arrives 9/24

[redass73]

''very cool'' How did that 'lil' 819 do pullin that beast around

 

[73m819]

GTB, no i dont mind, i love big trucks, the k500 may be the base idea behind the xm977, or the xm977 may be the base for the k500, i would be interested in knowing more about the k500 and any pics, this has the big automatic trans hat the hemtts have, a k500 parts book mite be of some help, there is NO red paint where the paint has gone to other places, just bare metal (rust) , anyother info always is a help, thanks, ron

ps, the data plate says xm 977000002, built for the U.S. ARMY

RA, the 819 grunted a little but did a great job, about 3/4 of the tow was up hill, so the 819 stayed in hi third most of the trip, i thought the weight would be about 16k to 18k, the truck driver said it felt like about 20k to 22k, backed it whare it needed to be with no problem, a peice of cake

 

[Ferroequinologist]

Love the reversed towbar, good thinking!

 

[DDoyle]

Really interested in seeing some close up pix of the axles and hubs if you get a chance.

Thanks,
David

 

[maddawg308]

Very cool truck! That is going to look sweet when it's all restored! What are your plans for the immense gaping hole behind the cab, that should have a wrecker unit, tank unit, or cargo unit installed?

You know, they have been selling the newer cargo bodies for the new 5-ton trucks that the military uses on GL. They would make a great home on the back end of this truck....

 

[Elwenil]

In his sig he states that it will be a tractor. With that much frame space you could add a communication shelter for a camper/sleeper and still have room for the 5th wheel, lol.

 

[BFR]

hmmm...(spending someone else's money) I would want to put the box from a 105, a massive boom, and a fifth wheel setup.

 

[No.2Diesel]

Thank you for the pictures M819. Thats a mean looking Cab over.

What was the prototype originally equipped with? Fifth Wheel? Cargo? Crane?

What are your future plans? That thing is just screaming for a PLS or cargo with a K-boom...A BIG K-Boom. Good luck with it

 

[73m819]

it orginaly had a cargo bed, a kboom and a winch of the right side.

i plan to put on a fifth wheel and ramps, a big oilfeild winch in front of the fifth wheel, then a kboom, then a deck like the hemtt 983 has from the kboom to the cab, over the trans, the wheelbsae is the same as the 983, of course this all takes MONEY which seems to be in a rather short supply in the MV world

 

[builder77]

Awesome looking truck. I guess it shows that I grew up on Saturday morning cartoons as the first thing I thought when seeing this is paint it red and you would have Optimus Prime from the Transformers.

How does the front steering react when towed in reverse like that? I often see heavy trucks and buses towed that way, and it obviously works.

 

[73m819]

tows real good, strightened the wheels, then tied the steering wheel to the wing window post, i have towed quite a few this way over the years

 

[BFR]

Awesome looking truck. I guess it shows that I grew up on Saturday morning cartoons as the first thing I thought when seeing this is paint it red and you would have Optimus Prime from the Transformers.

 

[alphadeltaromeo]

http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/view?id=1387871&convertTo=USD

Ron...just cuz...

 

[GunTruckBuilder]

I have a few pics for you. I'm not sure how much help a book would be for you. A C500 is a Class 8+ truck. Like all trucks class 5 and larger you purchase them by component. For example you could go to your local Kenworth dealer to order a new C500 tomorrow. Well you'd have to decide on a number of things. For instance how many axles to you want? 2, 3, 4, 5? Do you want single steer or double steer? Single tires or dual tires? What size tires? What brand? Do you want a Caterpillar, Detroit, Cummins? What kind of transmission? How many gears? What brand brakes do you want? All a heavy truck manufacturer (Kenworth, peterbilt, Western Star, Freightliner, etc) does is build a chassis and put a body and interior in it. The rest is built to customer specs. Class 5 and larger trucks are custom built. It's not a cookie cutter truck like a Ford F-350 where they all share the same motor, transmission, brakes, axles, wheelbase, etc. However the good news is that unless you want a Kenworth specific item, such as interior trim, badging,or body parts any heavy truck dealer can get the parts for you. Also Peterbilt and Kenworth are owned by the same parent company, PACCAR. So a Peterbilt dealership can order your Kenworth specific parts for you.

There are some great truck pics here: http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/m_kulak_kw.htm What a great site to kill some time on.

Of course the company page on this fine product: http://www.kenworth.com/2100_vir_c500.asp

 

[73m819]

thats my guess for the kw cab with the pc&f emblem, both are owned by paccar, the compeny i work for has a few of those 8x8 KWs as a-frame boom trucks, we work in the oil feilds.

the cab on the 977 sorta looks like that cabover, thanks for the pics

 

[GunTruckBuilder]

You could have a Kenworth K100 cab. They are very similar to the C500 COE. The K100 is an over the road tractor. It's construction is not as robust as the C500 cab. What you could do is put Kenworth W900 sheetmetal on your rig. Add a big old condo sleeper, polished aluminum wheels, chrome, polished stainless, and chicken lights everywhere. Put a flatbed on the back. Give every redneck in America wood as you go rolling down the road in an 8 wheel drive, full O/O spec, longnose classic.

 

[73m819]

GTB, i almost got sick pictureing the xm977 out fitted as above

 

[ARMYMAN30YearsPlus]

Boy if you could pick up the beds in the GL auction you would be just about set. Very nice find and hope to see the pictures of the progress along the way. Not to bring it up again but Kenworth supplied all the initial PLS trucks too for the acceptance of the principle at Fort Hood in 1985

 

[GunTruckBuilder]

The good thing about these large trucks is that they are standardized. Which makes them very easy to modify to do what you want them to do. If you like the way it is now with a COE that's great. COE tractors have fallen out of favor and you can buy one for a song. Other than the junkman, collectors like me, and Russia there aren't many buyers for these rigs. I have a few pics of K100's to give you some ideas of where you can take your truck. JB Hunt used K100's up until the late 90's and there are a ton of them out there. Regular cabs, flat tops, high rise condos, you name it. You can still buy a full O/O spec K100 tractor with all the bells and whistles for less than $6,000. That would give you a great cab to mount on that chassis, spare engine, transmission, and thousands of small parts that would nickel and dime you to death. Check Truck Paper for some deals. Don't let the mileage scare you, it's normal to get 1,000,000 miles out of an over the road tractor. Anything with 600,000 to 800,000 miles will be a good buy.

Since you have a lot of wheelbase on that truck and want to use it as a tractor you can easily add a cab with a sleeper. Depending on the height of the chassis (I'm assuming you have a lot of ground clearance) I would go with a flat top sleeper. With a really tall truck you must plan your routes to avoid things like underpasses, tunnels, low power lines. If you went with a 72 inch flat top sleeper (JB Hunt used thousands of these and they're available dirt cheap) you wouldn't lose very much. Plenty of room to mount a 5th wheel, K-Boom, and a flatbed. Speaking of fifth wheel what are you planning on using? Fifth wheel technology has come a long way. There are many different options now. Things like power adjusting, load leveling, and even off road models with an extra pivot point to handle off-camber maneuvering.

Whatever you do with it I hope you enjoy it. You're very lucky to have such a versatile chassis. You can take it as far as you want to go. I wish I had something like that. I'd likely keep a COE cab on it, as that's a pretty good set up for getting the most out of any given wheelbase. For sure I'd add another set of powered axles. Making for 12 wheeldrive. Just for the wow factor if nothing else. Despite it's inherent impracticality I would add a high rise condo sleeper to it. Then have a full length dropside bed. With a crane of course. The truck would recieve a re-power. I happen to know of a 725 horsepower Caterpillar C-16 that needs a new chassis to live in. Back that up with an Eaton Road Ranger 18speed. Throw a killer paintjob on it. Something red, white, and blue. Have a mural on the sleeper. Then clean house at truck shows.

 

[73m819]

it will stay od, a 5t fifth wheel, hemtt kboom, a big oilfield winch in front of the fifth wheel. NO CROME