Brand new to MV. Just bought a M52a2 dump.

[Eafarms]

This site seems to be the place to go to for military vehicles of all sorts. I've never owned,driven, or hardly ridden in any MVs my entire life. So here's the whole rundown.

Our little farm has been needing a dump truck. After searching long and hard. I found the coolest dump truck I'd ever seen. A 68 kaiser 5 ton multifuel.

Now I've been a jeep guy my entire life. So I about fell over when I found the ad. This was about three months ago. After reading a bunch of TMs and watching the price fall for awhile, I finally pulled the trigger yesterday and brought "ole smokey" home. Pretty rough but dump works. And entire brake system was rebuilt last year.

From the limited driving I've done here's what I can tell you. Runs up through the gears great. Downshifting. Now that's a different story. Grinds bad going down into any gear. Just about have to stop and start again. I've read conflicting opinions on whether you should downshift or not. What's the consensus here?
Additionally the transfer case likes to shift from hi to low. But going from low to hi has proven tricky. Once requiring shutting off the truck to get it in hi. Is it preferred to run around in low or hi gear, or should I be split shifting it?

The problem im most concerned with is the lights and gauges. Previous owner stated they all worked this summer while he was driving it. But that's not the case now. The 3 way switch isn't right. Unlock lever isn't needed to control the other two. BO Lights don't work at all. Turns seem to work fine. gauge lights and headlights don't come on at all. Headlight has been rigged with some wires you can twist together.

And no gauges work besides the RPM, speed, And air pressure. I'm thinking the two are related but that's only because they're both electrical issues.


so far I'm loving it. It's a blast to drive. Waves and honks everywhere. Power steering makes life a breeze. Gonna grab some gravel tomorrow and see how it hauls.

 

[sandcobra164]

1. Downshifting should work fine. The trans is a synchro unit in all but 1st. It may simply be in need of an overhaul but I would check / change the oil for starters.

2. Transfer case is a synchro unit. It should shift from high to low and low to high with no perceived issues as long as you're not above roughly 25 mph. You should be able to use it to split shift as needed whenever you have a heavy load. I used to drive 1-5 in low range, shift transfer to high and shift transmission to 4th and work my way to 5th when towing with this drivetrain. Once again, I would check / change the oil. Under normal driving, I left it in high with no issues.

3. The gauges that work in your truck are simple mechanical gauges. The ones that don't work operate quite simply. When you switch the batteries on, they should be receiving 24 volts on one side and a varying amount of ground on the negative side. The sending units are simply resistors to ground. Since none of the others work, I would start by tracing the harness and trying to figure out where the input voltage is being held up.

4. The lack of using the "unlock" lever to activate the light switch is not a deal breaker for me. You can find a new one in the $50 dollar range. As for having to twist wires together to activate the headlights, I would repair the wiring harness to allow them to be activated by the light switch as intended. Blackout lights are not really needed. They may be operational on the truck but are very dim when working. When we check them at work, you have to cup your hand over the lens to see them. They are mostly intended to be seen when you're wearing night vision goggles in a convoy.

Respectfully,
Joseph

 

[wreckerman893]

I've been on the hunt for a dump myself but they are selling for stupid money on all the auction sites.

A multi-fuel like you just bought went north of seven grand on GSA a few weeks ago.

The multi-fuel is going to be a toad in the road and there is very little you can do about it. There are a few ways to twist it's tail but if you won't be on the highways much it prob won't be a big issue. The good news is that it has more power than a deuce multi.

As for the transfer case make sure all the linkage is lubed and adjusted properly.

I put a lot of miles on deuces and old five tons and the deuces all split shift better than the five tons. You can split them but it takes some getting used to.

Do you know how to double clutch? It is also an acquired talent and will make shifting a lot easier. I'd try to explain it but it would be easier to get someone to show you how.

Welcome to the wonderful world of military vehicles.

 

[BKubu]

If you end up needing to replace your transmission, get a non-overdrive transmission for a replacement. Your overall top speed will be lower, but your power through all of the gears will be better. I once had an M543A2 with that transmission, and that truck pulled hard all the way through 5th gear...which only topped out at about 46 MPH at 2,600 RPM. If you are driving locally and/or hauling heavy loads, this is the transmission to have.

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

If you end up needing to replace your transmission, get a non-overdrive transmission for a replacement. Your overall top speed will be lower, but your power through all of the gears will be better. I once had an M543A2 with that transmission, and that truck pulled hard all the way through 5th gear...which only topped out at about 46 MPH at 2,600 RPM. If you are driving locally and/or hauling heavy loads, this is the transmission to have.

I thought all of the m39a2 series trucks had the non-overdrive transmission stock (along with the gasser m39s), with only the Mack powered m39a1 trucks having overdrive.

 

[M543A2]

Eafarms, welcome! I also am a smaller farmer that finds usefulness with a multifuel dump like yours. We haul stone from a pit 12 miles from here with no problem. We have an 18 ton Ferree tandem axle trailer we pull behind it. We had a scrap medium size combine on the trailer and other scrap metal in the dump bed headed fro a metal recycler south of Wabash, IN. South of town there is a limestone cut with a good grade up out of it. Going up that grade from under a stop light a guy in a Power Stroke with a 6 horse trailer behind decided we were too slow and pulled over to pass. My son went full fuel, pulled gears and the Ford never made it past the front bumper. The cut was full of smoke though! We have an M35A2 deuce we have done extensive head work on similar to what we do for our race car motors and a bit of fuel tweaking. With it we towed an M62 wrecker from home to Grissom AFB. There are quite a few long grades on US24 going down there. We never had to come out of overdrive at anytime except to obey traffic regulations. We have run both of these trucks for over 10 years with no failures.
Toad on the road or not depends on lots of factors.
I will warn though these kind of things are not for anyone but very experienced drivers very familiar with how to make a boosted power diesel live. Proper monitoring instrumentation in the cab is a must.
And to confirm, we have not seen anything but straight 5 speeds in these trucks. We think an overdrive would be nice in the dump truck. I would like to find adapters to put an Allison behind the Multifuel.

 

[Eafarms]

Wow. Thanks for all the replies guys. Im pretty excited with the new truck. Gonna try to reply to everyone individually.

Sandcobra.
I successfully downshifted in low from 5-4th today. But only after letting rpm fall to idle and speed barely 10mph. Once the rain stops hopefully by this weekend. I plan to check/change both trans and tcase fluid. Is there a preferred fluid for each. Or just stick with what the TMs say? I definitely cannot go from low to high with the truck running. Tried a handful of times today. It will be almost there but truck doesn't move when I let clutch out. It has to be off to go fully into high. Can easily go from hi to low.

I will I'll certainly mess w the electric woes w the truck asap. The light lock lever doesn't bother me much. But the lights not working off the 3 way really irks me. And the gauges. Those have got to work for me to be comfortable driving this long distances. Thanks for the simple explanation.

Wreckerman
Not too worried about it being a toad. The gravel pit is maybe 5 miles from me. But it would be nice to split it so I dont have do the whole distance at 25mph. I guarantee the people behind me were not the happiest. I am familiar with Double clutching. In concept. But not in practice. I did successfully D.C. Down earlier today when before it would just grind gears bad and not go in until I stop and start over.

Kubu and porckchop.
'This is a non overdrive with 5th being toward the seat.

M543a2
You seem to love this stuff. Hopefully someday I'll have a collection half as big as yours. I really have no need for more power out of this truck. But what you did to the deuce sounds pretty cool.


Hauled my first load of rocks today. Left it light so I can get used to how it drives with weight. Moved 5 tons like it wasn't there. She groaned a bit lifting it to dump though.

 

[Nomadic]

Pics?

 

[Eafarms]

Only one I've got at the moment. My girl had to climb to the top the second I brought it home.

 

[M543A2]

My M543 wrecker goes into low easily but high hard unless I pull the lever up with authority. I keep promising myself that when I have time I will check the linkage adjustment/lubrication. I think that is the problem. I do not have that situation with the dump.
About the collecting more trucks; for me it seemed once I got one, the others somehow kept coming, so look out!! Some I bought, some traded for, some outright given to me for mechanical/machine/welding work on other peoples' equipment. Seems to happen as others come to know you as "the guy with the military truck" and put you on to other trucks, etc. available.
You will come to like that winch on the truck. Just use the right aluminum shear pins, not a bolt. I machine mine out of a bar of 6061-T6 aluminum I bought from McMaster Carr. I make them long enough to put a cotter pin in each end. Never a problem with them.

 

[Nomadic]

Only one I've got at the moment. My girl had to climb to the top the second I brought it home.

That truck right there will take a lickin' and keep on tickin'.

 

[Eafarms]

I can't wait to use the winch. Unfortunately. There is no cable. And the pto shaft is missing. So that will probably be a back burner project on the beast until I can figure out the gauges and shifting issues. However. The winch is free. Can easily turn by hand.

Nomadic.
That is the goal. Long term hauler. Hopefully low maintenance.