"Rescued" M816 Wrecker

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Hahaha I like the MRAP seat, comfortable and reclined (alot). Downside was having to slide under the steering wheel to get in/out of the truck hahahaha. Works great on the passenger side. The air ride seat has some recline to it so I'm not upright but not as laid back as the other seat.

Yes this heater has the core inside the rectangular box. It had coolant in it but I havent tested anything on it yet.

 

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Used the wrecker friday to remove most of the large parts from the m51a2 I've been parting out, down to almost a trailer left. Also loaded most of the scrap metal into the dump bed.

 

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Well we finally removed the old cable from the rear winch. Used Valence's m35a2 to drag the cable while the winch was powering out.



Then hooked the cable to the front of the deuce and dragged it all back to the scrap pile.



After that it was time to head out for some offroading, pics/details in this thread http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showth...oad-trip-to-5-mile-pass&p=1936353#post1936353

 

[Valence]

I drove the deuce in 1st & low, which was a bit faster than the wrecker's rear winch power-out speed in 4th. I definitely couldn't move the wrecker while red was on the brakes! Surprisingly, even though on a loose gravel surface, I couldn't/didn't spin any tire (front axle was not engaged). I had to learn to feather engage the clutch before the line became too taut to prevent killing the engine and drive-train backlash.



We had a bit of fun unknoting the tow strap from the winch line. Pro-tip: Use a chain instead!

 

[Another Ahab]

That sure is good looking country you all got out there in Utah.

 

[bigmike]

Used the wrecker friday to remove most of the large parts from the m51a2 I've been parting out, down to almost a trailer left. Also loaded most of the scrap metal into the dump bed.

View attachment 648981

Is that a wrecker bumper vice sitting on the ground in front of the picture? If so, I could use one of those.

 

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Yes it is the bumper vice, had to pull it and the mounting plate when the bumper boxes were installed. The boxes open from the top so the vice was in the way.

 

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Little bit of parking spot organization with the wrecker today, moved the m51 remains (soon to be 'wrecker minion 2.0').

Have a trade for some axle components coming up so flipped the wrecker around and started disassembly before the weather came in this evening. The rear axles and suspension will be rolled out from under the truck after some hub/brake work. Getting my hands on a detroit locker that will be installed in the middle axle, and will replace the lower dog bones while the suspension is out (uppers look good).

 

[wcuhillbilly]

"trade for axle components"???? did you get the wedge brake loaded backing plates off KScrawler? I thought about pursueing it but dont have the funds to arrange shipping or pick up by outlaw/inlaws in KC

 

[simp5782]

Is that a wrecker bumper vice sitting on the ground in front of the picture? If so, I could use one of those.

Csmdavis has a bunch of them with the plates shipping may be pricey tho.

Sent from my SM-G860P using Tapatalk

 

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"trade for axle components"???? did you get the wedge brake loaded backing plates off KScrawler? I thought about pursueing it but dont have the funds to arrange shipping or pick up by outlaw/inlaws in KC

Yep,waited a few days before calling him to find out if yall were going to deal first. When he mentioned they were still available I made an offer.



The outriggers are holding most of the truck weight, with the axles sitting on stacks of wood. Went to all 6 wheel ends and removed the hubs/drums, then disconnected the front brake lines and unbolted their backing plates. Was a bit unnerving when I lowered the jack from a wheel end in the rear and the suspension didn't lower.

Rear backing plates look like they are going to suck to remove because they are riveted on. Going to make for a long weekend cutting those 40 rivets off and driving them out.

 

[wcuhillbilly]

Yep,waited a few days before calling him to find out if yall were going to deal first. When he mentioned they were still available I made an offer.



The outriggers are holding most of the truck weight, with the axles sitting on stacks of wood. Went to all 6 wheel ends and removed the hubs/drums, then disconnected the front brake lines and unbolted their backing plates. Was a bit unnerving when I lowered the jack from a wheel end in the rear and the suspension didn't lower.

Rear backing plates look like they are going to suck to remove because they are riveted on. Going to make for a long weekend cutting those 40 rivets off and driving them out.




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Good for you buddy!!!! I just have too many irons in the fire right now and 3+ inches of snow on the ground makes wallering around in it a little less apealing. Still waiting on parts and time to get the golden crane shaft fixed and checking into rebuilding my PT pump to a NTC 350 spec in order to cure the tach out problem. So total rework of the air brake was just not in the cards this fall. I am drooling at the thoughts of a locker, let me know what you find out on that, as Lockers and airbrakes are on my list but not in the budget yet.

 

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Yea I was not planning to do much, if anything, to the wrecker this winter hahaha. If the weather will hold out then this will all be finished soon but I doubt the weather will cooperate. Late November and the first snow storm in this area was a few days ago, been lucky it's held off this long haha. I'm going back to college starting in January so that will take up some of my time, but figure should use the GI Bill while I can.

Theres a couple good offroad spots nearby that the locker will be tested out on. Over Veterans Day weekend went out to the desert on the west side of the salt lake, lots of soft sand and rock/dirt trails. Had to engage 6wd to get up many of the hills because the wrecker has so much weight. Think that the locker will provide enough extra traction where that won't be a issue. There was one sandy hill though that the lack of power and rpm range was the problem. Could make it to just before the top of the hill, then the truck would start to sink. Friend of mine (and he absolutely loved this) hooked up his land cruiser with lockers in both axles to give just enough extra momentum to get the m816 over the crest of the hill.

Locker might help there, but bet it needs a turbo like yours has.

Video evidence. Hill is about 30 degrees, just soft sand. Bet a cargo truck would have made it up.

https://youtu.be/HzsDJFwZgCM

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HzsDJFwZgCM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[wcuhillbilly]

Yup,, Turbo may have helped, but Im thinking tire pressure, and the ability to stay in power band while downshifting would be the major contributing factors. I dont know about yours but mine hates split shifting from low range to highrange while jockeying the 1-5. depending on the twist of the cab, I have to push the lever down with my foot to finish engaging low range, and yank on it to get it back into high, other days its like butter. hence my desire to go Eaton/Fuller.... that hill. I would have caught 3 gears without hitting the clutch, each with 250 rpm increase or reduction..... I know Im just spoiled by a 379 pete, Cat, and an 18 speed with double lockers......

Keep me updated on that locker,,, is it mechanical or air......

 

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I was at 80 psi, my normal with the 395's. Taken it down to 65 psi before and the sidewalls flex very well at that pressure, just was being lazy. The rest of that trip was basically 1000rpm low range 1st/2nd/3rd just crawling right along.

Mine has the same low/high shift stubbornness. I would split shift the m35a2 every time but this one is stubborn so usually I stay in high for on road and low for offroad. Eventually will swap the trans but that's a few years away. Would like to go with the CAT 7155. With power upgrades the truck will get a holset ht3b turbo and after that a dual fuel line mod. Hopefully next year for that and jakes. Will admit though for everything I've read on here about the wreckers being super slow, this ones not. When Valence and I were convoying out for the offroad trip he said that up through 3rd gear his m35a2 was faster, but above that my m816 was walking away from him. Ain't a speed demon but it handles itself well.

The locker is a Detroit so it's mechanical. Going to place it in the middle axle when the weather cooperates. Looking forward to the extra traction, cause it sucks when a wrecker gets stuck.


With the rivets holding the brake backing plates on the rear axles, they suck ass. Ran out of gas for my torch so was having to use a cutoff wheel for the rivets it can reach, which is only 4 per wheel end. The other 6 per end will have to be cut off some other way. Thankfully for the trade he only needs 4, so I pulled the backing plates off the m51a2 front axle to provide 4, and pulled the components (shoes, wheel cylinders...) off the rear axles of the 816 since I know they work fine. Going to take the torch to the rear backing plates and remove them in pieces since they are now destined for the scrap pile.

 

[wcuhillbilly]

The locker is a Detroit so it's mechanical. Going to place it in the middle axle when the weather cooperates. Looking forward to the extra traction, cause it sucks when a wrecker gets stuck.

Yes it does..... Keep us posted, and as for jakes, look for a set of 425s or 25b as they are the better ones than my 25A's same kit, but the upgraded model. Turbo, the HT3B is good but expensive and sought after, dont over look the Swhitzer like I used. in "816 jakes and a turbo" same but less expensive

 

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Poor little toyota pickup, hauling all these parts around. Had over 1200 lbs in the bed on the way down, and roughly 1k on the way back up to Utah. Did better than a 2016 dodge ram 1500 rental truck back when I picked up the t1138 tcase, the rear suspension was sitting on it's bumpstops from just the tcase. Little toy still had about 1" before bottoming out between the tcase/hydraulic brake parts.




Initial load for the trip back, locker is inside the pelican case. Added a few other small items I had in storage back in Texas after this pic.

 

[Valence]

How about fuel economy?

 

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How about fuel economy?

Just under 28 mpg in the toyota, carrying cargo doesn't seem to affect it. Little 2wd, 4cyl, 5 speed manual cruising at 65 mph. Pic of the truck from a few weeks ago, loaded up for a trip to Oregon/Washington.




Yes, the pickup is light enough that the wrecker can lift it up at full extension, and drive away with it hanging there hahahaha. Will have some more pics of the wrecker tomorrow.

 

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Snowing off/on today so just unloaded the parts to get them by the wrecker, and setup the cargo cover for hopefully the last time for a few months. Usually as soon as it's on it has to come back off again within a week. Some of the items I picked up while in Texas were the remaining bows/uprights, some paint supplies, and my multi-leg lifting chain setup.