Please talk him out of this

I've seen you driving around before. I know some history on your truck to on who owned it before where you got it. You live south sound yes?

That is a good looking M211!!! I would add a fuel filter just before the carburetor to keep things from plugging up. There is a screen inside the carburetor just above where the fuel line connects. That is probably full of junk.

Here is a picture of what I am talking about.


Please forgive the ugly engine. This is one of my projects the day after I got it over a year ago. Looks much better now, but I don't have a current picture.

Just in case you haven't seen it yet, here is a parts list a lot of us have put together for these trucks. Might come in handy for you.

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?137722-G749-Parts-List

She is home!!!

WOW! Where to start with every thing?

srodocker: You have me confused with someone else darlin. Just brought the truck home this morning and it hasn't been on the road in eighteen months. The basic history is that it was a Marine unit, then a Orca Island fire truck before being put into the civi world.

USMC 00-08: That filter installation is exactly what the boys did this morning after draining and flushing out the tank. The carburetor is a brand spanking new Holly from Memphis Equipment. Big Steve that we bought the truck from had already installed and tuned it. so the motor purrs like a kitten.


Now, for things that we are already curios about. What kind of tranny shifting setup is this? Not like anything soldier A has ever seen on a M211.


The brakes are soft but we cant see any obvious leaks, but you can hear air when you press on the brake pedal? Confused???


We decided to let good sense prevail and had a friend of ours bring her home on a flat bed, rather than take unnecessary chances. Now in our AO we can start making a show piece out of her. So, here are shots from today

If you are hearing air, then my guess is that you need to check the air pack.
I had to rebuild mine years ago. I may have replaced it from an M35 one I had, but I really don't
remember. At the very least, there is some special oil that needs to go in there. Not much,
I think it is like a teaspoon full if I remember. I am sure someone else will chime in.

Yes what Firefox is talking about is opening the little plug on the back of the airpack when the pressure is off and squirting some air tool lube oil in there to help keep the position moving.

It looks like from that extra shifter arm someone added an aftermarket Rebshifter on that truck that allows the driver to pick which gear he wants. Just be aware that that shifter setup will not stop you from forcing the transmission into a wrong gear including reverse!

But that shifter is very desirable!

SturmTyger. We are doing the Morton Loggers Jubilee in three days so he is going to have to wait a week to start building his fantasy rig. However, I think he figured out that the extra lever basically locks the tranny in which ever position you set that lever in.

My question would be, if you just want to drive the truck normally what position should each of the levers be in? By the way he has only owned the truck a few hours and I already think he has lost his mind.

Okay I dragged out the old kit I have. You can see from the photos that you remove the original side piece on the transmission and replace it with the Reb Shifter version. The kit comes with metal labels that you are supposed to place on the dashboard. After reading the instructions I don't think you can go into reverse by using the added shifter. It looks like you will have to drive using the Reb shifter.

Check this link out on the airpak rebuild.

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?70703-M220-AirPak-rebuild

I'll be attempting it in the near future as well.

SturmTyger, that was so cool of you to do that for us Darlin. Thank you so much.

So, if I understand this reb shifter thing it makes the tranny kinda like the new paddle shifters?

USMC, way cool link. Thank you. I will have to get him out of the truck long enough to sit down and read it completely.

I took some photos last night of some things we have questions about. I know everything to do with these trucks has been covered on this site many times. Our problem is the fact that we are in the busiest time of the year for our little business and don't have as much time for reading and research as we need. So, I am asking for a bit of wiggle room in repeat questions. We need to get this girl in the mix asap.

Should I start a new thread now that we actually have the truck, or rename this one?

Up to you if you would start a new one but it would give you a clean start to asking questions.

You will drive the truck like in the instructions. Choose F1 high range for on road and F1 low range for off road. Start out in gear 1 with the added shifter and shift up as you need to as you go faster. Then down shift using the added shifter as you slowdown or loose speed on a hill.

Last post here before I actually start the rebuild thread, as I think SturmTyger is correct that it will be a more direct way of getting the necessary information to accomplish what we want to do.

So, the new girl has a huge amount of play in the steering wheel. He looked at the thing he is calling the draglink and it appears to be bent. Should it be straight?

Just a thought about threads.....a thread thought. Your title can be changed by the amazing mods if needed. We don't tell those guys enough how much we appreciate them around here. Your original "hunt" and "capture" story started here, everyone is following along so to make it easy.....keep adding and we don't need to look for you on another thread. It's a better read for these old eyes if the trucks story is all in one place....just my opinion.

For the steering check, have a second troop turn the steering wheel back and forth while a good set of eyes lays underneath and diagnoses every joint. The play should be easy to spot and it could come from one area.....or a little play in all joints. The tie-rod ends are available so if you have some play there it's not a big issue. The steering box can be adjusted so if the drag link isn't pushing on the control arm the slop is in the box. Let us know where it's sloppy.

All the drag links have a slight kink in them but we should compare the drop with some others to compare......pics at 11.

MRAP DREAM GIRL said:

So, the new girl has a huge amount of play in the steering wheel. He looked at the thing he is calling the draglink and it appears to be bent. Should it be straight?View attachment 573993

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Just checked the one on my M135 at the house and it looks just like yours. Mine does not have play in the steering. I'll try to get by two of my other M135's later this week and check those.

OK! m1010plowboy I'm staying put, because everything you said makes since. Looks like all of the steering play is in the wheel. About 8 inches side to side in the wheel with out making the drag link move. What to do??? By the way I always end up being soldier B which means I get all the crap jobs! lmao

USMC that makes me feel better that we might have one less issue to deal with, not that there are many, but we do need this girl in the field asap.

While he is making products and trying to figure out the steering issue, I can throw out some more explanation of what wemintend to do with this awesome peice of steel.

We're thinking hard bed cover with gull wing sides for product display. Most likely a rv interior for the creature comforts on location. One thing we really want is an awesome paint job. Some kind of camp that really rocks so everyone feel free to chime in.

G749 steering

The link at http://www.jatonkam35s.com/jatonkaM135-211sTMdownloadpage.htm will give you access to the TM's. 9-8024 is the manual with the trouble shooting section and steering adjustment info. There is a ton of info.

On this pdf......... http://www.jatonkam35s.com/M135-211/TM9-8024pt3.pdf ............the Steering gear adjustment info starts on page 486...or page 135/171 on the pdf.

I'd link the trouble shooting section, pg. 174, but the only solution it suggests is tightening the steering gear mounting bolts, replace warn steering parts or excessive pitman arm shaft lash...and I can type that.

I think my M135 is a little worse than before because we encourage those darn kids to jump in and dry-steer the beast while they play peacekeeper. I need to learn to adjust mine as well but I only see 2" of play in the wheel. We need to do some reading!

OK, I have to set the record straight this morning. It's a camo paint scheme we are looking for not a camp one. A few to many hours at work and a few too many beers.

Anyway, thanks again to USMC & m1010 for the pictures. We are convinced the drag link is supposed to be formed the way it is. So after we get back from Morton we will look into the steering box issue.

These trucks were not around in the US Army long enough to start receiving the Camo schemes that came in the early 1970's and then the 1980's. (Canada, Maybe - I just don't know.) But it's up to you for what you want.

My current project is a Dodge M37 and those did not normally get Camo schemes either but I want to paint it in Tropical MERDC. I know this will raise some eyebrows of the purest folks but it's my truck. MERDC came out in the 1970's.

Here are some resources I have been looking at:

https://sites.google.com/site/merdccamo/home

http://olive-drab.com/od_mvg_camo.php

http://olive-drab.com/od_mvg_camo_tc5-200.php

Examples of the patterns: https://sites.google.com/site/merdccamo/home/merdcpic

MRAP DREAM GIRL said:

It's a camo paint scheme we are looking for not a camp one.

Click to expand...

The Canadian Military camo paint scheme that I have seen on some of these trucks looks really cool.

Maybe some of the Canadian guys will post photos of it. I'll try to find some pictures and post them up for you in a day or two if our northern brothers don't beat me to it.

Here are a couple of those camo patterns I was talking about.