Ok well here is the entire update.
We were on our way to Greensborough Md to pick up another M818 that we bought off Gay-Bay. I spoke with the seller prior to leaving and he told me the only thing wrong with the truck was the light plug at the back of the headlight switch was cut and the starter selonoid acted up once in a while. So we made a light bar to flat tow it home and we were on our way down.
We left northern NJ at 4 am and everything was going great. Trucks was running nice and smooth. When all of a sudden 2 hours into our trip the truck jerks hard right and we avoid the gaurd rail by 2-3 feet. We pull over and check things out and everything seems fine. Back underway no noises no pulling to the right. About 5 miles more and I start to smell brake burning. So we pull over again. Smoke is pouring out of the front right wheel and the hub is WAY to hot to touch. so we limp off the high way into a park and ride lot.
Now we get all the tools out that we brought with us (enough to completely tear the entire truck down) including a NEW jack. When we go to jack up the wheel the jack won't lift the truck. Yes it was big enough; a 10 ton bottle jack. At this time the seller calls to see where we are. I explain to him and agrees to come meet us with his personal vehicle.
Now off to the next adventure. He agrees to bring us back to his truck that we bought off of him. About 15 min from where it is located he gets pulled over for tailgating. When the officer asks for his paper work he had nothing on him. No license, registration, or proof of insurance. So the guy gives him is info verbally and the officer runs it. He comes back to the car with "We have a situation here". Oh great we are done. He tells the guy his reg. is expired by 3 months and he is driving on a suspended license. The officer asks if I have a valid license to continue the drive. I do so he writes the guy for tailagating. failur to produce documents, expired reg. and driving on suspended. I drive the rest of the way.
On to where the truck is. We show up and its in the back corner of a juck yard. Really can this get any worse. We go look at it. It is a basket case. One battery, battery box, and cover are missing. The driver side mirror is missing and not only are the lights dissconected at the switch but all wires at the lights are dissconected and the rear lights are smashed. He can't even get it started. Now remember I said "Can this get any worse?" well you guessed it it does. I check the vin on the title and the truck and they are no where close to being the same. So now I am stuck with telling this guy we have now deal and I'm in east bumble f*ck with no way back to my broke down truck. We even offered to pay him to drive us back and he blew us off.
So we start calling car services and after 5 calls finally get one. We are told he will be there in an hour and it will cost $125. well we have no choice so we do it and sit and wait. Now that we are back to our truck 1:30 pm now.
At this point we try to figure out how to fix it by contacting some of the leads Mudstone rellayed from here. No luck. My friend with me has AAA RV plus which will tow an !!!RV!!! not a military truck 100 miles for free. So we call them and the idiot person from AAA said they only tow RVs up to 7,000 lbs. So now im fed up and call about 6-7 towing companys cause I'm just ready to pay for a tow straight up. Finally get a guy that will do it for $500 and his driver will be there in an hr. Well 1 hr 45 min goes by and I call him for and ETA. He proceeds to tell me his driver got called to a rollover in Pa and will be stuck there and won't get to us great back to square one.
5:00pm
We decide to call AAA again because that 7,000 lbs limit sounded like BS. So we get someone else on the phone and she tells us that 7,000lbs is a class C. Class A motor home is from 19,000lbs to 40,000lbs. We tell her that is our weight class and she takes the year and make down. She tells us that a towing company will be in contact to send the right truck. The towing company calls and confirms the year and make. He also asks the tire size and if its front or rear wheel drive. We tell him 16.00R20 and its all wheel drive. He is shocked and we inturupt him telling him the drive shaft is pulled and ready to tow. He says ok and asks if we think he should send a 15ton or 25 ton wrecker. We tell himj 25ton and he says it will be there in an hour.
6:15pm
The wrecker passes the lot on the main road to egt to the entrance he is moving very slow. I'm thinking he is going to see the truck and bail. He later tells us that he called dispatch and asked what he was towing.
Dispatch: You are picking up a class A motor home.
Driver: There is no motor home here just a big military truck.
Dispatch: Does it look like it needs a heavy wrecker?
Driver: Yes
Dispatch: Then thats what you are towing.
Finally he pulls over and asks us if this is what needs towing. We tell him yes. He gets out and says this isn't a motor home its a tractor. We tell him that if he hooks it up and getts it home we will make it worth his while. So after 30 min of figuring out where to lift from and hooking it up we are on our way home.
11:30 pm
Make it back to northern NJ with no problems. The tow was only 30 miles out of our 100 mile coverage so it only cost us $120.00 plus a nice hefty tip for the great driver.
As Mudstone said absolutely crazy day.
Thanx for everyones help and advice you guys are great.