Fw: [MV] What a long, strange trip its been...

Chuck Chriss (cchriss@ix.netcom.com)
Thu, 4 Jun 1998 11:07:40 -0700

Great story! Thanks very much,
chuck
-----Original Message-----
From: gbb@creighton.edu <gbb@creighton.edu>
To: mil-veh@skylee.com <mil-veh@skylee.com>
Cc: Mike Argumedo <mikkirat@clubmet.metrobbs.com>; Jay Forst
<forst@us.ibm.com>; jpbauer@nppd.com <jpbauer@nppd.com>;
dussetschleger@juno.com <dussetschleger@juno.com>
Date: Thursday, June 04, 1998 9:45 AM
Subject: [MV] What a long, strange trip its been...

>
>Hey list, do you remember those four M109 - 2-1/2 ton Shop vans I told
>you about last month? My buddie Steve won them at auction in Albany,
>GA. Only problem was, he didn't want four of them. Well, thanks in
>part to this list we were able to easily sell all of them, in fact he
>was turning folks away in no time because the condition of these truck
>was so good. Someone down in Tallahassee took three and Steve was even
>making a slight profit on them that barely paid for his trip down there
>to photo them and get them on the web. (See:
>www.top.net/guzzi/steve.html)
>Once the surplus buyer were turned away things got flakey with the sale
>of the first truck. Seems the guy wanted to test drive it before
>paying. Problem was he wanted to test drive it home (Colorado) or at
>least to Kansas City, then decide if he would pay for it or not. Yeah,
>right. As long as we were taking the risk of driving it 1000 miles we
>might as well keep it. The tallahassee buyers (if you're out there lets
>here about your trucks!) moved Steve's truck off post when they came to
>get theirs. They knew a guy who would store it and even help get it
>road ready for us. He fitted a roof and bows, fixed a leaky oilpan
>gasket, and checked the lights and brakes.
>
>Another friend of ours (Jay from Chicago) volunteered to drive so we all
>rendezvoused in KC Friday night, drove all night in Jay's nice, new
>Suburban and picked the truck up in GA Saturday afternoon. Turns out
>this truck had been refitted rather recently with a fresh turbo-diesel.
>872 miles on it! Man does she run good. Punch the starter button and
>she purrrrrrs. Cruises great up to about 53 mph, then a rather strong
>vibration sets in, back-end hops back and forth. Hmmm... We decide to
>check the air pressure in the tires. Fronts were 40. Rears vary from
>zero to 20. After topping all of them up to the recommended 50 she's a
>little better, but the hop still comes back a certain speeds. Whats
>causing this vibration? And what else didn't this guy check? We spend
>the night in Atlanta after a very long day.
>
>Day two, Doris gets her oats. We head out of Atlanta on I-75 for
>Chatanooga.
>Jay is following in the Suburban. He comes up beside us and flags us
>over.
>We just dumped a S**t load of oil all over the freeway. His windshield
>is a mess. He says. "You should have seen the car directly behind you."
>Inspection reveals the rear oil pan drain plug has fallen out and the
>front is loose. Jay and I run off to find anything that will plug the
>hole and a case of oil. We return with an assortment varying from a
>brass plug (that fit) to an expandable rubber plug for a boat. 12
>quarts brings it right up (only lost half) and we're back on the road.
>Soon we are in the hills and the truck is pulling them no problem. I
>think twice Steve had to downshift to forth. Things are looking good
>until we notice the back hopping and one tire looks to be hopping more
>than the others. We pull Steve over. He has a rear flat. We take it
>easy to the next exit that looks like it will have a truck shop. The
>guy is an absolute idiot, but the only one it town. He takes the tire
>off and apart. Hmmmm... what's this? A spare rim protector? Yup.
>Neatly folded and stuck in the tire was a brand new rim protector. If
>you've never seen one, its a strip of rubber maybe 10 inches wide and
>thick. Real thick! , maybe 1/4 inch. must weigh at least 5 pounds.
>Bozo patches the tube, doesn't test it and puts it all back together.
>Still leaks. F*** it, put the spare on. Lets get the hell out of here.
>No more hop. No more vibration. Either new tires come with new rim
>protectors and this was an over-sight, or its some kind of Marine
>practicle joke.
>
>So far, so good. What could go wrong next? Nothing. Well, we did find
>a burned out turn signal bulb and it needs wiper blades, but we rolled
>on into Kansas City 10:30 Monday night. The turbodiesel must get better
>gas milage that the multi-fuel. We got about 6.7 to 7 mpg and diesel is
>cheap right now
>(82.9 in GA, 93.9 in Missouri). Steve's having a blast. We call him
>turbo-boy now and have threatened to put an "Ask me about my blower"
>sticker on the back. I guess he took it to his local Mil-Veh club
>meeting last night. You'd think he'd be sick of it.
>
>jorge
>
>
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