tatra 813 new owner

I just purchased a Tatra 813 8x8 and I am in the process of getting it fixed up, I am new to the forum and hope to talk with guys with similar trucks, I am into customizing so I love this site for all the ideas.
anyways Hi to all.

welcome!

Welcome Tatra, we can't wait to see it!

x2

Here are some pictures of the new Tatra I picked it up from a movie company that rents military vehicles to movies, I am still trying to find out all the movies it has been I was told the most famous was it was in one of the jurassic park movies. Ill update you guys when I find out what other ones it was in.

I first saw one of these in the truck trials in europe on a internet sight it is outragious the things this truck does offroad, it was primarily designed for offroad, it has a 20 speed gearbox, it was designed with a gross capacity of 220000lb that would be with payload, trailer and trailer payload. It is designed to go through 4'7" deep water, it will do a 45 degree incline and it will cross a open trench of up to 6' 2" gap.

It has fully independant suspention all the way around, and you can lock all 4 axles and there is a switch to lock all axles together, all this comes STOCK I love it no upgrades needed, they thought of everything!! It has a huge quad cab that seats 7 comfortably

It has a central 50,000lb winch with 350' of 1" cable, you can feed it through the back or front of the truck.

Anyway I love the truck it has everything I have ALWAYS wanted in a truck and it downright goes anywhere, it has a brand new set of 1500x21 tires, althogh they look to be recaps.
It comes with an award winning v-12 air cooled engine that runs awsome, unloaded miles per gallon is 4.5 unfortunatily

I plan on redoing the interior, new seats and rhino coating the tub.
It has been painted multiple times for the different requirments it has had for different movies, and for now I think I am just going to feather edge the paint down and do a nice camo paintjob.

Anyway here are some pics. Tell me what you think

It is a cabover which I love also, it reminds me of a HEMMT except better.

That looks great!

Now, where do you get simple maintenance stuff like filters, bearings, seals, etc.?

There is a guy in Alaska that can get parts, I also know Chris with Vermont-Unimog who has access to parts, I heard the filters etc can be crossed over to ones local, Bearings you can get from most bearing shops, Ive heard most arn't oem specific.

There are a number of sources overseas, which is kind of a pain mainly because of waiting for parts. It is a unique truck and that is the price that I have to pay.

I believe there are only about 5 or 6 in the us.

I am getting a set of english manuals soon and can then start working on it a bit more. I am also looking for a cargo cover that will fit it, the bed is 16 1/2' long so its hard to cross a cargo cover from a american truck over, I think a 5 ton is 14? It may be cheaper to get 2 5 ton tops and have them sewn together. Anyway IM trying to get creative with parts.

Welcome to the forum! Good to see another 8x8.
What year is it?

IM not sure, there is a nameplate in the back by the bench seat that says 1975 and then there is a nameplate by the front seat that says 1967 and it has another date that says 1988, its all in czch so Im not sure, The paperwork says a 1967 but I think its a 1975.

There's a local guy here who has one of these. Sounds like a jet comming up the street! Center mounted winch, independant suspension, V12 power, VERY large up close. Awsome truck! Welcome aboard.

most axles * most wheels * GVW = most right of way!!

Yea I think you are talking about James (superfuel) I have made contact with him and he has already helped me with literature so far, Im hoping to find some others who may have one also.

CRANETRUCK do you have a 8x8 I think I saw a thread that referenced that you had one, do you have any pics?

That is one awesome truck!

The big brother to the Pinzgauers and a truck most of us Pinz owners would love to have. Can't wait to see what you do with the truck.

tatra813 said:

CRANETRUCK do you have a 8x8 I think I saw a thread that referenced that you had one, do you have any pics?

Click to expand...

Yes I do, since last fall. The Ford XM757 5-ton 8x8 built in 1969. Lots of references here if you do a "search". I'm very exited about it too, the ultimate toy for a person with my interests.
It is smaller than the Tatra and has a different suspension, but is very capable never the less. I think the Tatra 813 would be an "8-ton" by the same measure.
Mine is a truck tractor configuration and the image below shows the first firing of the engine back in November.

I definetely want to compare notes and construction details as time goes by.
It'll be a while before I actually test drive my vehicle, lots of little things to finish.

Suspension comparison. The Tatra has a ridgid "back bone" feature housing the driveline components and all independent suspension of the wheels, a system used by Tatra since the 1920's, I read.

Wow, more and more cool truck keep showing up here every day! Awsome truck Tatra813. Too bad you are way out there in WA. I'd love to see it first-hand!

I saw a lot of the TATRA truck varients in the Balkans as I worked closely with the Russian and other former Eastern Block counties over there. The do rock and are so well thought out that it reminded me that we got our CTIS idea from the Soviets. One should also remember that the Nazi's would have kicked our butts back into the sea if the Russians had not so sacrificially given millions of lives fighting the Nazi's on the Eastern Front. I would have jumped on that truck too if it came my way. Good to have you on the site and I hope you will enjoy it as much as many of us do.

ARMYMAN30YearsPlus said:

I saw a lot of the TATRA truck varients in the Balkans as I worked closely with the Russian and other former Eastern Block counties over there. The do rock and are so well thought out that it reminded me that we got our CTIS idea from the Soviets.

Click to expand...

As you know, the Tatra is a Check product along with Second World War halftracks, that the Germans liked so much.
As far as the CTIS, the DUKW has a CTIS also from WW2, don't know who thought of it first, pretty simple idea, just hard to make work right. You'd really need one heck of a large compressor to make it worthwhile IMHO....