Cross country in a 1966 m35a2

[Lloyd B]

I flew out to Sacramento, CA on the 22nd to pick up my first deuce and drive it back to middle Tennessee. I was really surprised at just how well this truck drove, it tracked very well and did not cause much if any driver fatigue. Even though I looked things over pretty well prior to the trip, I ended up breaking down in Amarillo (transfer case bearings) lube looked perfect, the bearing cages just let go and caused the bearings to separate. I'll be heading back out to pick it up and continue with the final 900 miles of the trip this Sunday. I'm not sure if I pushed the truck to hard, or if they just don't like being driven on the road for long distances. I ran it at a fairly steady 48-50 mph at about 22-2300 rpm. Any suggestions from the old salts out there will be greatly appreciated.

 

[DieselBob]

Sorry to hear about the failure. Some failures like that there is just nothing you can do to prevent it. Short of changing all the fluids and belts and hoses and doing a complete overhaul of the entire drive train there is just no knowing when some things will fail. 45 ~ 50 mph should be fine. I have found that mine seems to hit a sweet spot right around 52 mph where it just seems to run smoothest so that is what I cruise at. If you have a temp gun you might try shooting the transmission, transfer case and hubs every 2 or so hours just to help catch something going south before a major failure. It's a old vehicle with who knows how many true miles on it and the military really wasn't concerned how far it could cruise on the highway. Best of luck in you trip.

 

[Lloyd B]

Oddly enough, I checked everything prior to the trip and it all looked better than my 2004 Dodge looks most of the time (just a couple of leaks here and there) greased everything and all the fluids looked pristine. I ran it fairly hard over the Tehachapi pass going up into the high desert and I shot the tranny and T/C with my thermal imager and they both measured 197 degrees and that was after pulling a long and fairly steep grade. When I felt the vibration, the T/C temp shot up to 235 degrees coming out of NM and into TX and that is when it all starting going south. I definitely agree about the miles, it only has 22000 but who know what it pulled or was loaded with and what kind of maniac was driving it. It supposedly came from 29 palms originally so it is possible that one of my crazy marine Corps brothers could have ran it like a borrowed mule.