metalman99
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- Location
- Pleasant Prairie, WI
I just spent 30 minutes typing a very detailed account of my search for the right first MV for a build that I am going to start. Anyway, my fantastic 1000 word essay vanished immediately upon hitting submit, aaagghhh! It was perfect and detailed how I came to decide on an M51A2.
This is not the first time this has happened to me on here, so I guess it's my fault for not copying the text before hitting submit.
I'll try to type it all again.
A few months ago I decided I need a project and challenge and that I would build a kind of military survival truck. I'm not a prepper or fanatic, I just wanted a challenge and project for my 13 year old son and I. My first choice was an M816 with 53's that was for sale locally, after lots of responses to my thread about that, I slowed down and spent some time looking at other MV's.
I looked at Humvve's only briefly, deciding it didn't have the capacity that I wanted. I decided it needed to be a multifuel 6x6 and finally decided on a 5 ton for the higher horsepower engine. Initially I looked at M52A2 tractors since I would only need to remove the fifth wheel to begin work on it.
I found a nice M52A2 at Oshkosh Equipment and after negotiating a fair price was close to closing the deal. There was value in buying a truck that was only 2 hours from my home and from someone that had gone through the truck to make sure it was mechanically sound.
After looking at the M52A2, I came across a couple of M51A2 dumps with winches. Not nearly as nice as the M52, but I don't need nice and the winch and hydraulics would be needed anyway, so an M51A2 it would be. I ended up working out a deal with someone that had an M51A2 on Ebay and it arrived tonight. As I’ve said this is my first MV and this one is not pretty, but hopefully the drive train and frame are solid. I was told they are and the seller seemed like a good guy.
I'm a designer / fabricator / welder by trade and know nothing about these trucks, but am looking forward to learning and hope this thread generates alot of interest. I've not found anything on SS, or online in general in the way of projects like what I’m doing.
I've been buying components in anticipation of finding the right truck and so far have the following; (
MRAP tires from GL (HEMMT wheels to follow, no adapters), (4) MRAP seats from GL, MRAP bumpers, Boyco A/C kit, etc. I will be removing the dump bed and cab, the new body will be fabricated from scratch and the entire truck will be modeled in CAD in either AutoCad or Solidworks prior to starting fabrication.
Here are some pics, more to follow. I'll look forward to all the comments and suggestions from SS members and especially appreciate help with understanding how these trucks work, the sprag, etc. I'm a very competent fabricator / metal guy, but know nothing about these trucks.
I'll also post a spec sheet / punch list of what I want to truck to be and be able to do. Please comment on that as well, any comments, good or bad might help. This retype only took me 20 minutes this time, so I must have left alot of good stuff out from last time, but that’s it for tonight.
I tried to submit this again and SS might be down for maintenance since it is so late, maybe that’s why it erased the first time.
Mods, please move this to the 5 ton mod forum, i've been trying to get this up and tested it here and it worked. Sorry for making more work, please remove Part 1 from the title, I was going to try to post in two parts, but it's all here.
This is not the first time this has happened to me on here, so I guess it's my fault for not copying the text before hitting submit.
I'll try to type it all again.
A few months ago I decided I need a project and challenge and that I would build a kind of military survival truck. I'm not a prepper or fanatic, I just wanted a challenge and project for my 13 year old son and I. My first choice was an M816 with 53's that was for sale locally, after lots of responses to my thread about that, I slowed down and spent some time looking at other MV's.
I looked at Humvve's only briefly, deciding it didn't have the capacity that I wanted. I decided it needed to be a multifuel 6x6 and finally decided on a 5 ton for the higher horsepower engine. Initially I looked at M52A2 tractors since I would only need to remove the fifth wheel to begin work on it.
I found a nice M52A2 at Oshkosh Equipment and after negotiating a fair price was close to closing the deal. There was value in buying a truck that was only 2 hours from my home and from someone that had gone through the truck to make sure it was mechanically sound.
After looking at the M52A2, I came across a couple of M51A2 dumps with winches. Not nearly as nice as the M52, but I don't need nice and the winch and hydraulics would be needed anyway, so an M51A2 it would be. I ended up working out a deal with someone that had an M51A2 on Ebay and it arrived tonight. As I’ve said this is my first MV and this one is not pretty, but hopefully the drive train and frame are solid. I was told they are and the seller seemed like a good guy.
I'm a designer / fabricator / welder by trade and know nothing about these trucks, but am looking forward to learning and hope this thread generates alot of interest. I've not found anything on SS, or online in general in the way of projects like what I’m doing.
I've been buying components in anticipation of finding the right truck and so far have the following; (
MRAP tires from GL (HEMMT wheels to follow, no adapters), (4) MRAP seats from GL, MRAP bumpers, Boyco A/C kit, etc. I will be removing the dump bed and cab, the new body will be fabricated from scratch and the entire truck will be modeled in CAD in either AutoCad or Solidworks prior to starting fabrication.Here are some pics, more to follow. I'll look forward to all the comments and suggestions from SS members and especially appreciate help with understanding how these trucks work, the sprag, etc. I'm a very competent fabricator / metal guy, but know nothing about these trucks.
I'll also post a spec sheet / punch list of what I want to truck to be and be able to do. Please comment on that as well, any comments, good or bad might help. This retype only took me 20 minutes this time, so I must have left alot of good stuff out from last time, but that’s it for tonight.
I tried to submit this again and SS might be down for maintenance since it is so late, maybe that’s why it erased the first time.
Mods, please move this to the 5 ton mod forum, i've been trying to get this up and tested it here and it worked. Sorry for making more work, please remove Part 1 from the title, I was going to try to post in two parts, but it's all here.
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