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Building fence with the Deuce

dittle

Well-known member
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Location
Albia, IA
Been gone off the site for a couple of weeks. Was down at the family farm tearing out and rebuilding about 1-1/4 miles of barb-wire fence. Of course I used the deuce as my pack mule which it did without complaint. So here's the story followed by pictures:

Showed up to get the deuce out of the barn and found an oily rim....indicating a blown inner axle seal. I'm like WTF???? I've replaced that seal 3 times and can't seem to keep it from leaking. Wasn't much oil on the rim and I didn't have time to tear the axle apart before needing to go get my supplies so I took it out on a test drive on the gravel roads (nearest neighbor is 1 mile away, no fears of hitting anyone if I lose brakes due to oil on the pads) for a couple of miles. Came back and parked it to see how bad the leak was going to be. Suprise suprise, no more oil leak?????? Knowing how little oil leaked out and how recently I had filled the axle I knew it wasn't out of oil, only thing I could figure was that it was actually overfilled a little bit and just seeped out past the seal when it was parked in the barn as that side was on a downhill angle.

Next day I went up to the hardware store about 45 miles away and picked up the following load: 75 8' creosote wood fence posts, 225 steel fence posts, 22 rolls of 4-barb barbed wire, 6 rolls of #9 wire and 16 lbs of staples. Got some funny looks when I pulled into the store but after the guys got done loading the truck up they were wanting to know where they could get their own to use as a delivery truck. Best guess is that I had over 8000 lbs of load on the deuce. The frame creaked a little more going around corners but other than that the truck didn't care. I had some very big hills to go up on the way home and only dropped down to 45 mph going up them, not sure what kind of EGTs I was pulling but was pushing about 15 psi of boost through. Got up to about 180 degrees on temp and that was it, usually runs about 165 to 170. Also checked, no oil leak on the axle when I was at the store......

Got back to the farm without incident and did yet another check for oil on the axle.... no leak. Spent the next 2 weeks working on the fence and took the truck over terrain that my ATV didn't like to negotiate. I sure as heck didn't take the tractor over that terrain. Intentionally went straight up a 45 - 50 percent grade hill just to see if I could....didn't spin once. Of course with about 2000 lbs in the back plus 6x6 in low range it should have done it easily. Its hard to tell in some of the pictures but I'm working on some pretty big hills. Also have to throw in one of my red heeler riding in the tractor when we were out digging post holes. At the end of the project no oil leak on the axle either, mystery to me why it was there other than an overfill and seep past situation.
 

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dittle

Well-known member
1,582
72
48
Location
Albia, IA
Forgot to mention for those of you who wanted to know about my winch I didn't get a chance to test it out. I'll get there and put up a thread about it once I prove it is working as wanted.
 

135gmc

New member
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St Paul/MN
Dan, you should do some photo edit on your avatar and crop out the sides so people can recognize that you're standing next to the "Gunny"
 

M35A2-AZ

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
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Tonopah, AZ
Looks like a big job and a great use for the deuce.
I have built a lot barb barbed wire in my life and I know it is a job.
Post more pics as the job move a long.[thumbzup]:driver:
 

dittle

Well-known member
1,582
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Location
Albia, IA
Whitewalls on a deuce! Makes it stand out even more....hehe.
Job well done.
That happens when you have severals miles of gravel roads to drive on to get back to the farm. The farm is at the end of a lane out in the middle of nowhere. The road going back to it looks like it ends about half way back so a lot of people don't even know it exists which is nice.

It looks a lot better cropped - that was when he was crunching a Caddy, wasn't it?
Yep, sucked the caddy up into the tracks about 3 feet past where the fender bolts to the sponson boxes. Bent the fender and boxes a little bit with that one....oops. Didn't even know it until I saw the signals to stop.
 

dittle

Well-known member
1,582
72
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Location
Albia, IA
Looks like a big job and a great use for the deuce.
I have built a lot barb barbed wire in my life and I know it is a job.
Post more pics as the job move a long.[thumbzup]:driver:
Thats was about it for pictures taken with the deuce. Have some more of my dogs "working" as I build the fence if you guys want them posted as well.
 

dittle

Well-known member
1,582
72
48
Location
Albia, IA
One other thing to mention is that my Gma couldn't figure out why I wanted a truck that big. Keep in mind she is getting dimentia and alzheimer's so she is having trouble comprehending things. What she didn't realize is that she was talking about my M105A2 trailer sitting in the shed, not the deuce itself. Once I pulled the deuce out and she saw what it was capable of she has a newfound appreciation for it.....until she forgets about it due to her disease. One more reason to keep is shut up in the haybarn out of sight, out of mind.
 

dittle

Well-known member
1,582
72
48
Location
Albia, IA
Beautiful farm land you have there, wish mine was as nice.
Harold

Thanks, it is a beautiful area for farming. Rolling hills and river valleys. Basically all of the ground you saw is owned by my family, about 700 acres total at the moment.
 

dittle

Well-known member
1,582
72
48
Location
Albia, IA
The JD isn't by choice, typically we are a IH family. About 10 years ago my Gpa was taking the IH 1086 to the tire shop to get a tire worked on and got rear-ended by a BNSF truck passing him in a no passing zone as he was turning into the place. Threw the tractor down the road about 50 feet, broke the housing around the radiator (several inch thick chunck of steel) and messed him up pretty well. After he got healed up a neighbor took him shopping for a new tractor, unfortunately that guy was a JD fan. We are not impressed with the tractor at all. I have been unsuccessful in convincing my mom to get rid of this one for a MFWD IH w/ loader one as she doesn't want to spend the money right now. Guess I'll have to keep working that angle but I do understand her point as well. I don't know if your machine would dig through the hard clay I was digging through here, haven't had any rain for quite some time so it was like digging through bricks.
 

dittle

Well-known member
1,582
72
48
Location
Albia, IA
Only thing I can figure is that I have gotten a bad batch of seals plus a little overfill. I've checked the axle vent and it is functioning properly.
 

rogersn67

New member
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Location
Bryn Mawr, Pa
I suppose it is possible that the seal needed to seat against the shaft better, and driving it did that. Either way, I love that
farm... sounds like it would make a good bug out retreat if it comes to that too.
 
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