New V-100

[Danger Ranger]

I definitely like the original tires better, but I completely understand your position here, and I would do the same thing. It looks great with the GoodYears on it, and has a meaner looking stance now. They appear wider, and with the more squared shoulders on the new tires, it looks more aggressive. Job well done, and on a separate note, I am glad to hear about the boys/men, it sounds like they are doing great Rory.

Another note: I am sorry about your loss, and looking back in the thread makes me even sadder, when I see that it wasn't long ago we were acknowledging another loss of yours. I am sorry to hear about them.

 

[FireFighterHill]

M813rc, Just wanted to say God Bless you and Thank you for your charity in doing this event in support of our Veterans.

 

[baseballump]

Rory
Nice that Sarge showed you how to save your back when changing V tires. I Think the new ones look GREAT on there.
Glad to hear the boys will get to spend some time together on and off base.
I Nam we didn't pay any attention fuel mileage we just put gas in anytime we could get it. The hards time was we had to fill 3 V s one 5 gal. can at a time and all tanks were almost empty.
Thanks for Your Service and the Boys Service
Travel Safe and Be Carefully Louie

 

[M813rc]

Thanks for the support guys, makes a huge difference when times are rough.

The Goodyears are within a 1/4" or so of the height of the run-flats. We had to raise the V about that much to put a Goodyear on after taking each Commando off. The tread profile is very different, the Commandos being quite round on top, while the Goodyears are almost flat across the tread, thus looking very square.
I'll miss having the original tires on there, but they are now securely stored away to preserve them for special occasions.

I took the V for a 35-mile shakedown cruise after putting the tires on, wanted to make sure I would have no problems for yesterday. The ride is smoother now, and the V doesn't 'hunt' along cracks and ridges in the road surface like it used to, I feel I have more control in tight quarters on the road. So they look good, ride well, I am not constantly sweating wearing the tread off!

Yesterday went splendidly. Joe Galloway was amongst the speakers at the Capitol. After the ceremony, the police shut down the traffic on the street in front of the Capitol and the ammo-box urn containing the dog tags was escorted down and placed in Quonsethut's gun truck. We then left for Bastrop. We had around 50 Patriot Guard and Veteran motorcycle riders behind us. The police escort was great, they shut down each intersection along the way with great professionalism, so we rolled all the way to the foundry without stopping. I talked to a bunch of the officers at the Capitol, most of them are Veterans too.

At the foundry, we were able to see the progress on the monument. The figures are about 1.5 times life size, and the detail is fantastic. It will be a great monument for the Vietnam troops. The urn with the dog-tags will be placed within. The second set will be displayed at various venues around the state on a rotating basis.

The V performed flawlessly for me. The round trip was slightly over 140 miles (I actually live a ways out of Austin), and I got home around 6:30pm. That drive gave me a whole new respect for Louie and the others who operated V's on those long hauls in Vietnam, I am a sore pup today! Probably would have been easier if I was 30 years younger.

I feel very honoured to have been invited and to have been able to participate in this event

My camera is still in the V, so I'll post my pictures later. The attached photos belong to buddies Barry F, Rick H, and Scott S. All the dire warnings about copyright etc. apply.

Here is a link to the monument website - http://buildthemonument.org/

Cheers

 

[M813rc]

There will be more, and some better pictures, when I get them. We apparently caused quite a spectacle refueling the vehicles at a local gas station in Bastrop!

Cheers

 

[M813rc]

Some more, showing the full size statue being made. Way more impressive in person than in any picture.

The Bastrop HS NJROTC colour guard had their picture taken in front of the gun truck. They did a nice job presenting the colours.

Cheers

 

[baseballump]

Rory How Cool is that! Great Job Guys. Thank You One and all From All Vietnam Vets.

Remember when we made convoys in Nam we were in our late teens or early twentys and nothing could stop us. To each and every man there was the best Soldiers, Marines, Fly Boys and Navy guys any were. The long convoys didn't seem that long because you were with your buddies and your crew.

Please tell Barry, Rick and Scott what a Great Job you all did. Now I will try to firgue out why any of these vehicles would turn any ones head. ( Only Kidding)
Glad there was no trouble. And everything went Realy Well.
Travel Safe Louie

 

[M813rc]

Here is a link to more of Scott S' pictures. These are all copyright, so dire warnings apply, including threats of evisceration in the event of unauthorized use, etc., they are just for looking at. Most of them are really good, Scott is a professional photographer. He was riding in the gun truck.

http://m38a1.smugmug.com/Photograph...orial/28621325_tRGtgH#!i=2427574152&k=LhccjZC

There was a documentary film crew aboard too, so there will be a movie of the whole thing at some point.

Most of you will notice the groups of South Vietnamese vets in the pictures, there are quite a few living in Austin, having had to flee Vietnam at the end of the war rather than suffer the consequences of loyally defending their country. They are represented in the figures on the monument too.

And to clarify one point - the dog-tag urn was NOT carried on the front of the deuce! That was just for display so folks could come look at it prior to the ceremony at the monument foundry (which in itself was a fascinating place).

Cheers

 

[baseballump]

Rory Been sometime How is everyone? we are good
Louie

 

[M813rc]

Everyone is doing well. Patrick is still "enjoying" Marine bootcamp. From the tone of his letters, and the little jokes he includes, his mind is in the right place and he is doing fine.
Davey is in the ramped up training cycle for their next deployment, he just went through demo school, and really enjoyed that. Marines like blowing stuff up! Attached pic shows him reviewing his handiwork.

The sisters and I were dreading our first Mothers Day without mum, but we made it through okay. The anticipation was perhaps worse than the day itself.

The V is very healthy and active, I need to post an update on recent activities.

Cheers

 

[M813rc]

After the Vietnam Memorial run, I noticed a small amount of oil or grease grease in the right rear wheel well, and suspected that one of the wheel seals might be failing.
I also noticed the next time I drove it that the brakes felt a little soft, which is not a good thing when you are driving 15,000 pounds of armour down the road. I noticed some leakage on the front left wheel which looked like it was probably Dot 5.

So, with the help of buddy Jason (Dr.Jay), we dug into the left front wheel and found that the wheel cylinder looked nice, but was indeed leaking. Upon taking the cylinder apart, it looked pretty ugly inside, so it was replaced with a new one. While we were in there, we replaced the wheel seals and repacked the bearings.
Next was the right rear wheel. Sure enough, the seal was leaking. While we were in there, we examined the wheel cylinder and it looked okay, but not fantastic, so it was replaced too. Better safe than sorry. New seals and repacked bearings for that wheel too.

With two wheel cylinders not looking their best, what the heck, we went into the other two wheels. The left rear cylinder looked about the same as the right rear, so a new one in there too, along with seals.

The right front wheel cylinder looked to be in great shape, but that one had been replaced (with the help of Reloader64) last year, so was still pretty new. New seals went on this wheel station too.

So, the net result was three new wheel cylinders, four sets of seals, and a full servicing, bleeding and adjusting all the way around. Afterwards the V braked like a car again! That's what you need to drive with confidence on the roads I share with other peoples families.

All these brake components were new when installed, but sat for several years while the rest of the restoration was completed on the V. I think that sitting for so long was causing premature dying of these parts. While the rear cylinders didn't look too bad, I had to take into account that both fronts cylinders had failed in the past year, so I replaced them anyway. No point in taking any chances when it comes to brakes. An extra $60 in parts sure buys a lot of peace of mind!

Cheers

 

[M813rc]

Next on the agenda was the Central Texas Airshow in Temple. This is a three-day event the first weekend of May, and our club (Lonestar MVPA) participates in the airshow every year.
With both my sons away in the Marines, and my college-senior daughter off doing school stuff, this was the first time in ten years that I went to this show with no kids along. Sure missed my crew!

A buddy of mine who is part of the airshow staff is also a prefessional heavy equipment hauler. He offered to take the V up to the show, and home afterward. I wasn't about to turn down that offer.

SS'ers with vehicles at the show were Pawnshop, Reloader64, Jhyatt7, Barrman, Sermis, Quonsethut, jeepJeep, Mkcoen, KeithJ, Roboskid, (who am I forgetting?).
We participate in the Vietnam part of the show. This year, we were doing a downed pilot rescue. Dr.Jay was the downed pilot. The vehicles were perhaps a bit unlikely for that scenario, so we'll assume he went down near a highway with a convoy nearby. Its all for the public, and they loved the show, so......

On the first day, since my regular crew are all away, I had Jhyatt7 in my turret and Barrman's son Colton in the rear hatch. Day two I had Colton in the turret and Sermis' son Carson in the rear hatch. Both sons are fine young men and a credit to their dads. I don't let just anyone crew the V!

I really liked having the UH-1E landing next to me during the show. Managed to get some front seat time in it after the show sunday! Its been a long time since I flew a Huey.

Cheers

In the pics- the M37 belongs to Roboskid; M715 to Barrman; guntruck to Quonsethut; Reloader64's deuce pulling jeepJeep's MKT; my M185 and V100; Pawnshop's M1028 and M101. All together, we brought 25 vehicles and trailers to the event.

 

[B3.3T]

Very cool. Ferret was a bit out of place, though. What's with the camo on that thing?

 

[baseballump]

That looks like a great time.

 

[M813rc]

The Aussies used Ferrets in Vietnam, and that one apparently represents one of those. I'm not familiar with the camo, and the pictures I have seen were mostly black and white, so I can't comment on the accuracy of the colours.
Of course, my V isn't period correct paintwise either.

But the crowd liked the show, and it was fun, so...

Cheers

 

[B3.3T]

Actually, the Aussies never sent any Ferrets to Vietnam. This is documented in the book "Mud & Dust" as well as the Australian War Memorial archives. We researched is years back when there were reports of Aussies using Saladins in Vietnam as well, which never happened, either.

 

[M813rc]

Interesting. Then we have received bad information!
I have read it several places, and even seen b&w pictures of Aussie and US troops and equipment together, including the Ferrets, that were reported to be in Vietnam. It looked right, so... Now I am going to have to see if I can find that again, but who knows where I saw it, and it certainly wasn't recently. I have read a lot of books and magazines in the past 40 years!

Hypothesis - Perhaps it was a pre-deployment joint exercise in Australia and the Ferrets didn't make the trip?

It's like the JATO assist Land Rover un-sticking (from mud) tests JimK talked about. I read about that and saw the pictures, but darned if I can find them again.

A lot of mis-infomation makes it into texts, gets quoted and proliferated until it becomes "fact". My favourite example of this was a WWII Hurricane in RAF service in the desert. In the photo, it bore a curious squiggly pattern over its regular camouflage, and this attractive scheme was reproduced in many reference books and modeling periodicals over the years. A couple of years ago, I was looking at a very old book on the RAF, and there was a much larger, uncropped, version of the same Hurricane photo, which shows that it is in fact parked under a camo net. It is suddenly very obvious that the net's shadow caused the curious "camo pattern", it was never paint at all! So....

Cheers

 

[mkcoen]

The Ferret owner said the camo pattern is actually an Israeli pattern. We were discussing it due to the IDF painted M37 I had at the event.

 

[B3.3T]

A lot of myths out there for sure. Has anyone ever determined proof of any M715s in Vietnam? Kinda reminds me of the short-lived experience of M114s in Vietnam with the ARVN. That didn't last long at all.

 

[M813rc]

The Ferret owner said the camo pattern is actually an Israeli pattern. We were discussing it due to the IDF painted M37 I had at the event.

The plot thickens!

I know the USAF Security folks had M715s in Vietnam (with gun mounts!). I saw those quite recently on a Vietnam vet's site. I'll poke in my picture collection and see what I saved.

The attached photo isn't clear enough to definitively identify anything (for me, at least), but I had saved it under "Vietnam 1968". Alas, in the past I thought such a cryptic title sufficient information to jog my memory, in practice I find myself at a loss sometimes.
Army, it seems? I leave you to draw your own conclusions...

Cheers