I would first like to say that I have been lurking here for a while. gathering information for my quest to find a 710M for my wife. She told me some time ago that she wanted one after seeing and hearing about my good friend Jake's 710. She said that if she passed her tests to become an operator (she works for our county water department in reclaimation) that I had to find her one. Well she worked hard and passed on the first attempt (most people fail the first time and some have tried 3-5 times). Well I found a 72 710M in of all places Cleveland, GA. Right down the road from my good friend Jake's shop. We arrived at a fair price and I picked it up. It had a loud 5th gear so befor heading home I stopped in at Jake's shop, seviced the transmision, set the timing and headed home (almost 100 miles away). The pinz was to tagged and I don't think it left the P/O's farm. The fresh fuel strated to smooth the engine out and the 5th gear volume decreased with each mile of my 100 kph trip home. When I got it home without any trouble, I filled it up again and found that it got 15.5 mpg on it's first trip for us. The next day I went over it with a pressure washer, serviced all 8 gearbox service points, greased it and adjusted the brakes. That night I took it to the Monday night criuse-in at Summit Racing in McDonough, GA. My wife now drives it daily and loves everything about it (exept the fact that it takes an extra 45 min. anytime you stop for fuel or go to a store in it). I have serviced the oil and all filters, installed 2 fire extinguishers (1 in the cab and 1 at the rear door), ordered a few goodies from SAV. like aux lights, shock cord, etc. and have also ordered a 24 volt winch (Mile Marker SE9500C). The Pinz came with a new set of 5 BFG Mud Terrain tires and 2 new batteries. Everything I have check seems to work as advertised with the exeption of the parking brake light takes a couple attempts to put out.
We have not taken it off road in any serious stuff but I am sure it will see some action. We did drive it back up to North GA. and used it as a track taxi for the Petit Le Manns race. It was a 220 mile adventure (most of it interstate at 100 kph) and it got lots of attention and did it all on 10.5 gal. of fuel. I need to find a shop to replace all the windows in the tops as they are yellowed or cracked and hard to see out of when backing. I also need to weld up a crack in the muffler but I plan to that ASAP.
I'm sure I will have many questions as we go along but so far I have figured things out with Jake's help. But for now,,,, Our names are Dave and Nancy and we are Pinz-o-holics.
