"Rescued" M816 Wrecker

[red]

Well finally have a chance to make some progress on this. Plan A with the trailer recovery (borrowing a tractor) became a possibility but as I found out when I went to go recover the trailer, at that particular base the vehicle MUST be registered to the driver. So plan B (using the wrecker) is necessary. Good thing is no storage fees at that location so picking it up in a few weeks is fine.

Today was lots of drilling 5/8" holes through the outer towbar legs and 3/8" plate, along with some reaming of the 3/4" holes in the inner towbar legs since they were messed up before I bought the towbar (pins never fit).




Still need to drill the holes for the shackle mounts and secure them. That should move the lifting chains further away from the hitch (and plan on a heavier chain as well). The adapter plate has 4 5/8" grade 8 bolts securing it to the outer towbar legs and the towbar is triangulated.

 

[red]

Put the wrecker to use today loading up a pair of generators into a friends m105 trailer.




After packing the wrecker back up I noticed something regarding the crane/towbar setup, it sits just past the end of the crane. That's a problem with this particular trailer because it currently has a AC unit mounted on the front of it, right where the crane cables will be.




Thinking of setting up the rear winch as the lifting equipment instead of the crane. No mods necessary for it since the rollers for the winch cable still sit higher than the end of the towbar, it's a stronger cable, not a shock load on the winch either.

 

[Another Ahab]

Put the wrecker to use today loading up a pair of generators into a friends m105 trailer.

View attachment 694004

I always thought it was just a figure-of-speech, but:

- Your friend is apparently an ACTUAL "block-head"!

The world never ceases to amaze.

 

[red]

Haha perfect picture timing.

Speaking of timing, found out that the wrecker needs to make a nearly 600 mile round trip soon. Load up a few large generators/trailers onto a semi trailer, and bring back the m1061a1 that I'm getting along with a second that a friend is grabbing. Too much going on with the wrecker this month haha. Placed the order today for the remaining 20 wheel studs so the air brakes can be installed on the rear axle and they should arrive either thursday or friday.

Figured with the distance of this trip that setting up a pair of desplined caps for the front axle would be helpful with less wear on the front axle, and maybe even result in a little bit better fuel economy (get 6-6.5mpg now).

In progress pic of one of them. Quick cut with a plasma cutter to remove most of the spline assembly followed by work with the metal carbide bit. A lathe would be cleaner but don't have one yet.

 

[Valence]

So now you're making a 7 hour drive too! Change that engine oil and filter too

 

[red]

So now you're making a 7 hour drive too! Change that engine oil and filter too

If I have time that's the plan for the engine oil and the tcase (only 2 things remaining). With how stubborn the brake backing plate was to remove today, getting the airbrakes finished before the trip might take all the available time.

 

[red]

Well the drive down to St George, Utah was eventful. Smooth trip for the first 250 miles, used 17 gallons for the first 120 miles driving at 1900rpm (7mpg) and things were going great. Had to downshift to low range 5th gear on 3 of the climbs but that was the lowest gear.

20 miles before the end of the trip heard a loud pop and my passenger mentioned that the rear tire on the passenger side was sticking out. No handling changes at all. So pull over on the side of the interstate and check it out. All 10 wheel studs had sheered off of that hub. 5 of the studs/lugs were still hanging around inside the wheel, walked about 30ft back from where we'd pulled over and there were most of the others. So chained up the rear axle, used the crane to load the tire and now destroyed wheel into the bed, and proceeded to limp the truck down to the next exit which was about 3/4 mile down the road.

At the next off ramp as we were slowing down, hear another pop and the back end shifted. The middle axle passenger side had sheered off all 10 of its wheel studs, exact same way that the 3rd axle had done.

20 wheel stud failures leading to 2 destroyed aluminum wheels, a tow, and the truck having to be left at a dealership for repairs and missing out on this job. Talked to the shop foreman about why/how the wheel studs sheered. Both agree that the damage is NOT consistent with lugs being loose, having been over tightened, or installed incorrectly.

This was the first trip for the rear wheel studs, maybe an extra 200 miles on the middle axle studs.

 

[red]

Remaining pics. Hubs are ok, the wheels took the damage.

 

[Another Ahab]

Sorry to read here about your bad luck, red. That's no fun at all.

That has got to be some SERIOUS stress to shear those diameter bolts in that quantity.

I mean I'm no metallurgist or truck mechanic, but right?!

 

[red]

Bad quality batch of castings is what I'm thinking. As a heavy diesel/hydraulic mechanic I've seen wheel studs break from being installed incorrectly (using the lug nut to pull the stud in), being loose and letting the wheel wobble, etc. Never seen them fail this way, let alone 20 of them.

 

[tobyS]

Red, Sorry for the breakdown!

Is it safe to assume that these are not large enough studs for the aluminum duals? Should they be 1"? I'd like to go with them for my dump but this makes me re-consider.


Edit; my mistake, thought these were the dual 12.00.

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

May I suggest you send at least a couple of them off for testing by a certified metals lab? They may not have been up to specifications.

Hmmmm.

 

[Csm Davis]

Red, Sorry for the breakdown!

Is it safe to assume that these are not large enough studs for the aluminum duals? Should they be 1"? I'd like to go with them for my dump but this makes me re-consider.

He runs super single tires

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[red]

Red, Sorry for the breakdown!

Is it safe to assume that these are not large enough studs for the aluminum duals? Should they be 1"? I'd like to go with them for my dump but this makes me re-consider.


Edit; my mistake, thought these were the dual 12.00.

Single 395's.

Friday is the earliest the shop can start working on the truck, so will find out after then for how things will go. Either way though I'm looking to get away from the aluminum wheels so looking around locally for either the combat/Hemmt wheels or civilian 22.5/24.5 wheels/tires of a similar size that I can get cheap enough.

 

[Valence]

Hey Mr. red, it's been quiet, what is the latest news? Have you received any sort of compensation for the very likely bad studs? I take it your truck is still stranded down South? I hope you got home?

 

[red]

Yea I'm up in Eagle Mountain, wrecker is still down in St George. Earliest they could get to the truck would be today so I'm not expecting them to touch it until next week. Money comes in from the recent generator sales next week as well so will have more than enough to pay for the repairs at that point.

Been looking at wheels/tires options. Theres a guy local that has 395's with michelin XML tires at $150 each. Figuring worst case scenario that the other studs might do the same thing or that the aluminum wheels are part of the issue I'm planning on new wheels all the way around. So $1050 for this plan. Also found a set of 10 24.5" steel wheels with no tires at $200, just haven't found tires yet. If I went with the commercial wheels then I could sell my current 395's.

 

[Another Ahab]

Been looking at wheels/tires options. Theres a guy local that has 395's with michelin XML tires at $150 each. Figuring worst case scenario that the other studs might do the same thing or that the aluminum wheels are part of the issue I'm planning on new wheels all the way around. So $1050 for this plan. Also found a set of 10 24.5" steel wheels with no tires at $200, just haven't found tires yet. If I went with the commercial wheels then I could sell my current 395's.

I don't know tires much, but based on just a recent purchase for one of our cars here, that sounds like a pretty good price.

Is that new rubber?

 

[red]

I don't know tires much, but based on just a recent purchase for one of our cars here, that sounds like a pretty good price.

Is that new rubber?

Good price, the xml tread depth doesn't look great in the pictures at anywhere from 30-60% (haven't seen them in person yet). I don't trust the xml and xl tires anyways so I'd only be planning to buy them for the wheels and the 1 trip back up here.

Thing I like about the 24.5"s is, they're commercial and easier to find with a long lifespan.

 

[red]

Couple updates. Been working on a friends m915a1 and will be using it along with a rented 35 ton lowboy trailer to recover the wrecker next week (pick up the trailer on monday). Trailer has a removable gooseneck so will limp the wrecker onto the trailer under it's own power.

Sale is arranged on the 395's and picking up a set of 24.5" steel wheels on the way back. Searching around for a good price on 12r24.5" tires (45" tall) that have a fairly aggressive tread since the truck goes offroad often.

Going to recover the trailer on thursday with the m915a1, then the m51a2 remains will be heading out once the wrecker gets back.

 

[The King Machine]

Jeez Red,


I think you used all your luck up defusing bombs in the sand.


I wish I could help.