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That's the first thing that popped into my head, Simp. And NDT, I also think that's very good advice. I actually found a fab shop willing to extend the drive shaft but I would have to pull the transfer case out, outside in the gravel, by myself, borrow tools etc, so I decided against it in the...

Thank you guys. I messaged Jarheadmtn to see if he has any "lines" on a xfer case in Montana. I haven't heard back from Eastern yet, but it's probably only been a few hours since they got my email. I'm looking for a good heavy truck shop in town right now. I can drive in low range to get...

I'm stuck in a parking lot, using my cell to get online, but I'll try to check back as often as I can! Argghhh.

Well, I'll cut to the chase. I left Florida, made it as far as Butte, Montana and the transfer case went out. It jumps out of high range under load (accelerating or engine braking) I've adjusted the linkage to make sure it has full travel. It takes the strength of 10 men to hold the lever...

I'm offshore with a very slow internet connection and can't post pictures but at some point, I will. Part 3. Yep. That's coolant. Luckily the leak was just a crack in the hose near the clamp so I was able to cut away some hose, push it further onto the radiator and re-clamp it. Seems...

Part 2. Confident that the engine would no longer spontaneously shut down, we squeezed through the tight neighborhoods until we got to an intersection wide enough for me to make the turn and headed back onto the interstate. After working up through the gears to overdrive, running at 2100 rpm...

The following is what it feels like to buy a 47 year old, 20,000 lb plus truck (sight unseen) and drive it about 1,000 miles with no tools, the mechanical gremlins we faced and how we overcame them. It's a lot, so I'll be writing and posting in installments. We flew up to Philly on Sunday...

Copy that. Thanks. I'll drain and refill the diffs before I head for Seattle. I don't have an infrared thermometer (yet) but they had to be a lot hotter than 120, with no load whatsoever. I'll be doing some seals and checking bearings anyway, but I won't get too excited about any oil coolers.

Thank you Sim. My Dad had mentioned a similar setup to chain up an axle in case I burned up a diff. They ran a little hotter than I liked at 2100 rpm in overdrive. You ever thought about running oil coolers in yours? I already had to put the spare on and ended up buying a new 20 ton...

Thanks Madjack. I initially wanted the 14x20s then I decided on the 395's due to the availability. I like them and they're definitely big in person. Oldmoose, I'm only 5' 6" and I even felt a bit tight in there between the steering wheel, but the ride was no where near as bad as I was...

Thank you Sim. I will. I checked it at every stop and kept an eye on it down the road, but it'd be nice to have one less thing to watch. I'll have to actively resist the urge to ask you a million questions before my Florida/Seattle trip. You have a great setup.

Eastern Philly to Florida leg complete! Somewhere between 900 and 1,000 miles. Lot's to say, lot's to share (and a few photos) but I just got out of the truck a few hours ago and I need to rest a bit and gather my thoughts and I'll try to write something (hopefully) entertaining and...

Love at first sight! Eastern sent me some photos. They've gone through the truck, taken a test drive and all seems well. They mounted the fifth wheel (securely enough for travel, not use) after they removed the van body. I really like the looks of the 395/85s, size wise. Hopefully...

Thanks JC. I've been hearing that from enough people that I'm shopping around for a set already. One of the guys I'm working with now has driven a brush truck built on a 5 ton chassis and he said even with that big tank of water on the back it feels like a truck with the axles welded straight...

Ducks are lining up in a neat row. I bought my plane tickets for me and my dad to fly into Philly on July 8th. I confirmed with Eastern that the truck will be ready and on Monday, July 9th the adventure will begin. I'll post trip updates, lessons learned, etc. I'm at sea now so not able...

Just to streamline things for others (there's a lot of info AND confusion about 5 ton sprag clutches), yes, cutting off the air to the transfer case puts the sprag setup in neutral and combined with desplined hubs will give a "free wheeling" (not turning) front axle assembly. I'm considering...

Thank you Porky. I will do that right now.

From what I can gather, it looks like you can install a valve and shutoff the air supply to the transfer case (by shutting it off before the main gearbox) and that will put a (working) sprag setup into a spring loaded neutral. So it seems like desplined hubs and no air to the trans would...

Thanks guys. 98, I appreciate the input from someone who's put some time in the saddle. I went with the taller tires for the "gearing" but it sounds like they might end up being my "suspension" too. Teletech, between what you and 98 have said, it sounds like I might need to find...

Thanks Wedge. I figured those spring packs wouldn't be moving a whole lot with almost no weight on them way back there. I'll try going as low as I can get away with and go from there. My cousin (the truck driver) runs to California about every week on I-10 and the joints beat em up, so he...