Wow, where to begin?
Hang with me this might be a long post...
First of all, Rob and Jay (bulldog_mac13) are the super-heros of this story. Two guys who I've never met dropped what they were doing and offered to drive almost 3 hours away to help a TOTAL stranger trapped on the side of the road in the middle of a blizzard. To both of you my most heart-felt and profound thank you. I'll never be able to adequately repay your kindness (though I'm going to try **** hard)
Second, to Doug (bassetdeuce) my second-line hero for putting out the SOS for me. Your help got me going again, I can't thank you enough...
So here is my attempt at relaying the events that transpired on the trip that I will never forget.
Since I am on active duty and had a limited time-window to get the truck and get back before my leave expired (as well being limited to when I can even take leave) I needed to get the truck and get back before this coming Monday. So I opted to head up to Phili Thursday night to get an early start before the big storm came in. That worked out alright.
Dave Newman at Eastern Surplus did a great job doing the long list of things I asked him to to tailor the truck to my liking, new dropside bed, great paint-job and a few other items that needed work to make the truck road worthy.
I got the truck on the road at 1015am on Friday and in my haste probably did not conduct the most thurough pre-flight as I should have. With the time crunch I had and the list of things I asked to be done to my truck one seemingly minor detail was overlooked which proved to be my undoing. Now first off, let me say everyone makes mistakes, myself included. So I bear no malace or ill will to anyone and Dave is a stand up guy and has offered to help me get things back up and running, he stands by his work and for that I say thank you Dave....
Anyhow, the batteries that were used to replace my odl dead military batteries where the smaller sized automotive batteries which, in and of itself is no big deal. But in the haste of getting me on the road the batteries were not secured in the battery tub. This in turn resulted in the battery clamps themselves (which were securely fastened to the battery posts) pulling away from the battery cable. As they made interemittent contact those voltage surges in turn fried the voltage regulator and in the process welded the alternator washer, eye and nut completely together until the molten copper ran down and grounded itself on the alternator body.
I also was having an issue with shifting and intriguing noise when in 5th gear. The 5th gear noise was there from the get-go but in my ignorance I didn't realize that it was abnormal. When in 5th gear with the pedal down doing 23-2400 rpm (about 47-49mph) I would get a strange rattling sound, as I let my foot up the sound would completely cease at around 1/3 pedal and when my foot was completely off the pedal the noise would be there again though not as dramatic or consistent. I'm not sure if this has any bearing on the shifting issue but who knows?
There was no problem shifting as I started out but about half way through Maryland I started having difficulty shifting into gear (all of them). This was also when I noticed that I had not electrical power left on the truck. I crossed my fingers and thought I might just make it to a garage where I have an M105A2 stored and get some electrical assistance. Shortly after Fort AP Hill on Route 301 in Virginia I was trying to make a turn and even with the clutch full in the stick WOULD not come out of gear, that is until I stalled the truck and coasted to the shoulder. Several minutes later it did actually come out...
Anyhow, now with no juice to restart and stuck on the side of the road I called a wrecker, and Doug, who then put out the MAYDAY for me which is where Jay and Rob came into the picture and basically saved my rear-end....
So the plan as it stands now is Jay and Rob are returning to the truck by themselves (again WOW, Thank you) with a new alternator sometime this week and have even offered to drive it down to Raleigh NC for me so I can resume the trip next Friday when I can again (hopefully) get leave. Truely ALL American rockstars, not to mention distinguished Army and USMC veterans. The compassion and altruism these two gentlemen showed to a complete stranger in need is the kind of thing that gives you faith in the goodness of mankind, again thank you, you two.
So in closing (as I'm sure this is far too long a post already), sometimes S#$t happens, no one was hurt, the truck is still in one piece, I'm a little frazzled but none-the-worse for wear, I've met two of the most honorable and upstanding men I'm likely to ever meet, Dave Newman is a stand up guy and hopefully we'll give it a shot again next weekend.....
The Lord sometimes truely does work in mysterious ways.......