I completed the recovery of my M35A3 from Sparta, but not without incident! Mike with GL at Sparta was extremely helpful. With Mike's help, the A3 started without having to be slaved, but just barely. Ether did the trick. I checked the fluids, and all were topped off. The oil and coolant were obvously new and clear, but the brake fluid was discolored and brownish - something to change in the near future. No problems with brakes or lights. Everything worked, including the CTIS. It was good that the CTIS worked because it immediately pumped up the low tires. The Interstate U6TLs in the A3 are obviously in good shape having started the engine after having sat in extremely cold weather for a couple of months prior to the recovery. There are absolutely no leaks anywhere that I have seen on the A3.
I started off from Fort McCoy at 11:30 AM on Monday January 3. The total trip was 1076 miles, start to finish. The first 700 miles went without incident, except for the extreme cold in the cab. The heater and defroster put out a lot of heat with good air flow. However, unless you put your hands right in front of the vent, you didn't feel much heat in the cab. It would have been much worse without the heater, however. After about 700 miles, the excitement started. I was driving down I-75 in Kentucky. Just before Exit 90 in Richmond, Kentucky, the front rear tire on the passenger side exploded. I was driving at exactly 45 mph, the speed I tried to maintain during the entire trip. When the tire blew, I lost control of the truck. The truck immediately dropped on the right side. For some reason this caused the truck to veer to the left, almost hitting a semi. I then zig zagged down the expressway back and forth over both lanes until I got it slowed down and shot for the exit. There was a lot of crashing noise coming from the blown tire and the back right side of the truck was hopping up and down. I pulled into a Shell station on the corner and shut it down. This all happened at 0430 in the morning. I had been stopped for about 5 minutes, when the tire then suddenly caught on fire. Mind you, this burning tire was the one next to the fuel tank and flames were all over the tank. Not having a fire extinguisher, I ran to the Waffle House about 250 feet away and they called the Richmond Fire Dept. They arrived within 5 minutes since the fire station was just up the road and were able to extinguish the fire, although it kept flaring back up every minute or so, even as they put water on it. Fortunatley, there was no damage to the truck, although it is hard to believe based on the amount of flames and smoke that was present. There also appears to be no damage to the wheel, but I need to do a closer inspection.
I called S&S tire service and they dispatched a truck to help me change the wheel for the spare. The whole operation took 3 hours in the freezing cold due to lack of an impact wrench strong enough to remove the lug nuts. They ended up using a 3-foot long 1-inch impact wrench. The two lug nugs securing the spare had to be broken loose with a five-foot torque wrench. There was no way possible for me to do this work with the normal tools I had with me. Unfortunately, one of the guys from S&S stripped out one of the brass fittings on the CTIS for the damaged wheel and now I need to find a replacement. I also need to find a replacement tire for the A3. Interestingly, the spare tire that came mounted on the A3 still had the paper sticker attached to the tread as the tire had obviously never been on the road. The manufacturing date on the tire was 05/88. Since the A3 was manufactured in 1993, it was obvious that a 5 year old tire was used on the truck straight from AM General. I haven't verified the manufacturing dates for the other tires.
S&S Tires sells Michelin tires for trucks. One of the guys helping me made the comment that he had seen other Michelin tires of that type self destruct, just like mine did. He also said that the tire was only legal to be used on the highway in the U.S., Canada and Australia. I have no idea if he knew what he was talking about. Before departing Fort McCoy, I inspected all of the tires. They all looked like brand new tires, with no obvious damage. The CTIS pumped them all up to 45 PSI, and I confirmed this pressure with a tire gauge.
The entire trip took 32 hours from Fort McCoy to my house in Hiawassee, Georgia. Subtracting three hours for the tire fiasco, I drove straight through for 29 hours. I tried to maintain 45 MPH and at no time exceeded that speed. However, due to the very poor road conditions with ice and snow, I was often going as slow as 25 MPH, hence the long drive time. Due to a bridge closure, I also had one significant detour.
If I had it to do over again, I can't think of anything I would do differently. I believe I was well prepared and the truck appeared to be in excellent condition. I was travelling alone, and that presented difficulties, but it is difficult to find anyone willing to drive a Deuce over 1,000 miles continuously without paying them.
Having driven an A2 in the Army years ago and having put close to 2,000 miles on my current A2, I have now garnered enough experience in both the A2 and A3 for a comparison, at least for highway driving. Offroad comparisons will have to wait. Here is a synopsis of my thougts on the two trucks.
1. A2 is a much better looking truck from the front than the A3, although the A3 does look good. It is not an ugly truck like some have indicated. The problem with the A3 looks includes the fender mounted headlights and the atrocious riveted hood.
2. The A3 does not have a step to assist in climbing up to service the engine.
3. The A3 seat is MUCH better than the hard plywood seat in my A2.
4. The tires on the A3 cause it to have a somewhat bouncy feel as you drive. The NDTs on the A2 feel more stable to me, expecially on curvy roads. The tires on the A3 did well on the ice and snow, but so do the NDTs on my A2.
5. Although I did not have any problems with the Allison automatic transmission in the A3, which performed flawlessly, I always seemed to be prepared for a failed shift. I inherently do not like automatic transmissions. That being said, the Allison transmission made the A3 extremely easy to drive.
6. The power steering in the A3 made it easier to steer, but I didn't like the smaller diameter steering wheel. This may simply be a matter of getting used to the difference.
7. While driving the A3 there is a somewhat squirrelly feel to the front end, but not overly so. In the A2 the front end is dead-on solid. This could be caused by poor alignment of the A3 front end.
8. I have west coast mirrors on the A2, but the mirrors on the A3 are clearly superior from a visibility standpoint and lack of vibration.
9. The engine in both trucks are extremely easy to start and do not use any oil.
10. The highway speed for the A2 is better than the A3. I believe they should have put in an Allison 6-speed transmission in the A3 with overdrive. The A3 accelerates very good and then suddenly you are at a low top speed.
11. The noise level for the A3 inside the cab is significantly lower than for the A2. However, the engine noise from the Cat engine in the A3 is noisier than the multifuel in the A2 while standing next to the truck.
12. The backup lights on the A3 are very helpful, but could be brighter.
13. The brakes on the A3 are significantly better than on the A2. In addition to having more confidence that the brakes would not fail due to the dual master cylinder, it took very little pedal pressure to stop the A3. The brakes on the A3 feel very much like the brakes on my Ford F-150.
14. I have had zero leaks from any source on either the A2 or A3.
I have attached some photos of the truck and the damaged tire.
