M123

[WillWagner]

The M123 at the Museum was moved a while ago from it's spot for the RC tank club meet that is held monthly. When moving it, it died...I didn't know that. I was tasked to get it going to move it out of the lane. Did a filter service, there is alot of algae in the tanks, fuel is dark. When I pulled the filters, the screen filter was full of black algae and the can filters had alot of crap in the bottom, rust included. I cleaned the cans, changed the filters out and drained the rt tank. I decided to temporarily install a Racor before the 3 stage filters to TRY and keep the junk in the tank from getting into the tri filter set up, THAT is a pizz poor design! Any who, It was being a PITA to get go juice to the pump. Decided to go directly to the pump from a jerry can. No suckie fuel. I think the pump failed, that's why it died. I pulled the pump, the throttle shaft was locked up, so my assumption of water in the fuel was correct, unfortunately. The shop called today, it is done, I have known these guys a LONG time, it was upwards of 500 bucks to fix it, I HOPE the injectors are OK, we will find out next Wednesday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzwOwavIREY

I'll have a vid when it runs!

 

[Guyfang]

I went through this nut roll with a Bn full of 15 and 30 KW gen sets. About 40 sets. It was training equipment. No one took care of it. When a unit, (Patriot) tried to do a week field exercise. No gen set ran more then 4-5 hours without failure, if that long. The only way to cure the problem was a stand down. Four days, an entire Bn in the middle of a training cycle. EVERY gen set had to have its tank pulled, and steam cleaned.The entire fuel system had to be removed and cleaned, up to the IP. All filters and strainer had to be changed. And then all put back together. Strangely enough, all these gen sets ran without failure for the rest of my time in Bliss. The next failure was almost 45 days later, when an alternator belt blew. Go figure.

This is just what you should do. One after another. If I was living someplace close, I would love to do this to each one of the vehicles there.

 

[Ajax MD]

Thanks for climbing up for a peek into the engine bay. I was curious.

 

[WillWagner]

Pump is done, but that happened after I left for the day. I was out in the south 40 and found a nice pump, 110AC and a Luberfiner filter set up we can make into a scrubber. That is another project, probably for a rainy day.

 

[WillWagner]

OK, an update, Put the pump back on, sucked fuel like it should. Fired and ran OK. Smokes, it did last time I saw it run. Moved it into the back shop. and gave it a little love. Permanently installed a Racor pre filter to prevent the tri filter set up from getting full of crap. The lights didn't work, troubleshot that and found the turn signal lever assy the cause of that, replaced some burned out bulbs, fixed some bad connections on the headlights. Figured out why the air tank over pressure valve was popping off, there is a valve on the firewall, just like the one on a deuce on the passenger side inside firewall, on the drivers side by the steering column, that was off. Well, that sends a signal to the governor that the tank is at pressure so the compressor unloads. If it's off, it won't unload! I like easy! There was a shield over the pintle hitch that was remover for some reason, and sitting on the back of the truck. Installed that. The brake pedal felt funny, so I checked the adjustment, the slack adjusters were almost 2 full turns out of adjustment . Fixed the e-brake, lubed some zerks. I was going to put a hard top on it, there are a few in the back 40, but decided to not do that because they didn't come with hard tops. Also found no glass in the passenger side door. Went to a donor M series truck, again, in the back 40, and got a good glass, installed it, cleaned the cab, drove it ariund the circle a few times to get the juices all hot and juicy, then parked it in the middle of tank row for a bit.

I tell you what, this thing is freekin' BIG!

 

[Ajax MD]

Oh my...look at all that workspace. I'm positively green. Where is all that bright light coming from? We don't have that here in Maryland.

 

[steelsoldiers]

That is a thing of beauty! I found one when perusing Facebook Marketplace yesterday. They want $15k for it. Would love to own one, but no place to put it right now!

 

[BKubu]

I love that 4 color MERDC camo!

 

[Ajax MD]

Found Will's vid of it running: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVUL7a2by10

 

[11Echo]

Pump is done, but that happened after I left for the day. I was out in the south 40 and found a nice pump, 110AC and a Luberfiner filter set up we can make into a scrubber. That is another project, probably for a rainy day.

Do the steering brakes still function?

 

[kubotaman]

Cool truck. Never seen one with paperclips on the front.

 

[SCM35A2]

WOW, would love to visit there!!

 

[11Echo]

Cool truck. Never seen one with paperclips on the front.

paperclips on this one also.

 

[fasttruck]

The fixture that mounts above the pintle is a shoe to guide the winch cable when raising and lowering the goose neck on the M870 trailer. A roller does the same thing on a M916. There would also be a goal post looking fixture installed behind the winch to keep the cable off the 5th wheel.

The most important grease fitting on the whole truck is up between the left frame rail and the transmission which lubricates a bell crank in the linkage between the foot pedal and the applicator valve on the chassis. If this sticks the brakes will drag or the truck will not build air pressure. As it is hard to get to it is often neglected. Don't forget to check and maintain the oil level in the 4 bevel gear cases associated with the live king pins in the front axle. These parts are made of unobtainium.

In later years the Army mwo'd a Williams Exhaust B rake for these trucks which finally made it possible to upshift the little dears before the truck rolled to a stop. I hope yours has one.

 

[fasttruck]

 

[fasttruck]

 

[11Echo]

A pic of the post.

 

[fasttruck]

I don't know what the stanchion illustrated in post 17 is but it not the guide described on post 14. That item was attached to an eye on the rear of the winch. I do not have a picture of this but it is not what is shown in post 17.

 

[fasttruck]

Pic shows rear winch of M 123A1C (single winch). When configured for the M870 40 ton trailer the forward cable guide was attached to the eye visible beneath the winch cable next to the trailer electrical connector.Also a pic of the shoe over the pintle that guided the cable and the front of trailer over the pintle hook.

 

[WillWagner]

As far as the steering brakes go, the lever and buttons still move, did not try them when moving it for fear that something would stick or fail when it was in the middle of the compound. More work to be done on it at a later date, I will tinker with them then. I was under it for a bit hitting it with grease, I will double check the forgotten about linkage and make sure it gets love. The truck is a USMC unit, I believe it was recovered from pacific NW area, the data plates say M123A1C, but, it the army manuals we have at the Museum, show a few different items that this truck and the truck that was posted by 11echo. Paper clips on the bumpers and if you look closely in the pic 11echo posted, you can see an oval plate forward of the front drive axle, just in back of the deck plate, there is another just like it on the drivers side. Those are "diverters" to direct the exhaust smoke down. This truck has dual, low mount exhaust as does the one in the above pic. The Army A1C had an up exhaust pipe behind the cab.

There is some sort of funky guide mounted on the deck plate, well, not mounted, it straddles the frame, has holes to secure it somewhere, but no matching bolts or empty holes anywhere on the truck. I'll see if I can find a pic of it and if I don't have one, i'll get some next week.

I'd like to see one of these loading a tank to see how it's done and how all the stuff works together.