M925A2 NC to AZ: 2400 mile Road Trip...

[dtcohen]

its a little late now, but if you need any help around Salisbury NC I have a shop you can use

 

[Sirblissfull]

Give me a call if you have problems in or around Albuquerque, NM before Wednesday night. No shop ATM but I know a good shop in the area and can supply trans in case of break down to get parts.

After that I am heading to Houston for the weekend will be back Monday or Tuesday.

Pm sent

 

[AMGeneral]

Again,late entry here,I am just off I-40(1 mile) at exit 106(once you get past Greensboro) if you need any assistance.

Brandon

 

[steelsoldiers]

I talked to David this morning. It was a little hard to hear over the roar of the Michelin XL's in the background, but he said they drove all night and were somewhere in Alabama. The truck seems to be running well so far.

 

[19kilo]

Just an update, Jay aka bulldog_mack didn't ditch us, I canceled in favor of flexibility, since I wasn't sure what would go on when. We stopped finally at a motel in Vickensburg on the border of MS and LA. About another 1380 miles to go. Truck is running well although lately getting a little hot. First 750 miles were brutal because it turned out there was still one counter weight on the front left which was causing a body jarring shake. Figured it out and took it off and switched fuel filters. Might need to locate another before were done. Boy is the truck DIRTY!! Getting all sorts of dirt in the eyes while we drive, I feel like I need aviator goggles... . Still a few leaks I haven't had time to track down, I now we went thru about 2 quarts of oil in about 1000 miles. But she is still running and while I drive I've been thinking of all the things I want to do for (to) her. Ok I'm wasting sleep time typing this on my blackberry, 5am will come early, anyone in TX or route 20 to 10 from here just in case?

 

[bulldog_mack13]

Thanks, I was a little put off at what was said. My Wife and I emptied out the car, took the kids to day care right when I talked to David and he told me that they wanted to rent a car. I hope we all understand. No problem david, I was glad to help out if you needed it buddy - Jay

 

[Recovry4x4]

2 quarts of oil? I spilled out 4 gallons on my 643 mile ride to GA and back Sunday. Good luck guys, awesome trip!

 

[steelsoldiers]

Whoops, my bad Jay. Guess I got the story wrong. Sorry.

David, glad you figured out the wheel weight issue. I couldn't remember if there was one on there or not when you called this morning. It had been too long since I had last looked at it to remember for sure.

If the temp is coming up on you, then the radiator may need flushed out again. When I first drove the truck it would run up to 200-210* range pretty quickly. Turns out there was a ton of rust in the engine when I got the truck because it had been sitting open for a long time. I flushed it multiple times and the temps never went up again. Some more junk may have been stirred up with the hard running. Is the fan clutch kicking on? The -10 manual says normal operating temps are 190-200* F.

Keep on trucking and let us know when you make it!

 

[papabear]

Hmmm...looks like that tanker dude bypassed the compound...prolly afraid us Grunts would ambush him

 

[steelsoldiers]

It's been a pretty crazy day for David and his co-driver. I am going to try to get the details right, but I'm sure I'll miss something since we talked mostly through text messages. The guys were somewhere in east TX when the truck seemed to lose power. The guys pulled over to make sure there wasn't a fuel leak or worse. Everything looked OK from the outside, but then the engine sputtered and died while they were walking around. Unfortunately, the exit they pulled off on was pretty deserted and there were no service stations close by. David thought the truck ran out of fuel so he had no choice but to call a service truck to bring him some fuel. The fuel gauge was still showing half a tank so maybe there was another problem. I suggested the primary fuel filter may be plugged so David pulled the housing off to see. The filter was nasty so it was definitely causing a fuel restriction. I started searching the net for a civi filter number and found some numbers, but I eventually called John Winslow to be sure. In the meantime, David found a small hole in the fuel line that ran from the primary filter to the fuel pump. He wasn't able to repair it or find a replacement filter so he hitched a ride with the service truck driver to a parts place to have a new hose made that would bypass the filter and replace the leaking hose. After about 5 hours beside the road, they were able to get it primed and running again. He was outside of Dallas when I last heard from them. Hopefully, they'll make it in at a decent hour tomorrow and still have time for some turkey. Please keep them in your prayers everyone!

 

[Andydieselpower]

Glad to hear the truck is up and running again! I love reading these 1,000+ journey posts. I was also glad to see somebody bought Chris's truck. Have a great Thanksgiving guys.
Andy

 

[19kilo]

Update

Update…11/26/2010 2pm
Made it! Guy dropped me off at my truck at the airport lot and drove the truck to his work where his truck was at. I’ll pick it up after Monday when I can hopefully get it legal. Yes we drove over 2400 miles without (title, tags or even a temp)(but I did have my insurance!).
Just a slight correction to the story last posted by Chris. I sent the service guy out to look for a fuel hose because after patching it back up and bypassing the primary fuel filter it ran at first and then stopped running. It turned out to have a hole in the intake hose, hence his running to the nearest town about 15 miles away to get a fuel hose. The nearest primary filter according to his checking around was over 100 miles away and most of that in the opposite direction we wanted to go. I was thinking like checkers auto for a regular hose or some such, maybe $20-$30 dollars. But it turned out that everyone was closed and he just caught the last guy as he was leaving the shop to make the custom hose $130 dollars, who was grumbling cause he had to turn the system back on to sell it. That did the trick. So the layover was about $450 when done and Ken from ELK Industrial Engine Service based out of Kilgore TX knocked off $40 (or most of the 20 gallons of fuel he got for us). He roams all the way from Dallas, to some place in MS for his business. If you are in that general area and need help, he is real Knowledgeable about diesel engines. His contact is 903-984-8164 (no he doesn’t know I’m advocating him).

So that set us a little over 5 hours behind. We ended up in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area around 10ish pm. Up until this time we had been checked out by several police cars, a couple even coming right up to our bumper to probably read the lettering, before leaving us alone. But that wasn’t the case in Dallas. I had a feeling that something might happen here. Big city, lots of cops. We passed one cop after another just had shortly before tailed us a little ways. The cop we passed must have just finished up because he came up to us along I 20 and pulled us over. If we had still had our service ID, he would have sent us along our way without further problems. It seems they have been having a problem with theft of vehicles from a post not far away and since it was night, and we were without other military vehicles, he wanted to investigate. Officer Cummins was his name, and he was very polite and professional and also a big military vehicle enthusiast! He noted that the GVW was over that for a normal driver’s license and pointed it out but didn’t make an issue of it, plus I mentioned that I have a CDL. He recognized my M46 from having been on Ebay many months ago and talked a lot about trucks, military and politics. My friend Guy is big into politics and was a fountain of information for them to collaborate on, and they talked for about an hour right next to I 20. He just gave us a warning and wished us a safe trip. We invited him to SS, but he didn’t seem to think he would, but you never know. We left there about 12:30am and continued along the way.

We drove all night and into Thanksgiving, stopping only for fuel, food, and potty breaks. Towards the end of the trip we had added a little over 2 gallons of oil, 4 containers of Power Steering Fluid, and about ½-1 gallon of water to the truck. We had stopped at over 5 places to get the drive’s side rear counter weight removed( before we found one that could do it), and while it helped, the truck developed a bounce afterwards that makes me think either a tire had developed a problem or there was something else out of alignment that was causing the uncomfortable jarring. Along the Mexican border we passed thru a mandatory vehicle stop, but they just waved us thru. Along the TX-NM border area the top started ripping off, so for about twenty miles I was holding on to it with pliers until we found a place to get gorilla tape and tape it up. We parked it in the sun to heat the top up since it was a cold 40ish degrees outside and windy, but sunny. After having a turkey dinner at the truck stop, we taped it up real good and it held for the rest of the trip.
At our last fuel stop in WIllcox AZ at around 6:30pm, we had a temporary frustration because the lights wouldn’t come back on and it was frigging cold outside, below freezing and really windy. But we got it figured out, Guy had hit the high low beam with his foot and since only high beams were working on it, the lights would come on until he toggled the switch again. There were other issues not including running out of money due to running way over budget, which in the end it would have been cheaper to wait for my shipper to ship it, but this way I got to get a really good feel for the truck although my co-pilot feels differently . All in all, I’m glad its over, and next time I do a trip like that, I’d prefer not to have to push it and just take my time, stopping to see many of you who offered help, make a vacation of such out of it. (and have more money reserves!) But I’m home, and now it is back to work to pay for it and then start the long road to fixing it up. J
I didn't take nearly the amount of pictures I thought I would, but here are the ones from my camera, and I have a few more from my blackberry but haven't imported them yet.

 

[AceHigh]

Great story! Now get some rest.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[steelsoldiers]

All I have to say is Amen! I am very glad you guys made it home safely. It's hard to believe that truck went from a pile of parts to a truck that could make a 2400 mile trip without too many problems. That was definitely a good shake down run! I can't wait to see all of the great things you will do to it. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

 

[DWagg]

I love reading these stories. IF I get a particular M925 that I've had my eyes on for a while my trip wont be nearly as far. only about 200 miles. I know this post is like 5+ years old now but I'm still pretty green. Just reading up all the good stuff here while I continue to wait on my #&%@$ EUC to clear for my Humvee.... thanks for sharing.