I hauled a JD401b tractor(in the back of the Deuce) to my brother in Kansas City yesterday spent the night as his place. Picked up my mep003a from brother and then drove to Topeka to get my new 915a1. Its the national guard base and you enter through a gate on the east side of the base. The guard was very friendly and just needed my drivers license. The base has two loading docks, one for high trailers and one 31" high for lowboy trailers. I got to my truck and found that the batterys were completely dead. I jumped with my deuce and after about 5 minutes was able to get it started. It started right up. The tanks on all the trucks I looked at had been drained, I had a can in my truck and put in about 5 gallons. If you are driving from there I recommend 10 gallons as I had a hard time finding a station close by and barely made it. I towbared my deuce behind the 915a1 and it immediately had probs with the deuce front wheels wanting to go the wrong way. I seatbealted the steering wheel and just dragged my nice michelin 11.00R20 clad front around the corners. I highly recommend this unless you are doing a lot of towing in town with tight turns. I drove home 250 miles or so and didnt shut the 915 off till I got home. I couldnt reach the batteries from the deuce with my cables and didnt want to take a chance. When I got home I shut it down and tried to restart it and it wouldnt even turn over. The gl guys said the trucks had sat for 3 yrs and the front tires were really sunk into the ground. My brakes were stuck and I had to work it back and forth a little to get them broke loose. The air governor wasnt working right and kept the compressor cycling most of the way home(too much cycling) Another guy that was picking up today had to get a new air governor as his wouldnt allow the compressor to build pressure. (might be a good idea to bring a new one along, they dont cost much) My truck has a decal on the door stating that it has a detroit locker in one of the rear ends. I havent seen that in any other trucks so I dont know if any of the others there do or not. Im pretty sure my 915 and south dakota 915a1 do not have lockers. As usual the Ft Riley GL guys were awesome to work with.
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Topeka 915a1 pickup today...
- Thread starter reb87
- Start date
BTW I looked at
#68 Key but dead
#70 No key but started Flat tire on outside drivers front rear axle(both beads broke loose but the inside tire is fine, should load ok)
#73 Rebuilt 04 Dead
#58 No key Dead
Dock 31 inches from ground to top, lots of railroad ties sitting there for use if needed...
Bring some fuel!!!
#68 Key but dead
#70 No key but started Flat tire on outside drivers front rear axle(both beads broke loose but the inside tire is fine, should load ok)
#73 Rebuilt 04 Dead
#58 No key Dead
Dock 31 inches from ground to top, lots of railroad ties sitting there for use if needed...
Bring some fuel!!!
eldgenb
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good to hear you made it back safe, 2 big adventure in two weeks... your playing with fire!!
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Reb you know better.
M1075
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Thanks for the update Ross.
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Take a set of NDTs either 11x20 or 9x20 to put on the towed truck. Radials grip the ground too much and won't turn. I towed my m109 to haspin, took the g177s of the front and put on some 9x20 NDTs, towed just fine.
Glad to hear the recovery went well.
Glad to hear the recovery went well.
Hammer
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Actually, for towing a deuce, just stretch the tow bar out longer if you are having the front tires drag/turn wrong. Works every time for me so far.
And yeah, where are the pictures!
Sounds like another nice truck was added to the fleet, congrats!
And yeah, where are the pictures!
Sounds like another nice truck was added to the fleet, congrats!
srodocker
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mmmmm m915...
Chief_919
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Wow. Hopping right in a truck that had sat for 3 years and heading out on the road is more risk than I would take, much less doing it towing another truck! Glad nothing went wrong.
Pics later, I got in late....so far ive driven home the following trucks all picked up from GL bases except the TX M944 that Sermis got to his house for me.
m35-Oklahoma(towing M109) from Norman OK to FT Riley KS picked up enough stuff to fill both trucks No problems
m818 Colorado No Problems(except rain getting me and son very wet)
m818(pulling a m872 with two other m818s on it)Texas No problems(very tired when I got home)
M915a1 South Dakota no problems
M915a1 towing m35 Kansas no problems(except road rash on my front tires)
M816 Iowa no problems
M944 towing my suburban North Dakota no problems
M944 Texas (had a water pump belt break. used support vehicle to obtain parts)
I had the m919 and m915 commercially brought to me, I picked the m1009 up with 818 and m872 with some other stuff.
m35-Oklahoma(towing M109) from Norman OK to FT Riley KS picked up enough stuff to fill both trucks No problems
m818 Colorado No Problems(except rain getting me and son very wet)
m818(pulling a m872 with two other m818s on it)Texas No problems(very tired when I got home)
M915a1 South Dakota no problems
M915a1 towing m35 Kansas no problems(except road rash on my front tires)
M816 Iowa no problems
M944 towing my suburban North Dakota no problems
M944 Texas (had a water pump belt break. used support vehicle to obtain parts)
I had the m919 and m915 commercially brought to me, I picked the m1009 up with 818 and m872 with some other stuff.
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cornrichard
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Glad you had a good trip. I have to pick up one more 915a1. We are getting real close to harvest here so I am cutting it close on timing. I don't need that truck for harvest but you know how things get. I will post some pictures when we start hauling grain. Thanks for the tip about the air governor. Is that the one on top of the compressor? Just want to be sure because I will pull one to take with me on my recovery trip.
Old Lincoln County Iron
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Hey Reb, Which one of the 915A1's did you get? I had an emergency and had to leave , I was out bid on the one I wanted. Most of them looked to be in very good shape judging by the photos. It was to far for me to go and preview them in person. if I had won one of them I was planning on a 780 mile trip to drive it home, with my fingers crossed of coarse!
eldgenb
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Yep TM for towing says to extend the bar out 1st to second hole for city, stretch the towbar all the way out for highway. Nice looking truck, I wish the 920's had the allisons in them.
cornrichard
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Sweet truck. I like the round tube deer catcher. None of my trucks have that nice little tool box on the passenger side. Any loot in there?
Ord22
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congrads reb87!!
PorscheTech911
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Nice truck. Glad everything went ok, I bet you just love it 
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REB87, what's with the Detroit NO SPIN sticker? Does the M915a1 have lockers in it? I am wondering if many of the M915 series trucks have lockers.
My intermediate axle is newer than the back one. It is black instead of green and looks like it was recently replaced. When I was changing tires yesterday I was able to turn the wheel on one side while the other was on the ground so I dont think it has a locker in it. Im guessing the replaced axle had a detroit locker in it. I have another 915a1 and 915 and I dont think either one of those have lockers in them. The tm says the 915a2 and 916a1 have lockers(one in the 915a2 and both rears in the 916a1) I looked at a lot of the other trucks in Topeka and didnt see any others with that sticker.