M816 with m932a2 cab?

[5tonman1971]

Ok guys so I have been thinking about this for awhile now, my buddy has a m816 well he has a few of them but one is pretty garbage from the cab forward. He really wants my m923 so we are considering a trade for the wrecker.

So instead of finding an 800 series donor we have been talking about finding a m939 series donor for the cab and engine. Rather the donor be a m925a2 or and m932a2 and selling the rest to pay for the donor truck. I'm leaning more towards an m925 because there would be more to sell to pay for the donor. But the axles could almost pay for the donor truck no matter which one it is.

This is all started because I want an m936a2 wrecker.

So what we are hoping is that I will end up with a mock m936 but on an m809 series chassis and wrecker body. And if I'm not mistaken the only difference will be that I will not have boom controls on the back.

So what are your guys thoughts and input on this idea. I don't think I should have a problem mounting the cab to the frame but if anyone has any tips that will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, 5ton

 

[Ferroequinologist]

You'd either have to convert the 816 to auto (not too hard if you have a donor truck with one) unless you want to do a bunch of fab work to get the clutch to work in the 900 series cab. Ditto for the brakes. If you do get a donor truck I would take the air brake axles off the 900 and put them under the m816, then all you have to do is run hoses instead of fabbing up all the brake linkages and placement.

One thing I discovered when I tried to put a m936 bed on an old m543 (basically a m816) and the bed was longer than the original. Wether that means the cab and hood on a 900 series is shorter than a M39 series or m816, or the frames are different lengths.

 

[5tonman1971]

That's a great idea about the axles! I forgot about the brakes. That would reall make the truck cool to with full air. Hmmm, I wonder if it would be better to take the 816 bed off and put it on a 925 chassis, I think that would be easier.

Yea I planned on making it an automatic, I'm still not sure how I feel about the automatics but I'm beginning to like it the more I drive my new m923


Thanks js for making rethink everything now! Lol but that's why I posted this to make sure I had everything thought of!

 

[M813rc]

The M939 cabs are not really any shorter, but they do sit higher and further forward.

Cheers

 

[paulrance]

You can not put the wrecker bed on a 925 chassis you'll break it. 816 has a double frame. Better off swapping parts to the 816.

 

[wreckerman893]

Myself and CSMdavis have had this discussion. Prob doable if you have good fab skills and a shop. As for the clutch issue you could use a hydraulic clutch setup instead of mechanical linkage. Swapping the axles do use air brakes might be an issue as you would need all the lines and plumbing. You might be able to drill a hole in the 900 series cab to make the 800 series brake pedal work.

 

[73m819]

I have worked out how to do this to the 819, everything from the axles to the cab, being that the cab sits higher, I planed to use all the 819 frame brackets (clutch), all the hyd. brake parts would be stripped, the complete air system would be installed except the emg. brake lever, the spring brake valve would be moved to the dash, the 939 shift tower would go as well as winch and ctis crap, the cab should sit pretty good, being that the frame rails are the same width, as a extra bonus of the higher cab/hood, I could install a "jake"brake on the 250 without modding the hood. steering and other minor items would be just a "think and do as the need arose"

 

[5tonman1971]

Yes we have come to the conclusion that this may be a little more involved then we wanted. Although a vary cool idea by time I was done I might as well have just bought an m936. We do have the skills and the shop to do it but now that I think about I really like the look of the 809 series. I really like air brakes though.

So now I'm looking for a nice 809 series donor and a set of Michelin 14.00

 

[Csm Davis]

Yeah me and WM and Zebadee have been kicking around a lot of ideas on this for awhile. Stay tuned I have something up my sleeve.