dm22630
New member
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- Location
- Front Royal, VA 22630
Well.....I made it. Very slooooowy.
Just to fill you in, in case you dont know....I bought a M109A3 in Ft Drum, NY (about 475 mies away from me). My "friends" were all jumping at the chance to drive my deuce home & I was going to drive the M109A3 home. BUT, 2 days before I had to leave, they all had reasons why they couldnt make it. SO....it changed to me going by myself in the deuce, hooking a towbar up, and dragging the M109 back to VA.
My plan was to leave Saturday, and split the trip to NY between sat/sun. That didnt happen. I didnt even get everything packed & loaded on Saturday. So bright and early at 8am, I loaded the rest of my supplies. At 10:30am I finally left my house.
I made it through VA, WV, & MD ok. A "little" slow at times (40-45mph) but other than that, it was ok. THEN I hit PA! I guess the PA Dept of Transportation had some funding cut, so their bright idea was to make "work zones" every 20 miles where I-81 would go to ONE LANE. I hit at LEAST 20 "work zones" through PA & the only actual work that was being done was at ONE BRIDGE! All the other work zones did not even have any equipment at them.
About 3/4 of the way through PA, traffic stopped in both lanes. Then it did the stop and go crap for 10 miles, then I saw the wonderful "right lane closed ahead" sign. Well, all the right hand lane cars kept butting in front of the left lane people & the left lane wouldnt move. I fixed that problem. 
I pulled up next to a tractor trailer & stopped. When he went, I went. All of a sudden there was no one in front of me within sight & MAGICALLY the left lane started moving. HAHAHA....rode out the rest of the way next to the truck driver & got a honk & a thumbs up when he let me in front of him. And....SURPRISE! NO WORK was being done! 3 guys standing next to some cones talking.
Then I hit northern PA & Southern NY. Or as I like to call it....the land of hills. NO flat roads. Up and down, up and down.....and to think, I was complaining on the way there!
I finally got to Ft Drum at 12:30AM! Stopped by a couple hotels....everyone was $100. I said F'it! I slept in my deuce on the bench seat. I have the arctic multifuel heater & kept it on low.....AND had the windows down (45-50 degrees outside), and had to keep turning it and my truck off since it was so hot. Then would fall asleep and wake up 30 minutes later freezing & start the heater again. This process lasted until 6:30am when I got up and went to the base.
I was told to go to the gate at the 5th stoplight. I guess it would have helped had I counted them. I ended up going to the main gate, and was asked "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!", I said I was there to pick up a M109. He wanted to know where my ID & papers were. I showed him my VA drivers license & he looked at me like I was an idiot & said "WHY ARE YOU DRIVING THIS TRUCK!". I told him I owned it & I was going to tow the M109 home. He then checked my reg & insurance and let me through. No searching/no dogs/no nothing.
After aimlessly driving around the base for 20 minutes, I found a MP that pointed me in the right direction of the road I was looking for. Get there, and have to go left or right. Of course I picked the wrong way. Turned around, and finally found the GL site.
So...I park next to the road, and go in the GL office. Kevin the site manager walked me over to the M109 & it started right up. BUT.....4 flaaaaat tires & the other 6 were close to it. And when I say flat, I mean the rim was sunk in the mud flat. Walked down the row and took a quick look at the M818s I am waiting on my EUC for & then back to the M109. I then pulled my deuce in front of the M109 & aired up all the tires, pulled the deuce out of the way & pulled the M109 behind it.
Kevin then helped me hook the towbar up....but WHY would I think it would be that simple??? The pintle hitch on my deuce wouldnt latch shut because the cotter pin was bent underneath the top latch & was still showing on both sides. We pulled, pryed, & cursed it for 25 minutes until we finally got it out with a pair of vise grips. Luckily the M109 had a new cotter pin that was used on the deuce. I thanked Kevin for his help and headed out of the GL lot. HAHA! Not so fast! I went left and the M109 went right...I was pulling it through 12 inch deep sand! Kevin hopped in and steered it until it pulled straight. I went to pull onto the road and it did it again! I was thinking "WHAT HAVE I DONE?? 475 MILES TO GO!!). He straightened it out again & off I went. The gate I exited through was the one I was SUPPOSED to come in through. The "commercial" entrance. One line, 20 trucks deep, EVERY one getting searched with dogs! So my initial screw up probably saved me an hour and a half.
Pulled out onto the main road....worrying HOW I was going to stop if that thing kicked sideways. So I pulled over and called Offroadfabworks....he told me it was going in a different direction because of the unstable ground & advised me to pull the front and rear driveshafts. I made it to wal-mart thinking that it would be a quick job. HA! the front came off ok....I did it with a wrench & socket. The rear did not. I could not budge any of them.....so I got my air ratchet out....that wouldnt faze them....so I got my impact gun out. Started out low, but had to turn it ALL the way up to max torque & let the deuce air completely up on each bolt! Keep in mind, that is the same setting I change the lugnuts on my deuce with!
It pulled a lot easier once I had done that. By now it was 12:30pm & I HAD to get back to VA or I would miss my grandmothers funeral today. I-81 went ok until I got in central/southern NY.....then it turned back to hill country. When I say hill country, you need to imagine me in low range, in 2nd gear going 14mph on I-81 to get up some hills. Most of the time I ended up in 3rd going 28mph & if I was lucky, I got to stay in 4th going 45 or so. I hit up to 59MPH (on my GPS) going down steep mountains with it floored @ 2500 rpms.
And I thought the one lane work zones were fun on the way up! No where near as fun as pulling a M109 going 27mph with 3 miles of angry people behind you! OH....and the best part was, no 4 ways on the M109! I even brought working spares with me & it wouldnt work! So I just left the parking lights on and drove on down the road.
When I finally hit MD at 11pm last night I was almost dead. BUT...I had to keep truckin. At least I was out of the big up and down hills. Couldnt seem to break 50-51mph once I got out of hill country. I had a slight fuel leak when I left on sunday morning.....by monday evening the side of my truck was wet & fuel was coming in through the holes under the gas/brake pedals. That may have had something to do with the lack of power.
I know one thing....the race seems the longest when you can see the finish line! Once I got to MD, WV, & VA it seemed like I was walking. I finally pulled in my house at 1:45am last night & could barely get out of the truck I was so sore! My back, ears, and rear end HURT! Took a quick shower & went to sleep.
950 +/- miles in 39 hours & $500+ in diesel.
No tickets. No birds flipped to me! No major problems.
I am NOT going to do that again! I will have stuff shipped, or maybe bring a M818 to get it. NEVER again will I pull something via deuce more than 100-150 miles again in my life.
And....to answer my own question about would a deuce pull a 5 ton? NOPE! Not more than 15-20 mph!
Here are some pics. More pics of the M109A3 tomorrow. No rust, No leaks, newer t-hawk tires, excellent condition!
***** Thanks to everyone that offered to help & did help me! It was very reassuring to know I wouldnt be completely alone out there if I ran into trouble! *****
Just to fill you in, in case you dont know....I bought a M109A3 in Ft Drum, NY (about 475 mies away from me). My "friends" were all jumping at the chance to drive my deuce home & I was going to drive the M109A3 home. BUT, 2 days before I had to leave, they all had reasons why they couldnt make it. SO....it changed to me going by myself in the deuce, hooking a towbar up, and dragging the M109 back to VA.
My plan was to leave Saturday, and split the trip to NY between sat/sun. That didnt happen. I didnt even get everything packed & loaded on Saturday. So bright and early at 8am, I loaded the rest of my supplies. At 10:30am I finally left my house.
I made it through VA, WV, & MD ok. A "little" slow at times (40-45mph) but other than that, it was ok. THEN I hit PA! I guess the PA Dept of Transportation had some funding cut, so their bright idea was to make "work zones" every 20 miles where I-81 would go to ONE LANE. I hit at LEAST 20 "work zones" through PA & the only actual work that was being done was at ONE BRIDGE! All the other work zones did not even have any equipment at them.
About 3/4 of the way through PA, traffic stopped in both lanes. Then it did the stop and go crap for 10 miles, then I saw the wonderful "right lane closed ahead" sign. Well, all the right hand lane cars kept butting in front of the left lane people & the left lane wouldnt move. I fixed that problem. I pulled up next to a tractor trailer & stopped. When he went, I went. All of a sudden there was no one in front of me within sight & MAGICALLY the left lane started moving. HAHAHA....rode out the rest of the way next to the truck driver & got a honk & a thumbs up when he let me in front of him. And....SURPRISE! NO WORK was being done! 3 guys standing next to some cones talking.Then I hit northern PA & Southern NY. Or as I like to call it....the land of hills. NO flat roads. Up and down, up and down.....and to think, I was complaining on the way there!
I finally got to Ft Drum at 12:30AM! Stopped by a couple hotels....everyone was $100. I said F'it! I slept in my deuce on the bench seat. I have the arctic multifuel heater & kept it on low.....AND had the windows down (45-50 degrees outside), and had to keep turning it and my truck off since it was so hot. Then would fall asleep and wake up 30 minutes later freezing & start the heater again. This process lasted until 6:30am when I got up and went to the base.
I was told to go to the gate at the 5th stoplight. I guess it would have helped had I counted them. I ended up going to the main gate, and was asked "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!", I said I was there to pick up a M109. He wanted to know where my ID & papers were. I showed him my VA drivers license & he looked at me like I was an idiot & said "WHY ARE YOU DRIVING THIS TRUCK!". I told him I owned it & I was going to tow the M109 home. He then checked my reg & insurance and let me through. No searching/no dogs/no nothing.
After aimlessly driving around the base for 20 minutes, I found a MP that pointed me in the right direction of the road I was looking for. Get there, and have to go left or right. Of course I picked the wrong way. Turned around, and finally found the GL site.
So...I park next to the road, and go in the GL office. Kevin the site manager walked me over to the M109 & it started right up. BUT.....4 flaaaaat tires & the other 6 were close to it. And when I say flat, I mean the rim was sunk in the mud flat. Walked down the row and took a quick look at the M818s I am waiting on my EUC for & then back to the M109. I then pulled my deuce in front of the M109 & aired up all the tires, pulled the deuce out of the way & pulled the M109 behind it.
Kevin then helped me hook the towbar up....but WHY would I think it would be that simple??? The pintle hitch on my deuce wouldnt latch shut because the cotter pin was bent underneath the top latch & was still showing on both sides. We pulled, pryed, & cursed it for 25 minutes until we finally got it out with a pair of vise grips. Luckily the M109 had a new cotter pin that was used on the deuce. I thanked Kevin for his help and headed out of the GL lot. HAHA! Not so fast! I went left and the M109 went right...I was pulling it through 12 inch deep sand! Kevin hopped in and steered it until it pulled straight. I went to pull onto the road and it did it again! I was thinking "WHAT HAVE I DONE?? 475 MILES TO GO!!). He straightened it out again & off I went. The gate I exited through was the one I was SUPPOSED to come in through. The "commercial" entrance. One line, 20 trucks deep, EVERY one getting searched with dogs! So my initial screw up probably saved me an hour and a half.
Pulled out onto the main road....worrying HOW I was going to stop if that thing kicked sideways. So I pulled over and called Offroadfabworks....he told me it was going in a different direction because of the unstable ground & advised me to pull the front and rear driveshafts. I made it to wal-mart thinking that it would be a quick job. HA! the front came off ok....I did it with a wrench & socket. The rear did not. I could not budge any of them.....so I got my air ratchet out....that wouldnt faze them....so I got my impact gun out. Started out low, but had to turn it ALL the way up to max torque & let the deuce air completely up on each bolt! Keep in mind, that is the same setting I change the lugnuts on my deuce with!
It pulled a lot easier once I had done that. By now it was 12:30pm & I HAD to get back to VA or I would miss my grandmothers funeral today. I-81 went ok until I got in central/southern NY.....then it turned back to hill country. When I say hill country, you need to imagine me in low range, in 2nd gear going 14mph on I-81 to get up some hills. Most of the time I ended up in 3rd going 28mph & if I was lucky, I got to stay in 4th going 45 or so. I hit up to 59MPH (on my GPS) going down steep mountains with it floored @ 2500 rpms.
And I thought the one lane work zones were fun on the way up! No where near as fun as pulling a M109 going 27mph with 3 miles of angry people behind you! OH....and the best part was, no 4 ways on the M109! I even brought working spares with me & it wouldnt work! So I just left the parking lights on and drove on down the road.
When I finally hit MD at 11pm last night I was almost dead. BUT...I had to keep truckin. At least I was out of the big up and down hills. Couldnt seem to break 50-51mph once I got out of hill country. I had a slight fuel leak when I left on sunday morning.....by monday evening the side of my truck was wet & fuel was coming in through the holes under the gas/brake pedals. That may have had something to do with the lack of power.
I know one thing....the race seems the longest when you can see the finish line! Once I got to MD, WV, & VA it seemed like I was walking. I finally pulled in my house at 1:45am last night & could barely get out of the truck I was so sore! My back, ears, and rear end HURT! Took a quick shower & went to sleep.
950 +/- miles in 39 hours & $500+ in diesel.
No tickets. No birds flipped to me! No major problems.
I am NOT going to do that again! I will have stuff shipped, or maybe bring a M818 to get it. NEVER again will I pull something via deuce more than 100-150 miles again in my life.
And....to answer my own question about would a deuce pull a 5 ton? NOPE! Not more than 15-20 mph!
Here are some pics. More pics of the M109A3 tomorrow. No rust, No leaks, newer t-hawk tires, excellent condition!
***** Thanks to everyone that offered to help & did help me! It was very reassuring to know I wouldnt be completely alone out there if I ran into trouble! *****
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