one in case they don’t have mine and one for GL to sign to initiate my temporary State Farm Insurance)
-Parts:
-Spare Goodyear AT/2A (Thanks Ray! You the man!)
-Cummins Fuel Shut Off Solenoid
-M939 Black Control Box
-Wiper Blades
-Spare Headlight
-Fuel Filter
-Brake Caging Bolts
-Tools:
-RoboImpact24v Wrench w/sockets
-Breaker bar 4 ft
-Slave Cable 20’
-Glad-hand Air Hose
-BottleJack w/wood blocks
-Tire Lug Wrench w/Breaker Bar
-Emergency Triangles (DOT requirement more than anything)
-100 MPHTape (everyone needs a roll or two)
-Flashlight
-FireExtinguisher
-Tire PressureGauge
-IR Temperature Gun
-TireChocks
-Fluids:
-25 Gallons Diesel
-Lucas Fuel Injector Cleaner
-Rotella T 15/40 Gallon Jug
-Distilled Water (Coolant and battery)
-ATF
-PB Blaster, Brake Cleaner,
-Misc:
-BIBLE
-Rags
-Bungie Cord
-Heavy Duty Tow Rope (Stryker Vehicle)
-Zip Ties
-Camera (Iknow how much you guys love your pics
)-Droid BeltClip to use fasten to windshield (speedometer
)-Walkie Talkies (comms b/w me and chase vehicle)
-Sunglasses
Recovery Day(02JAN13)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0gnDiMvajA
Well, as many head to work for the New Year, I head to Joint Base Lewis McChord to pick up my anticipated winning. Originally, I scheduled pickup for 03JAN13 morning with work starting at 12:00 Noon. Well, as things would have it, my work had an opening for a pharmacist to take vacation. So, planning for the worst, I decided to take the week off to tend to any unforeseen issues that make spring up during recovery. Plus with everyone having new insurance prescription plans and formulary changes, I really didn’t want to deal with all the busy work associated with this
. The earliest I could pickup was 02JAN13 as the GL yard guy, Tony, would be back from vacation. I got a bit of a later than usual start due to my 6 month old daughter’s 6 month check up appt. Any time my kids have a shot appt, I go to their appt’s. So on recovery day, I would be at the doctors at 0900 hrs, then head up to GL right thereafter (74mile trip). Everything worked out as my chase driver, John, lives 1 mile from my daughter’s appointment. The trip to JBLM was uneventful. The trip was great in that it allowed my chase driver, John, to get use to driving my pickup truck. Turnsout he has never driven a diesel and never drove a 6 speed manual. No big deal, but one less thing to worry about. Turns out the weather was outstanding. It was clear and COLD! The whole trip was a steady 31-34 degrees. Nevertheless, as many who know me, know Iwear shorts no matter the weather
. I dug out my recovery shorts the night before (yes I have a pair of shorts I wear on my recoveries). Been wearing themon all my recoveries since my first one back in 2008. Albiet, I think the dryer temp has been increased. They feel a bit tighter than from what I remember…hahaha. Anyways, on my way up to JBLM, I was looking out for AaronW in his M931A2. When I got down into the Nisqually Valley,what do I see? A nice looking M925A1 heading southbound I-5. Now if I wasn’t already excited, the M925A1 sighting really got me going. All of a sudden my 60 MPH pickup truck accelerated to 70 MPH.
We got to JBLM in good order, arrived at GL around 1115 hrs and quickly went out to my truck to get her ready. I immediately noticed the two tires were still holding air…whew! However, they were a little bit low. There were already a few other guys picking up their trucks. I immediately located a truck with good batteries and fired her up to jump my truck (that coldblooded NHC250 didn't want to start on the slave truck). My once nervousness now got worse as I attempted to fire off my truck. After 5-10 seconds on the starter, she immediately fired up and maintained an even idle. My once nervous anticipation was now a huge smile on my face. Thank you God!!!! I did another look over and everything looked good to me…with one exception however.The darn ABS light continued to be lit and just stared me in the face. I knew at this point my drive home would be at 40 MPH. I found out quickly why theM939’s got the ABS MWO. While in the shaded icy area at 15 MPH, the brakes locked right up with a subtle tap on the brake pedal. She did the same thing in a gravel area and wet pavement. My once honeymoon “Got a new truck” attitude turned to a “Oh crap,you better pay close attention and drive defensively”. I did notice the brakes weren’t as touchy as the drive progressed. We left GL around 1330 hrs and made the drive home. I did one safety stop to look things over. The hubs were cold to the touch and the pumpkins were all at 84 degrees. I did discover one pleasant thing with this truck. She maintained 50 MPG while negotiating hills. My M923 would bog down to 35 MPH up the same hill! The motor is one strong runner and I am very pleased with how she shifter. I didn’t get the harsh downshift to first gear like my other M923.
I got her home and shut her down. Then needing to move my truck I went to restart her and......click,click,click. So I pulled out my 50 ft slave cable and slaved her off my M923. She wasn't hooked up no more than 30 seconds and she fired up. Thinking I have one bad battery in the lot. Going to test each battery tomorrow with my voltmeter.
I backed my truck into my "5 ton"designated area. Wow! I only have inches to spare. She was meant to go there
Information regarding this truck:
|
|
GL ad: http://www.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=5898946&convertTo=USD
Plans for the truck:
I am going to completely gut out the cab and start from the ground up. I am going to get rid of the nasty brown floor insulation pad. Beerslayer has a nice green one enroute to me. The hardtop also needs some tending too. Seems the hardtop looked like a park bench for soldiers to sit on -or- maybe they thought it was a trampouline. I'm not sure but the center is caved in about an inch or two. I plan on using a bottle jack and a post to push the hardtop back into shape. Also, I am going to replace the hardtop foam with the foam sleeping pad material. Seems the old foam is resident to many varieties of moss and mold. Also going to do the interior with the Behr CARC 383 Substitute using my trusty Wagner Power Sprayer. May need to wait for the weather to get a bit better.
Attachments
Last edited:
. My chase driver and I pushed her back the 3 ft. Man, did I mention this is one heavy truck?
. I was scratching my head at this point. I got my M923 fired up and slaved her off. The M925 started right up.
