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Some time ago, Soni (M920) informed me of a plan that he had to bring home 4 M1070 HETs from Ft Irwin. Once the EUC cleared, and all the permits and insurance were in place, Soni picked me up in Phoenix and we headed off to Ft Irwin.
This portion of the trip was uneventful. Upon arriving in Barstow, there was much deliberation about where to stay, but we did finally find a motel that worked to everyone's satisfaction. One of the motels we checked out had a tan HET parked out front.
The plan was to tow 2 of the trucks with the other 2. Prior to the trip, Soni whipped up a neat receiver hitch to hold a pair of the large towbars. The Ford Explorer took it in stride, although its owner seemed dismayed that we were subjecting it to so much apparent abuse.
The next morning, we went to Ft Irwin and met with the GL rep and began our trip preparation. Two of the trucks fired off and we were able to slave start the others. All the trucks checked out and after we had the towbars, chains, air lines, and lights hooked up, we were off.
It was apparent pretty quick that the towed trucks were going to need more air pressure in the front tires to track correctly. We put 100 psi in each front tire (and killing something like 90 minutes) we were off again to much better turning results. I think that the towing HET's rear steering and comparatively little caster on the towed HET work against it wanting to track correctly through a turn. The increased tire pressure helped. Sharper turns rather than wide sweeping turns also seemed to help.
One really cool thing about the HET is that they have an electrical connector on the front that, when connected to the towing vehicle, makes their lights behave like a trailer.
We came across this neat train in Daggett/Yermo. We had to wait for it, but at least it was neat to look at.
Soni pointed out that at $256,000 each, these 4 trucks represent more than a million dollars of taxpayer money.
We made it to Kingman, AZ at the end of the first day and stayed the night in a truck stop that I hate. The next morning, we were off and headed towards Flagstaff, AZ.
When we got to Flagstaff, there was snow on the ground, but not on the road. We headed north from there up through the Four Corners area into New Mexico.
More...
This portion of the trip was uneventful. Upon arriving in Barstow, there was much deliberation about where to stay, but we did finally find a motel that worked to everyone's satisfaction. One of the motels we checked out had a tan HET parked out front.
The plan was to tow 2 of the trucks with the other 2. Prior to the trip, Soni whipped up a neat receiver hitch to hold a pair of the large towbars. The Ford Explorer took it in stride, although its owner seemed dismayed that we were subjecting it to so much apparent abuse.
The next morning, we went to Ft Irwin and met with the GL rep and began our trip preparation. Two of the trucks fired off and we were able to slave start the others. All the trucks checked out and after we had the towbars, chains, air lines, and lights hooked up, we were off.
It was apparent pretty quick that the towed trucks were going to need more air pressure in the front tires to track correctly. We put 100 psi in each front tire (and killing something like 90 minutes) we were off again to much better turning results. I think that the towing HET's rear steering and comparatively little caster on the towed HET work against it wanting to track correctly through a turn. The increased tire pressure helped. Sharper turns rather than wide sweeping turns also seemed to help.
One really cool thing about the HET is that they have an electrical connector on the front that, when connected to the towing vehicle, makes their lights behave like a trailer.
We came across this neat train in Daggett/Yermo. We had to wait for it, but at least it was neat to look at.
Soni pointed out that at $256,000 each, these 4 trucks represent more than a million dollars of taxpayer money.
We made it to Kingman, AZ at the end of the first day and stayed the night in a truck stop that I hate. The next morning, we were off and headed towards Flagstaff, AZ.
When we got to Flagstaff, there was snow on the ground, but not on the road. We headed north from there up through the Four Corners area into New Mexico.
More...
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lol
