Den and I set off for Fort Smith Arkansas to pick up the 1970 M818 we had just purchased on-line. The seller said it was in great condition and could most certainly be driven back to our home in Maryland, 1,200 miles away. We arrived by air and met up with our new truck for the first time at the airport at Fort Smith, Arkansas. We went over it closely, everything looked to be in order, with the exception of a burned out rear turn signal light, we simply canibalized one from the front convoy light. We were told the fluids had been checked, and the filters replaced. In fact, the seller had driven it to the airport from his home about 150 miles away in Oklahoma. He also said the truck had been recently shipped from Kuwait.
We set off for home about 5PM and away we went down highway 40 East. We filled the fuel tanks up about 120 miles later, just north of Little Rock, did a walk around, and found the front tires to be very hot. Just 50 miles short of Memphis we heard a bang from the right side of the truck, the front tire had thrown some of its tread so we took the next exit into town. Stopping for dinner at the Waffle House we then replace the tire with the spare, a tire that certainly had seen better days. Fortunately one of the locals gave us some blocks for otherwise we would have been unable to jack the truck high enough to change the tire, The police came by to see what was happening and told us the closest truck stop was about eight miles behind us. We checked into a local hotel since it was already around midnight.
We awoke for our second day of travel and decided we had better check the tire pressure and drove to the truck stop where we found all the tires to be very low on air, they were just 38 pounds, we filled them up to the rated 85 pounds. Clearly the seller had not checked everything out before giving us the vehicle. Off we went but after only about 15 miles, the spare tire that we had mounted the night before threw part of its tread and we were forced to stop at the next exit. We knew the drill this time.
We called the truck stop where we had filled the tires and they sent a crew with four new tires, all they had to fit this vehicle. We were not going to take any chances, replacing both front tires, the spare tire, and also
tying an additional tire on ther rear of the vehicle, all this being done at the side of the road. What we found once we resumed our trip was that the ride was noticeably smoother.
Driving through Memphis and central Tennessee, the weather was superb, in the high 70s to low 80s. Den is a pilot and we set up an intercom system with headphones for both of us so we could ride with the windows down, we even had an ipod connection for music when we wanted. Life was good.
That night, towards Knoxville, we noticed that a vibration had developed around the 53 mph max speed. If we drove around 50 the vibration was reduced. Clearly something had gone wrong with one of the new tires. Stopping for the evening at a motel East of Knoxville, we decided to head to the next truck stop to check the tires once more.
The shop took us right in, and we swapped the spare with the right front tire, seems as though a belt might have slipped in it, the vibration went away as we headed back out to the highway with an uneventful drive home to Frederick. I will have to say we got lots of waves and smiles from people passing us, everyone kept a respectful distance. The weather was beautiful the entire trip. Fortunately it didnt rain, since there were some gaps around the windshield weather stripping, we would have been two very wet people had it rained.
Other than the tires, we had a great trip, the engine and shifting were strong, the truck had no fluid leaks, kept air pressure, and oil pressure was excellent. I suppose driving the truck so far was a challenge to us, but with this shakedown ride over, we look forward to many years using the M818 to pull some of our other military vehicles to public events for show, as well as WWII reenactments we participate in.
We are very proud to be owners of this superb truck and to now be members of Steel Soldiers.
p.s. well, there was one other problem, my personal truck had a flat tire when I got home. Well, just one more tire to change, we were used to it by then.
We set off for home about 5PM and away we went down highway 40 East. We filled the fuel tanks up about 120 miles later, just north of Little Rock, did a walk around, and found the front tires to be very hot. Just 50 miles short of Memphis we heard a bang from the right side of the truck, the front tire had thrown some of its tread so we took the next exit into town. Stopping for dinner at the Waffle House we then replace the tire with the spare, a tire that certainly had seen better days. Fortunately one of the locals gave us some blocks for otherwise we would have been unable to jack the truck high enough to change the tire, The police came by to see what was happening and told us the closest truck stop was about eight miles behind us. We checked into a local hotel since it was already around midnight.
We awoke for our second day of travel and decided we had better check the tire pressure and drove to the truck stop where we found all the tires to be very low on air, they were just 38 pounds, we filled them up to the rated 85 pounds. Clearly the seller had not checked everything out before giving us the vehicle. Off we went but after only about 15 miles, the spare tire that we had mounted the night before threw part of its tread and we were forced to stop at the next exit. We knew the drill this time.
We called the truck stop where we had filled the tires and they sent a crew with four new tires, all they had to fit this vehicle. We were not going to take any chances, replacing both front tires, the spare tire, and also
tying an additional tire on ther rear of the vehicle, all this being done at the side of the road. What we found once we resumed our trip was that the ride was noticeably smoother.
Driving through Memphis and central Tennessee, the weather was superb, in the high 70s to low 80s. Den is a pilot and we set up an intercom system with headphones for both of us so we could ride with the windows down, we even had an ipod connection for music when we wanted. Life was good.
That night, towards Knoxville, we noticed that a vibration had developed around the 53 mph max speed. If we drove around 50 the vibration was reduced. Clearly something had gone wrong with one of the new tires. Stopping for the evening at a motel East of Knoxville, we decided to head to the next truck stop to check the tires once more.
The shop took us right in, and we swapped the spare with the right front tire, seems as though a belt might have slipped in it, the vibration went away as we headed back out to the highway with an uneventful drive home to Frederick. I will have to say we got lots of waves and smiles from people passing us, everyone kept a respectful distance. The weather was beautiful the entire trip. Fortunately it didnt rain, since there were some gaps around the windshield weather stripping, we would have been two very wet people had it rained.
Other than the tires, we had a great trip, the engine and shifting were strong, the truck had no fluid leaks, kept air pressure, and oil pressure was excellent. I suppose driving the truck so far was a challenge to us, but with this shakedown ride over, we look forward to many years using the M818 to pull some of our other military vehicles to public events for show, as well as WWII reenactments we participate in.
We are very proud to be owners of this superb truck and to now be members of Steel Soldiers.
p.s. well, there was one other problem, my personal truck had a flat tire when I got home. Well, just one more tire to change, we were used to it by then.
