M35 The Recovery continuing story....

[Thunder in NWOR]

Purchased my M35A3 w/w, sight unseen (I know-biggest gamble ever for a non-gambler) from Ft McCoy last summer (2010). Part 1 of the recovery was a frantic phone call to Convoy Friends Wendy & Jeff, pleading for help. Great people, they drove her (already named the Honey Badger by my son Gunnar) 260 miles to their house for winter storage.

Part 2 of the recovery was when Gunnar, my buddy Don, and I went up to W&J's house in July and pulled 8 hours of PM and motor stables, by the book. Gracious hosts Wendy & Jeff accompanied us to the dock at midnight for the ferry ride to Michigan - to miss the "very interesting" traffic through the Chicago area. Please note that there are photos of the efforts at W&J's and the Honey Badger loading on the ship on the 2012 MVPA Alaska Highway Facebook page. We drove her 460 miles from W&J's to near Wooster Ohio for some steering correction (info on previous thread on this website).

Part 3 of the recovery was the trip from Wooster to Dayton and the MVPA Convention. The Honey Badger was on display inside the Nutter Center in front of the Alaska Highway Convoy table.

Part 4 of this recovery adventure started this Sunday morning, August 7. Gunnar and I started home for western Oregon at 0730 local time and spent the next 13 1/2 hours driving 500 miles, into southern Iowa. LOTS of pretty country. Many people passing and waving. and everyone using all 5 fingers!.

Observations: 42 MPH at 2400 rpm. Engine temp, pretty constant at less than 200. Trans temp pretty constant at about 180. Runs uphill same speed as flat and downhill. No smoke of any kind observed from stack. No death wobble nor tire hop. No excessive movement during shifting (shifts into 4th at about 2475 rpm). I refuse to compute MPG on just a couple tanks, but seems to be doing much better than someones projected 7 MPG.

So - here I am in a motel in Iowa, with no way to add photos, so please no slamming for that - will post some when I get home.
Will followup tomorrow nite if we end up in a motel with access for my machine.

Mark & Gunnar - 'on the road in America'

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Godspeed.

May your recovery road be smooth and uneventful.

 

[dozer1]

Its sounding like a good solid A3 the honey badger must be. best of luck on the journey. If all goes well will you be home by tues or wed?

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Is 42mph @ 2400 rpm correct or are you closer to 52 mph turning 2400?

 

[Thunder in NWOR]

Day 2 of the trip (could not get internet connection last nite)

ColdWarrior: To answer your question - am just reporting what the gages say; the speedometer says 42 at 2400. I checked the odometer against mile markers and it is off about 2%. I did cross several of those "your speed" signs and at 40 indicated, the signs flashed 43.....

The report of day 2: Awoke in south central Iowa to thunderstorms. Traveling US 34 in the AM was pleasent due to the heat being washed out. However, much corn was flattened, many trees down or branches torn off. Even saw one historic-type (say olc) barn pushed over. Truck ran well in the cool with both engine and trans temps running a few degrees cooler (all relative...!)

One "park on the highway" on US 34 due to road resurfacing. Got to western IA and had to detour due to I 29 closed (and the bridge closed we had planned to use). Buildings still underwater and much corn flooded - sitll.

Made Grand Island, NE during rush hour (of course) - Got on US 30 - the Lincoln Highway) there. Approaching evening presented Mother Nature at her finest for specticals - A great isolated thunderstorm. We drove through the edges and only got some rain. The benifits are now I know where I can fix some leaks!!! Of course many I cant, due to the nature of the M35 MV. Love these trucks.

Moteled up again after just under 500 miles.
After sleeping in a tent that we carried on our 1943 Dodge Command Car on the 2009 cross country Convoy, we thought about sleeping in the back of the Honey Badger, but then a bunch of fellow Military Vehicle Club of Oregon folks showed up at the MVPA convention in Dayton, and found a very convenient "Freight Forwarder" in our truck. Not sure how they would have gotten all that great stuff back to Oregon without us!!!

Son Gunnar is more convinced than ever that the hard bench seat needs to be replaced - as our very first mod...!

Back on the road shortly..... Mark

 

[Thunder in NWOR]

Today's report of an interesting day (now 1530 miles from Dayton, OH in 3 days in the M35a3):
After a good nights sleep, and out of the motel at 0610, pulling pre-op motor stables, we pulled out of the parking lot at 0630. Pulling into the traffic lane, the truck lugged down, with no power - pedal on the floor. First thought "Oh no, the reported terrible malfunctioning Allison Trans.... ugg".

Worked out of town and could not get over 2000 RPM. Pulled to the side of the road with flashers going, and before Gunnar and I could get out of the cab, a local guy stopped and backed up to the Honey Badger. Rob (or Rod-not sure as I was thinking "truck" not names - a shortfall I have regreted in the past as well as today) said 'whats the problem' Gunnar said it dont wanna run and we thougth we smelled a bit of sulfur for 3 seconds'
Rob said, thats probably one of the town smells. Gunnar said the truck has been sitting a while. Guy asked when was the last time you fueled it? 8 times in the past month, last time was 100 miles ago - last night.

Guy points to pump and says, thats a two part pump, one sucking fuel from the tank and the other part pushing it into the engine, had one similar that gave me problems - just shut it off for 10 minutes and then restart it.

Gunnar says, we bought a case of brand new-in-the shrink-wrap-box Cat fuel filters at the Dayton convention, maybe we should put a new on on. What the hay, we were just talking trucks anyway - and Cat Man Jeff did a heck of a training class on Cat filters at Dayton, and when we pulled major PM, we didnt change the filter because it "looked good".

Guy just happened to have a filter tool. Spun the new one on and let her cook with the ignition switch on for a bit and she popped right off - ran like a top for more than 500 miles. Kept the filter so that when we get home, Gunnar can do a Jeff-like post mortum on the filter.....!

Hail shredded corn in west central NE. Still high water standing in places. Nice cool traveling today.

Drove old US 30 through NE, but did the I-80 in WY.

This is getting long - and I'm tired. Later, Mark

 

[dozer1]

Well you got a good piece of the trip behind ya. That is a lot of miles tho and I am sure you and the family are ready to get home. Might not always seem like it now, but when its all over in the future, there will be many fond memories of this trip.

 

[Varyag]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7wHMg5Yjg[/media]

I couldn't help myself. Warning, Some cussing and flamboyance.

 

[Motomech]

I instantly thought of this video as soon as i found out the name of this M35!!

Good post!

 

[F18hornetM]

awesome adventure for you and your son.

 

[M35A2-AZ]

Great road trip and adventure.
Can not wait for all the pics!!

 

[elkhunter]

This site just gets better and better and better! Good thread and will look forward to the pictures! elkhunter

 

[CatMan]

M35A3 The Recovery Continues

Boys,

Sounds like a good shake down for the AC12 Alaska convoy. Glad the weather cooled off. When I brought the "Honey Badger" from Ft McCoy to Green Bay, I ran it just a little faster at 45 MPH.

I guess I have failed in my maint training mission. First no grease gun and now no fuel filter wrench. We'll have to work on your on-board tool list some more. I had a extra filter wrench here and could have sent it with you. Good thing you bought those Cat filters at the MVPA convention, eh? They were a bargin.
I also should have, sent an extra seat pad for under Gunnar's butt. But he's young and tough.

Here are acouple pictures before the Honey Badger left WI. Gunnar doing maint and Mark backing onto the midnight car ferry at Manitowoc for the lake Michigan crossing.

Are you using the ear protectors we sent?

Drive safe and keep us posted.

Jeff and wendy - AKA Cat Man

 

[goodguyzy]

nothing like a few days in the truck to get acquainted, glad to see another A3 coming this way.

 

[Gunnar1071]

Mark & Gunnar - 'on the road in America'

Sounds like a good adventure for you and the boy.


At your sons name!

 

[Thunder in NWOR]

Greetings:
Addundum to Tuesday - Trucking west of Rawlins, WY, we came upon a sign that said 'wreck ahead'. As we came closer, we smelled smoke from a range fire. Then we saw a half a dozen BLM Type 6 engines (1 ton trucks with slip in tanks and pump) mopping up 4-5 acxres of burnt rangeland. Then a lot of vehicles around the burnt hulk of a semi. Tractor and trailer were just a skeleton. Howerer we can rejoice, as about a third of the load looks to have survived - BEER!!

Catman - the hearing protectors are being well used - and who could have thunk we would need a filter wrench...!?!

And now to Wednesdays adventures;
About an hour (at our speeds) east of Green River WY, we did a quick pit stop and duing the walk around noted a missing lugnut on the right front. Broken off. YIKES! Drove into Green River for the night. On Wednesday morning we spent a couple hours under the vehicle attempting to resolve the situation (whatever that could be) - Pretty clueless. proceeded westward. Fuelup just east of the Wyoiming-Idaho border on US30. No problem. Then just west of Soda Springs, Gunnar waived me to stop. He heard a bang. We pulled over and found 2 more studs on same wheel broken.

Turned around and slowly drove back to Soda. Stopped at the first tire shop. Guys said we dont do mechanical stuff - and the only Desiel mechanic left town. Asked for suggestions - Guys said go to the gas station at the light (only light in Soda Springs - Gotta love Idaho towns - I lived in Idaho over 20 years and gonna move back as soon as the wife retires!) and behind them is the NAPA store - they may have studs, or can order them. OK - but what about that other tire store - Answer, think they dont do that for trucks.....

At the NAPA store, guy said maybe we have them but gotta bring a sample to match as dont have books for cross reference. Off to the other tire store. Sure they do that, give us an hour. (Its 3pm and they close at 5pm) 4 pm we pull the Honey Badger in and they have 2 guys working on it (one 29 year employee going on vacation at 5pm and the other just starting) Gunnar and I need to help them understand CTIS.

Pull the hub and scare up 5 studs and 1 nut that fits. After new studs are in and they attempt to put drum back on, they cant get it to turn freely. its now 10 minutes to 5 and the ole timer is getting nervous about leaving and having the kid finish the work tomorrow if they cant get it.

Finally the ole guy finds (after putting on and pulling the assembly at least ten times) two roller bearings cramed down between the drum and the backing plate. they were worn and scourched bluish. They were NOT from the wheel bearings. The great mystery - where the H*LL did they come from...? Wheel went back on and buttoned up.

None of the tire guys had a good explination for the broken studs, however at least two of them had evidence of previous cracks (rust towards the interior). We replaced all but the air stud - no evidence of existing damage (nor did the other two unbroken ones that we replaced.

So I am one of those guys that have to have a reasonable explination for things, and I'm not sure I have one here. So if anyone has ideas, please let us know..... Thanks!

Anyway - it was a late nite so we waited until this morning to post.

We are momentairly gonna get underway.

Thanks for the good thoughts.
oh - Wheat dust in the air all across east southern Idaho - everyone is combining wheat.

Gunnar and Mark - back on the road.

 

[elkhunter]

Well it sounds like someone was looking out for you. It could have turned out much worse. I'm glad it didn't!! Good report on your continuing travel home. Take care and keep an sharp eye out on those lugnuts. elkhunter PS: hope the driver of that truck is ok.

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Well it sounds like someone was looking out for you. It could have turned out much worse. I'm glad it didn't!! Good report on your continuing travel home. Take care and keep an sharp eye out on those lugnuts. elkhunter PS: hope the driver of that truck is ok.

​

 

[Thunder in NWOR]

Greetings!
Re; burned truck in WY - I neglicted to say that the rig was upright just off the shoulder, so I have some conficence that the operators were able to get away (better chance than if it was layed over!!).
Re; pictures - I somehow neglicted to pack the cord that hooks to the camera and computer to download - have to wait until I get home to add pictures (thanks to Catman Jeff for the ones he added here)
Re; fires - I have had over 35 years experience smoke chasing for the Forest Service (now semi-retired. This afternoon as we passed Boise, ID, we noted a significant wildfire north east of town. Knowing that part of the state (20+ years here) and the color and area of smoke (base was behind the ridge) I guessed at the time we saw it that it was in grass/sage, greater than 100 acres but less than 500. Just as we lost site of it, we could see an airtanker making a run. Hope they caught it, but the west wind was howling...

Now for the day's report of travel: We pulled into the Les Schwab tire store in Mt Home, ID (a well respected chain of tire stores in the Northwest. We talked to the big truck specialists about the Pull left and tire wear. They guessed bad bearings at first and then jacked it up and determined that was not a problem. After 2 hours of everyone taking a turn at llooking, and much discussion (and no resolution) we motored on.

Our next stop was at Idaho Motor Pool and a visit with Alex and his head mechanic. As many SS know, Alex is famous for helping SS members. He convinced us to come back to his store on Friday morning and pull the wheel, and punch out the inner bearing to check to confirm that it is truly OK (his mechanic - will get his name tomorrow) says that he has seen bad bearings that show no evidence until removal - we will find out!

Alex has a couple other ideas that noone else thought of that we will invistigate and we will report on.

I again have to mention what a great bunch of folks you can meet when driving a historic military vehicle....!!!

Oh - one down side of visiting a great place like Idaho Motor Pool is that Gunnar REALLY likes the M923 Alex has on display along I-84.

OK - thats all I have for tonight.
Mark

 

[Thunder in NWOR]

OK - little delay here from last update. Good news is we made it home on Friday evening, 8-12. According to the Odometer on the Honey Badger, we drove 2499.7 miles from Dayton, OH, to home, just east of Portland, OR.

We spent Thursday night in Ontario, OR, on the Oregon/Idaho border, just 3 miles west of Alex's Idaho Motor Pool - IMP - (have I mentioned the great folks you meet while driving historic military vehicles...?). Gunnar and I showed back at the Motor Pool at 0830 and Alex swung open the geat (half hour early, for us) and had us park on the concrete by his shop. We dug out our tools and pulled the right front wheel and hub. No indications of damage.

On consultation with both Alex and his very capable side kick, Kevin, we thought the inner bearing was turning a little "stickey". Out comes the rags and cleaning of the hub, drum and bearings. Alex wanted to compare the inner bearing with a new one, so he called a couple local premier bearing distributers. We loaded up the hub in his Army staff car and off to town. The three bearing specialists in the most promising shop did not have the bearing and could not find it in any of their references... Yikes. however, they did not think the bearing appeared to be damaged, but were not toatally satisified that it was OK without pulling it from the drum. (The other bearing shop did not have them in stock and were not sure they could get them, and they showed them at over $450 - again YIKES!!!

We had not punched out the bearing, in case it would gernade. But, back to IMP. Keith puncked out the bearing for us and we cleaned it up. No obvious damage to bearing. We repacked the bearings with new grease and Keith used is great experience to properly seat them for us. Back on goes the wheel and it spins on the axel easier than it had.

Both Alex and Kevin could find no other gremlins so we dropped the truck off the jacks, and got back on the road.

We drove US 26 across the middle of Oregon and over Mt Hood. Now I am talking about some steep stretches of Highway. Even with the mighty Cat pulling us along, we downshifted three times at the end of some long uphill grades. That Cat engine NEVER blew color from the stack - something I had never experienced with a desiel engine.

At one town (2 fuel pumps, 4 houses) we stopped for streach break and water, we talked to a guy that made a crew cab our of a M35a2, replaced the rear axels with a front, and but road grader tires all around to access his place in the winter snow - unfortunately we did not see it and he did not have his photos along....

On Monday, we will off load the freight we hauled for others back from the convention. We will then fill her up and figure the milage - and post it here.

I did do a search. Could not find front wheel bearings from turck supply houses. There was a 4X4 site that had a discussion that the inner was $750 and another that both bearings for one side were $1500. YIKES - !!

I have drawn the conclusion that the right front wheel may have been hit and damaged (and subsequently repaired) while in government service. Will never know for sure. Two of the wheel studs that failed had previous cracks (internal rust).
Every Day is an Adventure!
I will try to add photos.

regards - Mark and Gunnar