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Snafu, good one.

dougimes

Member
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Location
greenville, sc
dont have a picture because no one had the presence of mind to take one.

M725 driving down a farm road in WI, Rear left wheel departs vehicle, and rolls about a quarter of a mile before coming to rest in corn field. It took 4 people 3 hours to find it.

Astounding how far it rolled.

Anyway, we could not find the brake drum, Anyone out there know a source for one?
 

zebedee

conceptualizer at large
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Mods have me confused...

So, it's ok to say "S N A F U", but it's not ok to say "Eff'in' big wrench".......

Not trying to hijack thread, just trying to see 'where the line is' and why it's so darn grey.
 

Tanner

Active member
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Anyway, we could not find the brake drum, Anyone out there know a source for one?
...did you check the neighboring field for a drum? :razz:

Glad no one apparently got hurt!

And it's - 'Situation Normal, All Fouled Up', so there's no 'f' problem.

'Tanner'
 

zebedee

conceptualizer at large
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So Snafu isn't SNAFU.

... it's - 'Situation Normal, All Fouled Up', so there's no 'f' problem.'Tanner'

... nicely played, but are you sure you'll stick with that - I'd hate to do a poll of all the military personel I've ever met!
I think my money would be on the "problem" side! :)

But thats ok, I'll let it be at that. Thanks.
 

rickf

Well-known member
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Location
Pemberton, N.J.
Considering the drum is bell shaped it would have made a left turn immediately upon hitting the ground and then probably tumbled from the forward momentum. I would look not too far from the point of departure and not too far off the left side of the road assuming the road is fairly level. You should be able to see some sort of marks from the drum hitting the road and dirt.

Rick
 

sigo

Lieutenant Colonel
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Why did the wheel and drum separate from the vehicle? Mechanical failure, PM failure, etc? Is this something that routinely happens to M715/725s?
 

Barrman

Well-known member
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Giddings, Texas
Stock M715 axles require the lugs tightened to 150 ft-lbs. 10 years of reading other peoples stories on the internet has produced only 2 incidents of wheel/tires taking off on their own.

The first one was because the owner got tired of those really hard to remove brake drum screws and didn't install them any more. That allowed the drum to be kinked a little and when he torqued down the rims, everything was tight. Then, when he drove it and used the brakes. The drum straightened out and the lugs where then loose. He lost a front tire on I-40 between Jackson and Memphis coming back from a M715 gathering at LBL in 2004. CUCV axles were installed soon after and I got the old stock axles from that truck for spare parts.

The story in this thread are my second time to read about it. We don't know the cause in this one. However, since the drum came off too. I would guess it was the same thing.
 

dougimes

Member
206
2
18
Location
greenville, sc
Where in WI?- Watertown, half way between Milw and madison

Why did the wheel depart? - Its a bitl of a long story. We'll call it mechanical failure. Evidently lug nuts that weren't tight failed to keep the wheel on.

There is a lesson here that we learn over again in different manners, but the same root problem, and that is the assumption that when we are in the middle of working on something, that we will remember that we left it loose, or unstowed.

This Snafu belonged to fellow member of our hobby, but I once lowered a hood on an m37 without latching it, KNOWING that i had a few more things to do under the hood later, got distracted. a week or two went by. I took it our and at about 4omph the hood blew up.

The wheel story- same thing. Lugs threaded on but not torqued, phone call, dinner bell whatever. He forgot.

The truck was being driven by a farm hand, not familiar with the sound and feel of a loose wheel

Lesson- if it can be driven, assume it will

button it up, torque it, stow it, lash it down.
 

dougimes

Member
206
2
18
Location
greenville, sc
yup, this refreshed my memory. I knew SNAFU didnt start out as the acronym that movies depict it as.

I have never associated snafu with a vulgar expression,

in the same category as kit and caboodle, or greenhorn. just slang
 

poof

Dirty Hippie
568
19
18
Location
Wisconsin, Watertown
I hate when that happens...I bet it was hot this summer looking for the drum..
Agent orange might expose it.. or, wait till winter freeze and Torch the landscape..
any way sounds like a Mell of a Hess... :mrgreen:
See you soon Gene:driver:
 

glenn715

New member
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2
3
Location
fortuna CA
dont have a picture because no one had the presence of mind to take one.

M725 driving down a farm road in WI, Rear left wheel departs vehicle, and rolls about a quarter of a mile before coming to rest in corn field. It took 4 people 3 hours to find it.

Astounding how far it rolled.

Anyway, we could not find the brake drum, Anyone out there know a source for one?
Sent you a pm.
 
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