Shark in tow

[aboonski]

Just got back from a very long retrieval in Georgia with Lavarok and the deuce we picked up turned out to be the "tow vehicle" during our trip back to Florida. I'll let Lavarok tell the story! Just one of the photos for now. Thank God for the medium towbar and a great running deuce too!

 

[EO2NMCB]

Nice looking deuce, so what happen to the m1010 along the way?

 

[aboonski]

Something with the fuel system - either bad diesel or blockage of some sort in the fuel system. Lavarok should be posting something about the truck shortly.

 

[lavarok]

Nice looking deuce, so what happen to the m1010 along the way?

Thanks, the deuce is REAL nice. 11.00 Michelins all the way around, d turbo, and runs like a champ. The big box was a drag...literally! My MPG was pitiful, probably around 5-6 if that. The box is going to come off and become a shed.

As for the m1010, that is a long story! First about 2 hours into the trip home, Aboonski successfully navigated a front driver side tire blow out. I had my laptop, so I found us a WM supercenter with a lube and tire shop and had 4 new tires put on. The tire code on the old tires was "305", so most likely made the 30th week of 1995. Yea - I know...stupid move for not checking the date codes. That wont happen again. Aboonski has some photos of the blown tire and the ones we had removed. He also has some photos of some local troops in a HMMWV that stopped on the highway to assist us with the blown tire. Of course, they showed up AFTER we were done, but cool nonetheless. This was around Forsythe, GA.

So, we get the tires installed, eat lunch, and hit the road. About 1hr later, south of Macon near Lenox, we stopped for fuel. We put 16 gallons in the m1010 and 10 in the deuce. Hit the road again and 15 minutes later, Aboonski is flashing the lights. Apparently the truck lost power and then died.

We drained and bled the fuel filter and then tried to start her back up. She ran for maybe 1 minute and died again. After messing with it for about 30 minutes and not being able to keep her running, we decided to tow it off the highway. Hooked her up to the deuce and headed for the next exit.

At the next exit, tried to start the m1010 and it ran for 1-2 minutes again and died. We ended up unhooking the drive shaft and towing her the remaining 350+ miles home. We got in at 7am this morning. I haven't had a chance to get back out to look at the m1010 to diagnose further.

Right now, I am leaning towards bad fuel or clogged pickup. However, after reading threads today I'll probably start by connecting a hose and bucket with fresh diesel to the IP to verify the IP is ok. At least this way, I wont drain the tank needlessly.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Thou, shalt not travel without thy medium towbar!

 

[lavarok]

thou, shalt not travel without thy medium towbar!

amen!!

 

[EO2NMCB]

Glad you all made it back safe and sound!

 

[aboonski]

More photos.....

 

[lavarok]

After looking at these photos again, I am REALLY glad my "shark" is still in one piece! Good driving Alan!

 

[clinto]

Thou, shalt not travel without thy medium towbar!

You only take 1? How do you know what you might encounter?

 

[aboonski]

The first photo was taken right after I got the Shark under control - when the tire blew the ambulance immediately took a hard right and I went from the far right hand lane across the other three southbound lanes and finally managed to bring the truck to a stop. I got out of the vehicle with my digital camera and took the photo of the tire a few minutes "after I got my thoughts back". Just before the blowout we were in heavy traffic with semi's on both sides of us going 55 miles per hour! Talk about luck! The second photo is Lavarok coming back southbound to bring me the spare that we put into the bed of the retrieval deuce to "lighten the load" in the ambulance before our trip home from Georgia. The third and fourth photo is of the Georgia National Guard H1 that came to check on us. The troops in the vehicle told me their NCOIC had asked them to run by and see what the problem was - really nice people and they were ready to help if we needed it. The picture of the front of the National Guard truck also shows the "tread" of the blown tire still sitting out in the middle of the road (which I would have removed had it not been for the heacy traffic at the time). The fifth photo is Lavarok inside of the Shark after we got off the Interstate - he is locating a place to buy four new tires for the ambulance by computer. The photos of the tire are what all four of the tires looked like on the Shark before the blowout; turns out these were manufactured in 1985! Earlier that morning he and I were admiring the way the US Navy had marked the tires with "USN" in huge letters on the sidewalls. The tires looked to be "new" but a closer look at Walmart Supercenter (where Lavarok bought four new tires) revealed severe dry rot..... The last photo is the Shark getting new rubber before hitting the road again.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Hehe, at this point I only have 1 1/4 towbars. The missing 3/4 of that other bar are at..........your house!

 

[aboonski]

We made a run over to see another M1010 (not a Shark though) in Powder Springs that Lavarok contemplated buying; it's good that we didn't considering having towed the Shark home after it quit running just before hitting the Florida border. The person who has this M1010 also has a very interesting 1941 military bus which I have never seen before. I'll post a photo of it in this thread but will need to know the proper categorie for this in order to post other photos that I took of the bus (I'll wait to see what Kenny recommends). It would be interesting to know if he would ever sell the bus - right now he is using it for "storage" of some only model T parts.

 

[Recovry4x4]

GMC Model AFKX-352.
GMC MODEL AFKX 4X4 TRUCK

 

[clinto]

Holy crap, that guy has an AFKX! Art, you need to tell him to get that thing out of the woods before it rusts away to nothing!

 

[lavarok]

If anyone wants details on the white m1010, pm me. I'll send you the guys number and some more photos. It is a solid truck with around 5500 miles. $2200 is all he is asking. If he doesn't get a buyer soon, its going on Ebay.

 

[aboonski]

KENNY!!!!! Thanks for the link to the info about the bus! I think it can be restored very easily but the original motor has been replaced with a small block chevy. If you decide to buy the bus Kenny, let me know and I'll go with you for the retrieval. Alan

 

[lavarok]

Here is a photo with the full DOT number on the old tires. Pre 2000 used a 3 digit code with XXY, where XX = week and Y = year. The tire guy mentioned 1985, but given the way they looked I think its more likely they were from 1995.

 

[lavarok]

Turns out the check valve in the return line on the top of the IP was bad.
I removed the check valve and tried cleaning it. No luck. I ended up punching the glass out of the center, reinstalled, and she fired right up. Its been running since...almost 2 hours now.

Now to find a source for new check valves! Here are some photos of the part and its location. These photos are from my parts engine since the photos were taken after I fixed the M1010.

 

[aboonski]

This is a page from my 1984-87 CUCV Parts & Illustration Catolog which shows the fuel pump and replacement parts but does not provide a part number for the check valve itself. It looks as though the check valve comes with the fuel pump but I am sure there's a replacement part number somewhere. I'll bet Kenny knows where to buy one though....