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26 Hour / 1300 Mile Test Drive

Master Guns

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For those of you who might be wondering what happened to Rob R's incredible Bobbed Deuce that he put up for sale on EBay, I'm the lucky dog who bought it. I couldn't believe it when I saw that he was going to be putting it up for sale. I placed several bids and was the high bidder but wasn't hitting the reserve price. I e-mailed Rob and we talked on the phone and we reached an agreement on the purchase of the truck. I bought the truck at around midnight on Friday and asked him if he could have the truck ready to go the next day. He said he'd have it waiting for me as soon as I could get there.
Saturday morning I booked a flight from San Diego to Wichita and flew out a little before noon. I had a short window in which to go get the truck and drive it back to SoCal before Memorial Day weekend was over so time was of the essence. I got into Wichita a little before sundown in Kansas and Rob picked me up at the airport. We went over the truck in detail before it got dark and then Rob drove me over to the local Walmart so I could pick up some items for the trip. Rob already had the truck loaded up with tons of spare parts, fluids, belts, impact tools and all kinds of stuff that went with the truck. The bed was full of stuff. I took a sleeping bag with me as I planned on sleeping in the bed of the truck when I got tired but after seeing all the cool goodies Rob had loaded up I figured I'd just sleep under the truck.....
I rolled out of Wichita at approximately 22:00 PST and I figured I drive to Oklahoma before pulling over to crash out. Next thing I know I'm almost to Texas and I still feeling wide awake so I pressed on thinking I'd probably pull over before hitting New Mexico. The truck was running great and I was still feeling pretty good when the sun came up at around 05:00. I pulled over to top off on Fuel at Tucumcari, NM and when I got back in the truck it was full on daylight and there was no way I could go to sleep now. So I continued West on the I-40 thinking eventually I'd get sleepy and I just pull over and crash out. Noon rolled around and I was rolling into Arizona and I still was feeling like a million bucks. I'd already been driving for about 14 hours at this point in time and was feeling like a million bucks. I've ridden in lots of Deuces and 5-Tons and always felt whipped after a couple of hours. Not so with the Super Bobber Rob built. It was literally like riding in a brand new civilian truck that has all the comfort options. (Except for AC of course!)
I continued on West until I hit Holbrook, AZ and then headed South to get down to I-10 towards Los Angles. Passed through Phoenix during afternoon traffic with no problems and stopped in Gila Bend for fuel and chow then caught I-8 West to San Diego.
I crossed into California right at sundown and rolled through El Centro before 21:00 PST. We pushed up the mountains and crested the top around 22:00 and I made into San Diego a few moments before Midnight of Sunday. I logged just shy of 1300 miles in 26 hours of driving. I would have never believed that I could ever stand riding in a Deuce for more than 6 or 7 hours at one pop let alone 26. For those of you have followed the Deuce on all of Rob's threads and were skeptical that someone could actually build a quiet, smooth rolling deuce he did it!
The truck is so quiet in the cab while driving that I was able to talk on my cell phone without any problems. The stereo was awesome and clear as a bell and I didn't have it turned up very loud to be able to listen to it. The air ride seats are awesome and the air assist steering made it possible to drive with one hand on the wheel except when making really sharp turns. I took on approximately 125 gallons of diesel during the trip so I was getting almost 10 miles to the gallon and I was pushing 60 MPH almost the entire trip.
When I got home that night and the next day after I woke up I felt no worse for the wear of having spent 26 hours and 1300 miles practically non-stop in a deuce. Rob really built that thing for comfort. The only glitch experienced during the trip was the power window on the drivers side went down hard in AZ. Anyone else ever had that problem before??? The only thing to do was turn the stereo up a little more and I was good to go. I called Rob on Monday after getting home and he talked me through the simple fix on the window motor and it's fully operational once again.
I can't thank Rob enough for every thing he did to make my short notice trip a complete success as well as building the most awesome deuce I've ever seen or riden in. He's the MAN!!
Now that I've got it home and have it sitting next to my other bobbed deuce I've decided that the only thing I could possibly do to make the truck better would be to put some 53" tires on it. The 46' tires just seem kind of small next to the bigger ones I've got on the green deuce.

Rob, after you build the 5-ton of your dreams and you get tired and bored with it I'd like to call dibs on it. I'll come pick it up and drive home that day!!
 

clinto

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Dude, that's awesome.

Congratulations.
 

DUG

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Not a bad time - though I do Waterloo, Iowa in 26 hours. :) Not in a deuce though. If you cut down the 54 through Kansas and pick up the 40 across country you hit the 15 up by Hundy and you're home quick.

I would love to stop by and check out the trucks sometime. I used to live in Poway back in the day, but I got priced out of San Diego county. Still have to make the drive to Naval Station every day though.
 

Master Guns

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Dug: I was up near Wildomar last month looking at an M818 to fix up. I was going to Bob it and put an M105 bed on it but decided to go with one of Hundy's bobbed deuces instead. Let me know when you want to swing by to check out the trucks. I'm around most of the time and I've got a very flexible schedule. I think you'll like my M715 too. I'm glad I didn't go with the M818 so that I hopefully get the 5-Ton that Rob's going to build and get one that's one of a kind. Just so I can keep the siblings together....

Golden Eagle: I've been on this thread from two different computers and the photos I attached are showing up on both of them. If you can't see the photos from your computer maybe you should call the Geek Squad and get some Tech support going on. What are you using; some 586 equipment from the early 90's with dial up?

Rob: I'm attaching a photo from Monday morning so you can see how the two bobbers were checking each other out like dogs as we discussed over the phone. The Green one was feeling all defensive when the new bad boy rolled in unannounced but they seem to be getting along fine as of now. If it turns out that they can't tolerate each either then you know which one will be departing the area much to my wife's desires.

Everyone else: If you're ever in the San Diego area and you want to check out the Super Deuce in person just let me know. I'll be more than glad to show it to you and take it out for a spin.
 

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