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M931A2 road march

plowboy

New member
52
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Location
kansas
Bought a M931A2 a few weeks ago at El Paso. I hired a friend of mine to retrieve it from there to where he is working, then wife and I went there for a visit, she brought pickup and trailer home by the route we took out with some other items we needed to transport, and I brought the truck via a slightly longer route past another friends, and picked up a piece of farm equipment to pull the rest of the way home.

Everything went well pretty much regarding the truck. Todd had a little unfortunate incident with the fuel selector valve the night he was on the road with it. I lost the stitching to the soft top when I met a bull wagon near Dodge City. Had to stop in town (met another friend for a few minutes) for a field expedient repair involving duct tape and ratchet straps. Heater works, truck drives nice, CTIS is a little flakey (truck drives nicer at CC then it does at highway, I learned accidentally) Truck runs about 63 on highway without any drama whatsoever.

My luck with the 40' fertilizer applicator I picked up to pull home was somewhat less stellar. I made it about 1/3 of the way home and blew a tire on it. I had planned trip pretty well...had everything with me...overlooked the fact that we were coming home via two separate routes on different days....had to call a field service truck to help me change tires. Would have needed him anyway as the lugs did not want to let go. Got all the tires off the wings of the applicator and put them on the mainframe. The main frame was scuffing the tires due to wear in the trunion pins. I made it to about half way home and blew another tire. Unhooked at a friendly farm and ran the rest of the way home bobtail.

Total road march of 1203 miles in four days, with three overnights. The truck had about 200 miles on it since overhaul when my friend got in the seat. The mileage at OH is printed on a plaque on the dash, and I have the beginning mileage from Todd's log book entry.

I don't know about him, but I can tell you that when I parked the rig at night, I was NOT that guy on the TV ad who says "my back feels good, and my bottom feels good." I guess I need to get one of those pillows!
 

plowboy

New member
52
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Location
kansas
I'm pretty happy with it. Haven't really found anything wrong other then the CTIS and the stitching. It drives a lot nicer and is a lot quieter then I expected.
 

M35A2-AZ

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
3,221
392
83
Location
Tonopah, AZ
Nice looking truck. You can take the top to a canvas shop and get it repaired for about $35.
I have noticed after you drive the trucks with the CTIS it starts working better some times.
 

plowboy

New member
52
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0
Location
kansas
My wife said she thought the shoe shop or the tarp shop might be able to machine stitch it. I am skeptical because it needs to be stitched through the holes that are in the plastic strip on front. I think she is going to give hand stitching a try, first, so that we don't have to take it off and deal with trying to handle it on the table. If that doesn't work, it'll probably go to Girard Tarps to get sewn up.
 

mcmullag

Member
919
13
18
Location
Colorado Springs, CO region
Same thing happened with my cab cover's leading edge on 800 mile retrieval trip this past Tuesday, got it home with duct tape. I then did what friend said to fix it and it worked, already tested it again at 60 mph and the top held on. Use Gorilla Glue, clean up the area, dampen it, apply glue, careful, it seems to expand. Clamped two, 2 ft sections of two by four on top of it to hold it down using c clamps holding at top of windshield glass grabbing onto hinge area and other end on top of 2x4, let sit for about 6 hrs. Best of luck to you, nice tractor.
 

plowboy

New member
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Location
kansas
We had Girard Tarps stitch it up. Tractor was used several times pulling stuff out, and then was on lowboy most of the summer moving excavator and dozer around. I find it especially handy moving the excavator as you can generally pull it clear to the work site if it's not too muddy. If working in the middle of a section that can save a half hour of walking at 2 mph in the hoe.
 
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