New m108 Crane Truck Project

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

This 1953 Studebaker needs a little bit of work, and it's missing a lot of parts. I'll get a better idea of the extent of the project once it's in the yard, but if it does get fixed up there won't be a whole lot of original parts on it other than maybe the crane, frame, and springs.

All of the sheet metal from the bed forward is junk. I didn't even look under the hood but it hasn't run in decades and the radiator is gone. I'm sure the engine is stuck. The transmission and front winch PTO are gone, the transfer case is there but the rear PTO and crane driveshaft are gone. The rear axles each are missing one axle shaft and the front axle is stuck and has water in it. The crane part doesn't look too bad except for the hydraulics, I'm pretty sure it hasn't worked in at least 30 years.

 

[cattlerepairman]

Yup, some of us just attract the mangy three legged one eyed orphan dogs. Not much you can do about that. Say no?

I have a soft spot for the little cranes. Hopefully I can find one one day.


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[Redpawn]

Glad to see it getting rescued. Are you going to run the gas engine or swap it over to a multi fuel? If your keeping the gasser I have a running gas engine and a good front clip if your interested.

 

[dmetalmiki]

Wow!, I tell u'ze what, You get that (All) fixed up, I and I WILL award ya' the "Steel soldier of the..Errr..., FOREVER Award!",
Please do post up the pictures of the ongoing restoration, If you carry it out.

 

[frank8003]

It is so freakin cool that some trucks just must be saved

 

[SCM35A2]

That's awesome!!

 

[RayK]

People that let trucks like this get into this kind of shape, need to be taken out and shot!!

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

So here's a little bit of backstory on this truck which will explain why I had to have it instead of any old m108.

I can trace the history of it back around 30 years to at least 3 owners right now, and it's been in the same condition (more or less) since then. I'm at least the 3rd and probably the 4th to own both my m59 dump truck and this crane truck at the same time. They kind of go together in my opinion. Right now it's sitting at a friend's place in NY. He bought it probably 15 years or more ago from the yard I now own here in Colchester, VT. At the time it was owned by my friend George, who bought it in 1995 from another friend of mine in VT (and my m59 was part of that deal). It could have been scrapped many times over the years for more than it's worth as a truck, so I think it's pretty cool that it's still around considering it's such a junker. If the frame is good (which it looks good) then it can be fixed up.

The thing is, right now I don't have the time or money to fix it up so this thread will be pretty boring for a while. What I do have is a good head start on some of the parts it needs. Winch kit, radiator, cab tub, tool box and battery box, nice fenders, etc. I have a rear PTO to install, I'll just need to get the right output flange for it and get a driveshaft for the crane. The crane stuff is going to be the only real challenge (and I think with the help of site members I could probably get it figured out). On the plus side the outriggers can't be stuck if they're missing completely. Anyone parting out an m108?

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

Yup, some of us just attract the mangy three legged one eyed orphan dogs. Not much you can do about that. Say no?

I have a soft spot for the little cranes. Hopefully I can find one one day.


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You should buy the other m108 in that yard and they can go on the same truck to my place. It's a project but not as big a project as mine!

Glad to see it getting rescued. Are you going to run the gas engine or swap it over to a multi fuel? If your keeping the gasser I have a running gas engine and a good front clip if your interested.

I'm not sure yet what will happen as far as the engine but I'll keep that in mind. I have a set of almost mint gasser fenders and an NOS gasser radiator, at the same time I have some of the multifuel parts it would need as well (radiator, fuel tank, and a non turbo engine I've never looked at).

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

Well... it didn’t take as long as I thought it would to get some of the “hard to find” parts I needed.

 

[SETOYOTA]

I have a running gold comet and the tranny for it if you go that route. Free. Just need to come get it. Or get it picked up

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

I have a running gold comet and the tranny for it if you go that route. Free. Just need to come get it. Or get it picked up

That’s a very generous offer, but I’ll probably end up getting something in the Northeast eventually. I think I’ll try to find an m35 parts truck since I could use the axles too.

 

[SETOYOTA]

That’s a very generous offer, but I’ll probably end up getting something in the Northeast eventually. I think I’ll try to find an m35 parts truck since I could use the axles too.

thats what I did to help rehab my 108

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

I didn’t really want to spend any money on this project yet but I figured I’d better buy the crane specific parts when I had the chance. An F600 with an m108 bed came up for sale and I was able to get it. The crane was installed when the truck was new, and I guess it was on another civilian truck before that, so it’s seen some use. It had the two good outriggers on it, and then pieces of the other two (there’s parts seized in the tube on the bed but I’m not sure everything’s there).

The winch worked before a hose popped, the boom goes up and down, and the boom extended and retracted before a hose for that popped as well (with a 20ft high shower of hydraulic fluid). I didn’t get to see it rotate.

The bed is rotten through and the rest of the truck is rough but I figured this would make it so I won’t have to buy (and probably ruin) a restorable m108 to take parts for mine. The boom was modified with a slide out extension like the m246/m819 which might be useful if it’s in good shape.

My brother also found a set of the cab mounted spotlights that are missing. A very original early m62 wrecker was on ebay for around $1000, and the new owner only bought it for chassis parts. So a deal was made for those too.

 

[cattlerepairman]

That F600 is actually an awesome find. You need to know your steel soldiers to recognize what this is. Very cool.

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[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

The ford showed up a few days ago so we’ve done a little work on that. The crane did rotate (before the hose for it popped of course ) so that’s good. I cut the front tube open to free up some outrigger pieces. They’re not complete but there are some useful parts. At least the rear two outriggers were all there.

Yesterday and today I disconnected everything and we were able to remove the bed and set it on an m127 trailer frame. The pipeline truck and 6k forklift had no problems handling it.

 

[cattlerepairman]

How did you LIVE without a pipeline truck??

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

How did you LIVE without a pipeline truck??

The pipeline truck is definitely nice to have, especially for a lift like the m108 bed which would be a bit tough to hoist with just the big forklift because of the boom.



The m108 was delivered today. Looks almost as nice as it did a couple months ago. What a beauty!

Looks like it had the army markings on the hood at one point, I’d say the green over yellow paint job was definitely a military one. I wonder if it started out as an airforce truck or if all m108s were painted in airforce colors from the factory?

While I was dragging it around with the forklift I had to take a couple pics with the m59 and m756a2. The m108 and m59 were delivered to the yard the first time in 1995, I’d guess it’s been probably 20 years since the three trucks were together.

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

Did a little bit of tear down on the truck this afternoon. It goes pretty quick when a lot of the sheet metal is going to scrap.

 

[Redpawn]

The blue tip wrench does speed things up a bit.