This is long, but I think it is worth reading if you are going to pick up a vehicle and drive it home over any long distance. Maybe even short ones if you have to do it on the freeway.
Weeeeell, I am home with my newly purchased M934A2 Expansible Van, 6x6, 5-ton truck. I got home 7 days after I left. It should have taken me 3 day, tops, if nothing had gone wrong. Mechanically the truck performed very well. The tires, well that is another story. They caused all my problems. We had hand-held radios for truck to truck communication. My shotgun initially followed me to ensure nothing was smoking or falling off and also gave me a speedometer check. The speedo was very close to being correct. Here is a not so short report on the trip.
We left on the 9th and got to the holding yard later in the afternoon on Thursday. The GP guy was in a bit of a hurry since we were a tad late. I kept him updated on our status and we ran into major road construction just inside of Minnesota. He did have the truck running and warmed up for us but he told us he had to jump it to get it running. After a good but hurried once over looking for leaks, proper tire inflation, etc, we drove it out of the yard and stopped at the first rest area we came to. I found a paper copy of the PMCS in the truck. I had one on my iPad but it was nice to have the paper copy as well. At the rest stop we gave it a good slow going over. I left the truck running and ensured the charging system was working while we did the checks. I found no serious visual problems so we took off down the road. I did notice that the gas gauge was off a bit. It wouldn't go all the way to full when I filled it up. Oh, a quick story back up, I did notice in the GP holding yard that the tires had small checks on the sidewall and around some of the lugs. I had driven rigs with more checking than these had but the tires were smaller. I figured if I drove slower, say 50mph, I would be okay. I was wrong, go figure.
I stopped after the first 50 miles to check tire and hubs temperatures. No problems with heat build up, initially. After that I stopped every 100 miles to check temps. After around 400ish miles we stopped at another rest stop for a quick power nap. We had been switching off driving on the way to pick the truck up but we hadn't stopped except to get gas, fast food on the go, and bathroom pit stops. So, we figured we both needed a short nap. My shotgun jumped into the chase vehicle, my truck, and took a nap while I gave the truck a good walk around. During this walk around I noticed the first tire problem. The tires were not hot. They were warm but definitely not hot. While doing my walk around I noticed black tread marks all around the passenger rear wheel-well. One of the rear tires had blown while being driven and had been replaced with a newer tire with no checking. I also noticed that the mud flap had been bent back in place. I figured I would look a little closer to see if any other tires were newer. That is when I noticed the front driver steering tire had a large crack and the rubber underneath was poking out a bit. Okay, no problem, I will put the spare on and move along. The truck didn't have any tire tools and didn't expect it would. I jumped in my truck bed and grabbed my.....uh oh....I forgot to put the bottle jacks in the truck. I had no way to change the front tire. That was the first time I kicked myself in the butt.
I made a lot of calls looking for a place that could change my tire for me. I also called around looking for replacement tires. A guy near Bismark, ND had the same tires for sale and there was a commercial truck shop that could replace the tire for me. Good deal, except it was three hours in the Wrong direction. We had left Bismark several hours earlier, headed west. Well, that blew the 3 day trip plan. My shotgun is a contractor and had a bid come through. He had to be back within the next day or lose the job. I was free to take my time so I gave him my truck and told him to head home. I turned the truck around and drove between 30/35mph back to Bismark. The tire lasted with no problems. I was about five miles away from the tire repair shop in Bismark when all of a sudden my truck lost power and the engine quit. I had enough momentum to pull off the end of the bridge I was on and off to the edge of the road. Remember that gas Gauge I referred to earlier? Yep, it didn't quite go all the way to the bottom of the gauge either. I ran out of gas. Well, my phone was almost dead but I had a backup battery. I replaced the battery, locked the truck up, put the chain on the steering wheel (I had a few padlocks with me), and started walking. I got about 50 yards and this lady stopped to pick me up. I wasn't hitching either since I didn't know if it was illegal or not in ND. She said she liked the truck and figured I could use the ride. She took me to get a gas can, waited for me to fill it, and then gave me a ride back. Wow, what a stroke of luck. I put 5 gallons in the tank and then hoped I didn't need to prime the engine. I got lucky, again, and only had to turn the truck over a few times, in short bursts, to get it running again. Off I drove to get the tire replaced. Due to the gas problem I didnt get to the tire place in time. I had to spend the night in the cab again while waiting for the place to open the next morning.
The next morning I was first in line at 7:30am. They changed the tire without any problems I was set to roll out and get the replacement tires. Oh, the spare was also a brand spanking new tire so now I had two new tires on the truck. I had them put both of the new tires on the front drive axle. I called the guy who had the replacement tires at 8:30am, 9am, and again at 9:30am. He had told me his business was a 24/7 business and to call him when I was ready to meet him and pick up the four good tires for the truck. I decided to give him some more time and went to have lunch, do a bathroom stop and get ready to roll if I didn't hear from him. I also have the truck another full check to ensure nothing else was going wrong. Everything looked good. Even the checks on the tire sidewalls were not any larger than when I first noticed them. By 10:30am I had to roll. I figured he had a emergency and I was out of luck. I was driving for about 8 hours without any problems (with short stops to check tires and hubs). I was about 10 miles from Glendive, MT when I heard a not very loud pop, looked out my side mirrors and saw the whole outer tread of the rear tire fly beat the crap out of the truck then fly off in one big long strip.
Fortunately, I had roadside assistance and called in a tow truck. They didn't really know what to look for in towing the 6x6. I told them about the instructions for towing on the dash and put the transfer and transmission in neutral. They didn't think that was good enough so they disconnected the transfer case driveshaft from the rear axle and the front axle. About 6 miles down the road, a large round object flew off from the truck, across the highway and off into a gorge area full of brush and trees. the chase truck saw it come off but didn't mark the location and didn't tell anyone until we got back to the wrecking yard. They had radios...
What flew off was the dampener that goes between the drive shaft and rear pinion shaft. It is quite heavy. They are lucky it didn't hit any cars going the opposite direction. We tried to find it and had no luck. There was a long stretch of area that Might be where it came off. That all happened on Friday evening. Oh, and the tow truck driver tried to push the 6x6 with his head and got a very large and bloody gash for his efforts. I told him he shouldn't use his head for that. I spent the weekend asking questions on SS, looking online for possible tire locations, writing down all the local (3 of them) tire shops, and checking on how much it would cost to ship tires to Glendive. As of Monday morning around 10am I had gone through everything I had with no luck. Every tire was at least 5 days out on shipping and there was nothing in town. I then got a call from Greg, a shipping broker I believe, and he asked if I still needed to have my truck shipped. I had left messages with him over the weekend. My response was, "who do I pay and when can they get here?". 3 Hours later I was loaded up and heading home. That took two days. The trucker let me ride with him and took good care of me. I was a tad under the weather by then. On the seventh day after I left home to pick up my truck I returned triumphant and a more than a bit worn/tired.
THAT, is my story and I am sticking to it! I hope others can read this and learn from my experience. Don't forget your bottle jacks. Small sidewall checks turn into big checks with the large tires regardless of heat build up. When they blow, they go big. It caused some damage to the underside of the truck and one of the brake lines. The weight of the outer tread pulls on the sidewall and going 50+ adds tremendous stresses to the tire even when in good shape. On a short trip you might get lucky with a few sidewall checks. I made it quite a few hundred miles before problems started arising. If I do purchase another truck, I will have it shipped, OR, I will have 7 replacement tires (one spare) with me. I will more than likely just have it shipped.
Mechanically, it ran excellent! I am really very happy with the truck. The pictures the GP guys took were good and the inspection was accurate, for the most part, where it mattered. I only found a few surprises after my 7 day trip and they are all pretty minor. I will post some pics of my journey in a following post.
