Kwai's 818 Recovery

[sermis]

Kwai stopped by here last night. He had picked up a 10hp air compressor. Varnish and rust in the tank. A little cleaning and it started and ran good. Air regulator frozen up and broke when I tried to move it. OOPS.
Back to the 818
Is there a NAPA replacement fuel filter?
What size are the fuel rubber lines?
I would like to be prepared so when we get there we can get it running and on the road. Weather forecast is a high in the upper 30’s with 90% chance of rain.

 

[Kwai]

Just got an internect connection again since the hotel internet was dead last night.

Had a long day yesterday. Left at 4 am to drive to San Antonio and pick up KineticHotshot for the M818 recovery. Got to Sam Houston about 8 am. The GL guys at Ft. Sam are great. Very helpful and easy to work with.
M818 batteries were dead so we jumped it from a deuce. Didn't get it to start until we filled up the filter bowl with diesel. Brakes and all fluids were good to go. I did a couple of loops around the lot to check the brakes until it ran out of fuel again. Batteries still dead after a couple of hours of charging so they will be replaced Saturday. Mike stole a gladhand off the front to replace a broken gladhand on the trailer and then we broke the elbow fitting the shut off valve was attached to so we got out the BFH (never leave home without it) to make some adjustments so we could attach the shutoff valve without the elbow. GL pulled the trailer out with a forklift so we could hook up. Trailer brakes and lights work. Interestingly the trailer has both military and civilian lights with 2 separate circuits. All the M127s on the lot appeared to be set up the same way.

It was obvious by then we weren't going to get it off base under it's own power so we called Mike's buddy with the wrecker and he showed up at 11. He hooked up to the tractor/trailer and we were off to the storage lot. I returned to Ft. Sam at 2 pm to get my air compressor, a 10 hp 15 cfm monster. I thought it was going to be smaller like the ones i see on the oil field trucks but they didn't have a quarter for reference in any of the pictures. Maybe Sermis can post a picture as I didn't get any. Offloaded the air compressor at Sermis garage at 5 pm and we messed around with it until 7 to get it running again. Runs great just needs a new guage and pressure control valve and the fuel tank cleaned.

Finally got to Ft. Worth about 10 pm, 18 hours and 600 miles from when I started. No internet in the hotel though.

Going back to San Antonio on Saturday to get the M818 running and take it to Sermis place to load with tires/parts that are going to Houston. These will be loaded on another truck to Ohio in March.

 

[sermis]

Jere is the little compressor.

 

[pistolnut]

I am OD green with envy! That compressor looks great and there just aren't words for the tractor-trailer rig. Nice score.

 

[sermis]

I think I need a new camera. THe 5 ton dows not look all that big infront of my deuce with the 395's.

 

[sermis]

These are a little better.

 

[DaveP]

Tandem tool boxes. cool. rig looks good!

 

[Kwai]

The recovery went really smooth. Replaced the batteries and fuel filter and got the truck started after we figured out the problem we had wednesday was caused by a missing spring on the fuel cut off. Pushed the cut-off all the way open and it fired and ran steady for the next 4 hours.

And now I'm beat. Left Ft Worth this morning at 4 am and got back to houston at 10 pm. It rained on me the whole day. Good to see the weather tomorrow will be nice (sky is clearing in Sermis 2nd and 3rd pictures).

 

[sermis]

Kwai, let me know what hood numbers you want on the truck. I will try to get them on it and get you a PIC so it can be registered.

 

[kinetichotshot]

Glad to hear that everything went well! I was under the fire truck yesterday when you called finally getting that restore project off the ground! I will email you the pictures that I have today so that you have them. Sorry that it is taking me so long. I need to get back on the other computer to do that.
Laterz,
Gator
>|--|~

 

[sermis]

Kwai, your trailer is a veteran.

 

[Kwai]

It will be in good company with my M35 and the M105.

 

[ARMYMAN30YearsPlus]

Wow those pictures make me miss Texas! Looking very good there and hope to see more shots of the rig at home.

 

[DaveP]

David, i have not forgot about the fuel valve. i cant seem to find where i stashed it. maybe someone else can check out theres and let you know the size of the lines at least. sorry. i have limited storage and things get mixed together alot.

 

[sermis]

Well I am making progress on getting everything ready to go to Houston.
Kwai's truck, trailer, and air compressor
Rizzo's 16.00's, Hmmwv tires, and HEMMT rims
Redass73 16.00's
tklm539 heavy med tow bar.gun ring, cab plate
Rip68's M715 hood, and fenders

Does anybody need anything else? The parts will be going to Zainesville OH.
I have a couple of the heavy Med tow bars and some of the aluminum boxes. Shipping wil be a lot less than Fed-ex or UPS and will help Kwai off set the cost of shipping his truck north.

 

[Kwai]

Check the height on those tires. I would hate to see them go flying off at 55 mph when you hit the low overpass.

This is why I got the tractor/trailer. Put an old soldier back to productive work.


And you gotta send the ladder with the truck. That is a perfect fit.

 

[sermis]

Tires are 11' to maybe 11.6'

 

[jwaller]

the gun ring on my 818 sits at 12'9" and thats with 1600's. Ive not yet come across a bridge too low but I'm sure I will some day.

 

[gunner01]

Just my worth. The older diesels when sitting for extended periods of time with out any type of fuel conditioner added usually developed algea in the tanks and filters thus clogging and restricting the fuel flow. This has been an issue for many years in the construction industry when in the field.You might want to check this out.As far as sucking air into the fuel lines NO diesel likes the air,they will try to stall out and lose power till they stop running. Bleed all lines starting with the lowest and workiing to the highest to get rid of any air that could be trapped. Hope this may have helped....

 

[DaveP]

David i found the valve.