"Rescued" M816 Wrecker

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Not important but just curious, red:

- Plasma cutter?

- Or "old school" oxy-acetylene?

Plasma, much faster

 

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Getting a little bit of work done on the wrecker. The hose that runs from the valve bank to the winch in plumbing decided to start failing when the dump bed was removed from the chassis (has alot of scrap in it, heaviest lifting it's had to do probably).




Drained the tank yesterday and found some water contamination in the bottom of it, not much though. Replacement hoses arrived today so will remove the old hoses tomorrow/friday, install the new ones, then run the fluid through a filter to clean it up some and fill the tank back up. Need the crane working again by this weekend to load the dump bed onto 98G's trailer.

Total cost for 2 48" long 1" ID hoses shipped? $87. Gotta love the old school sub 3000psi system.

 

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Old hose out and replaced with 1 4ft hose. Reused the old 2ft hose that it is attached to for now.

 

[M35A2-AZ]

Were did you get the hoses? Good price for two 1" hoses.

 

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Were did you get the hoses? Good price for two 1" hoses.

http://www.surpluscenter.com/Hydraulics/

 

[M35A2-AZ]

http://www.surpluscenter.com/Hydraulics/

Thanks, I have used them before.

 

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Zz (can't delete)

Just realized I hadn't posted up the pic from loading the bed haha.





Then about a week later moved a deuce cab out of a friends pickup into his m35a2 bed. Tested out using the crane travel leg as a spreader bar and it worked well. Think a few minor mods and it will work even better, making for less steep of an angle on the short chains running from the crane to the bar.




And now the good news for the m816, it's turn on the repairs/mods list is coming up again so it won't be immobile for much longer. Ordering new wheel studs for m939 hubs and will be installing the bridge truck wheels/tires so it will be mobile again. It won't leave the lot with those tires (2 of them are damaged) but it will be able to move around the lot and into the shop to be worked on during the winter.

Planned winter project, the swappable bed setup. Mods start getting big at this point.
Starting off by stripping the low hanging stuff off the bed (mud flaps, brake lights, rear steps, the added storage box).
Use about 3ft sections of frame and 1 set of hubs/spindles from the m51a2 remains to build the tail roller.
Install the replacement winch cable then remove the rear winch/components.
Move the bed PTO controls from the bed into the cab.
Make the new bed mounts.
Cut into the front of the bed to make room for the winch, mounted behind the cab. Add in a front crossmember to the bed for a lifting point.
Use the outriggers to lift the bed off and drive out from under it (1 time only).
Mount winch behind the cab.
Test the setup.

 

[USAFNB]

Red,

During all of your mods I am wondering if you ever found an airline in the cab, the 5 ton manual says there is one but I can't seem to find one in my truck. Just wondering if my truck was an oddball or if wreckers don't have one in the cab. Thanks!

 

[wcuhillbilly]

I have never found one inside the cab of my 816, Though,,, someday I intend to plumb one in for an air chair,,, but too many things on the list in front of it right now.....

Where is your air line,,,, could it have been a locker switch????? does it go out the floor and to the rear??? was your truck a USMC truck-- a lot of them had diff lockers.

 

[MyothersanM1]

There is an airline plumbed with a shutoff valve to the firewall left of the steering column above the clutch pedal. It is plumbed via the air manifold behind the instrument cluster that also supplies the air gauge, windshield wiper valve and trailer handbrake, if so equipped. I removed mine. My whole air system has been extensively reworked.

 

[MyothersanM1]

TM 9-2320-260-20, pg. 8-39

 

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There is an airline plumbed with a shutoff valve to the firewall left of the steering column above the clutch pedal. It is plumbed via the air manifold behind the instrument cluster that also supplies the air gauge, windshield wiper valve and trailer handbrake, if so equipped. I removed mine. My whole air system has been extensively reworked.

Yep I used that same one. Removed a quick disconnect and plumbed in the hose for the air ride seat.


Got back into town today so will get started on stuff hopefully this weekend

 

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Alright time for the wrecker to get some attention. Worked out a deal for some 5/8" chains from a new heavy towbar kit (the square one with 85k rating). Should work quite nicely for the winches. For now just wrapped them around the front bumper and will eventually find a good spot to store them. Also slapped the front cover on since winter is about to make an appearance.





Went ahead and placed one of the 2 tractor boxes behind the rear mud flaps and looks like with a little bit of tweaking it should fit there nicely. Haven't decided for certain if it will go there yet.





And the big part. Sold my uprights/bows/corners from the cargo cover. Design plans have changed on that aspect some but still have plans for a awning. Still want a awning off the side of the truck and had a few spare corners sitting around. The cargo cover at 17x14 was just not 1 man manageable, so it got chopped in 2. 8x14, and 9x14.




Took the 4 spare corners I had and set them up along the side for a test fit with the 8x14.




Couple more mods to it and I think it will work quite well (and look better) for 1 person setup/take down quickly.

 

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Spent today Doing some more cleanup and cutting. Got the useful scrap metal onto a pallet and removed the rear axles from the m51a2 remains. The dog bone ends on it are no good either, so looks like will have to buy some for the wreckers lower 4 bones.




Then rolled the bridge truck wheels/tires over to the wrecker. New wheel studs will be here this week and the goal is to get the tires on the truck then.

 

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Well a little box of wheel studs arrived yesterday and took them out to the m816 today. Knocked out the old ones on the 3rd axle that were sheered and replaced em. Then took the 4 intact bridge truck tires/wheels and mounted them onto the front and 3rd axles. Block the rear suspension and chain up the middle axle next, will be lot mobile at that point. Remember these tires are only temporary to get the wrecker around the lot, it aint gonna see pavement with these.




Once it's mobile going to drive it to the shop and weld up the pivots on the outriggers so they will be stable while holding the bed off of the truck. Gonna use the winch on the pickup to drag the passenger side rear outrigger to full extension since it's tube was tweaked at some point in it's life. Then go back to it's parking spot and start prepping to pull the bed, before those tires give out haha.

 

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And, the dirty hooker is lot mobile!!! Rear tire was at 40psi in the pic, bumped it up to 50psi. Might hold more but concerned either the tube or tire could let go so not going to push it.





Welded up all of the outriggers pivot points. Couple little bubbles in the weld but will be fine for this temporary task. Going to get the arc welder operational before any big welding gets done.




Front mudflaps, passenger side storage box, and tail lights are off as well now.

Slight change with the different bed plans, going to use the crane to swap beds instead of the winch/tail roller setup. Taking advantage of the chassis hydraulic mods. Makes it easier to use cam locks as well (like Soni's FEMMT).

Which leads to another change, the hydraulic tank. I want to keep both fuel tanks because of the extended range. Did some measurements and investigation of the reinforced crossmember that sits over the rear suspension and under the crane and came to the conclusion that extending the wheelbase without extending the frame aint going to happen without moving a few crossmembers including the reinforced one. Some big projects going on and I'd rather not mess with that. Where this plays into the fuel tanks/hydraulic tank is that there is no realistic way to move the stock hydraulic tank to the chassis with both fuel tanks, without moving the rear suspension.

However, I did get my hands on another passenger side 55ish gallon fuel tank. With some mods to the step/battery box both those tanks can sit there on the passenger side, giving both fuel tanks and a slightly smaller hydraulic tank onto the chassis.

 

[big block 88]

Very nice. Looks beastly with the big bridge truck tires.

 

[tobyS]

Red,

The wheels you broke studs on were the "Caman's", weren't they? Were they the dual type wheel?

Do the Caman wheels, dual style, have a straight through hole? I have some 1"x 4" studs (that we put in 25,000# ag hubs) and am still wondering about dualing up. Thanks Toby

 

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Red,

The wheels you broke studs on were the "Caman's", weren't they? Were they the dual type wheel?

Do the Caman wheels, dual style, have a straight through hole? I have some 1"x 4" studs (that we put in 25,000# ag hubs) and am still wondering about dualing up. Thanks Toby

Caimen wheels yes but single wheels, not dually. Lug centric pattern. Also forgot to mention on that I got the test results back on the wheel studs that failed (had 1 tested). Wheel stud was only about 1/2 the strength it was supposed to be and all 20 of those failed studs were from the same batch.

Only easily dualled wheels for the larger super single tires that I know of are the bridge truck wheels like I'm currently using.

 

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Getting closer to the bed removal. Air lines disconnected from the winch components, rear bracket bolts are removed, and Ubolts removed (2 left just hand tight). Will unbolt the power divider, linkages, and the 2 PTO shafts right before the bed gets lifted.




Planning to place an order for the cam locks on monday.

Hard part with a new bed mount setup is that the wrecker bed extends 3" past the truck chassis on both sides. Have to decide whether to notch the bed subframe, or space the cam locks out from the truck chassis. I'm leaning towards notching the subframe.