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tatra 813 new owner

tatra813

Member
523
25
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Location
Washougal Wa
Sounds good. Personally I think the 4 door version is awsome, there arnt many vehicles in this class that come with a quad cab, there is tons of room. So where are you going to get your cab from?
 

duncan

Member
550
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Location
None
If you look at the previous page I posted some pictures of the cabs there, theyre in special made stackable crates. Need toa rrange pickup from Czech.
 

EZFEED

New member
880
0
0
Location
Lafayette, LA
Id go with mortar but still insure if I will actually end up getting the dozer blade. \\

Got any leads to private forums?

The Tatra dealers seam to be over priced for something like this.

What is AMW?

Thanks for the advice so far!
OOPS! Sorry bout that, I've been away from my PC.
Agencja Mienia Wojskowego - Strona G³ówna
Bought allot of stuff from them in the past.


Nice cabs you found by the way:)
 

duncan

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So, no news on the cab just yet, finances are a bit tight at the moment, and still waiting for pictures from MortarInvestments.

In the mean time I replace the exhaust (which was rusted through) with a new pipe, straight up along the back of the cab, with a nice lid on it to prevent stuff falling down :D

Then started to adjust the brakes, which is amazingly easy. Did the brakes on the rear 2 axles. I was wondering, the manual states there is an "inspection hole" to check the state of the brake shoes, I couldnt find that, anyone knows what it looks like and where it is?
Also, the adjusters are very rough, changing it one or two notches means about 6 cm difference in slack, so its sometimes impossible to get them set to the required 20-30mm slack. How do you handle this?

The truck brakes better now, but it's still suboptimal. I can't get the wheels to block for example, not even with the bed off. Help is welcome, because its a deadly missle without proper brakes now :roll:
 

duncan

Member
550
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Location
None
Worked some more on the brakes, also found the inspection holes for them, looks like I have about 8-10mm pad left. Adjusted the front 4 brakes too, truck now slows down noticeably when hitting the brakes. Will use some brake pad cleaner on them when I get the time, degrease and clean the things.

Next we adjusted the clutch. Manual states 20-22mm clutch gap, mine was at about 27mm. So we made one of those tools to adjust, and with a lot of cursing and bruised knuckles we got the gap down to 20 now. Makes an amazing different on the clutch, again. I thought it was great and smooth when I replaced the air-assist lines... this helps just as much, again :-D

So apart from saving money for the new cab, I guess most work is done. On the cab subject, MortarInvestments is now slowly backing off the deal, they said "we'll get pictures in a week" two weeks ago, and now they say they need at least 3 more weeks before they even have time to get new cabs. So I'm saving some more money and going for the Tatra offer, which is twice as expensive but at least a reliable partner.
 
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John C

New member
92
0
0
Location
Wales. UK
Good work on the clutch, need to tackle mine soon as I get time - do you have any pics of the tool you made? Guessing it was to turn the clutch plate adjuster? Or was just to measure the gap?

Have you taken any of the brake drums off yet? - do they have a self extractor system i.e. wind bolts into threaded holes to push drum off.

Regards
 

duncan

Member
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Location
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Yeah the tool is to turn the clutch. I took a piece of paper, put it over the plate and punched 3 holes in it to get the correct position for the pins. We only put in 2 pins, so ours skips one hole, gives a bit more leverage. The pins are 5mm diameter, and have to be about 7mm long to get good grip. The tool itself has to be slightly bent because the clutch plate is not aligned to the inspection hole. Took us a lot of swearing and bitching to get right, and its quite hard, the pins kept bending and all.

For measuring the gap I just got a strip of 20mm wide metal :roll: Theres no way youre getting anything fancy like vernier callipers in there.

Not taken off the brakes, or the wheels for that matter, just adjusted them and peeked through the inspection hole.
 

John C

New member
92
0
0
Location
Wales. UK
That's great, will do my clutch asap - Will post a pic of it so everyone knows what we're talking about

Just been tinkering about with my truck and have noticed that both my drive belts for the compressor and charging generator need replacing - thing is I can't see any way of tensioning the belt for the generator as the mount for it seems to be non adjustable, however I think the space between the inner faces of the compressor pulley are adjustable by taking out spacer washers which closes the pulley making the belt ride higher and thereby tensioning it - Can't seem to find a similar system for the generator pulleys though - is there anything in the manuals about it?

Thanks
 

duncan

Member
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My manual states somewhere the generator itself can be moved. One side of the mounts is a slot, so you can rotate it away from the engine to tighten the belt.
 

John C

New member
92
0
0
Location
Wales. UK
Ah, ok thanks - I must have missed it as the thing is covered in dirt.

Also I was just wondering why some 813's have two sets of headlights in the front bumper and others only have one set with no provision for another set - can anyone shed any light on this? (no pun intended :-D)

Some pics of the clutch:
 

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John C

New member
92
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0
Location
Wales. UK
Worked out today how to tension the generator belt :-D The bracket for the genny doesn't move but the generator is mounted in it with an eccentric band around its body - so with the bracket slackened you can rotate the body of the generator moving its pulley closer or further away from the crank pulley - A simple system really :oops:

Regards
 

duncan

Member
550
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Location
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It always seems to be the "easy" thing with these trucks :)

As for the headlights, not sure, guessing it depends on which army they were made for. Tail lights are different between models too.

I have only 2 headlights, but have (covered) holes for another set. Hoping to get me another set of lights some day, 4 is cooler :twisted: Also, I have a mistery-switch on the dashboard, not found in any manual, and noone I've talked to so far knows anything about it. Its a 4-position rotating knob on the far left, and any position but 0 turns off all the lights. Guessing someone messed with the wires though, will find out when we remove the cab.
 

John C

New member
92
0
0
Location
Wales. UK
You mean this switch? - I'm not sure what this one does either, looking from underneath the back of the switch is enomouse, about the size of a small starter motor! Can't imagine what it's for though - Mind you, I've not tried it yet :lol:
 

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duncan

Member
550
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Location
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Heh no that's the switch for the otor for the air filter unit thats originally at the back of the cab. Funny thing that, when I got my truck, no batteries, all dead, etc. Put in bats, took me 2 days to find the main solenoid (hey, no manual) to switch the main power. And this jet engine sound starts, wind blowing everywhere, and me having no clue whats going on. Turned out the air filter system was turned on and still working, heh.

I meant the black knob on the bottom left side of the dash, left of the indicator switch.
 

John C

New member
92
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0
Location
Wales. UK
Ah yes, you did say 'far left' :roll: - boy do I feel like a tool :oops:

Not got a switch like that either, is it a PAL made switch? If not most likely as you say someones been doing their own bit of wiring, I did notice though all those Tatras from Manby seem to be painted yellow under the green, perhaps they were originally part of a fleet owned by a firm or an agency, hence they may have added this additional bit of wiring for some reason?

Re. headlights. I've been looking at some pics on the net and it would appear that it's the early ones that only have one set of lights in the bumper, then later ones have the two, odd thing though; mine has the switch on the dash for selecting which set are used / or both together - but mine is a 1970 :?::roll:

Regards
 

duncan

Member
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Location
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No clue, but seriously, here we are, having a few of the coolest trucks in the world, and we bother about light switches and wheter it has 2 or 4 headlights :roll:

Just got another mail from ATH Tatra, as long as I give them a little advance notice, I can come pick up a cab whenever I'm ready for it. Perfect service!
 

John C

New member
92
0
0
Location
Wales. UK
Yes but I like to know exactly what everything does on my truck :twisted: - No point having all these nice little switches, nob's, levers, lights etc if you don't know what they do :wink: - Anyway I'm mostly making observations for other peoples benefit


So exactly how much do ATH want for a 4 door cab? And do you know yet what fittings etc come with the cab i.e. a dashboard or the heater etc? Or better still do you have any pics of the inside of the cabs?

Regards
 

duncan

Member
550
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Location
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No pics of the insides, but the outside pics do allow you to see through the windows ;) Anyway, comes with complete interior, engine covers, new seats, new heater, and even has a fireextuingisher in there judging from the pictures.

Dashboard and steering wheel are not part of the cab, theyre mounted on the frame and fit through a hole in the cab floor.

They want a little over 2000 euro for all that goodness.
 

John C

New member
92
0
0
Location
Wales. UK
Well at first I thought the dash stayed in place but when I looked a bit closer it's actually attached to the cab not the structure that comes through the floor, it's also designed to be disconnected easily as all the wires connect to it via two large screw in multi-plugs - So this is why I was thinking the new cab might come with a new dash also - would be good if it did as mine is a bit ratty looking.


Regards
 
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