M816 Wrecker - General Questions

[Flyboy207]

Don't oil it, the oil will stay in the paint and make it a mess to deal with if you decide to repaint/touch up. Light wet sand it in a not very visible spot to see what colors it truly is. The wet sand can be used on the rear bumperettes and front bumper to get unit numbers. Those can tell you where it was last in service.

Some advice, IF you choose to keep it MERDC, Aervo paint is a bit sub par. The sand turns pink. Try and find Gillespie paint. The Federal paint numbers match almost perfectly. I did my MERDC deuce in Aervo, it was Grey Desert, the sand turned pink fast. I just kept a couple of cans under the seat. At car shows, when people were waxing their cars, I rattle canned mine!

I THINK the TM for MERDC paint patterns is here in the TM section, TB 43-0147 . If it isn't, I might have the copy here, Maybe I can scan to PDF and post it up

Alright, I'll give that a shot. The "comet wash" might work too, not sure if you're familiar with the Motor Trend show "Roadkill", but one of the guys uses a scrubbing sponge and comet cleaner to get oxidation and rust stains out of (marginal) old car paint. I've had luck with it before. Won't work for unit numbers though, I'll definitely wet sand and look for them.

Regarding the paint, I painted my Deuce with Rapco/Gillespie 24087 from a spray gun, it took a while to dry but looked pretty good. I will definitley use them again. I do enjoy painting MV's that aren't show quality, don't have to cover the shop in plastic or worry about dust in the paint.

I just spent about an hour searching for the MERDC manual that would have the M816... No luck. Some other people here have looked for it too, its TB 43-0209, the 1976 version not the 1990 supercede version. I've found a few places selling them, I might have to buy and sacrifice one to a Xerox machine for a PDF for everyone.