foprange
New member
- 5
- 0
- 0
- Location
- Pleasant Grove, AL
I drove it from Warner Robbins Ga to Birmingham AL in 5 hours, 275 miles. First impression when I first walked up to it was this thing is huge. It started right up with no issues. While it warmed up, I cleaned the windows and did a walk around. No problems that I can see. I noticed several new or recent items, the injector unit, the CITS unit, and door latch all looked much newer than the rest of the truck. The right rear inside tire is about bald and starting to dry rot but the rest were 70%. The spare was new. I found paperwork where that tire had been replaced with a receipt for $900. That is not a $900 tire. It may have been snagged to go on another truck they were keeping.
The drive home turned into an endurance test... the tires were all flat-spotted and shook the bejesus out of everything (me included) at 40 to 45 mph. At 55 it all smoothed out. I tried really hard to keep it 55 to 58 where it all seemed happy.
I noticed that the transmission shifts pretty hard when it hits 2nd. The rest are smooth shifts. Is this going to be a problem later for me? From what I know about automatic transmissions, a worn clutch pack with excessive clearances, stuck accumulator can cause this, or it may be set up that way to reduce wear. Slippage from a soft shift wears clutch linings. Any ideas?
There is something under the dash, white with a downward pointing nozzle, that hisses air continuously. No big deal but I am not sure if it is supposed to. I can put my finger over it and stop it. I thought about routing it by a hose out of the cab so I don't have to listen to it.
There are several small places on the body where rust is starting to form. I learned from the paperwork that it was originally a Florida air force base truck. I need to figure out what spray paint best matches the flat green, brown, grey and black from the camo paint job.
I need another tire. I found some at auctions on the site where I got the truck but none yet listed as 14 x 20 tires. I see 385/85x20 but don't know if they are the same or not. I need to dig deeper.
The tool kit is missing parts... namely the chain hoist for getting the spare to the ground. What is everyone else using?
Overall, I am pretty pleased with this truck. Except for it being 24 years old, it is almost like new. There are now 15000 miles and 550 hours showing. I have plans to clean it up and touch up the paint, put my FOP Range Inc logos on the doors and tailgate, and make it my errand truck. It sure turns heads as I drove home. That was the idea for getting it. I know I need a CDL even though the lady at the Alabama DPS CDL division told me over the phone that if it is only used for recreational purposes, its a RV and no CDL will be required. From what I read, if it has air brakes, is more than 26,000 lbs, or has 6 axles, a class B CDL is required. I don't want a state trooper to ruin my day later so I am studying up for the CDL test.
This site is a tremendous resource. Thanks to all who post. Here is a picture of my M923A2...
The drive home turned into an endurance test... the tires were all flat-spotted and shook the bejesus out of everything (me included) at 40 to 45 mph. At 55 it all smoothed out. I tried really hard to keep it 55 to 58 where it all seemed happy.
I noticed that the transmission shifts pretty hard when it hits 2nd. The rest are smooth shifts. Is this going to be a problem later for me? From what I know about automatic transmissions, a worn clutch pack with excessive clearances, stuck accumulator can cause this, or it may be set up that way to reduce wear. Slippage from a soft shift wears clutch linings. Any ideas?
There is something under the dash, white with a downward pointing nozzle, that hisses air continuously. No big deal but I am not sure if it is supposed to. I can put my finger over it and stop it. I thought about routing it by a hose out of the cab so I don't have to listen to it.
There are several small places on the body where rust is starting to form. I learned from the paperwork that it was originally a Florida air force base truck. I need to figure out what spray paint best matches the flat green, brown, grey and black from the camo paint job.
I need another tire. I found some at auctions on the site where I got the truck but none yet listed as 14 x 20 tires. I see 385/85x20 but don't know if they are the same or not. I need to dig deeper.
The tool kit is missing parts... namely the chain hoist for getting the spare to the ground. What is everyone else using?
Overall, I am pretty pleased with this truck. Except for it being 24 years old, it is almost like new. There are now 15000 miles and 550 hours showing. I have plans to clean it up and touch up the paint, put my FOP Range Inc logos on the doors and tailgate, and make it my errand truck. It sure turns heads as I drove home. That was the idea for getting it. I know I need a CDL even though the lady at the Alabama DPS CDL division told me over the phone that if it is only used for recreational purposes, its a RV and no CDL will be required. From what I read, if it has air brakes, is more than 26,000 lbs, or has 6 axles, a class B CDL is required. I don't want a state trooper to ruin my day later so I am studying up for the CDL test.
This site is a tremendous resource. Thanks to all who post. Here is a picture of my M923A2...
