You have an obvious dislike for the cummins engines. To each their own.
Heck, I LIKE the Detroit 60 that the newer ones come with, but fat chance on getting one of those.
Ok, I am NOT going to swap axles, so my only choice is taller tires.
If I stick with a military trailer, that isn't really an issue.
If I want to pull a civy trailer, then I need a 915....
I am not THAT worried about trying to pull a civy van trailer. It would be nice, but not really my goal for this truck.
My plans are for hauling heavy MVs. Pretty much plain and simple. The military trailers suit that need perfectly, and I think would work just fine even on the 916 with big singles (PLEASE correct me if I am wrong on that one!)
I will probably sell my current 35' flat bed. And either get a lowboy, or at least a step deck type trailer.
And as for ride quality, heck, I have driven enough cement trucks around, and the solid walking beam on those things will make you loose your fillings when you have to take them around construction sites and somewhat off road (hey, I lived in BFE at that time, we went almost everywhere with those things.)
I do plan on real air ride seats though. And I have a few other ideas for softening the ride out in the cab.
Hammer,
as the crazy person that drives his M920A1 all over the country with al kinds of different trailers, I might give you some answers.
As far as the ride goes the switch to super singles made a big difference. The rest was fixed with two Bostron air ride seats.
I did install A/C and insulated the crap out of the cab (sound and heat) and that was a great investment.
The speed issue was a big factor for me and after trying some 16.00R20's (could never get them to run real smooth) I bought some 445/65R22.5 Michelin's. They are 46" tall and that is equal to the diameter of the 11.00-24's that the truck came with.
Anyway, I did not buy new axles, I just got a set of 4.88:1 ratio ring and pinions for the truck and that brought the WOT speed up to 78MPH! The reason I choose the 4.88's is because thats the numericaly lowest gears you can swap in without a diff carrier change. The original ratio was 6.17:1.
The fifth-wheel top plate from a commercial Holland fifth-wheel will pin to the existing base on this truck. all you need is two sets of bushings cause the 3.5" kingpin plate takes bigger pins then the 2" one. The beauty of it is that you can change between the two pretty quickly.
The 7155 CAT tranny can easily handle the power if you decide to turn the 400 Cummins up some. These are a triple countershaft transmission that is not lacking strengh. The trouble with them is in the shift collars and the vale bodies.
So IMHO you get a lot of "goodies" right out of the box with the M916 or M920 (like straight air brakes with failsafe brake pods, detroit lockers in both rear axles, power divider between the rears, jake brake, air clutch fan, more gears, front axle with mechanics style u-joints that don't leak, air dryer, really nice tight power steering, windshield wipers that actually work, windshield washer fluid setup and im sure I still missed some things.
So you will still have to spend $ and change some things but you are a lot closer to what I think you are looking for in a truck. If I can help you in any way or if you need some info pics just PM me. Hope this helps a little.
Soni
P.s. I absolutely love driving my M920A1! I just put 2780 miles on it last week driving to WPAFB in Ohio, to pick up me "new" M1098 tanker trailer......