• Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!

  • Microsoft MSN, Live, Hotmail, Outlook email users may not be receiving emails. We are working to resolve this issue. Please add support@steelsoldiers.com to your trusted contacts.

M-817 recovered from California

jollyroger

Member
647
5
18
Location
Centennial, Colorado
So after 4 days and 2700 mile round trip we finally got the M-817 back to the farm. It was a running condition unknown truck so we were facing driving it or spending the $3600 to have it hauled. I did a bunch of research on SS before we left about the differences between the 2.5 tons and the 5 tons. Thank you all for the wealth of information I found on the SS site. I bought two D-8 batteries before we left as I was hesitant to spend $560 for 4 6TL's. Annyhoodle the towing company, Reeve Trucking, thought the truck was a fugitive from the junk yard and there would be no way we would want to drive it home even if we could get it running. The canvas top was ripped but I scanned the pictures pretty thouroughly before and after I bought it to assess the damage or needs for repair. It really came down to putting in batteries, trying to start it and checking fluids. We put in the batteries and nothing happened. We got some systems to power up but it was not going well. We drove straigh through to Stockton from Denver and were immediately working on the truck. The sneering from the towing company made firing the truck up an issue of pride. I need some fluids so we decided to go to Wal-Mart so we could get supplies and slow down and think. Oh, and we need some breakfast cause a fat kids gotta eat. We got the stuff and back to the yard we went. I dove in with the test light and dad started looking the systems over from the battery side. We were about to try and jump straight from the batteries to the starter just to assess the motor when Dad found we had wired the D-8 as 12 volt instaed of 24. This came about as we went from 4 6TL's to two D-8's and missed the need for a jumper between the two batteries. And we were pretty wipped out from the drive. I double checked with the volt meter and sure enough 12 V. We rewired the batteries for 24 and all the systems came to life in the cab. I hit the start switch and the truck immediately came to life. You should have seen all the guys at the towing company come out of the shop and the office when the ol' 250 Cummins sat there idling like it was brand new. Of course I had to hit the horn a few times like a proud popa with his new Baby Huey. We let the air build up, pumped up the tires, checked the fluids, checked the brakes, taped up the top, checked the dump to make sure it worked and I eased it over in front of the offices. I went inside to wash my hands and everyone was patting me on the back and saying good luck on your trip. So we left Stockton to head down to Lucerne Valley to see 100dollarman about a trailer he picked up for me and some other parts I was interested in. We made it to Barstow late that evening. The next moring we headed out for Hundy's. We got the trailer he picked up for me and a hard top he scrounged up for the dump truck and some other stuff he was nice enough to sell me. We headed out of his place and made it to St.George Utah where we stayed for the night. We were 650 miles from home so we got an early start, 0500, and eased on down the road. We made it home at 2015 hrs. Other than being a tedious trip the truck worked flawlessly. The truck also earned a name for itself. It is Private Gump. Private Forrest Gump.
 

Attachments

jollyroger

Member
647
5
18
Location
Centennial, Colorado
Paragraphs please.
What? You don't like my run on sentence post? I know I don't get a good grade for spelling, punctuation or format but.......I included pictures and video......Next time I will just post the pics. That's what everyone, including me, want's to see anyway. Kind of like a nudie mag only it's of OD and Iron. :beer:
 

jollyroger

Member
647
5
18
Location
Centennial, Colorado
Cool! Glad you had a good recovery trip. I think you're the only one in the Club with a dump. Be sure and bring it by for the next meeting.:beer:
Thank you. I am suprised that I would have the only dumper in the club as there are a bunch of different vehicles. I am workin' on the paperwork, I really need to put on the hard top and I got an axle seal that leaked a little on the way home. I would have it ready for the 7th but I think I will be in PA getting my tractor. That trip should wrap up my long distance purchases......For now anyway.:grin:

And I am happy to oblige with updating my signature thank you very much for reminding me velociT.

BTW did you get one of the two M-35's out of Ft. Carson?
 
Last edited:

jollyroger

Member
647
5
18
Location
Centennial, Colorado
Congrats on the new truck. Those two looked like nice trucks. At least you should have a runner again. Too bad about the motor deal but that's the way it goes I guess. I can't wait to see your new truck. :-D
 

waayfast

Active member
814
106
43
Location
Lake Fork,Idaho
Great recovery story and nice truck!Going a long ways to pick up an unknown truck that has been stting a few years and getting it home sure makes for an adventure.Like you said--it gives one GREAT satisfaction to prove the naysayers wrong(your towing company).I would send the tow company a video showing your completion of the "impossible" trip in the "impossible truck" LOL!!

Cool video over Vail summit! I'm thinking that has got to be the highest elevation of any summit on an Interstate highway am I correct?
 

jollyroger

Member
647
5
18
Location
Centennial, Colorado
Great recovery story and nice truck!Going a long ways to pick up an unknown truck that has been stting a few years and getting it home sure makes for an adventure.Like you said--it gives one GREAT satisfaction to prove the naysayers wrong(your towing company).I would send the tow company a video showing your completion of the "impossible" trip in the "impossible truck" LOL!!

Cool video over Vail summit! I'm thinking that has got to be the highest elevation of any summit on an Interstate highway am I correct?
Not correct. I don't know what the highest summit is on an Interstate highway would be. Good question and I will research that......I just researched it and the highest summit on I-70 through Colorado is 11, 158 feet and that is at the Eisenhower tunnel. This is also the highest point on the Interstae highway system. We also climbed to the tunnel on this trip and I have video but they took it from the chase truck. Not quite as exciting. I have not sent anything to the tow company. Maybe it's time to ring that bell. ;)
 

saddamsnightmare

Well-known member
3,618
80
48
Location
Abilene, Texas
April 29th, 2010.

Jolly Roger:

I'd guess your truck has a turbo'ed diesel, but you sure did a nice impression of laying a smoke screen at 10,000+ feet! How did the truck do at that elevation? I have a normally aspirated multifuel in Saddam's Nightmare, and I may have to attempt one of the Rockies passes with the truck loaded and towing an M105A2..... It will also be interesting to see what a carburetted MB M180 80HP gas engine does in the Unimog going over those passes, I suspect there will have to be a jet change on both sides of the rockies with that one.[thumbzup]

Glad to see you and the truck made it home in one piece, and to borrow a Klingon proverb re the towing company guys: "Crow is a meal best eaten cold!";-)
 

jollyroger

Member
647
5
18
Location
Centennial, Colorado
The 5 ton is non turbo. It did real well in California where there is air. It was a 25 mph truck up the steep stuff here. There is a big split between third and fourth. It just could not pull fourth. I had the M-105 on it but honestly the truck did not notice.

On the other hand My deuce with the c-turbo mutifuel is a 25 mph truck on the steep stuff. Third gear is about all it wants to do on the Interstate passes. Some of the US highways with all the switchbacks it is less than that because one cannot maintain momentum. So it depends on the route you take. If you want some advice about your route let me know. I have not taken my deuce with the trailer over the big hills so I don't know what kind of effect that will have. I would assume if it is loaded pretty well it will slow you down a bit. I can feel my M-105 on hills here in Denver so up in the mountains it will most likely have an effect. I have heard, I could be wrong, that the turbo does not help the power of the mutifuel. I would think that at sea level this is true. At 11,000 feet it has to help somewhat. As for a jet change on the Mog. I don't know that I would bother. You are on the hill for about as long as it takes to have a cup of coffee. It will go rich but on the climb it's not such a bad thing. Especially if you are loaded. My only real question is on the decent. If the exhaust gets too loaded up it can backfire in the exhaust. This is a question better suited for the Mog/Pinz guys. Hope that helps.
 
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website like our supporting vendors. Their ads help keep Steel Soldiers going. Please consider disabling your ad blockers for the site. Thanks!

I've Disabled AdBlock
No Thanks