mattgunguy
New member
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- Location
- Springfield, Mo
Likely not what your thinking. Not pulling Prius with a deuce, but pulling a deuce with a Prius. Yesterday we went on a 600 mile round trip recovery of a M105a2 and 13 9.00x20 tires and wheels. The trip there, our load out, and the first hundred miles back went real smooth. Then the fuel pump bit the big one in the middle of nowhere. For those of you who know the Missouri boot heel, There's ain't much there, and everything closes early on a Saturday. We were luck enough to die in the middle of the road within a hundred yards of a gas station.
Well, what is one to do when you're dead in the road and no one is willing to pull ya out of the road into the parking lot to be able to work on things. Well I'll tell ya what you can do. You can get a bit on the cranky side, use a few colorful expletives, and then do something a bit out of the ordinary. Ya might see the log chain wrapped around the front bumper, and the think that this is nice level ground, and then the thought crosses your mind of " well the wife's Prius has those tow truck tie downs in the rear ". Well lets go for it. What's the worst that can happen. Blow up the car as well. It's insured for stupidity right.
So I hooked things up, and let her rip. We pulled our 14,600 lbs M35a2 w/w, M105a2, and 13 mounted 9.00x20 tires around 50-100 yards with a Prius. Yeah, didn't think it'd work but I was desperate, and it did work.
We got her out of the road into the parking lot, and went in search of a inline el cheapo temp fix pump. Took an hour to find an open parts store with one and only one option for us to try. The package of said option said " hey, I'm not made for what you're gonna try to do ", but who am I to listen to instructions. Lets try it. And another 80 bucks spent, and an hour drive back. Hacksaw blade, mini pump, barbed line connecters, worm clamps, and oh crap my rubber fuel line is the same O.D. as the factory copper line. Now we are in another pickle. Cant get the rubber line over the hard line. What to do, what to do. Take stock of what ya do have to work with. Rummage around the your tool kit, and the this might be good to leave it the truck just in case box. Then you might come up with this. 2 5/16 barbed line connecter that you really don't know why you bought, 1 mapp torch that you've been searching for the last month or so, and some hard plastic fuel line that's been riding on the spare tire for the past 5 months. Now the hard plastic is to small to fill and seal the copper hard line. Unless you heat it with the afore mentioned torch and cram the 5/16 barbed line connecter in the 3/8 plastic line. Now all that's a bit on the too big side to fit in the copper hard line. Well poop, what now. Simple, wallow the hard line out some with a bent screw driver, and push harder. Eureka it fits. Now repeat crank down on the worm clamp to seal it up, and repeat on the other end of the copper line. And then you realize you didn't buy enough clamps, and the gas station only has radiator hose clamps. Bust out the zip ties folks, it'll work. It has to, we're out of options here.
Well she fired up after a few false starts. Hit the bathroom, got plenty of caffeine, topped of the tanks in both vehicles, and we ain't stopping for nothing unless we're forced to. 4 hours, 150 miles, 3 red lights ran, & one potentially snarky cop later, we made it home.
What a day.
Well, what is one to do when you're dead in the road and no one is willing to pull ya out of the road into the parking lot to be able to work on things. Well I'll tell ya what you can do. You can get a bit on the cranky side, use a few colorful expletives, and then do something a bit out of the ordinary. Ya might see the log chain wrapped around the front bumper, and the think that this is nice level ground, and then the thought crosses your mind of " well the wife's Prius has those tow truck tie downs in the rear ". Well lets go for it. What's the worst that can happen. Blow up the car as well. It's insured for stupidity right.
So I hooked things up, and let her rip. We pulled our 14,600 lbs M35a2 w/w, M105a2, and 13 mounted 9.00x20 tires around 50-100 yards with a Prius. Yeah, didn't think it'd work but I was desperate, and it did work.
We got her out of the road into the parking lot, and went in search of a inline el cheapo temp fix pump. Took an hour to find an open parts store with one and only one option for us to try. The package of said option said " hey, I'm not made for what you're gonna try to do ", but who am I to listen to instructions. Lets try it. And another 80 bucks spent, and an hour drive back. Hacksaw blade, mini pump, barbed line connecters, worm clamps, and oh crap my rubber fuel line is the same O.D. as the factory copper line. Now we are in another pickle. Cant get the rubber line over the hard line. What to do, what to do. Take stock of what ya do have to work with. Rummage around the your tool kit, and the this might be good to leave it the truck just in case box. Then you might come up with this. 2 5/16 barbed line connecter that you really don't know why you bought, 1 mapp torch that you've been searching for the last month or so, and some hard plastic fuel line that's been riding on the spare tire for the past 5 months. Now the hard plastic is to small to fill and seal the copper hard line. Unless you heat it with the afore mentioned torch and cram the 5/16 barbed line connecter in the 3/8 plastic line. Now all that's a bit on the too big side to fit in the copper hard line. Well poop, what now. Simple, wallow the hard line out some with a bent screw driver, and push harder. Eureka it fits. Now repeat crank down on the worm clamp to seal it up, and repeat on the other end of the copper line. And then you realize you didn't buy enough clamps, and the gas station only has radiator hose clamps. Bust out the zip ties folks, it'll work. It has to, we're out of options here.
Well she fired up after a few false starts. Hit the bathroom, got plenty of caffeine, topped of the tanks in both vehicles, and we ain't stopping for nothing unless we're forced to. 4 hours, 150 miles, 3 red lights ran, & one potentially snarky cop later, we made it home.
What a day.