silverstate55
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I hope this thread doesn't go away or get locked down...it's a good central location for info on these trucks (having purchased a M920 last year).
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Artisan's M916
- Thread starter Artisan
- Start date
Another Ahab
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You and me both.
Drove the M916 towing the Schutt trailer almost and Canada
and back last week. 2600 Miles
The only hic-cup was we "assume" someone stole
a clearance marker lens off the roof when we were passed out
in the camper I made, on the back less 5th wheel.
I paid a guy to drive my 5tom pulling a trailer w/ a 20' container
on it as well. It was quite the road train...
How to align the front end? It drives straight but when you look
at the truck from the front to see the wheels look like a V shape
w/ the bottoms in and the tops out.
Tires are wearing on the outside, both.
and back last week. 2600 Miles
The only hic-cup was we "assume" someone stole
a clearance marker lens off the roof when we were passed out
in the camper I made, on the back less 5th wheel.
I paid a guy to drive my 5tom pulling a trailer w/ a 20' container
on it as well. It was quite the road train...
How to align the front end? It drives straight but when you look
at the truck from the front to see the wheels look like a V shape
w/ the bottoms in and the tops out.
Tires are wearing on the outside, both.
Another Ahab
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That's some kind of serious "Sunday" drive.
gimpyrobb
dumpsterlandingfromorbit!
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Glad to hear things went (relatively) well! I was going to text, but figured you had plenty on your plate.
ponway
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Glad you had a good trip!
As a owner-operator, over the road trucker and self taught mechanic / repairman, I do my own alignments these days after many tires and years of getting bad alignments! I would say you have a tow-in issue.
Driving the 916 in the military, I would think it hard to bend anything on that truck unless it was dropped out of an airplane! Assuming this truck probably has very few miles on it as trucks go, I would also think your spring pins would be good, bushings good unless deteriorated by age and I see there are roller bearings in the steering knuckles, probably ok.
That being said, alignment shops like to "cock" the rear tandem to climb the crown of the road and toe in the steer to put a more positive feel in the steering wheel. All that does is cause tire scrub. I have aligned my truck with all 3 axles squared to the frame and no toe in the steer. The truck handles great and I get phenomenal tire wear these days, no more worn off shoulders every 6-9 months like you are experiencing or scrubbed drive tires.
I do all this with a set of vintage Starrett trammel points from ebay $30, couple pieces of drill rod turned or grounded to a point, a 9' piece of aluminum extrusion or a ridged angle to lay across the frame, A carpenter's framing square, a 12-15' beam, could be a piece of oak or metal. A tape measure and some other simple common hand tools.
Just to check the toe, you may only need the trammel points and drill rod and a beam, however, if you have a line of sight, axle high from one side to the other you won't need the tools to check the toe.
Here's what I would do:
-On a flat concrete surface, center the wheels straight ahead, roll truck back and forth couple times.
-Check spring pins, tie rod ends, wheel bearings and knuckle bearings for tightness.
-With the wheels off the ground, spin them and paint the center with a light colored spray paint.
-Clamp a angle or something ridged to the frame where it can swing into the tire.
-Clamp a sharp point, awl or nail to the angle - near center of tire.
-Rotate wheel mark all way around. This must remain ridged!! Do both sides.
-with a helper, measure across front and rear, half way up and compare.
-Adjust tie rod to desired toe or no toe. If it was mine, I would put no toe in it.
With my road tractor, I use the beam, trammels and drill rod for points and compare both sides, up half the height of the tire because my oil pan is in the way.
My experience with radial tires is once they start wearing wrong, they will not correct.
Or take it to a shop and tell them what you want. I do all my own work and that way I know exactly what I've got!
As a owner-operator, over the road trucker and self taught mechanic / repairman, I do my own alignments these days after many tires and years of getting bad alignments! I would say you have a tow-in issue.
Driving the 916 in the military, I would think it hard to bend anything on that truck unless it was dropped out of an airplane! Assuming this truck probably has very few miles on it as trucks go, I would also think your spring pins would be good, bushings good unless deteriorated by age and I see there are roller bearings in the steering knuckles, probably ok.
That being said, alignment shops like to "cock" the rear tandem to climb the crown of the road and toe in the steer to put a more positive feel in the steering wheel. All that does is cause tire scrub. I have aligned my truck with all 3 axles squared to the frame and no toe in the steer. The truck handles great and I get phenomenal tire wear these days, no more worn off shoulders every 6-9 months like you are experiencing or scrubbed drive tires.
I do all this with a set of vintage Starrett trammel points from ebay $30, couple pieces of drill rod turned or grounded to a point, a 9' piece of aluminum extrusion or a ridged angle to lay across the frame, A carpenter's framing square, a 12-15' beam, could be a piece of oak or metal. A tape measure and some other simple common hand tools.
Just to check the toe, you may only need the trammel points and drill rod and a beam, however, if you have a line of sight, axle high from one side to the other you won't need the tools to check the toe.
Here's what I would do:
-On a flat concrete surface, center the wheels straight ahead, roll truck back and forth couple times.
-Check spring pins, tie rod ends, wheel bearings and knuckle bearings for tightness.
-With the wheels off the ground, spin them and paint the center with a light colored spray paint.
-Clamp a angle or something ridged to the frame where it can swing into the tire.
-Clamp a sharp point, awl or nail to the angle - near center of tire.
-Rotate wheel mark all way around. This must remain ridged!! Do both sides.
-with a helper, measure across front and rear, half way up and compare.
-Adjust tie rod to desired toe or no toe. If it was mine, I would put no toe in it.
With my road tractor, I use the beam, trammels and drill rod for points and compare both sides, up half the height of the tire because my oil pan is in the way.
My experience with radial tires is once they start wearing wrong, they will not correct.
Or take it to a shop and tell them what you want. I do all my own work and that way I know exactly what I've got!
Ponway, I have not read that yet.
Just got in from trip 2.
I stopped at Les Schwabb Missiola and 2 techs set the tow.
I "think" it was 1.59+ and they set it at ( I THINK) .15-
The book says .125- I "think.
SO I assume all is well, NOT, driving home I see the right front is sloughing off
rubber on the outside of the tire.
I need to rest, 5000 miles in an M916 pulling a trailer is enough to
sideline the best of men, I now know........................
Just got in from trip 2.
I stopped at Les Schwabb Missiola and 2 techs set the tow.
I "think" it was 1.59+ and they set it at ( I THINK) .15-
The book says .125- I "think.
SO I assume all is well, NOT, driving home I see the right front is sloughing off
rubber on the outside of the tire.
I need to rest, 5000 miles in an M916 pulling a trailer is enough to
sideline the best of men, I now know........................
PICTURES and Les Schwabb Toe Specs AND, I included
a manual for our front axles...This manual really needs
to go on page 1 of this thread w/ my other manuals.
DRIVERS SIDE TIRE
PASSENGER SIDE TIRE
FRONT VIEW
FRONT DRIVE AXLE MANUAL
LES SCHWAB TOE SPECS
I still need to read Ponways post. I need more minutes in a day!
a manual for our front axles...This manual really needs
to go on page 1 of this thread w/ my other manuals.
DRIVERS SIDE TIRE
PASSENGER SIDE TIRE
FRONT VIEW
FRONT DRIVE AXLE MANUAL
LES SCHWAB TOE SPECS
I still need to read Ponways post. I need more minutes in a day!
Just for the heck of it, here are a couple pics of the boys at Les
Schwabb Co. in Misoula MT, whom were mighty proud to be working
on the All Mighty Centaur, "The 20 Ton ". (and those are not my words folks, they
are the military's words... ya jabronies...*
)
They took there work seriously, right or wrong. I hope there
work is proven to be good...They gave me the print out of
the before and after specs of my truck you see above.
ALIGN LES SCHWAB 1
ALIGN LES SCHWAB 2
* Can ya Smelllllll, what the Rock's...., been COOKIN' ...
Schwabb Co. in Misoula MT, whom were mighty proud to be working
on the All Mighty Centaur, "The 20 Ton ". (and those are not my words folks, they
are the military's words... ya jabronies...*
) They took there work seriously, right or wrong. I hope there
work is proven to be good...They gave me the print out of
the before and after specs of my truck you see above.
ALIGN LES SCHWAB 1
ALIGN LES SCHWAB 2
* Can ya Smelllllll, what the Rock's...., been COOKIN' ...
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Anything over a 20" wheel as close to 0.00 on the toe the better off you are just due to tire width. I had a guy align up my 923 and he set it at whatever spec he used for a cement truck I am sure. cupped em bad. I got the chalk, angles, string out and did it myself.
I want to add this.
"My" truck is a PLEASURE to drive.
It hums along, steers straight, and it keeps me very busy
shiftin' gears and THAT is A-Okay w/ me. If you drove this beast
in active duty I SALUTE YOU SIR, fore I KNOW what you went
thru, but, I added A/C..., HA!
Everywhere I go, good hearted AMERICANS give me the thumbs up,
an occasional salute, and MANY a wave and LOTS of VERY good cheer. Driving these
rigs is a privilege in my book men. I WILL keep it front and center,
on line, plumb and parallel and I WILL always drive it respectably
as it NEEDS to be driven. I will NEVER forget driving this BEAST
across the USA, several times as I have and as I will do more of.
Right now I am approaching 9000 miles, yes NINE THOUSAND
miles on the odometer.
REBEL is this trucks name.
My 5 Tons name is SQUATCH.
"My" truck is a PLEASURE to drive.
It hums along, steers straight, and it keeps me very busy
shiftin' gears and THAT is A-Okay w/ me. If you drove this beast
in active duty I SALUTE YOU SIR, fore I KNOW what you went
thru, but, I added A/C..., HA!
Everywhere I go, good hearted AMERICANS give me the thumbs up,
an occasional salute, and MANY a wave and LOTS of VERY good cheer. Driving these
rigs is a privilege in my book men. I WILL keep it front and center,
on line, plumb and parallel and I WILL always drive it respectably
as it NEEDS to be driven. I will NEVER forget driving this BEAST
across the USA, several times as I have and as I will do more of.
Right now I am approaching 9000 miles, yes NINE THOUSAND
miles on the odometer.
REBEL is this trucks name.
My 5 Tons name is SQUATCH.
davo727
Member
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I like the towbar preinstalled on the truck just in case. Being prepared.
The M916 w/ Schutt trailer has performed almost flawlessly.
I have made 3.5 round trips from Los Angeles to just shy of Canada
and the ONLY issue I encountered was front tire wear issues of which
we addressed at Les Schwab in Missoula and now all seems well.
What an incredible beast it is. It humms down the road, alls it needs is fuel.
The A/C works well, it is easy to handle. The CAT 7155 is NOT hard to get
command of. PERIOD.
The investment was sound. All is well. Job is 95% done, all assets will
eventually be sold to the next guy who needs things done CHEAP.
Stay tuned, same Brad Time , Same Brad Channel......................
I have made 3.5 round trips from Los Angeles to just shy of Canada
and the ONLY issue I encountered was front tire wear issues of which
we addressed at Les Schwab in Missoula and now all seems well.
What an incredible beast it is. It humms down the road, alls it needs is fuel.
The A/C works well, it is easy to handle. The CAT 7155 is NOT hard to get
command of. PERIOD.
The investment was sound. All is well. Job is 95% done, all assets will
eventually be sold to the next guy who needs things done CHEAP.
Stay tuned, same Brad Time , Same Brad Channel......................
There has to be a better solution than getting in the gutter with the Fakebook twits. The bunch of despicable statists. This is great site but the "moderators" do have a rediculous nanny streak they need to resist.
M916A3 owners. My FD was just allocated two M916A3 one with 5000mi and one with 10615mi. Also getting two MEP803 10kw genset (less 10hr ea). Could someone measure the clear distance in front of the 5th wheel? Thinking to load a genset crosswise on each truck in this spot (between winch and 5th wheel) for pickup. I think should be at least 32" available which is enough for the 10kw.
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SO I got 4500 miles on the new steer axle tires before they showed serious wear
on the outside edges, both PS and DS. I am considering move the left tire to the right
side and the right to the left, maintaining directional rotation to get another 4500
mile of use. Does anyone have a better suggestion? SO sad, tires are new.
on the outside edges, both PS and DS. I am considering move the left tire to the right
side and the right to the left, maintaining directional rotation to get another 4500
mile of use. Does anyone have a better suggestion? SO sad, tires are new.
ponway
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Sorry to hear about the tires.
You could flip them around and as the shoulder wears, the footprint is going to become more rounded and may be more prone to wondering, just my experience. If all tires are same, you could move them to a drive position and rotate forward.
If it was me, I would go back to my post #487 and check the toe and set it to zero toe. You may find this hard to believe, but I have got around 200,000 miles on my steers now on my road tractor following this procedure. I probably should remove them for the amount of miles on them. They started out on a trip to Happy Valley - Goose Bay, Labrador, 200 mi of gravel, crisscrossing the US and Canada and short haul. They are Michelin XZ3's. As I stated before, I chewed shoulders off for years as you are until I just set it myself with simple tools.
You could flip them around and as the shoulder wears, the footprint is going to become more rounded and may be more prone to wondering, just my experience. If all tires are same, you could move them to a drive position and rotate forward.
If it was me, I would go back to my post #487 and check the toe and set it to zero toe. You may find this hard to believe, but I have got around 200,000 miles on my steers now on my road tractor following this procedure. I probably should remove them for the amount of miles on them. They started out on a trip to Happy Valley - Goose Bay, Labrador, 200 mi of gravel, crisscrossing the US and Canada and short haul. They are Michelin XZ3's. As I stated before, I chewed shoulders off for years as you are until I just set it myself with simple tools.
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Here is a simple way to set toe in. Drive a nail completely thru a 2' long 2x6 about an inch from the end. Jack front wheels up and have someone rotate each wheel backwards while you hold the board with the nail in front of the tire as close to the center as possible. While the tire is rotating slowly and steadily with the board flat on the floor push the nail up to the tire and it will mark a neat fine line all the way around the tire. Now with the truck back on the floor simply measure the distance between the marks on your tires about 10 or 12 inches above the floor in both the front and rear of your tires. If you are wanting zero toe in adjust tie rods until this measurement is equal both front and rear of the tires.
Elideclan2
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I may glad to see this thread come back to life. I read this thread often when working in my 920. Thanks