Busy Day, Troop Seats and Flat Tow

[Barrman]

21 April 1836 was the day Sam Houston and his Texas Army defeated the Mexican Army at San Jacinto. Therefore, it is considered an important day in the states history. Which means I got a day off.

I started out with some troop seats Sermis found. We have no clue what they came from. They are 10 feet long and have 5 legs. A M35 needs 5 legs, but 12 feet long. The M715 needs 3 legs and 8 feet. Whatever they are made for, the 1st and 4th legs match up perfectly with the end pockets on the M715 bed.



So, off came 4 legs with what used to be the end moved to the 4th position, then the excess gets cut off. A middle leg gets shortened and made to fit.



Here you can see the green paint where the legs used to be.



My inside the bed tool box is about 1/2" too tall to clear the seat when it is down and the seat leg has been removed. i left it on the passenger side and thought about it while I made the drivers side. Came up with a solution too. Here you can see the drivers seat is flat all across, held up on the front by the tool box and doesn't scratch the tool box paint. I still need to cut the passenger side up.



Now I just need to sand and paint the things to make my truck look more milatary correct than it ever has.

Once the seats were done, I started prepping the Gasser M35 to go to my school Tuesday. Due to lack of insurance, registration and working blinkers at this time, I figured it would be wiser to flat tow it with the M715. Here they are all hooked together for the first time since December 2006 when the Gasser first came home.



Now I have to actually go to work again Tuesday. Maybe I can get some rest that way.

[brute4c]

Nice on the troop seats!

[k8icu]

Are those the fiberglass composite material?

[Barrman]

Yes they are Joe. They cut real easy with a cut off wheel mounted on a grinder.

I made the flat tow ok this morning. With nothing heavy in the back of the M715 top speed was around 21 mph before the Gasser would decide which direction we were going to go.

[randyscycle]

I made the flat tow ok this morning. With nothing heavy in the back of the M715 top speed was around 21 mph before the Gasser would decide which direction we were going to go.

I was curious how a 5/4 was going to do towing a 2.5 ton truck......

[Barrman]

My avator was taken after a 45 mile flat tow of the same truck a year or so ago. Today was easy since it was through town, no bed on the M35, no spare cab in the bed and I knew all the wheels would turn ok. Plus, if I really had troubles, I could have just fired it up and driven it.

The avator tow had 2-230 engines and tools in every spare spot of the M715 bed. 27 mph was the top comfortable speed on flat ground with 24 or so as top going down hills. Basically, 1000 pounds of ballast only gave me 6 mph and no extra braking ability.

Pulling the outter duals off the rear probably would have made it about equal. 50 psi in the front Gasser tires really helped. The first tow was made with about 30 in the front tires. We were just happy they held air that day. I think a modern 1 ton truck with dual rear tires, some weight in the bed, duals pulled on the M35 and good front tires at 70 or 80 psi would be ok going down the road at 45-50. Sharp turns and stops would be the killer though.

[Barrman]

2 years later and I finally got around to making bows for the troop seats. Colton has a stomach virus and I had to stay home with him today. Perfect reason to work on the M715.

These are regular M35 uprigts and corners. I don't have a cargo cover and don't know if I ever will get one. I do plan on laying a big 20 x 20 tarp or something over the bows for camp outs with the Scouts, staking the ends out away from the truck so I have shade and a breeze. So, however high the middle uprights ended up is where I put the ends. I just drilled a hole and put a bolt through to get them all as tall as each other:


The metal bows aren't as easy to work with as the wood because they don't flex. They last longer though, so I used them. I also wanted the bows to hold the troop seats in a bit of tension so the rattle will be reduced when driving. 52" is what I figured would work. Here is one cut down over a full size stock M35 bow:


What was kind of cool once I got to measuring was that cutting 12" off each end was just about perfect:


Then it was just a matter of drililng holes and putting it together:


I won't be needing them for the Air show this weekend since the M35 will be the camp/support/tow truck while the M715 gets to play in the show. So, I pulled them all off. They will come in handy when we do our next Scout camp out in 3 weeks though.

[Mikel]

VERY nice!!

[porkchop]

Nice, I was thinking the same thing about the tarp and camping. Waiting to get back to Texas to start on mine.