My BIG M925A2 Project Truck Is Home

[steelsoldiers]

Another parts hunt update. I found the o-rings for the A2 wheels on the Gempler's website: http://www.gemplers.com/product/OR20JM/One-OR20JM-Highway-O-Ring-rim-dia-20 You can't beat em for $2.90 a piece. I used one when replacing a tire on my 923A2 and it worked great.

• A2 Rim O-ring - OR20JM

 

[steelsoldiers]

No worries Chris, the parts are just sitting in my barn. I know I have an oil cooler thingy(that looks pretty cool), some axle seals and wipers, some kind of air filters that go inline with the air filter replacement gauge thing, some bearings and races, and U-joints that are HUGE. I haven't looked any farther.

Gimp, when you get a chance, can you get me pics of the oil cooler and the air filters? I think I will get those from you along with the wipers. I'll look up the rest of the NSN's next week and see if I need the bearings or seals. Thanks!

My parts pile is getting huge! Between the parts and all of the tools, the Excursion will be stuffed on Sunday! One of the first things Chad and I will be doing is installing the fuel-burning heater that I got from Bjorn. We'll have some heat under the dash to keep us warm while we are working on the wiring

I'm taking the shop-vac too. I'm going to clean out the whole cab and then we are going to mount a couple of doors and stretch a tarp across the cab to keep things dry after we start getting everything installed in the dash.

I'll be sure to get another video of the engine this time. We'll have the wiring fixed so I'll be able to slave it over and get more juice to the starter. I'm putting a new oil filter on it and I'll pre-fill it before installing it. That way we'll get oil right to the pump and will hopefully make some oil pressure this time. Fingers are crossed!!

 

[gimpyrobb]

Chris, I have MASSIVE amonts of different air filters. Got a rough measurement? Height and width? Pics in a min...

 

[gimpyrobb]

Oil cooler, NSN 2930-00-701-2091

packing retainer, NSN 6330-00-785-7894

I couldn't find it till I searched the packing retainer for it(I have lots of the retainers if anyone wants any).

In this link, they are parts #3 and #5:
http://www.tpub.com/content/trucks5ton/TM-9-2320-272-24P-1/TM-9-2320-272-24P-10108.htm

 

[steelsoldiers]

Thanks a bunch Gimp ,but they are for the 939/A1 trucks with the NHC250 Cummins. I'm sure some of the other guys will take them off of your hands. I'll let you know about the rest of the stuff.

 

[Monkeyboyarmy]

Chris.Great info on the 20" o-rings.These are for the A2 wheels?Please help me understand the difference.Are the A2's the 10 bolt or the 20 bolt wheels?I believe the o-rings are different for each.Thanks,Greg

 

[steelsoldiers]

Chris.Great info on the 20" o-rings.These are for the A2 wheels?Please help me understand the difference.Are the A2's the 10 bolt or the 20 bolt wheels?I believe the o-rings are different for each.Thanks,Greg

Hi Greg,
The A2 rims have larger clamp-ring studs and a redesigned clamp ring along with smaller 1/4" o-rings. The A1 rims use a fatter o-ring that is around 5/16" in diameter. They both use 10 studs to secure the clamp rings. There has been some discussion on this before and a search may turn up some photos for you. If not, I will snap some on Sunday and post them.
Chris

 

[Monkeyboyarmy]

Thanks Chris.I'll have to figure out which ones I have on the 923.I've got got 4 of the 10 stud on the back and 2 of the 20 stud on the front.I also have 6 extra wheels for future projects.I'll pick up a few of those o-rings just to have on the shelf.Good luck with your project.If I notice any A2 parts on the shelf,I'll let you know.

 

[steelsoldiers]

Work Day!!

I started off the day by leaving the house at 5 am for a 2 hour drive in the rain to Jay aka Bulldog_Mack's house to drop off my M105A2 trailer. Thanks Jay.

From there, it was an hour back up 95 to Winslow's with more rain. I got to John's around 8:30 and guess what, yep, it was raining. It rained pretty much all day, which made for a miserable, yet productive work day.

Chad had a trailer behind his truck with his 4wd tractor in it. He was bringing it to me so I can do some landscaping. He pulled over about 2 miles from John's to check the load and promptly got stuck in the soft dirt on the side of the road. I gave him a quick tug with a strap hooked to the X and he was free. Sorry Chad, no pics

After we got to John's, Chad got the HQ set up. He brought a genset, propane torpedo heater, and a Coleman stove for a hot lunch. There was a quadcon close by so we set the heater up in there so we could have a warm, dry place to work on stuff and to dry ourselves out. The genset was set up under a deuce bed with a piece of steel roofing over it.

We decided to mount a windshield, 2 doors, and a soft top in order to protect the cab from the elements. There is a bunch of stuff to be done in the cab so we needed it to be dry. There was an old winshield on a 939 parts truck. It's not bad, but the rail that holds the soft top on is pretty rusty. I will replace it eventually. One of the doors was new and the other was a good take-off. The soft top was laying on the ground and had been run over a few times, but it will work to keep it dry It's really starting to look like a truck now.

We took a break for lunch. Chad fired up the Coleman stove and cooked some beef stew and some grilled ham/cheese sandwiches. Thanks for the hot lunch brother!!

While Chad was fighting with some door hinges, I drained about 10 gallons of water and 10 gallons of nasty muck from the fuel tank. We put 5 gallons of fresh diesel in there in preparation for starting the truck. I also drained and filled the fuel-burning heater's fuel filter. I am hoping to get it fired off on Wednesday to help dry the cab out.

We got Chad packed up and he headed out around 4 pm. I spent the last hour of daylight replacing the rusty air compressor with my rebuilt one. It looks sweet. I just need to get the lines buttoned up and the PS pump put back on.

I am headed back on Wednesday around noon for another work session. I am hoping to get the cab in better shape with a better seat, different battery box, a dash cluster, and some wiring fixes. Fun, fun, fun!!

 

[steelsoldiers]

More pics!

Pics, pics, pics....

Truck as I left it and the nice muddy field that we slogged through all day

 

[WillWagner]

Hey Chris, make sure you put the support on the bottom of the compressor, if not, you'll be changing a gear housing pretty quick.

 

[steelsoldiers]

Hey Chris, make sure you put the support on the bottom of the compressor, if not, you'll be changing a gear housing pretty quick.

Thanks Will. It's on there, but you can't see it because of the angle of the picture. I didn't get a chance to turn the engine over any more. Hopefully I'll get some of the wiring straightened out on Wednesday and be able to give it another go around.

 

[rockman]

Chris, you guys are taking on quite a project. I think that your truck would be a challenge for even the big guys... Certainly humbles us duece guys doing our PMs...

Keep up the good work, Bill

 

[steelsoldiers]

Thanks Bill. It is a lot more work than deuce PM, but man, it is satisfying to resurrect one from residue to reliable driver status!

 

[Boatcarpenter]

Sooo Chris, I suppose you will be wanting to keep the Seabee mudflaps
BC

 

[steelsoldiers]

Sooo Chris, I suppose you will be wanting to keep the Seabee mudflaps
BC

Yessir! It'll be getting the SeaBee stencil on the doors too like my 923A2.

I am trying to decide whether to keep the trailer hitch frame that was added onto the truck by the SeaBees. It's not original to the truck, but it is an official military add-on. It would be handy for towing an equipment trailer with my brother's M37 on it.

 

[Oldvw2]

Chad had a trailer behind his truck with his 4wd tractor in it. He was bringing it to me so I can do some landscaping. He pulled over about 2 miles from John's to check the load and promptly got stuck in the soft dirt on the side of the road. I gave him a quick tug with a strap hooked to the X and he was free. Sorry Chad, no pics

You know, I thought to myself as the strap was playing out "what a great photo for Steelsoldiers!" But...the camera was at home I'm just glad I didn't have to hike to John's in that friggin' rain to bum something large and OD with a winch on it!

I am looking forward to tackling the dash wiring next - especially once we get the fuel fired cab heater working.

Chad

 

[steelsoldiers]

I'm hoping there won't be a next time, but if there is, I'll make dang sure my camera is on hand!

I'm going to try and fire the heater up on Wednesday if all of the wiring is there. That sucker should have the cab dried out pretty quickly!

On a crappy note, it looks like we'll be swapping out the battery box. I noticed that several of the loops that the j-bolts hook to were rusted off of the base. Doh! That probably means the cab floor is rusted under the box. I think that truck has had more than a few swims in salt water. Arghhh!!!

 

[Oldvw2]

On a crappy note, it looks like we'll be swapping out the battery box. I noticed that several of the loops that the j-bolts hook to were rusted off of the base. Doh! That probably means the cab floor is rusted under the box. I think that truck has had more than a few swims in salt water. Arghhh!!!

Soldier A must have ignored the dash sticker that states "steam cleaning will remove rustproofing"

That is the only bad thing I have noticed about Seabee trucks - lots of saltwater issues. Still, this one is not near as bad as that Dare County Sheriff's Office or the USN Beachmaster truck cabs are.....
Chad

 

[steelsoldiers]

Soldier A must have ignored the dash sticker that states "steam cleaning will remove rustproofing"

That is the only bad thing I have noticed about Seabee trucks - lots of saltwater issues. Still, this one is not near as bad as that Dare County Sheriff's Office or the USN Beachmaster truck cabs are.....
Chad

LOL, I love the irony of that sticker.

The good news is that the floor is mostly flat steel sheeting with very few bends or cuts. The cab superstructure is still solid so it should be fairly easy (with lots of Kroil) to pull the seats, battery box, shifter, brake lever, etc.... and then plasma cut out the bad metal and weld in some new. Probably 12-14 gauge mild steel?

That DCSO truck is like swiss cheese, but I think the battery box is actually pretty solid. I'll check it out Wednesday.