5 ton woe's from Ft Hill UT to Kennewick, WA

Well, I had hopes of an easy recovery of a 5 ton from Ft. Hill AFB UT.

I lined up a company on U-ship (Freight Tec) that had what looked like good credentials.
They boasted picking up loads from Ft. Hill every week.
And said they could get the 5 ton picked up a in a couple days after the contract was in place. They had a trailer that could winch the 5 ton onto it. So I was set.

Well that was a month ago from the day I got notice of my EUC going through.
I even got a 2 week extension from GL when Frieight Tec didn't get it of site by Nov 15th, the original deadline. Seems he decide to go deer hunting in Michigan instead.

The courtesy week extension that GL gave me landed on Thanx Giving so I got another week and that will be this thursday the 29th. Freight Tec said no problem they couldn't get it loaded they would get it towed of site.

I called GL today to check up and GL said the shipper blew off the Nov 20th appt. to tow the rig off sight. And after contacting the trucking firm's dispatcher the person who set up the contract continues to be elusive.

So I have an AM appt at Ft Hill on Thursday the 29th.
I am going to drive down tomorrow, Wednesday, to see what I can do.
I have the recovery check list from the many posts on Steel Soldiers, so I will bring fluids, batteries, collector plates of my M35 and the like to try and get it running.

Unfortunately I had a green fever relapse while looking for a winter project and I bid on it sight unseen.

Did anyone, by any chance, take look at it. Ft Hill from mid September.

I have a medium tow bar, and am thinking of seeing if I can attach shackles to the frame to tow the chevy pick up back with if I get the 5 ton running. I would put the chevy in the bed at GL, but I would be screwed if broke down on the road back.

If I can't get the 5 ton started I will have to find a good tow company.
Any Ogden area folks with suggestions?
GL asked to have the name of a tow company by 2pm on Wednesday so they can be on the list for Thursday.

Has anyone done any business with Boyce Equipment?
I toyed with the idea of getting it towed to Boyce and putting the $1000 from the shipping into getting the 5 ton road worthy enough to drive back.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

This plus the winter storm that is supposed to roll into my part of SE Washington moving toward the South East to Utah should make this a fun recovery.

Thanx in advance.

RE: 5 ton woe

How about towing it out with your M35? At least you won't be at the mercy of an unreliable shipper,And you could store it somewhere until you can find a good shipper.the most important thing is get it off base and in your hands so you don't lose it to G.L. If You were closer I could help out, sorry! Good luck!

RE: 5 ton woe

Sorry to hear of your troubles. I have done business with Boyce and have found them to be a nice and helpful bunch. Working them into your plans seems good. Good luck.

Dan

If you have problems near Boise, ID I can help out.

The least is I can offer a parking spot.

I will be heading down to hill within the next 2 weeks, I know you want it sooner, but if you have it moved and worked on, need someone to check on it, or whatever. Hell if it gets to driveable condition, I could drive it up to Boise for you.


You could rent a ryder tractor (if you have cdl), to tow the 5 ton with the chevy in the back.

Stopping might be a lil hairy though.

RE: 5 ton woe

I just checked the map looks like about 500+ miles.Maybe Boyce would be a better way to go?

RE: 5 ton woe

derby, m3a1_ht, and chevycrew,

Thanx for the replys.

I found I have an Ogden phone book that I snagged from the motel when I picked up a couple loads of 16.00 x 20 tire from Ft Hill. So I am gonna give some of the semi wrecker services a call in the morning to see how much a long distance and short distance tow will run. Maybe that will give a couple of other options before I make the trek.

I do have a Burning Man buddy that has a shop with some space in West Jordan.
He is out of the country for 2 months, but said I could use the space back in Sept. before the U-Ship shipping idea.
I asked him for the use of his property for a recovery.
He told me that helping felt more like a co-dependency than a recovery.

West Jordan is a half hour the wrong way, but it is a place to park it and work on it.

Thanx again.

RE: 5 ton woe

Man that truck looks drivable to me I would go down with my credit card and some tools and hope the GL guys would give you a jump start with their forklift or another running truck. Do the collector plate thing and drink a lot of coffee get it home and you will be ahead on the money game unless the truck is hard down in that case have the tow guy tow it to Boyce and have them fix if you can't I really think you can drive it with just the checklist complete and some diesel

RE: 5 ton woe

No specific help. On two occassions I've tried to drive good looking trucks home - with no luck (no clutch in one, bad IP in the other). On other occassions I've hauled trucks home, only to watch the truckers start them and drive them off the semis.

Good luck!

DD

DRIVE IT MAN......DRIVE IT!!!! 1-2-3 ATTACK THE CHOW HALL..... KILL!

I know you are on the road. just brain storming here, but perhaps there is a local heavy equipment mover/operator near by that has a drop bed trailer you could commission to move the thing to thier yard for a pre-determined fee and store it there until you can evaluate the truck or find a long haul shipper. I know there is a 50/50 chance the thing is in operational contition, but nearly 20,000 lbs of truck in unknown safety/relability is not a pleasent comfort when broke down in the middle of nowhere in a snow storm. Been there, done that.....

What ever you do, don't try to tow it with the M35A2. You will be in for a change of underwear (if you are lucky that's all you'll need) when you get to where you are going!

Re: RE: 5 ton woe

derby said:

How about towing it out with your M35? At least you won't be at the mercy of an unreliable shipper,And you could store it somewhere until you can find a good shipper.the most important thing is get it off base and in your hands so you don't lose it to G.L. If You were closer I could help out, sorry! Good luck!

Click to expand...

It is a VERY long drive from Kennewick to Ogden. About 800 miles, IIRC.

Re: RE: 5 ton woe

derby said:

How about towing it out with your M35? At least you won't be at the mercy of an unreliable shipper,And you could store it somewhere until you can find a good shipper.the most important thing is get it off base and in your hands so you don't lose it to G.L. If You were closer I could help out, sorry! Good luck!

Click to expand...

Towing an m813 with a deuce is a bad idea...really bad. The m35 can't handle the 5 ton on the rear, it's waay beyond it's weight limits, and it's flat out unsafe.

Would I do it if it was an emegency? yeah. For fun? nope! My life is worth more.

RE: Re: RE: 5 ton woe

It has been a long 4 days, but here is the story so far.
I was able to get the 5 ton running at GL in Ft. Hill Utah using all the great how too's from the SS forums.
I had to swap in 4 good batteries, add a light switch and a tail lamp.
All fluids looked good so I primed the IP and after a half dozen tries using the heater she fire up.
But no brakes.
I had the M813A1 towed off base just after noon on D Day..
I was going to to it to the tow companies yard they were going to charge $35/day storage fee.
Instead I talked to Mark at Boyce equipment and he said as long as I was going to buy parts from him,
there was no reason I couldn't wrench it a Boyces yard.
I woound up taking a day and a half to replace the airpak and the master cylinder.
I was ready to roll on friday night.
But alas my pickup was to long to fit in its bed as I was planning.
So I drove back to Kennewick, WA 8.5 hours, got in at 2 AM with the plan of getting some sleep.
Saturday at noon I was on the road with my best friend and we drove back to Ogden, getting there at 8:30 PM.
Had dinner, It was the least I could do for her, being so nice as to drive the cahse truck.
Ate, got the 5 ton started. Very hard. It was brrrr cold and it snowed while I was away.
Drove down to the Flying J and spent what must have been more than an hour and a half working on the lights snd other parts
while Kathy aired up the rear 8 tires.
Then it was on the road.
Good speed, but that may have been my downfall.
She was running at 50-55 mph, a few tick befor the nast rpm redlines in the gage.
At Burley about 5 am there was a cloud of antifreeze, so I pulled off I-84 and parked a the Stinker Gas/Food store.
Checked into Motel 8 so Kathy and I could get some sleep.
She did well, me, well I am writing this.
So when it gets light I will head back to check out the damage.
ANy ideas, I will check loose hose connections and look for ruptures.
Then if nothing found I will fill with water and re start and look for leaks.
So I was doing 50-55 mph, just fine, what I remember was temp gage in the middle, air above 100,
oil was in the middle of the gage, as was the battery.Temp was 18-20 F.
ANy ideas on something special to check?
Or anyone in the area. My chase crew has to be back to WA by 8am on monday.
So I may have to store the 5 ton some place. Until I can get back, if there are no quick fixes.

Anyway I don't know when i will be checking back in,
But my Cell is (509) 554 6975.
Kathy's gamil account is katbert32@gmail.com which she can check by her work Blackberry.
Her cell is (509) 420-0905

Thanx in advance.
Bumded out in Burley.
Tony

RE: Re: RE: 5 ton woe

I have radiator hoses, belt and pump but then I am in Kennewick. PM me for any help.

RE: Re: RE: 5 ton woe

Thanx for the offer micky,
But all the hoses and belts are fine and look almost new.
And this may be what caused the carnage.
Good parts but not properly torqued down.

So here is my update.

Went back sunday morning and found all types of copper carnage.
The mounting bracket for the fan pulley had come loose at the top and had leaned forward and slowly milled away the copper tube and fins of the radiator.
This the steam and then the increasing amounts of antifreeze on the ground.

So I had it towed into Burley, ID by Snake River Towing.

Now it is off to find a M809 series radiator, maybe just the middle, top and bottom were not touched by the fan blade, and a new fan blade. There is a chunk out of one of the fins.

But onto another post for that search?

Sorry to see that. I was hoping for the best. Makes everyone rethink on driving a truck straight back from an auction and or least check fan bolts now.

If you need one fast (sounds like you do) I would call either Idaho Motor Pool or Boyce Equipment. Either of them may have a new (or pull) radiator and fan you could drop in.

I wish I could do more to help you out. Good luck.

Man, Tony, that really sucks. I hate that for you. If there is a radiator shop nearby that works on big trucks they may be able to put a core in it for you pretty quick.

Im in Boise, can pickup parts at motorpool if needed, and hold them till you come through.

I have family in burley, even a big rig mechanic for a father-in-law.
I am also an auto mechanic.

Let me know how it works out.

If you need assistance, (Im available this weekend, just have to be in boise satuday night)

Call:
Steve
(20 890-5454