Posted by David Sherman on Thursday, May 24, 2001 at 11:00PM :
In Reply to: Need 6x6 hauled from MD to CA... Any ideas? posted by bdk on Thursday, May 24, 2001 at 2:56PM :
I've put about 4000 mi on my "good" deuce (not a shop van) and it's not bad if you take it easy and enjoy it for what it is. You will get lots of people asking about it and telling you their war stories. Not that you asked, but my advice is: Find reasons to drive it a couple hundred miles close to home to shake out problems that resulted from it sitting a long time in a yard somewhere. I initially had problems with CV boots and fan belts breaking due to age. Bigger problems evolved from rust-pitted gearbox bearings due to condensation from sitting too long. Keep your tools with you whereever you go. Make sure you have an air hose and lug wrench and jack and a block to roll the inner wheel up on when you need to change the outer one. Try to get new batteries or at least load-test the old ones. Change the oil and fuel filters. I drove one of my trucks 1000 miles before I checked the fuel filters and discovered that some army doofus put the wrong (short) fuel filter in for both of the secondaries and it just rattled around in the bottom of the can. Thus the engine was drinking whatever came through the primary! Get familiar with all the gear noises so you know if one of them is getting worse (they're always noisy). Take out the driveline between the two rear axles. This will improve fuel economy, handling, and tire wear when you're on normal roads. If you don't have great tires, put the best first-line tires on the front. Retreads must never go up front. Check the toe-in with a tape measure. One truck I picked up from the DRMO with bad front tire wear had the toe-in set to 1", when it should be 1/8". That'll eat tires fast. Plug up as many holes in the firewall and floor pan as you can. In hot weather, you'll cook from the engine heat that comes through the holes. Duct tape will work on the plain holes and rags can be stuffed around the shift levers. Opening the engine side covers will also help. If your windshield weatherstripping is like most, you will get wet in a downpour. Either duct-tape the edges of the windshields before it rains or wear rain-pants. Pick back roads if you can; it won't seem like you're going as slow. Keep a couple jerry-cans of diesel on board. In a pinch, it really does run fine on gasoline, though it's a bit harder to start. Get some ear muffs, and an extra pair for riders. Have a great trip!
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