Pappa-G
Member
- 378
- 4
- 18
- Location
- Central, MI
I will try and keep this saga short and to the point. In late 2007 I perchased a M818 from GL in PA. Had the truck towed by Westfolk to Michigan (Thank you Westfolk!). Had to repair a fowel running engine (bent push rod) with the help of WilWagner(Thank you Wil!). Ran it for a hundred miles or so then the throw out bearing took a dump. It then sat over the winter till I could replace the bearing. Meanwhile I stumbled across a set of 16X20 XL's very local and very cheap! Picked up a M105 out of Lansing DRMO. And while helping Ranchhopper out on a tractor recon, kind of set things up for a very nice set of rims for the big meats (Thank you Ranchhopper!). Armada was nice enough to squeeze some time out of his busy schedual to drive out to Westfolks and pick up a set of 5ton front springs (Thank you Armada!) and I am sure Joseph was happy to see them go. Oh I picked up a soft top frame from TedG (Thank you Ted!) And got that mounted.
I took a week off from work and with an engine hoist and a come-along, I did my M818 mod!
I have the big "deer hunting club" trip coming up in November so I wanted to give the rig a proper shakedown. So with National Guard training this past weekend at Camp Grayling it seemed the perfect road trip.
I arrived In Grand ledge at 16:30 and told the LT that I would drive my POV and had extra space available incase anyone ran out of room. Well after I got the whoal flight platoons gear secured it was time to hit the road for the 165 mile trip. The LT look at me oddly when I told him I would just follow the convoy up(By this time it had gotten dark and only a couple of the guys knew what I was driving.)
Well the truck ran GREAT all the way up with no issues. We did 60mph and I was directly behind a Fuel HEMMTT made one stop in Clare Got there unloaded and went to the hooch for the night.
Saturday morning the talk over breakfast was "who drove that truck up?" and "What the hell kind of truck is it?"
Did the aircraft maintenance stuff throughout the day and sat through your standard "training briefs".
That late afternoon the motor SGT was crawling all over the truck asking all sorts of questions, it was pretty cool. We did some quick 2 tracks around the airfield that evening till dark.
The next morning it was load up gear, launch aircraft and head for home (back to Grand Ledge). It was a brisk 22degrees F that morning cold enough for the coffee to freeze in the cup. Every thing was looking good until one of the pilots called me on the radio saying that the helocopter wouldn't start. He had tried twice and was getting a hot start condition. We needed a way to warm up the engine but had no heaters available and no electricity on the flightline.
This is where all those years of watching McGuiver payed off. I went to a maintence building and grabbed a box that held 8 foot long shop light bulbs. I cut off both ends stuck one end of the box over the exhaust outlet on the truck and pointed the other at the fuel control unit in the engine compartment. After 10 minutes at high idle the turbine had warmed up enough to start with out issues. Not something you could do with your fancy low exhaust LMTV, thank you very much. Made it back to the Ledge and home with out an issue!
So to all the Steele Soldier members that have helped me out in one way or another on this project, I say "thank you". Your dedication to your hobby helped us complete our mission!
I took a week off from work and with an engine hoist and a come-along, I did my M818 mod!
I have the big "deer hunting club" trip coming up in November so I wanted to give the rig a proper shakedown. So with National Guard training this past weekend at Camp Grayling it seemed the perfect road trip.
I arrived In Grand ledge at 16:30 and told the LT that I would drive my POV and had extra space available incase anyone ran out of room. Well after I got the whoal flight platoons gear secured it was time to hit the road for the 165 mile trip. The LT look at me oddly when I told him I would just follow the convoy up(By this time it had gotten dark and only a couple of the guys knew what I was driving.)
Well the truck ran GREAT all the way up with no issues. We did 60mph and I was directly behind a Fuel HEMMTT made one stop in Clare Got there unloaded and went to the hooch for the night.
Saturday morning the talk over breakfast was "who drove that truck up?" and "What the hell kind of truck is it?"
Did the aircraft maintenance stuff throughout the day and sat through your standard "training briefs".
That late afternoon the motor SGT was crawling all over the truck asking all sorts of questions, it was pretty cool. We did some quick 2 tracks around the airfield that evening till dark.
The next morning it was load up gear, launch aircraft and head for home (back to Grand Ledge). It was a brisk 22degrees F that morning cold enough for the coffee to freeze in the cup. Every thing was looking good until one of the pilots called me on the radio saying that the helocopter wouldn't start. He had tried twice and was getting a hot start condition. We needed a way to warm up the engine but had no heaters available and no electricity on the flightline.
This is where all those years of watching McGuiver payed off. I went to a maintence building and grabbed a box that held 8 foot long shop light bulbs. I cut off both ends stuck one end of the box over the exhaust outlet on the truck and pointed the other at the fuel control unit in the engine compartment. After 10 minutes at high idle the turbine had warmed up enough to start with out issues. Not something you could do with your fancy low exhaust LMTV, thank you very much. Made it back to the Ledge and home with out an issue!
So to all the Steele Soldier members that have helped me out in one way or another on this project, I say "thank you". Your dedication to your hobby helped us complete our mission!
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