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Every year from 2006 through 2009 I've taken a road trip in the deuce and a half. Some have been what I'd call "epic adventures", and some not. Seen a lot of things and places and met a lot of SS members along the way.
But on every one of them, some repair had to be done, a repair that could have left me stranded if it had not been possible to fix and a couple that definitely required help to fix and some that fellow SS members helped with. These things happened a long way from my home in Dallas, Texas. I also usually travel solo and it's more free but increases risk of non-self-recovery.
These trips have not been short but others have taken longer trips and endured worse hardships or inconveniences. The inspiration for the first trip was from Cranetruck and his epic VA-CA adventure recovering that 8x8 with a deuce. Many will remember that his truck suddenly didn't start and he had to replace the injection pump head at a truck stop and had to camp out there a couple days. That was an epic adventure that started out as a huge cross country road trip and the story is well worth revisiting. Readers will note how many SS members offered to help. It still ended with success. MV road trips always do; it's succeed or perish, win or lose.
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/milita...18-plans-california-trip-works.html#post46918
There are worse places to camp out than truck stops and some of them have GFI plugs as I found out. When it's raining and your shelter's electrical system has neutral bonded to ground, forget it. The GFI's going to pop as the water runs down the truck to the ground. Lessons: rewire whole 3-phase shelter (NOT!) -always use the 30A or 50A RV park socket as it won't have a GFI. I do consider sleeping in a climate controlled S-280 to be camping. YMMV. There are also very bad things that can happen without actual destruction and land a traveler in the hospital, like the heatstroke on member suffered when his engine failed and he was trying to get it going along the highway in the baking heat of summer. I don't know if he fully recovered from that, but in the old posts he was sick for some time after it and the engine was found to be a loss if I recall. The worst risks of all are breakdowns. But I found out how much fun road trips in big green trucks are and that was more important at the time.
It's not my goal here to suggest there is a MTBF on a deuce but for the record here's some data:
2006 - 2317 miles. Atlanta, GA. - Alternator belt broke and when replacing them, the tab/ear on the alternator broke off due to a hidden crack. Belts were my fault. The alternator tab was not foreseeable, not my fault there but it happened on my watch, so to speak.
2007 - 2915 miles - Springfield, MO - Blew exhaust gasket and sprung a fuel leak on the flame heater (capped it off). Not my fault.
2008 - 2042 miles - somewhere in AR - blew an oil line on the preluber and lost all the oil. I take responsibility but don't understand why the hose came off the barb fitting except that it had been ripped somehow.
2009 - 1306 miles - Hot springs, AR - clutch trouble in m35 from excess lube in trans. drove M35 there an left it, built an "M8109", drove it back. Was it my fault if I was lazy and paid a diesel shop to replace the lubes? No, but I should have checked them. They were told the right level but went by the book, and I did not check it after them.
All of these trips were fairly hard driving on an M35, but my truck was well maintained except for the one alternator belt, and the truck had some upgrades. On the highway the speed was 45-55MPH on 9.00x20's or 50-58 on 11.00x20's. It got to where I knew by the sound of the engine how fast the engine and the truck was running.
Would there have been less trouble at 45MPH? good question. The things that broke did not have to do with speed. A thrown rod would have been a speed problem and I never sit on the redline.
The term "adventure" is maybe not well understood today.
1. an exciting or very unusual experience.
2. participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises: the spirit of adventure.
3. a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.
5. peril; danger; risk.
6. chance; fortune; luck.
#1 and 2 seem to sugar coat the best definition, #3. There is always a risk in an adventure, otherwise it would be called a venture.
Road trips in any old vehicle are potential adventure. Road trips in certain areas are always an adventure. Sometimes there are visible/audible warnings when approaching hazardous places, sometimes only evidence later.
- South side of Chicago - visual cues.
- Grinder's Switch, TN - 2nd gear all the way.
- Predator that is not afraid to fly at night in the driving rain - broken windshield.
I don't know if it is age or wisdom or what, but I have not been motivated to try for those rare epic adventures lately.
I'm more tempted to wait until very late fall when the high temp is 65, and tour Texas. There are a million miles of 2-lane blacktop throughout TX to offer weeks of leisurely travel from one small town to the next. Should I still go on road trips of 2000 miles, so far from home? That is the question. Maybe there needs to be new rules. The rules already assume carrying spares, tools, etc.
- If the smallest thing isn't right on the truck, fix it or don't go.
- The first day, put only 100-200 miles or so on the truck and if anything isn't right, fix it or go back.
- No running the truck hard all day and night.
- When it gets dark, find a motel or campground or truck stop (if the noise is OK).
- Observe a distance radius from the 'home 20'.
- Beware dragons on rainy nights.
- Beware banjo music at night along deserted roads through the woods, especially in the South.
- Just because the truck is so loud you can't hear the banjo music doesn't mean it's not there.
Are these rules overly cautious for one person alone? They are proposed only to apply to myself; it's a free country. Others do long road trips. Even Ferroequinologist's trip to Alaska, which has not started yet but has been in preparation since 2009 (and rightly so).
The true question is whether there can be a high probability of an exciting experience while minimizing the risk of a harrowing experience?
But on every one of them, some repair had to be done, a repair that could have left me stranded if it had not been possible to fix and a couple that definitely required help to fix and some that fellow SS members helped with. These things happened a long way from my home in Dallas, Texas. I also usually travel solo and it's more free but increases risk of non-self-recovery.
These trips have not been short but others have taken longer trips and endured worse hardships or inconveniences. The inspiration for the first trip was from Cranetruck and his epic VA-CA adventure recovering that 8x8 with a deuce. Many will remember that his truck suddenly didn't start and he had to replace the injection pump head at a truck stop and had to camp out there a couple days. That was an epic adventure that started out as a huge cross country road trip and the story is well worth revisiting. Readers will note how many SS members offered to help. It still ended with success. MV road trips always do; it's succeed or perish, win or lose.
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/milita...18-plans-california-trip-works.html#post46918
There are worse places to camp out than truck stops and some of them have GFI plugs as I found out. When it's raining and your shelter's electrical system has neutral bonded to ground, forget it. The GFI's going to pop as the water runs down the truck to the ground. Lessons: rewire whole 3-phase shelter (NOT!) -always use the 30A or 50A RV park socket as it won't have a GFI. I do consider sleeping in a climate controlled S-280 to be camping. YMMV. There are also very bad things that can happen without actual destruction and land a traveler in the hospital, like the heatstroke on member suffered when his engine failed and he was trying to get it going along the highway in the baking heat of summer. I don't know if he fully recovered from that, but in the old posts he was sick for some time after it and the engine was found to be a loss if I recall. The worst risks of all are breakdowns. But I found out how much fun road trips in big green trucks are and that was more important at the time.
It's not my goal here to suggest there is a MTBF on a deuce but for the record here's some data:
2006 - 2317 miles. Atlanta, GA. - Alternator belt broke and when replacing them, the tab/ear on the alternator broke off due to a hidden crack. Belts were my fault. The alternator tab was not foreseeable, not my fault there but it happened on my watch, so to speak.
2007 - 2915 miles - Springfield, MO - Blew exhaust gasket and sprung a fuel leak on the flame heater (capped it off). Not my fault.
2008 - 2042 miles - somewhere in AR - blew an oil line on the preluber and lost all the oil. I take responsibility but don't understand why the hose came off the barb fitting except that it had been ripped somehow.
2009 - 1306 miles - Hot springs, AR - clutch trouble in m35 from excess lube in trans. drove M35 there an left it, built an "M8109", drove it back. Was it my fault if I was lazy and paid a diesel shop to replace the lubes? No, but I should have checked them. They were told the right level but went by the book, and I did not check it after them.
All of these trips were fairly hard driving on an M35, but my truck was well maintained except for the one alternator belt, and the truck had some upgrades. On the highway the speed was 45-55MPH on 9.00x20's or 50-58 on 11.00x20's. It got to where I knew by the sound of the engine how fast the engine and the truck was running.
Would there have been less trouble at 45MPH? good question. The things that broke did not have to do with speed. A thrown rod would have been a speed problem and I never sit on the redline.
The term "adventure" is maybe not well understood today.
1. an exciting or very unusual experience.
2. participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises: the spirit of adventure.
3. a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.
5. peril; danger; risk.
6. chance; fortune; luck.
#1 and 2 seem to sugar coat the best definition, #3. There is always a risk in an adventure, otherwise it would be called a venture.
Road trips in any old vehicle are potential adventure. Road trips in certain areas are always an adventure. Sometimes there are visible/audible warnings when approaching hazardous places, sometimes only evidence later.
- South side of Chicago - visual cues.
- Grinder's Switch, TN - 2nd gear all the way.
- Predator that is not afraid to fly at night in the driving rain - broken windshield.
I don't know if it is age or wisdom or what, but I have not been motivated to try for those rare epic adventures lately.
I'm more tempted to wait until very late fall when the high temp is 65, and tour Texas. There are a million miles of 2-lane blacktop throughout TX to offer weeks of leisurely travel from one small town to the next. Should I still go on road trips of 2000 miles, so far from home? That is the question. Maybe there needs to be new rules. The rules already assume carrying spares, tools, etc.
- If the smallest thing isn't right on the truck, fix it or don't go.
- The first day, put only 100-200 miles or so on the truck and if anything isn't right, fix it or go back.
- No running the truck hard all day and night.
- When it gets dark, find a motel or campground or truck stop (if the noise is OK).
- Observe a distance radius from the 'home 20'.
- Beware dragons on rainy nights.
- Beware banjo music at night along deserted roads through the woods, especially in the South.
- Just because the truck is so loud you can't hear the banjo music doesn't mean it's not there.
Are these rules overly cautious for one person alone? They are proposed only to apply to myself; it's a free country. Others do long road trips. Even Ferroequinologist's trip to Alaska, which has not started yet but has been in preparation since 2009 (and rightly so).
The true question is whether there can be a high probability of an exciting experience while minimizing the risk of a harrowing experience?
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I know if I could get my M1009 ready by Oct. I would love to attend the GA Rally. I think the biggest issue is the cost for me but some careful saving and planning may remedy that.