5 Tons of Fun

[Ajax]

It's a 5-ton Xmas, Charlie Brown!

Stuff arriving every day this week-

12 ton jack stands
40 inch, 3/4" drive breaker bar
One 4 and 3/8" socket
One 4 and 7/8" socket (these are for removing the hub lock nuts)
Internal wheel bearing grease seals
New lighting control switch
New wiper motor
New (spare) starter w/solenoid

I've learned that part of military vehicle ownership is to snap up certain spare parts that pop up at lower prices and store them, rather than wait for stuff to break and then pay exorbitant prices to the mil surplus parts vendors.

[TheOffice]

Guess I won't be seeing you on the water this weekend!

[Benno von Humpback]

Rich, a YP would make a nice, economical, off-season weekender, wouldn't it?

[Tim Ford]

Yes! Snatch up a YP! Great idea, Benno.

[Ajax]

The dockage and operating costs make a YP prohibitive. Nice idea, though.

It's forecast to rain this weekend, so I wouldn't be out sailing anyway. I had my fill or rainy sailing this past Sunday, sailing through TS Nestor.

[TheOffice]

You can put a tiny house in the back of the truck! Instant mobile home.

[SemiSalt]

Yes! Snatch up a YP! Great idea, Benno.

There is a nice article on Air Force crash boats in the new Woodenboat.

[BeauV]

You can put a tiny house in the back of the truck! Instant mobile home.

I've seen two or three of these around CA. One was simply an REI tent which was sized perfectly for the truck bed. The other was built of wood, had cedar shingles and a pot belly stove. VERY COOL!!

[Ajax]

This is one of two sockets that I'll use to do the work on the front axle.

Yesterday, I bought a ton of pellets. It only took me 2 hours to buy them and load them in the garage where I normally used to do it in 3-4 trips through the winter. This was a huge convenience and time saver.
The truck didn't even squat when the forklift driver placed them in the back.

I realize I'm probably the only guy in Annapolis to use a military cargo truck to buy my pellets but surely plenty of people show up in modern pickup trucks with trailers to buy whole tons of wood pellets? The cashier couldn't seem to wrap his brain around the fact that I wanted an entire ton, all at once. I had to explain it slowly, using monosyllabic words, twice.

[LarryHoward]

Now you need a forklift at home and you could have been done in 1/2 the time.....

[Ajax]

I scared up a co-driver to help me with the truck. He doesn't talk much but he works for free and never seems to need a lunch break.

[Tigger]

Time for a trip for the two of you in the HOV lane!

[Ajax]

Going to pour cats and dogs Wednesday night through Friday morning. A cool front rolls in and sunshine with it, so Saturday and Sunday will be beautiful.

This weekend I'll get into the steering axle. Pull and inspect brake drums, shoes and wheel cylinders. Remove and repack wheel bearings. Replace worn/torn steering knuckle boots. Pump in a better grade of fresh grease to lubricate the CV joints on the axles.

The LO (Lubrication Order) calls for "GAA" (Grease, Automotive & Artillery). Jeeze, you'd think this stuff was made with stripper glitter and unicorn tears the way the MV buffs talk about it. I downloaded the specifications (MIL-PRF-10924G) and found that Shell Rotella HD grease meets or exceeds that specification although it has not been specifically awarded the spec by the US gov't. The other option is Castrol Braycote 610 which actually carries the milspec designator but it seems that Castrol only sells it by the 35lb. bucket for over $300. I'm not paying that. Shell Rotella HD is available practically everywhere and in cartridges.

GAA and Rotella HD are both Lithium complex greases, (NLGI-2) so fully compatible if they touch each other.

[TheOffice]

I was going to go to Nats Park tonight to watch Game 7 - then I saw the forecast.

Frostbites start Sunday.

Have fun with the truck!

[Ajax]

Well, the Nats won the series after dragging it out to the bitter end. I really did think that they would choke.

Last night, I discovered that the short rubber section of the primary air supply line from the compressor was badly cracked and leaking pretty good. The metal part ID tag on the hose chafed a good hole into it.
I'll stop off at the shop in Annapolis to have it replicated this afternoon. I think I've replaced all the other soft air lines in the system.

[TheOffice]

Hard to believe they won 4 road games!

Nice find on the hose. Where do you get them replicated?

[Ajax]

Colliflower Inc.
1811 George Ave, Annapolis, MD 21401

You just walk in, give the dead unit to the guy and he'll spec out the fittings and the hose and makes a new one, right in front of you.

[TheOffice]

Cool! I bookmarked it.

[Ajax]

Phew, that 1-foot hose cost me $100 bucks!

On the advice of an experienced owner, I upgraded to Parker 919, which is a steel jacketed, high temperature hydraulic hose. The air exiting the compressor at that point is 200F degrees, which eats ordinary hydraulic hose much faster. Well, there's no cheaping out where safety is concerned and I like working brakes. The air system held pressure above 90 psi for 3-4 hours as opposed to minutes, so that hose probably accounted for 95% of system leaks.

I've been trying to get onto my boat for 3 days but I get home around high tide and we've had coastal flooding for the last 3-4 days!

[LarryHoward]

I've been trying to get onto my boat for 3 days but I get home around high tide and we've had coastal flooding for the last 3-4 days!

Come on. Wading down the pier is a Western shore tradition this time of the year. Sort of like watching the water disappear in late winter during Spring lows.

[Benno von Humpback]

I've been trying to get onto my boat for 3 days but I get home around high tide and we've had coastal flooding for the last 3-4 days!

Come on. Wading down the pier is a Western shore tradition this time of the year. Sort of like watching the water disappear in late winter during Spring lows.

This NWer should do some of that.

[LarryHoward]

I've been trying to get onto my boat for 3 days but I get home around high tide and we've had coastal flooding for the last 3-4 days!

Come on. Wading down the pier is a Western shore tradition this time of the year. Sort of like watching the water disappear in late winter during Spring lows.

This NWer should do some of that.

It has at my place. "Surge" was 1.42 last night at midnight when the front arrived. is is now 0.4' and dropping so 2/3 of the excess water has moved south since midnight. This morning's strong ebb and NW wind would have been a great time for snow birds to head south.

[Ajax]

I have a cartload of stuff to take down to the boat that I didn't want to get wet. My BOGS would have kept ME dry.
Like you said, I figure the water will be gone this afternoon and I can get my little wagon on the dock to move gear around.

[Ajax]

After numerous interruptions, I got the passenger's side of the steering axle apart. I inspected the flange, brakes, drum, and wheel bearings. I cleaned the old GAA off of everything and repacked with fresh grease.

The good news: all of it was in excellent condition. No heat, corrosion, spalling or any weirdness on the wheel bearings. I installed a new inner wheel bearing seal. There is no sign of gear oil leaking past the seal in the axle, so I left that alone. The wheel cylinder is clean, dry, not leaking. The truck uses silicone brake fluid which is non-hygroscopic, so the insides should be corrosion-free. The brake shoes look to have over 50% material remaining so I have awhile before I have to replace them.

A fellow on the MV forum uses a C&C machine to cut these steel hoops which mount to an ordinary floor jack for getting the extremely heavy brake drum on and off of the spindle.
I got to use my enormous sockets and breaker bar on the hub lock nuts and I used my giant, Snap-On torque wrench to snug everything down to specs.

All that remains is to replace the rubber boot on the inside, which can be done with the axle totally assembled. I'll try to finish that up today and/or tomorrow. Then, I get to do it all over again on the driver's side.

[TheOffice]

Damn, I haven't worked on drum rakes since the 70s!

[Ajax]

I knew it would happen eventually, I just didn't expect to be proven right so quickly.

After all the work I put into the steering axle, I fired up the truck and took it for a nice drive today.
I was about a mile from home, returning home, when a pretty new Jeep Grand Cherokee veered over the double yellow line and grazed me. Their driver's mirror and side trim exploded in a cloud of black plastic. In my rear view, I watched them swerve and continue down the road, scattering debris as they went. Traffic was heavy.

The road to my house is a busy, narrow, 2 lane road with no shoulders. The guy crossed the line only a second before we met so I had no time to react. Even if I did, my only option would be to plow through yards and utility poles.

I flipped on the hazards and stopped as soon as feasible, rudely pulling off into the edge of some poor family's front yard, maybe 1/16th of a mile from the point of collision. I waited...and waited. The driver didn't return to the scene. As you might imagine, the 5-ton took no damage and I'm unhurt.

I stayed put and called the police and reported what happened. The officer who showed up was a good guy but he seemed to think that my reason for calling was because I wanted a case number for my insurance company for damage to MY truck. I told him that I called because I wanted it logged that I remained at the scene while the other person disappeared. He confirmed that, said he'd put it in the report and told me I was free to go. He did have choice words for the prick that left the scene.

Like I said, I sold my motorcycle for the 5-ton because of incidents like this. I told my wife back in December "If someone drifts into my lane again, they're going to pay for it, not me."

Who the fuck does this? The Jeep looked almost brand new. Surely they'd want information for their insurance company for repairs?

[BeauV]

I'm guessing it was someone who was looking down into his lap at his phone screen. It happens all the time around here. Glad you're driving something pretty close to indestructible! You just saw why I don't ride my wooden road bike much anymore. I'm almost entirely a trail guy now.

[Ajax]

I think that's exactly what happened- Texting.

An offset head-on collision is the worst type to have. The Jeep would have torn off my front driver's wheel and possibly flipped me over, killing us both for sure.
The truck only has lap seat belts and obviously no airbag.

I actually have been investigating the 3-point shoulder seat belt upgrade that was implemented in the M35A3 trucks. The 2.5 and 5 ton trucks shared an identical cab so IF I can locate the pieces from the upgrade kit, I can get 3-point seat belts in the truck and at least avoid eating the steering wheel.

[Jamie]

Glad you're OK.

From the enthusiast sites, it seems that if it's not major damage a lot of people don't bother claiming accidents to avoid increases in premiums.

[TheOffice]

Damn power boaters! Glad you are OK.