Elijah95s wrecker project

[Elijah95]

Recovered my a wrecker yesterday from Patracy, and if all goes well going to fix a few issues, attempt to convert to air brakes with my donor M925, and see if a little wallet molestation can breath new life into a classic.

Here’s to my M543A2!


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[Elijah95]

Started off last weekend, truck wouldn’t quite run right with the fuel shutoff sticking and truck revving without control, we removed the shutoff cover and sprayed it with PBLASTER working it until it would return on its own freely, and poured half a quart of atf and Howes diesel defender in the impromptu 5 gallon bucket fuel tank. Let the pump circulate for a few and it fired off idling smoothly.

Truck had no brakes, so carefully parked it for tow barring and after hooking up with my fancy marine bar, we set sail. Didn’t make it far though, the passenger tow bar mount bolts weren’t happy as 2/3 were already broken. The 3rd pulled through the bumper and set the truck free, sliding my truck 3” to the right as we stopped. Drove the truck back to his house luckily it was close, and returned with my trailer to haul it in the following Saturday. Loaded it with help from @patracy , and off I went. 1.5hr in the tires on the trailer were cruising at 140°f but she made it home.

This truck will probably go on the back burner for a few months as I prep for the Rally, then I’ll jump on dropping the tank and installing a new Parker Bradley pump, spin on filters, brakes, wrecker hydraulic hoses, air lines and some wiring. Not sure if I’ll ever beautify the truck but I atleast want some safe function

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[Elijah95]

Actually, cancel that. I’ve drug home another wrecker.


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[Ajax MD]

That thing looks like a toy next to your MTVR. Surely you didn't buy it as a recovery vehicle in case the MTVR poops out?

 

[Elijah95]

That thing looks like a toy next to your MTVR. Surely you didn't buy it as a recovery vehicle in case the MTVR poops out?

I’m hoping one day to have it ready for recovery. Talk about slow! I was able to run 65 if i wanted towing her home even in the hills, but decided 55 was best


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[Elijah95]

As you all know, I bought a M543A2 a few months ago, and when a M816 fell into my lap for literal Pennie’s I just couldn’t resist. This weekend I finally drug the old M816 home and started swapping the NDT’s from it to the M543A2 and the G177s over to the M816. Good exercise! The Wrecker traded out for a 28’ enclosed camper trailer rig that I’ll detail out and send onto a new home.

Now to get into the nitty gritty of replacing the Boom cable for the 816. Apparently no one maintains their equipment to the degree I do (sarcasm applies here, but the PO not so much) and the cable broke now mind you, this was a recently depot-reset truck in near mint condition before he bought it a couple years ago. Amazing what your local backwoods guy can do to tear up a truck! Also, unbeknownst to him, the oil cooler had failed and upon initial inspection I found the oil low and coolant black, full of motor oil. After much consideration, I’m going to replace the oil cooler and seals, then begin flushing the cooling system.

On a side note, the MTVR handles a wrecker on a tow bar FAR better than on a trailer. Brakes were never an issue, but even with my Caterpillar C12 turned up to the north side of 570 horse and 1750 torque it left me itching for more get up & go.

 

[Elijah95]

M543A2 is headed to its new home in NC, now it’s time to start wrenching on the 816


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[Elijah95]

Starting to clean the truck up, does anyone have info on this civilian style tow kit? I’ve only seen it issued on the Australian 816s and believe it’s a Holmes tow kit




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[zebedee]

Yup - "Holmes" kit. What do you need to know about it? It's for chain lifts of the front bumper.

There are a lot of pics and discussion within the following thread...
Wrecker wishlist of mods | Page 2 | SteelSoldiers

There is further expansion of this set up in my thread on the G503 forum. See last post on page one...
RAEME M816 - G503 Military Vehicle Message Forums

 

[Elijah95]

Yup - "Holmes" kit. What do you need to know about it? It's for chain lifts of the front bumper.

There are a lot of pics and discussion within the following thread...
Wrecker wishlist of mods | Page 2 | SteelSoldiers

There is further expansion of this set up in my thread on the G503 forum. See last post on page one...
RAEME M816 - G503 Military Vehicle Message Forums

You answered my question perfectly. Lots of good info in your thread! Thanks


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[Elijah95]

Alright boys, it’s time for a Coolant Tech-talk! I’m working on a M816 replacing the Oil Cooler, but this knowledge is going to apply to ANY military vehicle and some civilian rigs too.

Let’s talk about coolant, all MV’s run green coolant (ethelyne Glycol) and most older civilian rigs run it too. I’m going to ruffle some feathers here so get ready. This coolant begins to age the moment it’s poured into your cooling system, gradually becoming acidic and losing its anti-corrosive properties, at around 3-5 years it is “used up” and NO LONGER protecting your engine or cooling system. Will it freeze? Probably not, but it’s freeze point will be higher than when it was new.

Now you might ask “Why does this matter?” Well in short, as this coolant breaks down, it begins attacking your hoses, gasket surfaces, and cylinder liner o-rings, or anything it touches causing cumulative damage. It won’t turn xx years old and immediately after blow your engine, but it reeks unseen havoc over time.

The only true solution to this is to either:
A) convert to a long-life diesel rated HOAT or OAT coolant (which, depending on your application, will extend OR decrease life of cooling system components such as hoses, water pump, and o rings to include cylinder-liner O rings in sleeved engines. Research on YOUR specific application must be performed)
B ) EVERY 3-5 years, Flush your cooling system with clean water, and then refill with your standard “Green” ethylene glycol based coolant previously used. And if your rig is diesel or multifuel you need to add a supplemental cavitation additive, otherwise known as SCA’s. Dosing is based off coolant volume. Now I’m probably going to get some argument stating “Well wet/or dry-sleeved engines don’t suffer cavitation!” And quite frankly you’re WRONG. All Diesel engines due to high-frequency combustion cause cavitation of the coolant on the external cylinder walls period, there is no argument to by had; however some suffer more from this phenomenon (ie. The international 7.3 IDI) than others and it’s extremely cheap insurance to protect your engine.

You’ll hear arguements of “it isn’t broke don’t fix it!” Or “Well my coolant is clean and green so it’s good!” The proof is in the science behind the coolant. My picture is the perfect example of direct failure due to old coolant turning acidic attacking the copper tubes on a NHC-250 oil cooler. That’s all for now




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[G744]

As a note to your working on this, a pint of Pine-Sol and water fill makes easy work out of removing all the oil from a cooling system. Run it up to thermostat temp, then drain.

I usually flush it out 4 times, and refill with new coolant/h2o mix.

 

[Elijah95]

As a note to your working on this, a pint of Pine-Sol and water fill makes easy work out of removing all the oil from a cooling system. Run it up to thermostat temp, then drain.

I usually flush it out 4 times, and refill with new coolant/h2o mix.

I’ve never thought of using pinesol, How does it compare to powder cascade flush?


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[Elijah95]

Reassembled the oil cooler and got it reinstalled then Robbed some silicone hoses off the 925 I’ve been parting out to replace the tired rubber hoses. She’s almost ready to begin flushing



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[G744]

I never tried the dishwashing stuff, it might be just fine.

Pine-Sol turns white in water, and get really grey in the first run.

One can tell when very little oil is left when it comes out white.

 

[Ajax MD]

B ) EVERY 3-5 years,

I don't really see anything controversial in your post. Your "Plan B" is my maintenance plan.
I'm not willing to risk damage to my cylinder liner seals using something new and green coolant is inexpensive. I use a test strip once per year to check it out.

 

[Elijah95]

I never tried the dishwashing stuff, it might be just fine.

Pine-Sol turns white in water, and get really grey in the first run.

One can tell when very little oil is left when it comes out white.

Good stuff!


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[Elijah95]

I don't really see anything controversial in your post. Your "Plan B" is my maintenance plan.
I'm not willing to risk damage to my cylinder liner seals using something new and green coolant is inexpensive. I use a test strip once per year to check it out.

I’ve converted every diesel I have to Final Charge Global and had excellent luck, but in mini-book it’s common to lose the audience so I couldn’t start another tangent LOL.

I agree, Green=Great, just slightly more “consumable” imo


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[Elijah95]

So uh, after changing the oil and draining the muck from the cooling system, i realized i had 3 gallons of oil inside my cooling system….

went through a box of cascade, and despite blocking the radiator off, letting truck warm up for 10 minutes then locking the throttle at 1800rpm, allowing it to run for an hour, then flush and repeat, I continued to get copious amounts of oil out with every change but never the extreme results I wanted, rather it seemed that the oil wouldn’t fully emulsify with the water detergent mix. I could look down in the reservoir and see sludge still sitting after draining.

Today I decided enough was enough, and went back to my old standby method used on 6.0 powerstrokes. It received 3 gallons of Simple Green and topped off with water, ran it at 1800 for an hour and the amount of trash that came rolling out is substantial, I can finally see the bottom of my coolant reservoir! Maybe 1 or two more flushes, then multiple water flushes until perfectly clear, then coolant.


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[Superthermal]

So uh, after changing the oil and draining the muck from the cooling system, i realized i had 3 gallons of oil inside my cooling system….

went through a box of cascade, and despite blocking the radiator off, letting truck warm up for 10 minutes then locking the throttle at 1800rpm, allowing it to run for an hour, then flush and repeat, I continued to get copious amounts of oil out with every change but never the extreme results I wanted, rather it seemed that the oil wouldn’t fully emulsify with the water detergent mix. I could look down in the reservoir and see sludge still sitting after draining.

Today I decided enough was enough, and went back to my old standby method used on 6.0 powerstrokes. It received 3 gallons of Simple Green and topped off with water, ran it at 1800 for an hour and the amount of trash that came rolling out is substantial, I can finally see the bottom of my coolant reservoir! Maybe 1 or two more flushes, then multiple water flushes until perfectly clear, then coolant. View attachment 890645


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I am curious as to when your flush is done, which hoses are you disconnecting to make sure you have the engine and radiator all drained out? I will be doing a coolant change on mine soon and could use all the pointers I can get. Also my rig is new to me and may have never had a chemical flush or anything like that. What would be your recommendation? Flush with just clean water or run a chemical treatment of some kind?