Recovery of my Deuce, weekend of May 31 and June 1

[bonedoc]

Good Morning everyone,

Well I'm less than a week out from going to recover my Deuce in North Carolina. I have a friend of mine going with me and we are leaving Friday night May 30.

The game plan is as follows with us breaking the trip into 4 different legs. Driving from East Stroudsburg PA to a friend's house in Berlin Maryland- about 3.5 Hours. Then traveling from Maryland to Edenton, North Carolina, about 3.5 hours early Saturday Morning. Saturday Afternoon get truck prepped, loaded and ready to roll and then drive back to Berlin Maryland late Saturday afternoon/evening. Then finally travel the last leg Sunday morning back up to East Stroudsburg, PA.

The vehicle we are driving down will be our chase vehicle on the return trip and will be loaded with tools, fluids, and extras. The truck has had ALOT of work done to it including most of the brake system replaced/rebuilt/ or refurbished, all bearings repacked, all fluids/filters have been flushed and changed, new front boots, axle seals replaced, etc, so hopefully we will have an uneventful return trip.

Will keep everyone posted of progress and will post pics

 

[FloridaAKM]

Be safe & keep us posted. Pay attention to everything, because you will always remember this recovery!

 

[Doug Roberts]

sounds to me like you're going to have a pleasant drive home !

 

[ke5eua]

Safe trip, I go and pickup my 818 that weekend too.

 

[Ord22]

Stay safe and God Bless

 

[bonedoc]

Thanks for all the comments guys. this is going to be a long week.....won't get here soon enough!!

 

[whiskey357]

sounds like a plan best of luc k on the return trip....iffn everything is going good stop and eat the BBQ on the way here some great places on your return to try out....nice to take a break on the trip...again fair winds and following seas on your trip mate...

 

[bonedoc]

Well got my insurance squared away the other day and just registered my deuce today. Decided to go class 7 which will cover me up to 21k lbs. leaving tomorrow night to head down to pick up deuce. Will be down in N.C. By lunchtime on Saturday.
The only real prep the truck needs is I'm going to throw on the set of Ouverson hub I just recently ordered.
The rest should be just going over the vehicle getting familiar and double checking all systems.
So stoked to get down there and bring the deuce home!!

 

[mhassett]

Sounds like a trip.
Wish I was going.
MHassett

 

[bonedoc]

Good morning everyone! Well it is Saturday morning in Berlin, Maryland. We are going to be heading out for N.C. After some coffee and breakfast.
I'll keep everyone posted and take pics.

 

[dschuler]

Good luck bonedoc! Let me know if you need a place to park it overnight or work on it in case you run into any issues. I'm about 30 minutes west of 495 in the Virginia side and have plenty of room and some tools available.

 

[bonedoc]

Well the trip went very well. Left Friday night as planned with the car loaded with tools and fluids. Got to Berlin Maryland that night and left Saturday morning for N.C. Got to Ford Mechanic's house in North Carolina about 12 noon. First off I have to say that Ford Mechanic was awesome to work with. I thank him and his wife tremendously for their hospitality. He had totally planned his day just around my picking the truck up and we spent almost 6 hours with him and his wife as well as went out fro an early dinner before heading back North.
Here are some pics of the deuce. We got there and installed the Ouverson lock out hubs, loaded up the extra parts as well as spent a lot of time going over the truck getting familiar with it. Ford Mechanic had spent a lot of time going over the truck and making sure everything was good on the truck. The entire trip from N.C. to PA went without a hitch all while getting about 8+ miles to the gallon. Truck only went through 1 tank full of gas on the entire trip!!

 

[AZDeuce]

Nice truck, judging from the bed it is/was a USMC truck, I base this on the welded on support brackets on both sides of the upside down "U" piece on the bottom of the bed between the rear wheels. I've only seen those on Marine vehicles, and not all of them had them when I was in (74-7. Enjoy your new beast.

 

[Trailboss]

Congrats on the new truck and safe trip. Looks like a great truck! You have already driven it more than most owners will in a year.

 

[bonedoc]

Okay, so we got to Berlin Maryland about 10:00 Saturday night. Parked the truck, cooled it down and went inside to enjoy a couple cold ones. Sunday morning we got up and let to head North at about 12 noon. Got home to North east PA about 6:30 and that included dropping my buddy off and the rental car I had for the trip down. Yes, I grabbed a rental because I figured that would be cheaper and more comfortable than my Jeep JK on 37s or my Ford Excursion V-10 on 35s. The entire trip went without a hitch. No mechanical issues or failures, truck didn't skip a beat! Already ordered some parts along with others I already have to install. The motor has a pretty good oil seep from the air compressor base, so I ordered that gasket as well as the gasket for the compressor mount to the block. Figured while I have it off I will do both. also ordered a horn solenoid as the original isn't working. Ford Mechanic had confirmed it, just hadn't replaced it yet. Well the project has started, driving the truck, while tiring for that kind of distance, was a blast!! Looking forward to enjoying the hobby.
These pics are of the deuce and Ford Mechanic's 5-ton when we all went for an early dinner, the one while on the road heading home. The rest are at my house, last night when we finally got parked and this morning when it was light out.

One last thing, I need to tighten my parking brake, it wasn't grabbing tight enough to hold on an incline. I was told by Ford Mechanic and Lt. Dan how to tighten it via the brake lever. Just wanted to ask if anyone knows of any other adjustment on it if needed to make it tighter?

Thanks

Harold

 

[Crestonean]

A great write-up, and a great looking Deuce! It sounds like your recovery trip will be a nice memory for years to come. I know mine will.

Thanks - Harry

 

[bonedoc]

The trip was blast. The friend of mine that went with me has been a close friend since we were in high school. It was great to be able to take off for a few days and just be immersed in a common interest. I was fortunate in that my recovery trip will be a nice memory for years to come and not a nightmare as others have had.
Ordered a new horn solenoid and compressor base and mount gaskets for the motor as those were seeping pretty good. Hopefully I'll get quite a number of things done this weekend. Have locking door handles, H4 headlights, lighted license plate mount that I'd like to get on as well. I went to redo the battery box and storage box as well. Take them out clean them up and repaint them. The battery box is going to be redone with a disconnect switch as well. That is my start.
After that I'll move on to the cab. The truck came with a second windshield and a hardtop. So I'm going to refinish the second windshield and hardtop and get ready to install those. Then I'll refinish the rest of the cab and install electric wiper kit and heater kit. Then I'll start on the rest of the truck.

 

[Woodsplinter]

One last thing, I need to tighten my parking brake, it wasn't grabbing tight enough to hold on an incline. I was told by Ford Mechanic and Lt. Dan how to tighten it via the brake lever. Just wanted to ask if anyone knows of any other adjustment on it if needed to make it tighter?

There is an adjustment point at the end of the brake cable near the brake drum. The entire adjustment procedure is outlined in a TM but I can't remember which one.

Enjoy your new truck!

 

[skinnyR1]

Nice truck! I suggest that you start one thread on what you do to it as time goes, so that it is easy for us to follow along!

 

[bonedoc]

That is a great idea, others have so I guess it is my turn....lol