Ft. Riley recoveries this week, 9/7 9/8 and 9/9

[91W350]

The old deuce and I have been making smoke this week, burning up the Interstate between Salina and Riley, Old US 40 too...

Tuesday the 7th, I took my Labor Day Holiday to go help recover an A3 with Steve from Florida. That truck fired right up, fluids looked great, I thought anybody could have easily recovered that one. Turns out the sweet looking truck had transmission issues.

I drove my 1968 M35A2 W/W over to do that recovery. It was nice to meet the Florida boys... I never knew you could stuff a 14.00 and wheel in behind the seats of a little Jeep before. They showed up with a full sized A3 spare and wheel inside that Jeep. It was not the easiest thing to get out! Glen

 

[4x4 Forever]

Dang Glen, you are busy! Glad the trip went good!

And, regarding the spare tire in the back of the jeep, the obligatory smiley request:

 

[91W350]

Dang Glen, you are busy! Glad the trip went good!

And, regarding the spare tire in the back of the jeep, the obligatory smiley request:

I for sure regret not getting a photo of that!

We also picked up two M820s Tuesday....

 

[RealCavDog]

Hey Glen, if you are going to be at Ft. Riley in the next week or so, I could really use some help bird dogging a truck up there for me ! Start, run, fluids, will it be good to go for a run to Joplin, Mo. ?

Plan on a friend with my pickup driving up with me and following me back, and any heads up info would be great !

Thanks, Jay

 

[91W350]

Between Tuesday and Thursday, I got my 71 M35A2 W/W rolling and made its maiden highway voyage to assist loading four deuces.

The trucking company was originally going to be there at 0800. Then they decided they would be there by 1100. I rolled in at 1000 and waited until after 1200 for the first truck to arrive. I did get two of the four running and parked at the end of the loading dock before the first truck arrived. The winch truck fired right up and sounded great, it had good brakes, D turbo, good strong healthy sounding engine, full of coolant and oil. The second truck fired right up, it was also healthy sounding, full of coolant and oil, but had no brakes. I stuck it in low gear and headed for the back of the winch truck, I found it! Not very hard though. It either blew a gasket on a secondary filter or more likely the return hose to the tank. At any rate, high on the left side of the engine, we had a serious fuel leak! Chained the two together and when the truck showed up.... we loaded! The winch truck pulling the dead brakeless truck.

I had never climbed the step in a drop deck trailer, but with a couple of 4x4s, it climbed right up there with the second deuce in tow!

 

[RealCavDog]

Some pretty good pictures there ! Always like loading out with all the furniture and junk around me at Riley ! Last time up we could barely get out with the trailer because they stacked a few new lots right at the front gate after we went back, then the driver went to lunch !

The Green W/W looks like the one I was eyeballing a while back !

 

[91W350]

That driver was great to work with! He jumped right in and helped wherever he could. He drove the second deuce while Robert from GL directed me to the center of the trailer. He was loaded and out of the lot by 1330.

Unfortunately, the other driver was coming from Topeka and decided rather than stop at Riley, he would go past Junction City to the Sapp Brothers and take an hour break, then a shower, then eat lunch. He would not answer his dispatcher's phone calls or the other driver's phone calls. At about 1348, he called me and said there was no hurry loading those trucks, he would be over in 45 minutes to two hours at the maximum. The back lot at Riley locks up at 1430. I told him we would have to try again in the morning.

Between truck owner, myself and the dispatcher, we decided to try for 0730. Riley does not normally grant Friday load outs. I managed to get them to let us back in. It was to be done as soon as the gates opened.

Somebody lit a fire under pokey driver, he was there when I got there at 0728 this morning. We had another M820 to pickup and John came over in the wrecker, while I brought my deuce again and a tow bar. I was getting them out of the gate, whether the trucking company was here or not. I planned to make two trips if necessary, leaving one outside until I could come back for it.

 

[91W350]

I had fired up the second winch truck yesterday. It was full of oil, nice and clean oil. The radiator was down below the neck. I did not want to let it run long because I did not know how much coolant was in it. I could see that the bottom of the neck was still moist and there has been a leak at the rear of the water manifold.

Today I poured in a half gallon of water and a half gallon of antifeeze and it was very close to full. I fired it up and waited for air pressure. This truck has a great sounding engine and good solid brakes. The fourth deuce was a wrecked deuce. The engine looks new and there are a lot of rebuild tags, I think he got a bargain parts truck. I could not fire it though as it had no fuel. The accident pushed the running board back into the fuel tank, splitting it at the seam. It had drained itself dry, making a nice stain where it had been parked.

Driver number 2 was no help. I told him to back up to the dock, he did and asked if that was okay, then he got back in his cab and read the newspaper.

I had the winch truck running in short order and backed up to the dead deuce, another truck with no brakes.... While the hauler was reading his paper, John came down and drove the wrecked deuce while Robert guided me on. The hauler did not get out of his cab until the front tires of the deuce were up on the upper deck. What a worm!

John had hooked onto the M820 and had it ready to roll. I stopped to remind Mr Excitement that he needed to duct tape the exhaust pipes on those two deuces at the owner's request. Good thing I had returned, he was going to boom those deuces down over the drive shafts. I am not one to tell a man how to load his truck, but I did tell him that was not going to work. I gave him a couple of options and John and I headed home.

 

[91W350]

Hey Glen, if you are going to be at Ft. Riley in the next week or so, I could really use some help bird dogging a truck up there for me ! Start, run, fluids, will it be good to go for a run to Joplin, Mo. ?

Plan on a friend with my pickup driving up with me and following me back, and any heads up info would be great !

Thanks, Jay

Always glad to do previews, we plan to be there again Monday for another M820 if I can get off. Shoot me a message with the numbers and I will check it out.

We rolled west on 70, south on 77 and west on Old 40. I ran right at 45, john tells me I was running 50. Guess I have a speedy deuce!

We stopped at the Shamrock Cafe in Chapman and ate a late breakfast, then rolled on into Salina. It is always good to see the Iron Mound, you feel like you are home again....not sure how good my photos of it are though....

This M820 looks complete, but the engine will not turn over and there is something broken between the crank and transmission. The shaft from the transfer case was turning, but not driving through to the clutch. The transmission tunnel was open, so I got a good look when John was dragging me around the yard.

 

[91W350]

Some pretty good pictures there ! Always like loading out with all the furniture and junk around me at Riley ! Last time up we could barely get out with the trailer because they stacked a few new lots right at the front gate after we went back, then the driver went to lunch !

The Green W/W looks like the one I was eyeballing a while back !

I bought that green W/W and the sand W/W the same day these four sold. You should have hit me harder on that green one, it is a nice truck. Needs an axle seal and I had to put in an alternator. It still has something funky on the winch PTO shifter adjustment, but I will get it there. It runs really smoothly and quietly. That sand one makes lots of noise and has a loud and rude exhaust note. It also has much more power than this green one. I round tripped today on 10.6 gallons though, that is excellent! It did quite a but of idling and it ran 128 miles between filling.... 12.07 is outstanding. I filled at different pumps though, so some may be in the angle of the tank.

I see my first couple of shots at the Iron Mound did not get the hill at all! It is hard to drive, aim the camera and get part of the truck in the photos... Glen

 

[91W350]

Duhhhh... I just realized it should read the 6th, 8th and 9th..... If I knew how to edit the title, I would.....

 

[91W350]

Well.... It is back to work at the regular job today, play time is over for a few days. I wish I was headed for Riley again. Glen