Picking up my M1028

[WARWAG]

Well guys and Gal,
I am loaded up to go and pick up my M1028. No one was supposed to be there this week (Nellis). I called to make an appointment to pick up the truck on the 1st of December. Tim tells me if I can be there before 12 noon then I can come and pick it up tomorrow! I make a few phone calls and arrange a trailer rental and a sitter to watch the kids (when Im home I watch them). So all arrangments made and I will be on my way early in the am to Las Vegas! Truck is loaded for bear and fueled up. Tonight the temps are to get down in Ely to about -19. Im higher up and we usually get about 10 degrees colder than Ely. Truck is plugged in and anti gel was added before fuel up. I believe I have all the bases covered. Here are some pics from todays scramble. I will take plenty of pics of the trip.

 

[WARWAG]

Hmmmm No pics showing. trying again.

 

[WARWAG]

Loaded and ready to roll.

 

[91W350]

Wow! I almost hate to break up the one man thread. Nice looking Dodge! Cold looking battery! Have a safe trip and I hope all goes well! Glen

 

[WARWAG]

Thanks 91W350. The Dodge is a work in progress. Most of the work done is none visable stuff. The two batteries (side by side) are Energizer 700 cca I picked up from Sams club. Decent batteries I had them on my MEP 002A but want them incase the batteries are really dead in CUCV. I have jumper cables but if the batteries are really drained then it will take to long to charge up enough to start the truck.

 

[Djfreema]

Dont forget your cucv key! Have a safe trip!

 

[MakersTeleMark]

Good luck. Make sure you check all the fluid levels before trying to start it.

It's been cold here too. Single digits last night, big cold front coming tonight which will likely put us below zero as well. My main street is ice and snowpack already.

 

[WARWAG]

Well I am FINALLY home! All was good till about 20 miles south of Lund NV. A few snow flakes and then something that looked like a very thick wall of fog. It was snow! No snow on the road to about 6" then 8" then 12" in about 2 minutes. The storm dumped about 8" at my house in 15 minutes according to my wife! The visability dropped to about 2 feet in front of my bumper and thats with my headlights off and my fog lights on. Zero visability with head lights on. My speed dropped from about 70 mph to 5 mph back up to about 15 or so. About 10 miutes later a small convoy of cars were just parked in the highway with hazards on. I pulled up next to them and they said its been like this all the way from Ely and they were beat. I told them they were almost out of it and they took off. About an hour later I finally made it into Lund! It had stopped snowing in Lund and didnt seem to have been ravaged as just south of lund. One and a half hours after that I finally pulled into home. A few pics from the adventure to follow..

 

[WARWAG]

Drfreema,
I had both keys on hand. Turns out I didnt need them since there was one in my truck. I checked the oil then turn on the ignition. Waited for the glow plug light to shut off and as soon as I engaged the starter she fire right off! The drive shaft was fine and the T-case free of anyb cracks or leaking oil. The negatives are the locks and door handles are completely wore out. She needs a good cleaning but everything looks there. So far Im pretty happy with my purchase!

 

[WARWAG]

OK the pics.

 

[WARWAG]

Last few

 

[Djfreema]

What a long day! Truck looks much better than the GL pics. Glad you made it home safely and thanks again for checking my trucks.

 

[Cucvnut]

Cool man! i plan to try to wheel up near reno in 2011

 

[lady4wd]

pretty truck. But the snow is making me cold....brrrr
Congrates!

Thanks for sharing

 

[wsucougarx]

Great looking truck. I'm glad your recovery went well and uneventful. Looks like Mr. Murphy is in hibernation

 

[WARWAG]

What a long day! Truck looks much better than the GL pics. Glad you made it home safely and thanks again for checking my trucks.

No Problem! Any excuse to crawl under a CUCV works for me.

 

[WARWAG]

Cool man! i plan to try to wheel up near reno in 2011

PM Me when you know youll be there . I may have some time off. I now live near Ely NV. Its about 5 hours from Reno.

 

[WARWAG]

This morning I was up at the crack of dawn. Unchained the truck and hoped into the cab. It was -8 below and frost was all over everything. I cycled the glow plugs twice and turned the ignition. The starter was trying to engage but was having a hard time. I cycled the glows one more time and cranked her over. This time the starter engaged and you could hear that the batteries were low. Looking at the volt meter my thoughts were verified. Just as I was getting ready to stop cranking she lit off. A bit rough but she was running. Did I mention it was -8? A few minutes later she was off the trailer and parked. My wife comes out and hoped in. She had the biggest grin on her face. She said she was going to take it to work. LOL. I told her no not till its registered. After dropping her off at work and returning the trailer I headed back home. After getting home I hoped up in the WARWAG (thats her name now) and she lit right up. I took her for a spin around the block. She didnt want to shift into second. I figured the fluid was still pretty cold so I drove her around town. She finally shifted but at high RPMs and the same for 3rd. Hard shifts too. I pulled her over and checked the trans fluid. New fluid and perfect level. OK faulks. Time for me to start a new thread. This Mission has been accomplished!

 

[sandcobra164]

The shifts are hard on my truck as well and at a little higher rpm's than it sounds like it should. I don't have a tach to verify but it sounds like it waits till about 2,000 even when driving lightly which at first sounds like an odd rpm to shift at but it's right near the torque peak for this motor. If it's higher than that, the TH-400 has a vacuum modulator that helps it determine when to shift. May be some trouble in that area. Yes, I know diesels are infamous for not producing vacuum unless the air filter's plugged but I've read they have a vacuum pump on these trucks to compensate. I need to do some more reading on that topic myself.

 

[WARWAG]

The vacuum pump is located on the back of the manifold area. Saw it today as I traced the vacuum lines. The one on the control modulator is about 1 1/4" long and looks to be the original. Its all cracked and dried out. Will start there in the morning as I replace it.