M35A3 Owners unite

[RealCavDog]

Hey Moto ! Any chance there are differences in the final production numbers ? I truly doubt it, but as an old parts guy, this is really got me stumped !

 

[BIGDDV]

we pulled all 6 hubs to repack wheel bearings and replaced the inner oring hub to backingplate seal but did not replace the seals between the bearings. Brakes looked like new.

 

[motomacguyver]

It looks like I may have messed up. I used the x rings that I bought from the Mil-surp dealer, not the Mc mastercarr ones. Since reading this I opened the Mc mastercarr ones and they are too large. The label on the bag is unreadable, and I will have to take my hubs apart to find out the size of the old ones. (I pitched the old parts awhile ago) Soooo. If you can measure yours that would be great.

My most sincere apologies.


Moto.

 

[camp9]

It looks like I may have messed up. I used the x rings that I bought from the Mil-surp dealer, not the Mc mastercarr ones. Since reading this I opened the Mc mastercarr ones and they are too large. The label on the bag is unreadable, and I will have to take my hubs apart to find out the size of the old ones. (I pitched the old parts awhile ago) Soooo. If you can measure yours that would be great.

My most sincere apologies.


Moto.

Not a problem, If this is the worst thing that can happen today I'll be very happy.

 

[RealCavDog]

It looks like I may have messed up. I used the x rings that I bought from the Mil-surp dealer, not the Mc mastercarr ones. Since reading this I opened the Mc mastercarr ones and they are too large. The label on the bag is unreadable, and I will have to take my hubs apart to find out the size of the old ones. (I pitched the old parts awhile ago) Soooo. If you can measure yours that would be great.

My most sincere apologies.


Moto.

Not a problem at all ! Once we get all this figured out, we can go back and edit all our posts and add a new post alerting those of the change ! This is the exact reason we all work together and get it all figured out !

And copy and paste gets it to ALL the threads and websites we all work in !

 

[RealCavDog]

O.K. ! After a busy afternoon of research, again, I cleaned up the old trusty dial micrometer, measured, researched, measured again, then compared all the available charts, MEASURED AGAIN ! . . . . and here is what I think I need !

The newly ordered x-rings I ordered fit around the originals with a very little bit of free play, and after all the measuring and comparing and number crunching . . . the very closest and what I believe to be the actual needed part number looks to be the following from the McMaster-Carr website.

AS568A Dash Number 235 , dimensions as follows ; 3 1/8 X 3 3/8 , Fractional , OR , 3.109 X 3.387 , Actual

Will edit to add actual part number in a bit after I convert it, hate to lose this info while researching !



90025K467 $6.81 for a pack of 10 ! Plus shipping ! Hope this is it, Has to be much closer than the others, and as close as I could find from ANY source on the web !

 

[glcaines]

It looks like I may have messed up. I used the x rings that I bought from the Mil-surp dealer, not the Mc mastercarr ones. Since reading this I opened the Mc mastercarr ones and they are too large. The label on the bag is unreadable, and I will have to take my hubs apart to find out the size of the old ones. (I pitched the old parts awhile ago) Soooo. If you can measure yours that would be great. My most sincere apologies.Moto.

It looks like I made the same mistake. I ordered new AM General inner seals/X-rings from Terry McClanahan, which I've used on my A3. I also ordered the following Buna-N O-rings from McMaster Carr:
P/N
9452K149 Dash 143 O-ring
9452K158 Dash 151 O-ring
90025K396 Dash 238 X-ring 3.484" ID and 3.762 OD

I used the X-rings from Terry and the O-rings from McMaster Carr. The McMaster Carr X-rings were so close in size to the AMG ones I didn't notice they were wrong. The Dash 143 and Dash 151 O-rings from McMaster Carr are correct. One note, the new X-rings from AM General were semi-clear in color and appeared to be made of silicone, but I don't know if that is important or not.

 

[BadMastard]

Tire and o-ring update.

After getting 4 new rims, I put 395's on the m35a3. With a few hundred miles on them now, I can report that I LOVE driving the truck on the freeway. I had 5 great working rims, and two with leaks that were still being problematic. That got solved today with new buna n orings from mcmaster carr. I had ordered a few mil surplus orings and they seemed to work on most of the rims, but these two. Here's the specs.
Mil 5331-01-314-7598 ----------------McMaster-Carr 9452k491
RUBBER SYNTHETIC ------------------ Buna-N
18.862 INCHES MINIMUM AND -------18.955"
19.042 INCHES MAXIMUM
0.205 INCHES --------------------------0.210"

You can see the mcmaster were slightly greater diameter and very close in length. Cost- 12.52 for pack of 5.

Bingo, tire seals up just fine.

Also, truck is very well behaved on the 395's. Little less drift, little more turning power required. So I finally found and fixed the leaky air line going to the air steering controller. Bingo, all better.

Haven't noticed any rubbing or downside yet. Did notice it's a bit harder to get on top of the front bumper though. I can live with that!

 

[glcaines]

Tire Dismounting on A3 Using Tractor With Forks

I finally got around to dismounting my passenger side rear tire on my A3 today. I don't know how anyone does this without a tractor with forks. It makes the job extremely easy, both dismounting and remounting. Unfortunately, in my case I discovered that my wheel was severely damaged by corrosion. No damage was visible from the exterior. The lip that seals against the O-ring was corroded to the point that about 1/16" of metal was missing for about 5 inches. The rest of the inside of the wheel halves was also severely corroded. I also found the valve stem grommet rotten with the nut finger-tight, which seems to be the standard condition for those grommets on A3 wheels. Fortunately, I already had an almost new complete A3 wheel that I was able to use. New grommet, new O-ring, some tire mounting lube, and I was back in business. Now I think I'll look for another A3 wheel to keep if needed in the future.

 

[1 Patriot-of-many]

I use a long pole from an old trampoline to dismount them (put underneath as a lever)and a piece of wood to roll them onto and wiggle my way onto the studs. Been able to do them by myself so far. WISH I had a forklift. I have yet to get my rims apart but looks like the way to do it!

 

[glcaines]

I use a long pole from an old trampoline to dismount them (put underneath as a lever)and a piece of wood to roll them onto and wiggle my way onto the studs. Been able to do them by myself so far. WISH I had a forklift. I have yet to get my rims apart but looks like the way to do it!

I do almost the same thing. I have a 5 foot pry bar that is designed to move heavy machinery. Damaging the stud threads is a real possibility and prying with a bar can get the wheel on without even touching the threads if one is careful.

 

[CanonNinja]

a new record high number? 505519

 

[hndrsonj]

a new record high number?

Is that 5519 or 5319? If it's 5519 you have the last one out. See this thread. http://www.steelsoldiers.com/deuce/65890-last-deuces-service.html

 

[EXITNOONE]

THAT'S A 55... with some scratching in the 2nd 5

 

[glcaines]

I do almost the same thing. I have a 5 foot pry bar that is designed to move heavy machinery. Damaging the stud threads is a real possibility and prying with a bar can get the wheel on without even touching the threads if one is careful.

I re-read Patriot's post and I think my post on using the tractor with the forks was mis-understood. When disassembling an A3 wheel and removing the tire, it is very easy if you have a fork truck available, or as in my case, a tractor with forks. You can press down on the tire with the forks to move the tire on and off the wheel half. It makes a miserable job a lot less miserable. You can completely break down an A3 wheel and tire in this way, replace the valve stem grommet and o-ring and have it back together in only a few minutes, assuming there are not other problems, like a rusty wheel. I also use a liberable amount of tire lube on the wheel and tire.

 

[EXITNOONE]

VIN-DICATED !!!!!!!!!

FINALLY... after 6 months of going back and forth between california department of motor vehicles, california highway patrol, southern california aaa, maryland motor vehicle administration, talking with you other A3 owners on here, 2 temporary registration extensions...

and then due to universal irony, getting the same $%#@* inspection officer & dmv clerk that originally rejected my registration due to the 6 digit VIN and the dmv's policy of not climbing onto vehicles for inspections to check the emission sticker on the engine...

FINALLY MY A3 IS OFFICIALLY REGISTERED !!!!!!!!!!!!

i was able to use the original 6 digit VIN and get some sort of un-climactic pay back on the 2 government idiots who cost me 6 months of time over 6 digits.

here's a cell phone photo of my A3 conquering the dmv's parking lot and laying waste to the compact size striped parking spaces.

now all i need to do is think of the perfect veterans license plate & get it ordered...

 

[Maverick1701]

congratulations sir!

Im glad to hear it finally worked out for ya!

thats one sharp looking truck too

 

[EXITNOONE]

MAVERICK- thank you !!!!

wait until i add more photos & details on my build thread...
i've been holding off on that until i sorted out the government paperwork & got right with the state.

i posted the victory dance here so the other A3 guys having registration issues similar to mine don't get discouraged with their trucks. to those guys... the best thing you can do is make sure you have all the supporting paperwork & info you can find on your A3. not only did i get back up letters from maryland mva, but i also had print outs from steel soldiers & erik at erik's military surplus, all validating the fact that A3's have a simple 6 digit VIN. with that, california dmv & chp couldn't argue the facts.

TRANSMISSION TEMPS.... earlier i asked A3 owners to post their transmission temps & running conditions for comparative reference. today, with the weather cooler, mine stayed around 250º F with freeway driving at 48-50 mph.

VOLTMETER- i noticed my voltmeter skipping into the red overcharge area for a few minutes at various intervals while driving on the freeway. i'm suspecting my voltage regulator is going bad. i'll have to test it & the alternator with a multimeter to see if anything is off.

anybody else notice their voltmeter skip up when engine rpm's are at 2500 ??

i would suspect that is exactly what the voltage regulator is supposed to prevent from happening.

 

[wyocommo]

My A3 arrived today (1-1-12) so count me in!

 

[HFDm715]

I am calling eriks surplus today for valve stem grommets, I was going to pick up a O ring for the rim from him too, but it apears from reading these posts i would be bettter getting the orings from Mcmaster carr, is this correct?

Duane

and the Mcmaster carr part number is 9452K491, correct? actually, they are open till tomorrow, so i have until then to verify, Thanks