m38inmaine
Well-known member
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- Location
- Maine USA
It was a long cold trip but my first deuce is home. It took 12 hours to get there, stayed the night right across from the DRMS gate. Arrived at 7:30 as scheduled and then the fun begins. GL has a little 8 1/2x11 paper sign on a building door, find a office in a corner of the warehouse, find secretary who says you need to go to the scrap yard and find a guy in a white ford ranger, after prying his name out of them found the yard and he took me to the truck. It was very cold, 1 degree or so, he said do what you need to do and check in before you leave. After an hour or so of changing tires, mirrors, batteries adding fluids etc we left. Not much of a check out, sign and date a copy of the invoice. It was a good feeling being clear of the base. Went to Saturn surplus first and met with them and got a bunch of parts. Then went to Colemans and bought a snatch block for $35 and some other stuff. Really wanted a tool trailer and they had a really nice clean one up front. It was painted some sort of equipment yellow but it was in perfect shape, $500 would have bought it but it was so cold and with the long trip ahead I passed, probably regret that decision. Left colemans at about noon and headed east. Landed home at 6:30am the next morning. With no heater and a drafty cab it was like riding a snowmobile from PA to Maine. I had a small coleman heater in the cab but it wasnt much help. I put two new tires and shocks on the front but at around 45-55 I had a violent wheel shimmy, backed of the throttle and it would go away, it would come back and leave with no warning, by the time I got to Maine it went away. No play at all in the steering so not sure if I had a bent wheel, bad tire or what. The double spline axel and lockout hub was a good idea, I was passing trucks going up steep grades and easily maintained 55 up hills without having to shift. The rear tires were another issue, at about 40 I had a vibration on those as well, again the extreme cold could be a factor and a couble were cupped and one was a bit dry rotted. I used 75 gallons of fuel which showed 9.3mpg which I thought was good. The only mechanical problem I had is the rear main seal leak finally reached a class III leak in Conn. and oil was pouring out of the bell housing drain hole when stopped, it leaked about a half pint then stopped to a steady drip, the clutch started to slip on steep grades in Maine but if I backed off a bit it would catch again. Looks like when things warm up I have a clutch to replace and a few seals. All the original documents on the previous unit inspection was in the truck, it belonged to the SVC battery 1/258 FA new york national guard, all the faults were listed and man hours to repair, mostly seals and tire faults. Overall I am happy that the engine and transmission are strong and no rust or body damage to repair. As I said it was very cold but I did manage to get a few pictures, some on another camera and I will post them later.
