Call me Mr M108

[Recovry4x4]

Just got home. Dead tired! Here's one little pic to gander at.
Kenny

 

[BFR]

congratulations!
will you be able to tow with the new truck?
What did it take to tow the way you have it in the picture?

 

[clinto]

Does that have radials on it?

 

[cranetruck]

Glad you made it, 700 miles in a day. Wow!
Guess you'll be getting some paint pretty quick.

Bjorn

 

[Recovry4x4]

Well gang, heres a little more info but first answers. The tires aren't radials. The look like 1980s school bus tires. As far as towing it like that, A few years ago I built a piggyback device that clamps to a deuce front axle and has a plate and kingpin on the bottom. Its just a matter of installing that then loading it up. Here's the chronology for yesterday. Up early and loaded in some supplies and the device into the tractor. Got to the bank about 910am. Of course they couldn't give me all the money in cash (another story) so I got as much cash as I could and a cashiers check for the rest. On the road about 930am. Lake City is about 340 miles away and this place closes at 500pm. I was concerned about making the trip in time so I leaned on it all the way stopping only for fuel. I got off the interstate in Lake City about 330pm so I topped off and grabbed a burger. As I was taking a short cut through the Sonnys BBQ lot I happened across an M35A2 w/w towing some weird looking M200 trailer with a tank on it. Faded red with 1203 placarded on it. Looked like GSA stuff. Anyway, 12 miles down the road I come to Hawthorne Tractor. The place looks like a junk yard. Upon entering it sure is a junk yard. 25 acres worth. I saw everything from M422 Mity Mites, HMMWVs, a Gama Goat, deuces, 5 tons, USMC forklifts (the cool ones) cranes and hosts of other stuff. They had a rack that must have had 50 snatch blocks on it. This was all in the front yard. Never had time to make it to the back. I spoke with Mike (onwers son). We checked out the truck, fired it up and I ran the crane a bit. From there we went into the office and worked on the deal. Obviously, the deal was made. Mike picked up the front of the M108 and I backed the tractor underneath and got it locked in. Spent about an hour or so and pulled the rear axles shafts and front drive flanges. Used the drive flanges (along with 2 extras I brought) to cover the rear hubs. Strapped everything down and strapped on my towing lights and I was off. The first few miles were hell. The crane weighs just a tad under 20,000# and I could tell. Tough to stop. Once on the highway it took about 2 miles to get up to speed. Once at 55 the little tractor had no problem running that speed, even 60 was no problem. All is going well until about 75 miles into the ride. I'm looking out the passenger mirror and I see the end of the boom over the line. Screech to a halt and find that since I didn;t pin down the sway bars, the crane was rotating on its own. 10 minutes and 2 straps later, its straight enough and I'm back enroute. Not a single problem the rest of the way. Now as far as the axles, on previous piggybacks I always suspended the fwd rear axle. I wanted to do this but was concerned about the weight on the old tires so I left all of them on the ground. As it turns out, the rear axle was bottomed out and carrying most of the weight anyway. fwd tires were nearly cold wher the back ones were hot. Anyway, made it home safely. I'll take some more pics today and post some of the yard later. Heres another one of the wrecker where is sat when I got there. I'll also give a rundown on the goods and bads of the truck.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Here's a little about the truck itself. Its a 1953 Studebaker M108w/w. I was bummed to find out it didn't have a data plate. Low & behold Mike came up with it. The cab is decent for a 53 ut it's still a 53. Gas is 3 yrs old and smells it. No wonder it even runs. Carb float is sticking a bit but we'll figure that out. Lots of 12V stuff in tha cab so It will take a bit to get it back to 24V. Interior is painted yucky black and has vinyl seats (not long). The crane is a different story. The deck is about the best I've ever seen. The hoses look bad but everyting operates. The county that had it chopped up the bumperettes and added a heavy truck type tow bar. They attached it to the shackle brackets so no chopping was done(except mentioned bumperettes). I can simply remove it and put new bumperettes on. I even found the BII hoist snatch block in the tool compartment. The shipper boom flood is there but the cab floods are missing, brackets and posts are present. Overall the crane is in amazing condition. This will be a rolling restoration. I'll keep using it and working on it when I can.

 

[FSBruva]

WAY TO GO KENNY!!!!

Looks great!

Matt

 

[red devils dude]

cool deal man

 

[Longhunter7]

A Thing of beauty!

Kenny, er Mr. M1008

Congratulations on scoring the M1008! Good looking truck!

Keep the pictures coming, it will be great to see the progress as you go!

 

[ken]

Thet has got to be the coolist thuck i'vw seen in a long time!!!! Will you keep it a gasser?

 

[FSBruva]

ken-

From the other thread Kenny started while trying to decide on this truck:

This might make some folks gasp but long term, the wrecker would have to be repowered with a multifuel.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Sorry gang, it's got to be multifuel powered eventually. As for now I might slather on some glass and shoot a quick coat of green paint. Long term plans is to get another cab and restore the new cab on the floor complete with wiring and everything. Once done swap everything at once, powerpack cab and nose sheetmetal. Thats long term, right now I need to fix the sticking float and start weeding out the 12V stuff. Here's 2 more pics from this morining.
Actually what I really need to do is get a crane over here to unload the thing!

 

[Hookin1]

That is so cool, glad you had a uneventful trip. can't wait to see the changes made as you go along.

 

[rdixiemiller]

Kenny
How bad is the cab and front sheetmetal? I would imagine fairly rusty from sitting in Fla. for many years.

 

[lacoda56]

Now that's a good looking truck! Sounds like it was a long trip but well worth it. Glad you made it safely. Hope your wife is as impressed as we are.

 

[mangus580]

Kenny, why do you need a crane to unload? didnt you use a 'ramp' for this before?

 

[SixBuy]

I was drooling over the pipeline truck but this is way cool !!! Is that an Austin-Western crane like the 5 tons or something else? It doesn't look as beefy as the 5 ton crane but has the same lines.

 

[SixBuy]

I was drooling over the pipeline truck but this is way cool !!! Is that an Austin-Western crane like the 5 tons or something else? It doesn't look as beefy as the 5 ton crane but has the same lines.

 

[Jones]

Aww, you rich kids have all the neat toys.
Good lookin' Kenny! Happy wrenching on the restoration.
Leonard

 

[73m819]

its just the smaller verson of the 5t crane, its a aw. sure would look good in my drive way next to its big brother the 819