Well, as you can see, there haven't been any updates in quite a while. Getting our home renovations completed so that we could list our house for sale has consumed most if not all of my spare time.
I did manage to sneak off a few weekends ago to pick up my wheels/tires from John's so that I could get the "new" tires put on. I delivered them to my local tire place. They handle all sorts of farm equipment, etc so they are used to big stuff. They did a remount for my 923A2 and did a great job so I let them redo all 6 this time. Those were loaded onto my trailer along with the dead tires so that I could take the old ones to the landfill and the newly mounted ones to Winslow's.
Today, I planned to go to the tire recyclers and then to John's for a bit. I managed to get to the recycle center around 8 am. Unfortunately, they classified my tires as off-road tires and wanted to charge me $150/tire instead of $140/ton. One of the guys at the landfill told me of another place about an hour from my house that would take them.
I went home, cleaned up the house for the realtor, met with the realtor, got the house listed, and then headed for the new recycle center. I was about a mile from the dump when my left rear trailer tire blew off the rim. It had a slow leak in it because of a screw and finally decided to let go. Arrgggg! I changed the flat beside the road and made it to the recyclers in time to dump my tires. They only charged me $38 to dump them. The tire shop wanted $40/tire and the other landfill wanted over $120. Woo-hoo.
I never made it to John's. I left all of the parts and tools in the Excursion in hopes that I will be able to get down there more often now that the house is listed. I sure hope I can get the truck done before we move!
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Chris Stansbury, founder of Chris' CUCV Homepage in 1998 and Steel Soldiers in 1999.
1985 AMG M998 HMMWV, under the knife
1992 BMY M925A2 - TRADED!!
1991 BMY M923A2, SOLD
Ahhh, nothing like the good ol' "mobile home" style rim and tire. I would love to be able to swap out the hubs/drums on that trailer to some regular 5 lug style rims - it would give us a lot more flexibility in selecting tires....
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Chad Stansbury
Ol' Blue 1952 M37 w/w
Nice Truck!, I will be watching the progress! I have a M923, all orginal. If you need some pics let me know..Also Bruce has the same truck!..All done!..
Kevin..
Ok Chris..... Now time is drawing close and I have perfect event for your madien trip..... The convention in Evasnville...... You have until August 5 to get her finished and on the road.
I finally had a full day to work on the truck. My in-laws are in town for the 4th and my father-in-law volunteered for a work session. We loaded up the Excursion with all the needed parts and tools and then hooked up the trailer with the freshly mounted XL's.
The day started off with the discovery that the truck had fallen off of the jack stands sometime in the last few weeks. Great! The axles were on top of the stands in some cases and the stands had disappeared into the ground. We made use of some heavy equipment courtesy of Winslow to get the truck in the air and back on its tires. It looks really tough now!
Before we mounted the wheels, we tackled the injection pump. We figured it would be easier to reach everything with the truck on the ground. We removed the old plastic timing pin from the front cover and replaced it with a brand new pin (thanks Will). Then, we tightened up the mounting studs for the IP and slid it into place. That's weird, why is the IP hitting the air compressor?! We went and looked at Winslow's 925A2, which is for sale by the way, to find out what it is supposed to look like. Turns out the rebuilt compressor I got came with a different unloader housing and it was about 1/2" taller than what was supposed to be on there. I had no choice but to steal the top off of a compressor belonging to Joe aka Crash AF. Joe, I promise I will get you another one and put it on your compressor. In the meantime, the one off of my compressor is on there to keep the crud out. The pics include my truck with the oversized unloader and John's for comparison.
Once the unloader piece was swapped out, the IP slid right on. The nuts in between the block and the IP are a serious PITA! Thankfully I had some crow's-feet sockets with me and we got them snugged down. We already had the engine at TDC, so it was time to get the pump timed. I pulled the timing plug from the IP and lots of oil came out, but the timing pin was gone?? What the heck, US Navy mechanics?? We improvised with some needle nosed pliers. I cleaned the tapered pump shaft and drive gear with brake cleaner before sliding it on. The pump nut was torqued to 15 lb/ft. Then, the timing pins were removed, my FIL held the engine still with a barring tool, and I torqued the gear nut to 80 lb/ft as spec'd by the manual. Once that was done, there were fuel lines to hook up and the lift pump needed replaced.
It was stinkin hot today so it was a perfect day for wrestling 300 lb tires and wheels into place. Thankfully the fork lift and the M816 made for easy lifting. We fought those suckers for about 2 hours before finally getting them off the trailer and snugged down on the studs. I feel like I was mauled by a bear today! What a butt whoopin!
The truck is looking good! Thanks to my FIL, Gene, and David, Winslow's helper who ran the fork lift and the 816. Hopefully it will run next time! Time for bed!!
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Chris Stansbury, founder of Chris' CUCV Homepage in 1998 and Steel Soldiers in 1999.
1985 AMG M998 HMMWV, under the knife
1992 BMY M925A2 - TRADED!!
1991 BMY M923A2, SOLD
More pics! It looks so much better with tires! I forgot to take a pic of the IP mounted so I had to lift the cover and snap on real quick before we left. We were filthy!!
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Chris Stansbury, founder of Chris' CUCV Homepage in 1998 and Steel Soldiers in 1999.
1985 AMG M998 HMMWV, under the knife
1992 BMY M925A2 - TRADED!!
1991 BMY M923A2, SOLD
Thanks for posting Chris! Will you have a place to work on it at your house once you get it rolling?
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Bjorn
MEP-018A (needs new generator head)
Avatar: XM757 in OK prepared for 1,000 mile trip home. Part of 6,000 mile journey in 2006.
1968 M49A2C modified with 1960 M756A2 truck bed and 1975 HIAB 765A knuckleboom, exhaust brake, VIC-1 and more.
1969 Ford XM757 8x8, 5-ton Pershing 1A truck tractor...the "improved MV".
"Some things can't be made better, just differently......a lot of things actually"
Thanks for posting Chris! Will you have a place to work on it at your house once you get it rolling?
Well, we are selling our house here in Franklin. I am in the midst of a career change and am not really sure where I am going to end up when it is all said and done. I'll have to keep working on it at John's in the meantime.
I am hoping to have his paint/body guy, David, do some cutting, welding, sandblasting, and painting for me. The floor is pretty rotted right around the throttle pedal, which would be a bit of an inconvenience if the pedal went through the floor
Once I finally get it running, I still need to get the cooling system back together, get the air system together, put the front clip on, and finally the CTIS.
__________________
Chris Stansbury, founder of Chris' CUCV Homepage in 1998 and Steel Soldiers in 1999.
1985 AMG M998 HMMWV, under the knife
1992 BMY M925A2 - TRADED!!
1991 BMY M923A2, SOLD
Thankfully I had some crow's-feet sockets with me and we got them snugged down. We already had the engine at TDC, so it was time to get the pump timed. I pulled the timing plug from the IP and lots of oil came out, but the timing pin was gone?? What the heck, US Navy mechanics?? We improvised with some needle nosed pliers. I cleaned the tapered pump shaft and drive gear with brake cleaner before sliding it on. The pump nut was torqued to 15 lb/ft. Then, the timing pins were removed, my FIL held the engine still with a barring tool, and I torqued the gear nut to 80 lb/ft as spec'd by the manual. Once that was done, there were fuel lines to hook up and the lift pump needed replaced. 
