GMC Deuce recovery #4

[AMGeneral]

Well,I have found out that yes,you can tow a Deuce with Deuce,but it ain't fun.

Kenneth(Lovebloodhounds) and I went to Burlington NC to pick up my "new" to me 1952 M135 with winch.We met Neil(neilhendrix) at Whitsett and after a quick lunch,made it to the truck about 1PM.

Here's where the trip went south,


The M135 had been sitting in the same spot for about 5 years the owner said,(looked more like 15 or 20 to me). We hooked the towbar up and tried to move it with no sucess.

After airing up all 6 tires and pulling all the axles and the front flanges,it still wouldn't move,Ok,backed off all the brake adjusters,STILL won't move!

So,we hooked another truck to the deuce,and it finally came free,with both RH rear tires dragging a nice trench through the guys yard,Hmmmm,brakes must be rusted to the drum.

So after 2 hrs with a 9/16 socket and a large sledge hammer,we managed to beat both brake drums off the hubs and free the wheels.

I figured my troubles were over for the day,I was wrong,

We were roughly 110 miles from home,and the M135 was towing like a dream,then the freshly rebuilt alternator gave out and quit charging,Ok no problem,just don't use any excess power(No heater,No lights so we can keep the intank pump running).

Well,it was about Exit 168 that the snow hit that wasn't supposed to be here till 12 midnight,Then the drivers side wiper motor quit,So now I'm driving in the snow,towing a 14,000 lb dead weight with 1 hand steering and one working the wiper,but it's freezing faster than I can wipe it off. We stopped about every 20 miles to clear the wiper blades off to try and keep the windshield semi transparent(did I mention it was snowing? ALOT?). We decided to install the front splined hubs while we were stopped,since the roads were getting bad by now,(my normal ones are de-splined for better fuel economy)

We finally rolled in about 8:30 PM and unloaded the tools,it's REALLY been a long day!!

Oh yeah,no pics,I forgot the camera again!!

 

[JCKnife]

In light of your travails I won't bitch about a lack of pics...yet.

Congrats on getting her home, though.

 

[surfdog]

You know someone is always going to post this....





Glad to here the recovery worked out well and all are home safe.

 

[wb1895]

You should have sent me a PM....I would have loved to drive my deuce out there and give you a hand........

 

[gimpyrobb]

In light of your travails I won't bitch about a lack of pics...yet.

Congrats on getting her home, though.

I WILL! TSK TSK.

 

[Stan Leschert]

Dang, Skippy, nice save. I am still learning about M-135s. You may wish to check my post about 24V Problems, because this does not have to be in your future. I only know a little bit of not much, but please PM me if you have a problem. As you know, the TMs are here on site, and are very helpful. I would like to know what problems you encounter, because sooner or later, I will face them too. thanks, Stan.

 

[mtnrebel]

man bubba, you need to quit taking mr. murphy on all your roadtrips, and take your camera instead so you can make all these picture nazis happy!!!!!!!

 

[AMGeneral]

Ok,i snapped a few pics of the trucks this morning while I was waiting on the tractor to warm up.

 

[JCKnife]

Very cool! Thank you!

 

[muddog]

Good lookin truck, are you going to restore it?

 

[combat32]

How did the 135 pull behind the M35a2, I have heard they can be onry on a towbar.May be doing the same thing here pretty soon.

 

[hippiedude]

That truck looks pretty good for its age ......... Nice save ......... Tim

 

[papabear]

Good job AMG. Betcha that one will be a keeper

 

[neilhendrix]

LOL Did he mention the VERY VERY bad flat spot on the tire from trying to break the wheels loose and having to change that tire which was the only spare. Did he mention the 6# hammer use to persuade the brake droms to come off. I followed them as far as Greensboro ,about 20 miles ,and theM135 seemed to be pulling fine. I was on stand by but never heard a word so I thought they were home. Guess they had a fight with Murphy.

 

[butch atkins]

so i guess you will be driving a GMC to the next SS rally ?,good save and good luck on all your projects

 

[airmech3839]

I was driving home from work in the snow storm and my driver wiper went out as well......I feel your pain....I at least wasnt pulling another truck!!! I just drove with driver window down and had a squeege an kept wiping about a 10in window to see...and at every light would wipe whole window.... Gotta get the electric wiper set up!!! Good job and nice rig!!! Hope you post pics of the clean up!!! we wanna see more!!

 

[ctmustang]

Yeah nothing beats a good ol road trip! I am so looking forward to my next one. It's not just a hobby it's an adventure! Nice truck!
CT

 

[AMGeneral]

Just when I thought the troubles were over with this recovery,Day 3!!

Granted this was a small problem,but still aggrivating,I moved the 135 to it's resting place for a short while,I just decided to use the winch on the M35(being as I am working by myself) Rigged everything using a 10 ton snatch block to reverse the direction of the pull,went to spool out the cable from the M35,And the drum lock tab came right off in my hand!!!!

Oh well,to Quote Hee Haw,"If it weren't for bad luck,I'd have no luck at all."
I just removed the hollow keeper bolt and freed the drum and winched the 135 into place with no further problems.

Muddog,I plan to restore this GMC as well as my M211(as soon as I get time/money.)

Combst32,It did great,the GMCs seem to towbar better than the M35s do,probably greater caster angle.

Butch,i'll probably bring this truck to trail ride in this year,before I really start tearing it apart,I'd like to work the mechanical bugs out.

 

[AMGeneral]

UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After the monthly meeting today,I decided to clean the junk outta the 135 and see if maybe it might fire up.

Well,after 2 hrs of shoveling,washing and scraping dirt,rust and old seat parts up,I finally found the cab and bed floors(what was left of em),The bed side and cab are lots worse than they look in the pictures,but the hardtop is salvageable.

I set up a gravity feed fuel can to the carb(the intank pump didn't work,what a suprise) and checked the disturbtior over,oil levels and such,and it was then I noticed that the starter had been swapped for a newer unit(no mechanical linkage). So I found the key switch,turned the engine over and it fired up with a HUGE cloud of white smoke!!

After I let the trans warm up a few minutes I moved the lever to F1 high range and immediately the trans went in gear,so I applied some gas t and it took off and quickly changed through all 4 gears and then back down to first after I let off the gas with no noises or shudders,I checked reverse in low and high ranges both function perfectly!!!

Didn't have time to check the winch operation,I ran out of gas in the gravity tank before I could get the control linkage to free up.

 

[91W350]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIMfyG-09OE[/media]

We had one of those problematic loading days when I sold the red deuce for a friend on Ebay. It hasda locked up brake and we fought the thing most of the day. I did manage to get a short clip of it leaving town. Glad everything made it home safely for you. Glen