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Good advice Techno. Thanks.

Nope! Mine's parked safely across the street. Haven't moved it since I got home. I needed a break.

Thanks Nomadic. The transfer case was swapped out last Friday. I flew back to Butte Friday night and set out again Saturday morning. On my first walk around I noticed the air cylinder on the rebuilt case has a leak. At the forward end, around where the "end cap" bolts to the cylinder, not at...

TechnoWeenie- I do feel like there were some avoidable issues. I just had to accept it was a risky endeavor going into it and hope for the best! Fasttruck- Thanks for the tip on the solenoid. Didn't know there was a "bypass" screw, of sorts. I'll keep that in mind in case the solenoid...

Thanks NDT. That's the reassurance I needed. Proper lube and "mechanical sympathy" is what it'll get from me. I do appreciate "low range 5th" to fill in the hole between 3rd and 4th in the mountains. I had to take off in low 2-5, then go to high 4 just to avoid having to use two hands at...

It is about 4,000 miles. 1,000 from Philadelphia to Florida, then 3,000 from Florida to Seattle. It only showed 28,000 miles and 900 hours on the gauge so I expected a lot of seal leaks and things, maybe a starter, but I was surprised by the transfer case going out. I suppose it was a rough...

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...