Well I didnt get many pictures as we were working like dogs to get it all done but my dad and I went down to Hooks Tx and picked up 3 gl m818 trucks, pull started them (with the suburban first) and drove them off the lot to the parking lot. One truck had a padlock on the top toolbox and I just opened it when I got home and it had a new in box jack and air hose,reflectors and wheel tools
. All of my trucks had at least one full fuel tank but the batteries were completely dead and wouldnt even jump or hold a charge after running. I ended up replacing the 4 batteries in my lead truck with two and it worked great. It took a looooonnnnnggggg time to air the tires up using the trucks air system as all 30 tires were low. We ran wires from the towing trucks trailer connector to the back trailer connector and pulled the turnsignal harness of the back truck and that allowed the back trucks lights to work properly(thanks James and Joe). They wouldnt let me on the base with a camera but there were a lot of neat trucks in there and some 939 series trucks with full armor plate on the cabs. Once in the parking lot we used military towbars (thanks to 1075 and Joe for helping with the towbar and signs) and I picked the truck that seemed the most sound and used it to tow the other two trucks to jmmcld's place in Denton tx. I didnt have this planned in advance because I didnt know how it was going to go. I posted for help in Denton and Jim was nice enough to offer his place(it ended up being a lot of work for him though) I couldnt have picked a better location to drop the two truck(thanks Jim) I didnt pull any driveshafts or axles becuase I thought i might need to switch trucks if I had a problem. The trucks pulled great and I had no problem with steering on the back trucks. Ive pulled a deuce with a deuce and had a lot of probs with the back truck trying to steer the opposite war as the front in slow speed turns. I couldnt get into 5th gear unless I was going down hill and the traffic was unbelievable. I was very happy to get off the interstate.
After we dropped the 2 trucks at Jim's we headed down to killeen to get my m872 and m447c off the base. When we finally got down there we had 1 hour to get the trailers off the gl lot. For some reason the guard wouldnt let my dad with the suburban in and said he had to get a pass somewhere and I didnt understand what he meant. I just went in with the m818 and after I got clear into the base realized I left my air hook ups in the suburban.
I pulled the 447c out of the gl lot and parked it on the base lot outside the fence. I went back in and checked the 872 out. It ends up having spring brakes only on the middle axle and they were already caged
. I hooked on and pulled it out to the local walmart and my dad started getting the side panels bolted in as they werent pinned in. Unfortunately someone had put a bunch of metal scrap in my "empty as bought" trailer. I hauled the 447 to sermis' place(Thanks Steve) and went back to get the 872. We haluled the 872 to Sermis and unloaded the junk in his pasture for scrap(making a huge mess, thanks again Steve) The 447 ended up having 9 new 11x20 michelin radials on it which was very nice. There were some tools in the trailer as well including a 24volt charger which I was glad to get. The 872 had some extra new side panels which is nice because some were damaged. In all the 872 is an awesome trailer.
We headed back up to Denton and found a construction site that had some berms and terraces that allowed me to back the trailer up and drive the two 818 trucks onto the trailer. Jim really helped out here as it took forever to load,chain,air trailer tires,remove tops and exhaust and fold the windshields. I ended up being 12'5" tall and 79440lbs. 80000 is max for interstate so I was really pushing it. I was surprised that the trailer with the two trucks on it pulled a lot better than the two towbarred trucks even with an extra 17000 lbs. I was able to run in 5th gear most of the way home and only got into 3rd gear on 2 or 3 occasions on really big hills. I guess running thru the gears on the two back trucks really pulls a lot of power. My pics on the road are terrible but we usually didnt get going till dark and I was completely exhausted from the effort.
It was a very long trip (left tuesday and got home late saturday night. I was surprised how long it took to get every thing tied down or aired up.
. All of my trucks had at least one full fuel tank but the batteries were completely dead and wouldnt even jump or hold a charge after running. I ended up replacing the 4 batteries in my lead truck with two and it worked great. It took a looooonnnnnggggg time to air the tires up using the trucks air system as all 30 tires were low. We ran wires from the towing trucks trailer connector to the back trailer connector and pulled the turnsignal harness of the back truck and that allowed the back trucks lights to work properly(thanks James and Joe). They wouldnt let me on the base with a camera but there were a lot of neat trucks in there and some 939 series trucks with full armor plate on the cabs. Once in the parking lot we used military towbars (thanks to 1075 and Joe for helping with the towbar and signs) and I picked the truck that seemed the most sound and used it to tow the other two trucks to jmmcld's place in Denton tx. I didnt have this planned in advance because I didnt know how it was going to go. I posted for help in Denton and Jim was nice enough to offer his place(it ended up being a lot of work for him though) I couldnt have picked a better location to drop the two truck(thanks Jim) I didnt pull any driveshafts or axles becuase I thought i might need to switch trucks if I had a problem. The trucks pulled great and I had no problem with steering on the back trucks. Ive pulled a deuce with a deuce and had a lot of probs with the back truck trying to steer the opposite war as the front in slow speed turns. I couldnt get into 5th gear unless I was going down hill and the traffic was unbelievable. I was very happy to get off the interstate. After we dropped the 2 trucks at Jim's we headed down to killeen to get my m872 and m447c off the base. When we finally got down there we had 1 hour to get the trailers off the gl lot. For some reason the guard wouldnt let my dad with the suburban in and said he had to get a pass somewhere and I didnt understand what he meant. I just went in with the m818 and after I got clear into the base realized I left my air hook ups in the suburban.
I pulled the 447c out of the gl lot and parked it on the base lot outside the fence. I went back in and checked the 872 out. It ends up having spring brakes only on the middle axle and they were already caged. I hooked on and pulled it out to the local walmart and my dad started getting the side panels bolted in as they werent pinned in. Unfortunately someone had put a bunch of metal scrap in my "empty as bought" trailer. I hauled the 447 to sermis' place(Thanks Steve) and went back to get the 872. We haluled the 872 to Sermis and unloaded the junk in his pasture for scrap(making a huge mess, thanks again Steve) The 447 ended up having 9 new 11x20 michelin radials on it which was very nice. There were some tools in the trailer as well including a 24volt charger which I was glad to get. The 872 had some extra new side panels which is nice because some were damaged. In all the 872 is an awesome trailer. We headed back up to Denton and found a construction site that had some berms and terraces that allowed me to back the trailer up and drive the two 818 trucks onto the trailer. Jim really helped out here as it took forever to load,chain,air trailer tires,remove tops and exhaust and fold the windshields. I ended up being 12'5" tall and 79440lbs. 80000 is max for interstate so I was really pushing it. I was surprised that the trailer with the two trucks on it pulled a lot better than the two towbarred trucks even with an extra 17000 lbs. I was able to run in 5th gear most of the way home and only got into 3rd gear on 2 or 3 occasions on really big hills. I guess running thru the gears on the two back trucks really pulls a lot of power. My pics on the road are terrible but we usually didnt get going till dark and I was completely exhausted from the effort.
It was a very long trip (left tuesday and got home late saturday night. I was surprised how long it took to get every thing tied down or aired up.
