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2,000 Miles In An M-715Ill Advised From the September, 2012 issue of Jp By Pete Trasborg Photography by Pete Trasborg
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We just aren’t like other magazines. We are just more like you guys than the other rags are. But for some reason, they let us put out a magazine. Most magazines will tell you about awesome road trips, challenges, or ultimate adventures that they undertake. What they conveniently forget to tell you about is the amazing amount of support and backing that they have behind them. From corporate-sponsored shipping to advertisers’ rescue vehicles, they are covered… not to mention that they usually build a completely new vehicle before they head out. Not the case here. When Trasborg got the job with Jp back in 2005, he built his low-mileage plow-truck M-715 that hadn’t driven in 20 years to tow his 300,000-plus-mile YJ 3,000 miles across the country. He wanted to do this in 40 days. He failed. Fast forward seven years and he had shipped the truck cross-country. It had failed at two subsequent road trip attempts, overheated numerous times, accumulated a whopping 6,010 miles in seven years, and took three years to swap axles and a T-case. So when the crew at Off Road Evolution got the long-term, full-size axle swap done just a day before the start of Easter Jeep Safari 800 miles away, what did Trasborg do? Well, he asked his boss for permission to show up late to EJS and spun wrenches in his driveway in the rain for a day or two in order to get the truck ready for another road trip attempt. The goal: Drive the truck with no top, no heat, no wipers, no radio, heck, no anything, especially no road time—with most of the drivetrain recently replaced across three states, and rack up more than a third of the truck’s total mileage in almost 30 years to go wheeling in the off-road Jeep Mecca. For some reason, Hazel said yes. So, unlike the other poser rags, we did it on a wing, a prayer, and a AAA card, just in case the fit hit the shan. Ill-advised? Yep. Stupid? Eh, maybe. Worth it? Oh, hell yeah.  We knew we weren’t getting...  We knew we weren’t getting very good mileage out of the truck, but for the first time in seven years, it was ready to go. Unfortunately, this became all to frequent of a sight on the trip. While we didn’t stop at every gas station, we did stop when the gas gauge got around a quarter of a tank, which worked out to every 100-120 miles. In the end, our round-trip fuel bill would be enough to fly round-trip from L.A. to Moab almost four times—but where’s the fun in that?  We took the southern route...  We took the southern route across California, Arizona, and then north over the mountains into Utah. We had sunny weather and clear skies the whole way, but we were running behind and trying to make the entire trip in one day. We saw temps from 93 degrees all the way down to 26 degrees. The cold with no top and no heater got old quickly, and even though we brought all the cold-weather clothing we had, it was chilly. But, hey, we were going to Moab, so it wasn’t all bad.  Once we got to Moab, we dumped...  Once we got to Moab, we dumped our stuff in the motel and went wheeling. On the nicer days, we got to drop the windshield as shown in the lead photo. We had soon passed this other M-715 a few times and it wasn’t long before the only two of them in Moab ended up stationary in the same place long enough to snap a picture. Trasborg’s is basically stock height, while the other is sprung-over in the front with a shackle flip in the rear rolling on 40s and has an International 7.3L V-8 diesel in it.  After a few days of wheeling,...  After a few days of wheeling, we were sick of smelling gas fumes and getting whiplash in low range from a poorly adjusted accelerator pump, the transmission was shifting really sloppy, and the driver-side window fell off its track. The crew at Max-Bilt (max-bilt.com) is familiar with old Jeep problems and crappy carburetors, so we talked them into lending a hand. After putting it all back together, we discovered we weren’t getting WOT, so here Trasborg is massaging the floor for more gas pedal clearance.  We brought our Holley jet...  We brought our Holley jet kit and shooter kit with us from home because we knew the Jeep was running rich at home and figured it would be that much worse at Moab’s higher elevation. We were right. But we discovered that our jet kit didn’t have small enough jets and our metering block gaskets were leaking. We ended up getting new gaskets, downsizing the primary jets from a 61 to a 57, and upsizing the shooter in efforts to overcome the accelerator pump issue.  One of the reasons Trasborg...  One of the reasons Trasborg bought this particular truck in the first place was that somebody had equipped it with a heater. However, once he moved to SoCal he never bothered hooking it up. It looked like a cold front was coming in, so he rigged it up using the old manual choke cable and some bailing wire to get the hot/cold selector working. A simple switch wired in controls the blower motor. With no resistor or anything and just wiring the blower motor to 12V will give you the high speed setting only.  Before leaving SoCal, we noticed...  Before leaving SoCal, we noticed that the driver-side exhaust hanger was broken, so we welded it back up. We were planning on taking two days to make the trip back, and according to the professional weather guessers we only had two days before getting hit with three days of rain or snow. We checked and topped off fluids, greased U-joints and tie rods, and went over the rest of the truck to make sure the old beast would make it. We also found the passenger-side exhaust hanger got a divorce, so it was bailing wire to the rescue.  The next day, we rolled out...  The next day, we rolled out of Moab after an early start and full breakfast. About 72 miles later we found ourselves on the side of I-70 with a severe lack of power and horrible vibrations. It was a sunny day, but the wind was blowing at 40-60 mph and we could tell the weather was coming in. We had a long way to go and a short time to get there. When a brief look under the truck showed nothing, we tried to make a go of it again, but the vibration only got worse.  A closer look under the truck...  A closer look under the truck revealed this. You are looking up at the bottom of a GM bellhousing that is no longer bolted to an M-35A1 Spicer 3053A five-speed transmission. The bellhousing bolts to the transmission with five bolts. While under the truck greasing things, we had glanced at the clutch and bellhousing and the bolts were still there. We had no reason to suspect they were loose, so we didn’t try to tighten them. And yet, 72 miles later, here we were: 800 miles from home and broken on the side of the road.  Even though we were in the...  Even though we were in the middle of nowhere, we had a cell signal, so a hike wasn’t in our immediate future. However, the nearest town with anything like services was Moab, so that’s where the tow truck had to come from. About two hours after the call, the truck showed up. This is never what you want so far from home, but we were just happy that he had actually found us.  The game plan was this: Take...  The game plan was this: Take the Jeep to Moab 4x4 Outpost (moab4x4outpost.com), pull the transmission and bellhousing, poke around in the transmission to make sure nothing else was really busted up, put it all back together, and get back on the road. And hopefully get home without replacing or rebuilding the transmission, clutch, or any other major component.  The transmission is threaded...  The transmission is threaded for the bellhousing bolts, so we were worried about the threads being mangled. Of the five holes, only one needed a tap chased through it. We were also worried about the input bearing because who knows how long the input shaft was holding the weight of the transmission but the bearing was fine. Finally, we were wondering if we would find any brass or other metal in the transmission, but the fluid was looked remarkably good. However, this busted-up 1⁄8-inch-diameter, 8-inch-long drill bit was found. The only thing we can figure is that it got in there somehow before the transmission came out of the military.  When Trasborg originally put...  When Trasborg originally put the truck together Permatex’s Right Stuff wasn’t around, so he used blue RTV to seal a lot of things, including the transmission. As a result, it leaked almost from the beginning. After inspection the crew at Moab 4x4 Outpost sealed the entire thing using the Right Stuff during re-assembly. All told, it took them less than a full working day to get us back on the road. We owe a big thanks to Moab 4x4 Outpost for that.  Once back on the road, we...  Once back on the road, we figured there might be enough time to get home before the storm hit. You might be asking yourselves why we didn’t just hunker down and wait it out. Well, three more days of hotel rooms and food on the road just wasn’t in the budget. You might recognize this scene from a popular movie. Minus the bug guts.  In some states, vapor reclamation-style...  In some states, vapor reclamation-style gas pumps can make fueling a military vehicle a pain because they always shut off. Here is how you make the pump keep pumping on an M-715. Push the rubber of the nozzle against the front of the filler and lay the hose over the rear fender to keep the nozzle in place. Speaking of fuel, we got about 6.2 mpg heading to Moab and 6.1 mpg heading home driving into the headwind of the storm.  Anywhere this truck goes,...  Anywhere this truck goes, people are bound to want to talk to you about it. If you are trying to outrun a storm system or are otherwise in a hurry, you get pretty good at not making eye contact. So when an older guy at a gas station was eying the truck, we thought nothing of it. Until he walked right up to us and said, “You wouldn’t mind terribly helping me get my car out of the sand would you?” One thing led to another and pretty soon we were paying forward Moab 4x4 Outpost’s good karma by dragging this new Mustang across the desert for the happy owner.  Unfortunately, about 10 miles...  Unfortunately, about 10 miles after the Mustang drag the temperature dropped down to the low 40s and the wind got even worse. We were about 100 miles from home when the heavens finally let go. We had water coming in through the windshield seal and the windshield frame to cowl seal. We’ve been topless in the rain in many Jeeps, but this was the first time in this truck. It turns out we were less wet in the M-715 with no top than we would have been in a CJ or Wrangler.  Here’s Trasborg far into long-distance...  Here’s Trasborg far into long-distance driving mode while at the same time trying to stay warm and dry. This is much the same getup he was wearing at 1:30 a.m. on the way to Moab. He was so tired that he was halfway into the hotel to check in when the combination of his girlfriend hollering “Take off the mask,” and the saucer-sized eyes of the girl behind the counter made him remember that he was wearing not just this one, but another ski mask as well. It’s a wonder that he’s not shot at or arrested more often.
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