Kenworth 8x8 XM1074 PLS

[M1075]

I am putting together a Palletized Loading System using prototypes built by Kenworth and would like any input or history you can give me on the truck or trailer. As a stroke of luck, ARMYMAN30yearsplus had been saving one of the original manuals for these from original testing in the late eighties. He was gracious enough to send it to me free of charge. Big to ArmyMan!

This Kenworth truck and Knight trailer represented Paccar's proposal for the PLS contract. Other competitors included Oshkosh and MAN (GM). Each submitted 9 vehicles for testing and Oshkosh came away with the contract. Unlike the competitors 10x10, the Kenworth is an 8x8 with power available to all wheels with interaxle and differential lockups. Cummins 444 engine, auto tranny, front and rear axle steer, central tire inflation system, load handling system, material handling crane, and hydraulic winch complete the package.

A few others have posted they were involved with initial testing of these of Fort Hood and Fort Carson. I have heard they were prone to rollovers but generally outperformed the Oshkosh platform and also have a smoother ride. I would like to know more about your experiences.

 

[Angus1]

I can tell you that the cummis 444 and 444XT were great motors. But Injectors were very expensive. And be sure to run the overhead every 100,000 miles. I like it and wish I could get my hands on one.

 

[No.2Diesel]

Wow It looks like you have most of the ingredients already.

That is a unique find! It has the potential to carry out multiple operations. That would be neat if you found or fabricated a large rolloff bed so it can be a dump truck/dumpster truck instead of just having a the flatbed. How many degrees of travel does the one armed ooga-booga provide? Now you just need a KTA

 

[No.2Diesel]

Here's a pic of PLS

 

[maddawg308]

That is a really unique truck! Love to see that at a rally like Aberdeen someday!

Be sure to keep us in the know with plenty of pics as you restore her...

 

[bigbee]

M1075--
Would that have been tagged as an XM1074? Do you have any info on the Pilot/prototype serial numbers or USA registration numbers? I am (foolishly) trying to fill in holes in the Mseries number list that's on wikipedia and was posted here some time ago.

I'd love to see that fully loaded and parked to an Oshkosh PLS.

 

[M1075]

Re: RE: Kenworth 8x8 XM1074 PLS

I can tell you that the cummis 444 and 444XT were great motors. But Injectors were very expensive. And be sure to run the overhead every 100,000 miles. I like it and wish I could get my hands on one.

Thanks for the tip. I have heard others mention problems with the injectors too. Good thing is the truck only has 14,000 miles on it and I'll never get it to 100,000 in my lifetime.

 

[M1075]

Re: RE: Kenworth 8x8 XM1074 PLS

Wow It looks like you have most of the ingredients already.

That is a unique find! It has the potential to carry out multiple operations. That would be neat if you found or fabricated a large rolloff bed so it can be a dump truck/dumpster truck instead of just having a the flatbed. How many degrees of travel does the one armed ooga-booga provide? Now you just need a KTA

The PLS is a smart design for the military or just about any other user. One truck to handle a variety of tasks. I have several of the flatracks and a few of the water distributors. I have thought about fabbing up some sort of dump body like you said.

 

[M1075]

M1075--
Would that have been tagged as an XM1074? Do you have any info on the Pilot/prototype serial numbers or USA registration numbers? I am (foolishly) trying to fill in holes in the Mseries number list that's on wikipedia and was posted here some time ago.

I'd love to see that fully loaded and parked to an Oshkosh PLS.

Yes, it is an XM1074. It has the same NSN as the real M1074 made by Oshkosh. I'll check into the registration numbers and get a picture of it and the M1075 parked side by side.

 

[ARMYMAN30YearsPlus]

James:
Thanks for posting the thread that is an awesome truck. It was back in 1985 when we ran the test at Fort Hood Texas. I took our Medium Truck Company down from Fort Devens Mass to run them side by side with these test PLS systems. The test was centered out of North Fort Hood and used the area as a Corps Storage Area for ammunition. There were dozens of forklifts and thousands of dummy loads of ammuniton staged for the test. The PLS flatracks were all pre-loaded and pre-documented with all shipping docs complete. Our loads were loose pallets of ammuniton that had to be forked onto our M872 trailers.

On the first day of the test PLS after PLS rolled out of the CSA headed on a route that went around the perimeter of all of Fort Hood which is over 100 miles. Not one of my trucks had departed, they were all lined up loaded waiting at the office, so I walked over to the dispatch office and found one specialist on a typewriter one fingering the TCMD. There were about ten Soldiers there standing around so I went off on them, told them each to grab a pen and a stack of TCMD's and go out and document each of the loads waiting to go. In about ten minutes all my trucks were on the road. Back then 88M's were called 64C and my guys loved to drive.

It did not take long for our trucks to begin to outhaul the PLS in tons delivered. I had a visit from the test director who questioned my TCMD tactic and told me I screwed up the test. I told him flat out that my Soldier were here to train for war and that we had a unit mission to haul ammunition for a corps and that all of the documentation was correct so it was how we would fight. He gave up and in the long run we hauled almost 40% more than the PLS.

Today in Korea we have one PLS company that exists to haul ammunition in forward areas everything else is shipped on flatbeds, or straigh trucks. I hope the Army never gives up on the universal capability of a fifth wheel.

The PLS does have its place and I am very glad that James got one because those KW's were the coolest ones in the test.

 

[bigbee]

Thanks

 

[tcody]

Does anyone have any photos of the different trucks from testing? I would like to see what they all looked like.

 

[M1075]

M1075,

Got the letter with the info.........thanks!

Now I know the pics of the trailer are of the one I got you. You're not going to fool me again................

Good deal. I like to keep you on your toes.

 

[bigbee]

other bodies besides flat

Went on the OSHKOSH website last night to explore the info. Found that they have what they call "Engineering Mission Modules" for the PLS that include a dump body, concrete mixer, fuel tanker, and bituminous spreader. Didn't watch the videos, can't stand to have that much drool on the keyboard, but went through each of the product brochures.

The PLS isn't just for hauling ammo anymore!

Armyman David-
In the test you guys did at Hood, did your guys have to unload and preposition their ammo stacks in the field? Having worked with MLRS, I think that's where the PLS system would shine-haul it into the wild to leave it for the shooters to come and get their reloads.

 

[M1075]

RE: other bodies besides flat

You can get more pics of the EMMs at http://www.primeportal.net/hemtt.htm#M1075

If you want to see the newest and latest truck, check out the HEMTT A-4 on the Oshkosh website.

 

[ARMYMAN30YearsPlus]

RE: other bodies besides flat

In that test the Ammo was returned to the CSA at North Fort Hood after driving the perimeter road the truck or flat rack was unloaded the truck serviced a quick 626 inspection and back to be reloaded with a new load or pick up a new flat rack. There were quite a few forklifts working this so many times the truck could drop a trailer loaded with ammo and drive over an pick up a new loaded trailer. This is very similar to what a real combat CSA would do.

 

[deuceman51]

Ironically tomorrow I am on orders to sign for and pickup my units new PLS with FRS system on the back. I am the only one in the unit licensed on the PLS and the FRS so I have to go get it and then train everyone else on the two systems. A lot of responsibility for a PFC, lol. For those of you who don't know what an FRS is, it's something new being built at Rock Island Arsonel and stands for Forward Repair System. Basically picture a flatrack, with a 35KW generator, 3 phase air compressor, Hemmit crane on the rear, and a box with batwing doors filled with a lot of snap on tools and all kinds of other goodies. It took me over 3 hours to do the initial inventory on everything in there, but I was very suprised to find everything was Snap On, Dewalt, or other quality manufacturers. Finally we get some really good tools. If I can figure out the picture part on the SS site, I will post some pics for you guys to drool over since it is unclassified material.

 

[Crash_AF]

Posting pics is easy... click on the 'choose file' button and choose your pic on your computer. Under that box, there is another text field that says comments, type whatever comments you want and then click add attachment. You can upload more than one pic (I've done 5, but dunno what the upper limit is).

Later,
Joe

 

[timntrucks]

super nice truck i remember the pics of your getting that trucks home. keep the pics coming james

 

[Offroadfabworks]

check out the HEMTT A-4 on the Oshkosh website thats a nice one