Just bought an m931a2...finally

[Steelhorse]

Hey all!
So I've been lurking on the forum for some time... always looking for an excuse to buy a 5 ton. Well, I finally found one!

And then I found this m931a2 to fit the bill.

She's a 2012 recon, first owner got her and an m929 from the auction in Michigan in 2013 and drove them back to VT. Over the next 9 years he drove it sparingly, clocking a minuscule 97 hours on it before I purchased it last week.

My initial plans are remove the 5th wheel and spare, extend the frame about 3', paint the frame black and the cab red with black accents. I'd like to do a hard top but don't feel like selling an appendage for one, so a tan soft top will do for now.
Once that's done, pull my hydroseeder off my old '80s GMC Topkick and mount it on back to get to work by April **fingers crossed**

Long term goals - battery relocation and passenger air seat; overhead console with speaker and bluetooth connectivity for phone/mp3 usage; electric wiper conversion; egt and boost gauges; center console.

 

[country]

nice looking Tractor

 

[charlesmann]

There was a hard top on a fb military tck group. Not sure if its still there. Let me check a d i’ll report back

Edit: it is not there any longer. It was a fiberglass for $500. If i come across another hard top, ill try to remember and update this post.

 

[Steelhorse]

nice looking Tractor

Thanks. I was initially looking for an M923a2 so I didn't have to do the frame extension, but I couldn't pass up the low mileage/hours on this one. It's worth the extra steps.

 

[Mullaney]

Hey all!
So I've been lurking on the forum for some time... always looking for an excuse to buy a 5 ton. Well, I finally found one!

And then I found this m931a2 to fit the bill.

She's a 2012 recon, first owner got her and an m929 from the auction in Michigan in 2013 and drove them back to VT. Over the next 9 years he drove it sparingly, clocking a minuscule 97 hours on it before I purchased it last week.

My initial plans are remove the 5th wheel and spare, extend the frame about 3', paint the frame black and the cab red with black accents. I'd like to do a hard top but don't feel like selling an appendage for one, so a tan soft top will do for now.
Once that's done, pull my hydroseeder off my old '80s GMC Topkick and mount it on back to get to work by April **fingers crossed**

Long term goals - battery relocation and passenger air seat; overhead console with speaker and bluetooth connectivity for phone/mp3 usage; electric wiper conversion; egt and boost gauges; center console. View attachment 884435

.
Welcome to the Outfit! As a new owner ever!!
Definitely a nice looking truck!

The TM's for your truck are available for download in the Technical Manuals section.

Updated TMs TBs MWOs for the M939

A couple of these may be repeats but I'll include them anyways in the interest of trying to make applicable TMs, TBs, LOs, and MWOs easier to find. There are only a couple missing and I'll notate those in hopes that someone else may have them and can link them as well. Please understand that...

www.steelsoldiers.com

Updated TMs TBs MWOs for the M939 (Cont'd)

Since the last post was being a real PITA and didn't like having so many links in it I had to break this into 2 posts. TM 9-2320-272-24P-1: PUB DATE 08/27/2012; REPAIR PARTS AND SPECIAL TOOLS LIST (RPSTL) FOR TRUCK, 5-TON, 6X6, M939A0/A1/A2 *SUPERSEDURE NOTICE - This manual supersedes TM...

www.steelsoldiers.com

Welcome to the group and definitely post up a new thread about your New-To-You truck!

 

[71DeuceAK]

Keep us posted!

 

[Jbulach]

Congratulations!

Any idea of the loaded weight of your hydro-seeder? Would love to see pics of it, as it sits now as well.

@Evil Dr. Porkchop may be close to you and has a hardtop in the classifieds here. Also a good deal on a spare spare transfer case as well, especially if your going to have people other than yourself running your truck. He maybe able to hook you up with some frame rail from his burnt truck as well if your buying some of his other goodies.

 

[Steelhorse]

Congratulations!

Any idea of the loaded weight of your hydro-seeder? Would love to see pics of it, as it sits now as well.

@Evil Dr. Porkchop may be close to you and has a hardtop in the classifieds here. Also a good deal on a spare spare transfer case as well, especially if your going to have people other than yourself running your truck. He maybe able to hook you up with some frame rail from his burnt truck as well if your buying some of his other goodies.

So the heaviest the seeder will get would be about 26k lbs - that's with a full load and enough materials on top for two extra loads. But typical one-tank weight is about 23k lbs.

The GMC has been ok, but it's a powerless N/A Cat 3208 and the wheelbase is way too long (I think it used to be a trash truck).

Thanks for the heads up on the hard top - it's a pretty good deal but it's definitely going to need more work than I can give it right now. The xfer case on the other hand - I may have to purchase that. I'll be the only one driving, but s#!t still happens when you least expect it!

 

[Steelhorse]

The major transformation is complete. Still a lot of fine details to complete but it's fully functional and well balanced. I scrapped the color change
idea as the existing paint is in great condition and it draws a lot of attention.

Plasma cutting the frame after stripping everything aft-5th wheel.



Fabricated new frame rails.



Rail was Z cut and fish plated with rosette welds.



Stripped off the 5th wheel, accompanying air lines, diamond plate platform and spare tire carrier. Not shown: also removed the exhaust as it would get in the way as well as the spare tire carrier mounts.



Prepped and painted the frame with a couple coats of behr for now.



I removed the passenger side fuel tank to be replaced by an under-body truck box (btw - anyone know a good source of caps for the fuel lines and vent tubes at their distribution blocks). I don't travel much more than an hour in any direction so fuel capacity isn't the biggest concern.



Fabricated a swing down ladder.



Anyone know any good remedies for full coverage fenders? And I'm going to have to come up with an ICC bumper more than likely - gotta look up the specs, take some measurements and see if I'm exempt.

More to come.

 

[SCM35A2]

Looking good!

 

[Valley Rock]

Here's a couple pics of some different fenders that I have, I'm on the West coast so they won't by do you any good, but just for ideas, run a couple pieces of pipe straight out from the top of the upright section below the curvature of your tank, hang em high for the articulation these trucks have .

These aluminum ones came off of a fuel truck I believe and the plastic ones from a garbage truck, I found them around used and cheap .

.

 

[Steelhorse]

Good ideas.

I was considering getting another set of military quarter fenders, like in front of the tandems, to mount behind the tandems. I'll then fabricate a flat steel fender deck to utilize it as shelf space for spare hoses.