Recovery disaster - Long

[bassetdeuce]

Although this is awful for the OP, these types of posts are far more useful than the successful recovery posts. This helps some of us come to grips with reality when doing recoveries. We really need to have more cash on hand when planning. I am guilty of doing a recovery or two with change in my pocket as my cash reserve.

 

[timntrucks]

ok last night i was on chat an heard about trailbosses bad luck.. then while reading the post the bad weather took out internet.. so i can most probly take care of getting 818 home but my 818 is still down .. so i cant help with the trailer... i can use my duece or the wrecker to bring your 818 home.. i just installed a new ip pump on 816 but ill be using it this morning and ill take it up the road to see how it runs .. Tim

 

[Trailboss]

Thanks Tim, I knew you would jump in and I may take you up on your offer, but I'm not sure where I want to go with it until I check it out with the mechanic.

You wouldn't happen to have a good engine in your parted M818 would you?

 

[greenjeepster]

Although this is awful for the OP, these types of posts are far more useful than the successful recovery posts. This helps some of us come to grips with reality when doing recoveries. We really need to have more cash on hand when planning. I am guilty of doing a recovery or two with change in my pocket as my cash reserve.

I agree. I love reading the recovery gone wrong posts. I have a tendency of going crazy sometimes when an item is up for auction and posts like this help to remind me to factor in all the possible recovery costs when bidding.

I often will look at a lot and then add it to my watchlist and then have to step back in disbelief when the bidding starts rising higher than it is worth to anybody. I know these are good people bidding on this stuff and I sometimes wish there was a way to contact them and give them a quick reality check.

 

[papercu]

Yep, buying surplus that not close to home or a easy haul (and even those can cause major problems) it is best to let someone else bring it home or not buy it.
On the other hand I never can follow my own advise BUT I am getting better.
I spent 400.00 Thursday to haul a 300.00 truck home but all the labor I had to do was just sign my name. Now if I just hadn't bought it in the first place I would be good.
Best of luck on getting your home. Wayne

 

[timntrucks]

yes a good one with 17k miles... i took off the outer stuff.. no muffler. water pump. starter or ip pump. good clean oil still in.. its still under the hood and wrapped up

 

[Srjeeper]

Once again an SS member leads by example, good job Tim.

 

[Trailboss]

UPDATE - Timntrucks provided valuable advice, and offered to sell his engine block. I had the truck towed 10 miles to the mechanic from the truckstop yesterday (another $150 CASH), and he has started his diagnosis. I originally broke down about 1/4 mile from his place . He couldn't find anything looking down on the valves while running, and will pull the pan and check from underneath. He thinks it might be the #3 or 4 piston or rod. The oil pressure was 100 psi on his test guage.

Took some photos of the sick truck for your enjoyment, as well as two photos of how to tow a Deuce or 5-ton with a commercial wrecker. Like I said before, the front differential and spring mounts gave us some issues. Cost me an extra $80 in time for us to figure how to rig it up. Maybe this will save someone some money in the future.

 

[bryan70546]

Mr.Doug
Glad you are making some progress on the truck I hope it all works out for you .

 

[BKubu]

I agree with Wayne. It is better to get em hauled home. No risk. Admittedly, it costs more money, but you might still have a tractor (although it probably would have gone out eventually). With all that said, it still will be a successful recovery. Your trailer will be home and no one got hurt.

Figure it this way. Tractors bring less than $2K in run of the mill shape. You might get lucky and find a rough truck with a fresh motor for less. Good luck and glad you made it home safely.

 

[timntrucks]

yes hoping for the best

 

[wvhillbilly]

Recoveries are disasters waiting to happen.

I fail to see the fun in recoveries of any MV. Reading this forum, it would appear they are a disaster waiting to happen. My preferred and ONLY way of purchasing MV's or accessories is from private parties. I have no problems with EUC's, insurance, and feel comfortable that I am not buying junk or a "parts truck". Sure I pay a lot more, but I feel I get peace-of-mind and quality in the long run. Look at my avatar...that truck attended several car shows/parades this summer. The trophies included: Best Truck, Best of Show, Top 25, Top 30, and two 3rd place overalls. Investment: Around $7500
which includes the truck purchase, plus buying cargo bows and bed cover, plus
ALL the basic issue equipment, pioneer tools/rack, as well as some of the additional authorized inventory.

Since February, this truck has logged 3500 miles w/ the only issue being replacement of the generator bearings. I bought it in PA FROM A PRIVATE OWNER, and drove it home 420 miles to WV without a hitch. Fact is, I hauled 630 gals. of washer fluid to a customer en route home (5,040 lbs). I run an auto parts store...thought it would be cool to make a delivery in the new machine.

All these horror stories turned me off to GL a long time ago. Remember guys,
it ain't always about the QUANTITY of your OD Iron, it's also about the QUALITY.

I would rather have one great runner instead of a bunch of GL junk that I have to cobble together to make one so-so runner.

Buy quality from a trusted seller, gentlemen. Do the PM's correctly...forget about oil analysis(that's crap in my opinion). CHANGE THE FREAKIN' OIL and FILTERS, for crying out loud!!! It is the cheapest insurance for any engine.
Change it twice a year or every 3k miles. Another thing: use only diesel fuel.
Why risk anything else. The other fuels were/are only intended to be used as "emergency fuels". You guys that are running primarily waste oil, etc. are just BEGGING for an IP failure.

My wife is now completely sold on MV's as a hobby. Part of the reason is because she saw that I did not spend countless hours getting/keeping our truck running. I'm picky, that truck is maintained and kept in a state of readiness to do the job it was intended to do. But because I researched my purchase, I got the right truck.

Now she wants an M37....hmmm

 

[bassetdeuce]

wvhillbilly, I respect your opinion, but I'll take quantity please . No really, I think some of us like the hunt, the challenge, and the adventure of the recovery. The eventual headaches are part of it. I'm taking a break from GL though because after 3 great trucks (one duece has a newer motor rebuild, new tires and canvas, and one M818 is rebuilt top to bottom) I don't want to push my luck. The M818 would make you gasp if you saw it, yes its that clean. Funny though, the old junky deuce is the strongest runner of the three, go figure. Oh yeah, they all went for far less than $7500.

 

[frodobaggins]

wvhillbilly, if ya don't get it, you never will.

 

[bryan70546]

Well maybe not everyone want to buy from a private seller and pay out the wazoo for peace of mind . I have driven the 5-ton that trailboss is posting about , I helped recover said truck and the best part of all was going to that base and seeing something i had never seen before lots and lots of MV , yes the truck broke down , nobody was hurt , there were not accidents i think the only pain felt was from trailbosses wallet . most of all these truck are old and you will have problems with them dont matter how many times you do your checks are do your maintence you cant control anything made my man if its wants to break it will. Recoveries are part of the hobby and if well prepared they will either go well are go bad .We all run into Murphy sometime are another . I enjoy my GL junk everytime I fire her up and I look foward to doing my 3rd pick up in the future for my trailers.

 

[73m819]

as far as the air hook up goes, the 5ts have air glad hands with on/off valves on the front just for this reason

 

[dumptruck]

I`m really interested in what you found with the engine.Have several and may have a 855 cu in engine for sale soon with 1800 hrs and looks new !! vick gore501@yahoo.com

 

[1qwkgoat]

wvhillbilly To some people the pride of the doing the work themselves, such as when a project is done and you stand back and look at it knowing YOU did the work and it was your blood,sweat, and injunity that got it done, is something that you cannot put a dollar amount on.

I like knowing who did the work on my truck. Since I got the truck from GL I plan to go over everything. Some of the money I saved by buying from GL helps cover the expenses of the fluids/filters and seals that I will replace in the process. Even if I bought a truck from a private sellar, unless I had the known the person, I would still have to check everything over. As some sellars(hopefully none on here) will mask problems, that you wont find until after you have shelled out that premium price. These are old trucks they are going to have problems. I would prefer to save some $$ on the purchase and spend it fixing it myself.

GL is a crapshoot some get lucky some don't. I got a deuce with winch,heater,hardtop,troops,new cargo cover for $1600. I have since put approx $300 in fluid and filter changes. Next up are all the wheel bearings, though they all feel fine. A good check and some new grease,oil never hurt. I got lucky for under $2000 I have a truck that everything works on. At this point I'm glad I didn't shell out the $4300 for the much rougher winch truck that was for sale a few miles away. And then still had to buy the troop seats,bows, and cover. With what i've saved I could buy another truck.

To each his own, this is just how I prefer it. I'm sure there are other with your view and there is nothing wrong with that. Just as I'm sure there are others like me where the "challenge" of the hobby is half the fun

 

[BKubu]

...and then you have those guys that simply bid because it is the cool thing to do. A lot of people think that there is some guarantee that they will save money by bidding. Nothing could be further from the truth. I realize they don't think GL (or GSA or some other source) will guarantee their truck, but they think there is no chance that they will have a problem. Yes, there is a good chance that they will come out ahead, but a lot of guys forget about the risks and the hassle and simply think they will save money. A lot of these same guys don't count the bidder's fee and tax (and hopefully shipping) when the do the mental calculation about how to save money. We often hear on this site about the successful recoveries. While this thread DOES talk about a recovery disaster, I know for a fact that a lot of guys don't post about them. I know for a fact that a guy had trouble within the last week when he tried to recover a 5 ton. I will not name names as it is his right to post his own info or not. However, the fact that we hear the success stories leads guys to feel as though they can drive their trucks hundreds of miles home AND save money. I am sure most will understand when I say that I trust some more than others to do this the right way...the safe way. I still say...get the truck hauled. Once you factor in hauling, though, you often don't save money and this is the catch 22 in bidding.

 

[BKubu]

Kevin, nicely stated!