Cross Country convoy - MVPA Bankhead 2015

[dougimes]

I am going to roll my M715 for a part of a leg of the cross country convoy in September. I am picking up the group in Charlotte and rolling with them to GA.


Making a truck ready for long day road miles has been an interesting exercise. You look at things differently. I replaced the single master cyl with the Cardone 10-1331 dual. That little project went surprisingly well, all the lines came loose as well as the bleeders. Replace brake lines to the Tees.

Ignition tune up, collecting essential spare parts, mounting a fire extinguisher, going to stress test the truck on a hot day. A good exercise for me, who generally cuts corners.

Looking forward to the run, which for me will be about 500 miles.

 

[Monkeyboyarmy]

Nice 715. Anyone have the route of this convoy?

 

[quickfarms]

You need to register for the convoy with the MVPA

All of the route information I have is generic at this point

 

[hndrsonj]

Nice 715. Anyone have the route of this convoy?

http://www.mvpa.org/home/mvpa-convoys/convoy-news/

 

[dmetalmiki]

That is a very smart looking M715. Well prepared so enjoy your trip. Post pictures of the event.

 

[bcowanwheels]

your transfer case is gonna be hurt. there not made for this.

 

[67Beast]

He'll be just fine. I believe the last MVPA Cross Country Convoy had a max speed of 45mph. These trucks will run that speed all day long.

 

[turnkey]

Sounds like great summer fun...

 

[bcowanwheels]

yea and the t-case will be so hot if you spit on it -it will sizzle. drive on hope it all works good for you-all.

 

[67Beast]

yea and the t-case will be so hot if you spit on it -it will sizzle. drive on hope it all works good for you-all.

Bob, I don't know why it is that you always seam so negative towards everyone's ideas here. If you think the M715 is such a horrible truck that has so many faults, then why do you keep posting about them. These trucks were designed to travel at military convoy speeds of 45mph all day long with out a problem, and many owners still manage to drive them today without a problem at those speeds. The problem arises when people try to push these trucks to modern highway speeds of 55 - 60 mph for sustained times, that's when they get hot. Drive it like it was designed for and it will run all day long. I regularly take mine on long trips throughout my area without over heating the transfer case, and I know of several others who have driven theirs great distances without problems either. One member just reported driving 500 miles round trip to a show in PA. and back no problem and a few years ago there was a fellow who drove one all the way from the west coast to Washington DC. So they seam to all be able to "drive on hope" and it worked out just fine.

 

[Warthog]

yea and the t-case will be so hot if you spit on it -it will sizzle. drive on hope it all works good for you-all.

Bob, I know you are an expert on everything M715, but please tone it down and keep some of your comments to yourself.

 

[bcowanwheels]

just stateing from my experience and the rebuilding of almost 40 of these t-cases not to mention the resto,s ive done for close to 40 yrs. head out hope all goes well for you.

 

[turnkey]

So he has fun going done the road...Checks stuff once in awhile, and has a great time with a trip...Wish I could go with the convoy......I know I couldn't make it in my MV.....Wife wont let me play far from home....PS we had a M715 in Guam ...Ran it everyday no problems with it...So have fun on this one..lots of pics please.

 

[dougimes]

I think its about as ready as I know how to make it. Took it on a shake down of 35 miles, I'll do a stress test in hot weather this weekend. I looked at the tcase, didn't seem unworkably hot. I do have locking hubs on the front wheels, which takes some of the load off the tcase. For everyone's info, I will take its temperature so we have some data.

I'll take some pictures of the event and post them here. I don't know if there are other 715's, at this point. I didn't seem them in the line up.

 

[bcowanwheels]

some temps would be perfect. take one at cold, then every half hour. shoot temp at same spot every tine so reading are consistant please. also I,d carry some spare gear oil just in case you do develop and issues. jmo
bob

p/s
I truly hope you don't have a single issue and have a great time.

 

[Ferroequinologist]

Wow, this sounds like a good time! I will have to check it out and see if I can participate.

 

[dougimes]

I ran a test on Sat on 2 trucks, an m38a1 and an m715, hot day so a good day for a test. Ran the trucks for 30 min at 40-45 mph.

ambient was 95 deg.

M715
Block-163 deg, 4 speed- 168, tcase-189

M38a1
Block- 160, 3speed- 165, Tcase 169


I can see where the Tcase on the 715 could go over 200 if you ran it harder or hillier. My course had rolling hills of the foothills of SC, and some cruising. To me it didn't seem harmfully hot. I am going to look into some higher temp gear oil for the tcase. The ambient was 95., and the heat off of the road would have been way up there, but on the other hand, I had virtually cargo load.

 

[mkcoen]

Hope you were able to register in time (honestly I may rant but hope you get to go). I tried to register in early July and they basically told me to eff off. If you're not registered by April of this year they're not interested in you taking part. Nice for those who know their schedule 6 months in advance. Personally I can see if they reach a point where there are too many vehicle you cut off registration but to arbitrarily say "April's it" without any other guidelines seems a bit dense.

 

[dougimes]

I almost missed the deadline. I had my eye on the event months ago, and registered in March, but it was pure chance that I didn't put it off and miss the deadline. I appreciate the organizer's difficulty with something like this, planning hotel capacity, stopover capacity would be a nightmare without having the numbers months in advance. A lot of the guys were at the final planning meeting at the national convention a month ago.

My first time doing something like this. looking forward to my small part of the run.

 

[dougimes]

Any comments on the Tcase temps I took a few posts back?