Recovering Sarge's M818

[M813rc]

Sarge is still working on his M1031 recovery tale, to which he adds about three words a day, so he asked me to post this one.


On January 1st Sarge made a New Years resolution to not buy any vehicles in 2009. Between then and now he has only bought five, so he is really doing quite well.

Since our last vehicle recovery involved drama, State Troopers, the Fire Department, and took two days to go 60 miles (in other words a typical road trip for us), Sarge decided to buy something nice this time so we could have an easy trip.
His latest acquisition is an M818 tractor, bought from Corey/StreetbikeDepot.

We departed for Oklahoma at 0-dark-thirty Tuesday morning in Sarge’s M1009, loaded to the gills with tools, fire extinguishers, ammunition, etc. I even took my new tow bar pins though we weren’t planning on doing any towing, I simply do not ever intend to get caught without the right ones again. If all else failed and we ran out of ammo, they might prove handy to fight off the Mongol Hordes.

The plan was to drive up, inspect and prep the truck Tuesday evening, find somewhere nearby to stay the night, then head home. We figured the trip back (361 miles) could be completed by Wednesday evening, but we allowed enough time for the truck to catch fire several times just in case.

The trip up was uneventful. We spotted an M656 (serial #5) parked by a shop in one small town. We did a screeching u-turn (Sarge did the u-turning, I did the screeching), stopped and talked to the owner for a while. He is restoring it himself and was not interested in selling. We coonfingered it, took pictures and moved on. We did leave contact numbers just in case he ever changes his mind.

We met up with Corey at Hoopsoft’s place. The M818 appeared to be as Corey had described it, and after examining its minor glitches and a test drive, we decided it was fit for the trip back. The only thing needed were windshield wipers since the ones on it were shot and we forgot to bring any with us (Doh!). One nice blade was spotted on Hoopsoft’s deuce, so we nicked it (Corey gets to explain that) and put it on the drivers side of the 818. I just removed the arm from the 818 passenger side.
Money and paperwork changed hands and we departed southbound. A few miles down the road we found a motel and stopped for some welcome rest.


Pic1: HEMTT. Drooool...
Pic 2-5: The M656 including data plate and markings
Pic 6/7: The M818. Pretty, eh?
Pic 8: Some of the junk we had crammed into the M1009. No rear window means it all comes into the motel room.

 

[M813rc]

While Tuesday had been partly cloudy and around 75 degrees, Wednesday dawned a different day altogether. It was about 39 degrees, overcast and quite windy. There had been rain all night, but it was dry as we set off at 0-taintearlyanymore-thirty.
I quickly found that driving an M1009 with no rear window and a rather pathetic heater is cause for some whining when it is 39 outside. Thank heaven for Goretex coats with hoods!

Other than spewing power steering fluid at the rate of a pint every hundred miles the 818 ran great and maintained a cruising speed of 54-58 mph. Even got it over 60 at one point. We ran into intermittent rain showers, but the first leg of the journey went pretty smoothly. After a couple of hours we crossed the Red River into Texas.

As we went through Fort Worth we went under many overpasses. On the open road the noise from the muffler-less 818 was not really noticeable, but under bridges –Good Grief! Pigeons were dropping out of their nests onto the ground and writhing about in agony, and people driving M1009s were saying “Ach und bugger, that thing is LOUD!”.
South of Ft Worth we switched drivers. I was very glad that I had brought a more effective set of hearing protectors (sound attenuators to you former military chaps) than I usually wear in my M813. On acceleration and going up hills the noise the M818 is a LOT louder than the 813. Punishing is a term that could be used here and not be out of place.

North of Waco the intermittent rain smoothly transitioned into torrential rain, which persisted for the rest of the trip. There was nearly as much water inside the cab as outside. Upon using the windshield wiper, I found that it was possessed. To make the solitary blade move, you had to turn the knob all the way on, which made it center itself vertically on the windshield. If you then backed it off a quarter turn, the blade would move at its only operating speed, Demonic Blur. After about five minutes of this, the wiper apparently thought it could be even more demonic if it only swept half the windshield, the left. Now in medieval days, the left was called Side Sinister. Coincidence? I think not! Periodically, the blade would stop. If you reached for the manual knob to give a quick swipe, it would immediately go back to flail speed and give a sound and painful whack to the tip of your finger. After a few times I eventually learned- do not touch the demon wiper.

Other than the rain and the odd Darwin Award candidate screaming “Banzai!” here and there as they tried to dive under the truck, the rest of the trip was uneventful. My knuckles were a rather garish white by the time we got back to the farm Wednesday evening, but that faded after a couple of days.
Sarge had some excitement when the M1009s wipers stopped completely during the torrent, but he eventually got them going again.

So, no rounds or fire extinguishers were expended, and other than the Ft Worth pigeons, no animals or small children were harmed. Not bad, and it beat going to work.

Cheers


Pic1 –On the road
Pic 2- Sarge makes a hand sign that A: expresses pleasure; B: Shows membership in some arcane guild; or C: indicates some perverse oral fixation.
Pic 3- GPS shows over 60!
Pic 4- What the well dressed CUCV driver wears these days to be stylish
Pic 5- Drooool! Saw several PLS on the trip.
Pic 6- Crossing the Red River, the OK-TX border
Pic 7- In Texas
Pic 8- Before the rain got heavy (!)
Pic 9- The trusty M1009

 

[dm22630]

Great pics! Glad to see the 818 went to a good home

 

[M813rc]

Yep, Sarge will take good care of it.

I will post more detailed pics of the 818 itself when the monsoon quits, the current watery mess is not conducive to photography!

For various reasons I won't go into, attached is the only photo I will ever post of Sarge during his last MV recovery. He deserved a break this time.

Cheers

 

[mkcoen]

Now Rory, my M1009 heater works quite well. As does the rear window, windshield wipers, etc, etc.

I suggest John just buy mine so he has a spare

 

[Barrman]

Good story. Glad you guys made it back ok this time. I just heard the story of the last recovery the other day.

 

[Chevytruck]

wow, that is one great story to read!

demon wipers... LOL

 

[Pawnshop]

Man, those 818s are sexy, must resist the temptation to have one.......

Maybe Sarge and CD will let me play with theirs enough to keep me out of trouble

 

[70deuce]

What RPM was the M818 holding at 55-58MPH? Redline normally 2100 which is about 51-52 MPH on the Cummins. 11X20 tires?

 

[M813rc]

RPM was hovering around 2100-2150, governed. Pretty quick on 11.00s.

Cheers

 

[DaveP]

tell tale dont lie

 

[hoopsoft]

See what you get for swiping my wiper.. I kid you not I hadn't red this yet, and "someone" forgot to mention it was borrowed... Well I sat in my stupid truck friday for 10 minutes thinking...

Surely someone didn't come over here and swip my wiper, I think one was gone, but where did this one go?? Maybe I took it off to find a rainx one??? I don't remember taking it off? Where the heck did I put it? Good one, at least I'm not as crazy as I thought now.

 

[StreetbikeDepot]

Lmao

 

[M813rc]

Wiper? What wiper? Isn't it great to have friends?

Actually, without that good wiper blade, the trip would have taken a whole lot longer!

By the way, we scoped out your gin pole truck while we were there, very nice! We didn't swipe anything off that one....
Sorry we didn't get to meet you.

Cheers

 

[hoopsoft]

Not a problem, the wiper on the driver side of my deuce was "manual" anyway. Glad you guys made it home.

I don't know about him but I liked seeing the big green monster sitting out there, but I'm working on the little green monster now.

 

[M813rc]

Here are the promised pics of the M818. Today was a blizzard-like 84 degrees, so it was a good day to take photos.

Cheers


.

 

[gunboy1656]

great story....

hoopsoft, I would suggest making a way to lock your wiper baldes down, or put a gps tracker on them so you know where they went.......

 

[Pawnshop]

Dammit!!! Urge to own tractor becoming more powerful... Must resist!!!!!!

 

[davo727]

Beautiful! I must obtain one!!!!!!!!!! Ha, Dave

 

[IHASFIP]

Wow their are alot of MV owners here in Texas. Who lives near austin that would want to swing down to Liberty Hill this weekend or next to help me inspect/pick out a deuce?

D