I had alway had a passion for Deuce and a Half's since I saw my first one at White Sands in 63, were
my father was stationed. When I joined the USAF I would jump at any chance to drive them. In 04 I was stationed
in ND and decided to bid on a couple M-35's out of Ft McCoy WI. After I won, I coned my cousin George and friend
Ray to help retrieve them. We loaded up tools, spare fluids and a tow bar built by another friend Pat. Arriving
in WI we checked out both trucks deciding on trying to get the '68' running. We installed new batteries and
it started right up. The '68' is a non-turbo engine, towing was rough we managed 45 mph at the most
and crawled up hills at 20. Deciding it wasn't safe, we left the 70 in a storage lot in LaCrosse, until I returned
next summer with my tractor/trailer.
After the 400 mile trip home , the first thing I bought was an air steering
kit!
Along the way I added a winch and had to rebuild the transfer case. The winch was easier, after
striping off the bumper and grill, we added the frame extensions and winch. I got my neighbor and his farm tractor loader
to hoist the winch itself in place. I had a PTO but it needed rebuilding as the shifter rail was bent. I was able
to get a local machine shop to make a new one for a fair price. Now installing the PTO is painful, its heavy and
the studs don't cooperate. It took a while, again my high tech work area was not a bonus.
One night while
cruising in town I got a terrible vibration in the shift stick, I stopped and inspected underneath but didn't see anything
out of the ordinary. As it got worse I decided to nurse it to my buddies house, it didn't make it. At about
20 MPH something exploded.. at first I thought the engine let loose, but it was still running, looking underneath
I saw 1/2 a jack shaft. The small drive shaft that runs from the transmission to the transfere case, down the street
were the rest of the pieces. We got it over to his shop and discovered the U-joint bolts had come loose, letting the
shaft fly off. When it let loose it tore out the speedo cable and all its parts plus put an ugly hole in the t-case.
I assure you that I inspect all the u-joint bolts regulary now.
