My first heavy truck xm215

[tburk49760]

Just purchased a 1955 XM215 in pretty rough shape. Currently has a Detroit 6V53 motor and a four speed transmission from an old county dump truck. The dump bed is not correct. The old girl is pretty solid and relatively straight otherwise. It sat for about 10 years before I got it neglected, I got it running and moving under its own power in short order. So much left to do not even sure where to start. Currently working on the brakes, rebuilt the master cylinder, seems to work okay. The next step is bleed the Hydro vac unit and a proper bleed at the wheels and see what happens. Somebody cut the dash where the light switch used to be and put in a tachometer, fixing that should be interesting. I did manage to pull it into my shop today and it just barely fits, next stop literally brakes. As soon as I figure out how to attach pictures from my mobile device I will make that happen.

 

[hendersond]

Congrats, cannot wait to see the pictures!

 

[tburk49760]

some pictures

here she is in all her lack of glory!

 

[jrobinson5093]

Looks good and will probably be a awesome truck with the 6v53.

 

[rronning84]

That will be a neat truck. I love that it has the 6V53 in it.

 

[m1010plowboy]

Xm215

Welcome to old, fat, heavy, Early Deuce life. The truck is nice......I mean from what I've seen recently, real nice.
I tried to pass the one in the pics off to someone else but haven't heard back. It's 5 hrs East of Spokane, some 300+ miles away.

Are you going original or useful? If you want another one for the box let me know. I'd make the drive down and introduce you to the owner.

Show us what you're doing, document your needs on this page and we'll see where we can help.

Like to see the engine mounts......to trani.......to transfer case. Love to see Spokane again and visit cousin Clive.
Hey, you're in Spokane.......you must know cousin Clive.

Thanks for the pics.

 

[Chief_919]

Nice truck.

I have 2 complete cabs I am parting if you want a whole new dash, or want the section you need cut out so you can weld it in.

 

[tburk49760]

Thanks for the welcome plowboy. Not sure how I would get that beast home 300+ miles though. Probably could use quite a few parts of that to solve my issues and definitely would love to have the bed. Probably will go somewhere in between original and useful. Certainly keep the current powertrain. I'll see if I can get some pictures of the details to post. It looks like the left side of the dash is a bolt in? I need that as well as the soft top steel panels and bow. Any leads on the connector that screws into the headlight switch? That with a bit of wire leads attached would help a lot. My hood is pretty bent up also. That detroit purrs like a kitten on a stick, on fire!

 

[tburk49760]

Pressure bled the brakes last night, had to fix a major airline leak this afternoon. Start the old girl up, built some air pressure, backed of my shop, stepped on the brakes, miracle, stopped on a dime and gave me 8 cents change? Back up and down the driveway 500 feet or so several times and stopped perfectly each time. When I bled the system there was quite a bit of gunk coming out but got clear fluid fairly quickly. Had to give up due to darkness and my severe lack of headlights. Hope to work on the headlights tomorrow or Saturday and actually take this thing out On the longer driveway and get it up to 30 or 40 miles an hour and see how it stops. So far so good.

 

[SturmTyger380]

Why does the winch on your truck look different from the one on mine? Were there different models?

Can't seem to get my picture up upload - will have to figure that out.

Alan

 

[tburk49760]

pretty sure my winch is not correct for the truck. the install looks factory but not quite...

 

[tburk49760]

Spent some quality time with the deuce today. Removed the dump hyd pump to repair a leaky input shaft seal. Quite the fancy seal! Taking it to a local pump repair wizard tomorrow. Removed the driver front wheel to deduce why it was not rolling properly. Looked good but dirty. Cleaned it up lubed as appropriate and reassembled. Seems fine and dandy now! Started building the air filtration doohickey from stuff I had laying around. Still need to source the plugs for the hmmwv turn signal switch and headlight switch so. Can start solving the mysteries of the lack of electron flow. Loving it tho... Hopefully, find primer and paint soonish.

 

[Stan Leschert]

Why does the winch on your truck look different from the one on mine? Were there different models?

It's not the stock winch. That one was what they had on hand. A
s long as it works, who cares?

 

[tburk49760]

And it seems to work fine. Just about the only thing that does work correctly. Okay that's not entirely accurate, so far it runs well, stops well, dumps well, it's just pretty much all the little stuff that's messed up entirely.

 

[srs78]

Nice!

 

[tburk49760]

detroit diesel and hard top pictures

some pics of the 6v53 install and fiberglass hardtop

 

[Gunfreak25]

Fantastic! Would it be possible for some more engine bay pictures taken a bit further away, say standing on the bumper? I can only begin to see how tight that Detroit fits in there. But excellent documentation thus far!

The thought of a 6v53 powered G749 series truck has captivated me for 2 years. I never thought it would be a viable option just due to the size of the motor. I have an affliction for the old 2 stroke's, they are great engines. Sure are drippy though! Let us know if you ever manage to get Youtube video of it running.

This is the last thread I needed to see. If I get a wild enough hair, I just MIGHT consider re-repowering my M211 with a nice old drip troit and 10 speed Roadranger.

How's your hearing from the roar of the engine? Ehh? What's that ye say sonny?

 

[tburk49760]

I will take as many picture to encourage someone else to follow my silly path. Sillyness loves company. It sounds beautiful going down the road at full beller! I too dream of more gears. 5 is not enough. Not sure where to start that madness. It's on my radar tho. Mine doesn't really leak! From the air box drains as it must but not elsewhere. It's a tight fit and the frame near the water pump on the passenger side has a small cutout. Then there is a doghouse in the firewall to clear the air comp on the rear of the motor. Not too bad tho...for you, I will fart with the YouTube thingy and post a few vids of encouragement. Soon. The exhaust ain't the noise issue, it's the motor! Purrs like a kitten, on fire, on a stick!

 

[m1010plowboy]

Hey, you got a wire off in the picture ........... . . . . . . right . . ... .. up there.

Thanks tburk, those are the pictures I was talking about. I don't think that's oil on the pans, I think it's left over grease they used to cram the motor in.

Lots of changes that are tough to see so we might need to meet at the border this spring so I can get a look at it. A little G749 convoy in the works for 2013.

Re-powering the G749 is a superior upgrade and you're already a step ahead. Lucky.

When you do the video, I called it....SHOTGUN!

 

[tburk49760]

That sounds great to me! Love road trips.. Got a lot of work to do so I will feel good about being further than a mile from my tools tho...