My "new" M923A2 is sitting in the driveway

[Bluebeard]

And I have no clue about the mechanics of this thing. I may have bitten off more than I can chew.... this thing is massive. I live in the Truckee area, near Lake Tahoe. So who do I call to do repairs? Right now, it appears the CTIS is not working as my rear left tire keeps going flat. When I turn on the CTIS all light flash, so I guess that means there is a leak possibly at that wheel seal. The largest socket I have is 3/4", so this thing is way out of my league- not to mention, I am not even sure I could lift the tire- even if I somehow managed to take it off, let alone figure out how to take the wheel apart. Who do I call? Do I take it to the local tire shop and watch them scratch their heads. I am sure mine is the first one of its kind in this town, as I have lived here for over 40 years and never seen anything like it driving on the road. Is there local mechanics in Reno that work on these things? Or do you just call your neighborhood diesel mechanic?

 

[steelandcanvas]

I would start by downloading the appropriate TM's for your M923, and get familiar with your beast. There are troubleshooting procedures for your CTIS. Your local mechanic unless he worked on these types of trucks in the military, won't have a clue when it comes to the CTIS. There are alot of good folks on here that will walk you through procedures you might not be familiar with. Good luck!

 

[ke5eua]

 

[Bluebeard]

We are building a "neighborhood" brush fire truck. When I get it farther along (water cannon mounted behind cab) I will send pics. Currently it has a 1600 gallon poly tank on it
with a bunch of 1.5 inch sprays, strategically placed all over the place. It is a "one man" fire department. A necessity when you live in an area surrounded by thousands of acres of bitterbrush
which burns like gasoline.

How much does a tire and wheel weigh? What do you have to do to get at the O ring that seals the air in the tire? Should I send it to the local tire shop, or
is this something an "under-equipped" backyard mechanic can take on?

 

[1 Patriot-of-many]

Harbor freight has bigger socket sets ect reasonable. You'll need to invest in some tools. It's all Chinese made of course, I ended up bending a 3/4 or 1" socket wrench working on my deuce and a half changing torque rods and using a cheater bar. As to your CTIS, try holding down the run flat button for a couple seconds. See if it starts airing up. Yes the 5 flashing lights usually indicate a leak, having it in runflat mode you can usually find it and in addition it usually will air up the tires. These weigh about 500lb. I managed by myself to move one around, but soldier B is better. Don't set yourself on changing the big oring between the rims yet, you need to locate the leak, it could be as simple as tightening up an air connection. You can take the tire to any good diesel repair/tire shop if it turns out to be the big oring if you don't want to do it. I've taken a couple a couple from my deuce to my local car mechanic and had the big oring and the turret valve seal replaced. You'll have to order the parts at one of many vendors like ERIKS, the shop won't have a clue probably. Taking a printout of the pertinent TM to the shop is a good idea too. I've had a couple I just had to remove the shield and tighten a fitting on the hose.

 

[Bluebeard]

Harbor freight has bigger socket sets ect reasonable. You'll need to invest in some tools. It's all Chinese made of course, I ended up bending a 3/4 or 1" socket wrench working on my deuce and a half changing torque rods and using a cheater bar. As to your CTIS, try holding down the run flat button for a couple seconds. See if it starts airing up. Yes the 5 flashing lights usually indicate a leak, having it in runflat mode you can usually find it and in addition it usually will air up the tires. These weigh about 500lb. I managed by myself to move one around, but soldier B is better. Don't set yourself on changing the big oring between the rims yet, you need to locate the leak, it could be as simple as tightening up an air connection. You can take the tire to any good diesel repair/tire shop if it turns out to be the big oring if you don't want to do it. I've taken a couple a couple from my deuce to my local car mechanic and had the big oring and the turret valve seal replaced. You'll have to order the parts at one of many vendors like ERIKS, the shop won't have a clue probably. Taking a printout of the pertinent TM to the shop is a good idea too.

I'm not questioning your advice, but why would the "run flat" mode air up the tires? I would think it would let the air out. Either way I will try what you suggested to see if I can figure out where the leak is.

 

[Scott88M]

It is used when you still need to "run" but your tire is going "flat".

 

[plode]

Your local mechanic unless he worked on these types of trucks in the military, won't have a clue when it comes to the CTIS.

Mechanics should be getting familiar with the systems, I see our new fire truck came with some sort of CTIS. It doesn't deflate the tires for different settings like on our trucks, but it has the ability to inflate them automatically if the pressure is low. A different system then what is on the military trucks, but same basic concept.

 

[ke5eua]

I'm not questioning your advice, but why would the "run flat" mode air up the tires? I would think it would let the air out. Either way I will try what you suggested to see if I can figure out where the leak is.

Run flat just dumps air into the system to keep the tire somewhat inflated during emergency needs. Really helpful when you need to air a completely flat tire.

 

[Bluebeard]

Run flat just dumps air into the system to keep the tire somewhat inflated during emergency needs. Really helpful when you need to air a completely flat tire.

Duh.... no really..... I'm NOT as dumb as I look......

Makes sense to me.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[ke5eua]

Duh.... no really..... I'm NOT as dumb as I look......

Makes sense to me.

Thanks for the clarification.

Wow, don't have to be an



You said in your first post you knew nothing about these trucks, and I was just explaining what the run flat mode does.

 

[Bluebeard]

Thanks for the uplifting thought. I just got done with hassling with Carnac on the VIN discussion forum, and after that whole episode, I was re-thinking whether I was loosing my mind or I was just a run-of-the-mill dumb*ss. It appeared that he thought I was talking gibberish to him. Some people are more difficult to communicate with than others. He was tough. But ultimately he pulled through and I appreciate it.

 

[MidnightDuramax]

What a great combo this is. A guy that admits to knowing nothing about these trucks and after a few post thinks he knows enough to be a wise a**. Then to top it off he has one of the most unstable conversions of these trucks that can be prone to roll overs and other safety concerns. I think somebody didn't do thier research before buying this truck. Only advice I have is read the TM front to back and maybe take a CDL drivers course to familiarize yourself with big trucks and how they handle.

 

[Bluebeard]

Hold your horses here. I live on a flat table top dirt road; the truck -in its lifetime up here- will see less than 10 miles on it in the next ten years and yes, I have read all the posts about the ease of the way the roll over. This truck will spend most of its life parked next to my house. I get it that it is easy to roll over. It's not going to be driven more than a couple of miles an hour, and for a distance longer than a mile at a time on a straight, flat, dirt road.

What I don't understand here, is why does everyone think I am a wise-ass? Am I on another planet? I am just trying to get information, be as helpful as I can and trying to fit it. What is it about my posts that pisses everyone off?

 

[Bluebeard]

Wow, don't have to be an

View attachment 497231

You said in your first post you knew nothing about these trucks, and I was just explaining what the run flat mode does.

Oh, I get it.... you thought that I was calling you a dumb*ss....... .no.... I was calling myself the dumb guy.... in a self-deprecating way. I'm not here to pick fights with anyone. I guess I need to re-read my posts clearer, as everyone thinks I am attacking them. I was joking...saying I WAS THE DUMMY, not you..... Trust me, I appreciate all the info you guys give me. NEVER take any of my posts as a insult to YOU..... If it weren't for you guys, I'd be TOTALLY LOST. I appreciate everything you guy can do to help out.

 

[MidnightDuramax]

Duh.... no really..... I'm NOT as dumb as I look......

Makes sense to me.

Thanks for the clarification.

I think this was the post that got thee two of us going. Upon reading it a few times I see now that you were poking fun at yourself. When read quickly it seems like a wise a.. remark of like; Yea that was an easy assumption and I already new that.

Sorry for jumping so quick. But please make sure to atleast read the TM. These vehicles can be very useful and fun but also very dangerous if used unsafely at the same time.

 

[ke5eua]

Don't feel bad. Just remember, this is the internet, tone and convection can never be understood correctly in text.

Nah, I just wanted to throw a little humor in the mix with the pic.

These trucks are a best, and someone who has driven them a lot, along with fire trucks all I can say is be careful in whatever you do with them.

 

[Bluebeard]

My apologies if anyone thought that I was being a wise ass. Not my intent. I am sorry for any misunderstanding.

 

[Bluebeard]

The neighbors and I thought that the 5 ton would be BAD A** and I did a bunch of research on them and looked at the dozens and dozens of them on google images. So we felt pretty good about it. I read the webpage Roscommon Equipment Center and they pretty much said to keep the tank less than 1500 gallons and baffled. My neighbor wanted to get 1600 gallons because he said more water is better for watering the road. Some guys run 4000 gallon tanks on them, and that sounds like it would be scary. No, this thing will be parked mostly and maybe we may run it in a parade once we get it set up. For the most part, I am thinking about keeping maybe 500 gallons in it for running around (500 gallons and 20 gallons of foam can put most small fires down in a heartbeat) and if something big is headed our way, we will THEN FILL IT UP to hose down the houses, or fill it up to water the road occasionally.

Boy when that thing showed up, it was BIGGER than it looked in the pictures. It's been a fun project.

 

[porkysplace]

You can download the TM's for free here ;
[h=3]TM's for the 939 series trucks[/h]You should read this one before operating the truck ( it will save you a ton of money from improper stat up and shut down ,among other things ) ;
TM9-2320-272-10.pdf
TM9-2320-272-10 Operations manual for the M939 series trucks. Sept 2004