Deuce Recovery Story (my first)

Deuce recovery Story
Well this Beekeeper after much guidance and advice from the wonderful brotherhood of Steelsoldiers.com bid on an M35A2C on govliquidation.com. After a long awaited 91 days for the EUC to clear I got the green light to pick up the deuce. My son had been all excited about the deuce (13yrs old) and so I made a deal with him. He could become the official photographer for the trip IF he got his homework assignments from school and did his homework prior to the trip. After a long fought weekend of doing his homework he was ready for the Monday/Tuesday trip from Alabama.
A friend who is a steelsoldier enthusiast, my son, and I headed out Monday night bound for Eastover South Carolina. We arrived at the base about 4:30AM and napped in the Suburban with the truck running until the First Sergeant arrived about 6:30AM. The temp gauge showed it to be 19 degrees and the base was busy as Soldiers prepared for a trip to the firing range. I could not help but remember the days of holding a weapon all day in the cold. It has a tendency to drain the heat out of your body through your hands.
First Sergeant arrived and could not have been a nicer guy. We gave him the paperwork and he smiled at me and said he started that yesterday. Well today at 19 degrees it was a different story. I told him to wait a minute I had a Christmas present for him. I went to my truck and pulled out a can of ether and handed it to him. He had about 10 trucks to get started and out of the lot and he went to work. After a jump and a squirt of either the gal fired right up. We met some nice folks picking up other trucks at the site.
The truck has good brakes, ran fine we did a preliminary inspection. The plan was to get it off base and to a gas station for a more detailed inspection. One fault that I take full responsibly for was not bolting the hood back down. I had noticed all the vehicles having the latches on the hoods undone but I just did not click with me. Sure enough the hood flipped up as I was going down the road outside of base. Well I will have to bang out the dent in the hood at another time; Guidance from steelsolders as the proper method of doing this will be gratefully taken into advisement, but that is for a later discussion. We bolted her down and got her down the road. The frost on the outside and inside of the truck was thick and I did my best to clear off enough to keep it safe for driving but I was cold. I remember from my days driving a deuce there was a vent that you could open up to pass air across the engine but I did not find it. I found vents on the side that opened up doors on the side of the deuce but not to the engine. So I suspect I will be looking into an after-market cab heater. Recommendations welcomed!
The truck only had 44 hrs driven and 4k miles on it. It ran like a new truck of the show room floor. Not a problem one from inspection. The gas gauge read full tank and I felt like a hit the jack pot. We stopped and ate breakfast at McDonald's, took some picture (that I will post tomorrow or tonight). We found out later in the incredible traffic of 1-20 in the middle of downtown Atlanta that the gas gauge was stuck as a quarter tank still showed but we were out of gas. Thanks for the present of a Jerry can Jonathan! That saved the day!
Truck is home and safe, my friend, my son and I are all beat up from a fun trip. Pictures to follow...

Congrats, sounds like you got a really good one.

Congrats! Hope my recovery goes as good as yours!!

Glad to hear it went mostly hassle free. Guess you learned one big rule with these trucks, never trust the fuel gauge.

Sorry, I wanna see!

Awesome, I love recovery stories like this. It's great to share the moment with your son. I have done it several times now. Great bonding time. Now you'll have plenty of bonding moments while doing your Preventive Maintenance. Now you just need to get one more truck and a couple M105A2's to go with them.

Congratulatioins! Ditto on never trusting a Deuce fuel gauge - visual inspection only,

congrats on the truck cant wait for pics!

wsucougarx said:

Awesome, I love recovery stories like this. It's great to share the moment with your son. I have done it several times now. Great bonding time. Now you'll have plenty of bonding moments while doing your Preventive Maintenance. Now you just need to get one more truck and a couple M105A2's to go with them.

Click to expand...

Great job on the recovery. In reference to the above quote. You are only allowed to have more trucks than trailers when you buy your first truck. After that trailers should outnumber trucks.

I wish my son could go to SD with me, it would be a great trip together. Glad yours went well and like the others, I hope mine does too. Glen

Thanks for sharing your story.
It took me about five hours to get the truck home but it was an uneventful trip (and I'm grateful for that).

Congrats on the NEW truck Beekeeper, I have 1/2 interest in a bee farm in MN and out old work out 2 ton is going away this coming spring and it will be replaced by a Deuce, we dont have to haul to far its all pretty much within 45 miles of the honey house so GREAT luck with the new rig I an I for one think you made a very good buying decision, and your will love the trcuk!
KK

The only thing that lies more consistantly than a career politician is a deuce fuel gauge.

That's what the fuel can holder on the step is for.

Get a paint stirring stick and keep it in the cab......best way to guage the fuel in a deuce.

Not to be a smart azz but did you open the fuel cap and look in the tank or just trust the guage?

My rule of thumb is that if you can not see fuel at the bottom of the strainer it is time to top off.

I am not too far from Alabaster......there are several of us "Green Iron Addicts" in the area.

If you get up this way shoot me a PM.

I usually host a mini-rally in the spring. You and yours would be welcome.

Thanks a ton for the comments guys. Wreckerman we gonna have to hook up for a cup of coffee or something stronger. Here are some picture from the trip my first upload lets see how this goes.

Great looking truck. Since I don't have a son, I took my 84 year old neighbor with me. He is a real trooper once you get past the "Depends"