new M813A1 operator needs advice

[JungleBiker]

I'm sure much of this has been covered before, but I hope asking some of these questions again won't try too many people's patience.

About a year ago I bought a reconditioned M813 from a dealer in Georgia. I had it shipped to Papua New Guinea where I am living and working and because of various paperwork issues it took a year before it got here, but now it's finally here (Yay!) and we've been reassembling it as it was disassembled to fit into a 40 foot shipping container. We've pretty much got it all back together again, but as none of us has ever put together an MV before, there are a few questions we have:

1. Ours came with 14.00 x 20 tires on it. (Actually it had 6 old 11.00 x 20 tires on it so that it would fit into the container, but now we've installed the 14.00's, and wow, what a difference in ride quality that made!) How much pressure should we run in the 14.00 x 20 tires? They are mounted on HMMTT rims and the truck will probably rarely carry more than 4 or 5 tons. Also it will most likely be used primarily on unpaved roads. I see one member here is running 16.00's with 35 psi in them--that sounds really low to me, but what is the general concensus here?

2. one of our HMMTT rims is leaking from the middle. Is there an o-ring between the two halves of the rim? What is the best way to keep it from leaking? What causes the seal to leak in the first place?

3. our driver's side door handle fell off and I can't figure out how to put it back on--is it just so simple it is blowing my mind? I took the access panel off of the inside of the door and found a small spring and some sort of clip laying in the bottom of the door--are these part of the mechanism that holds the handle on?

4. where can I get a parts list and a "30" manual for our truck? I've been told that there is the basic operator's manual, (the "10" manual), a "20" manual that covers maintenance more in depth, and then the really good "30" manual that we really want as we'll be doing all of our own maintenance and repairs.

5. ours came with a winch that wasn't installed--we installed it, but then found that the drive shaft to the winch is 6 inches too short--we can lengthen it, ("we have the technology"), but first I want to make sure that I'm not missing something obvious. Is this just a case of our supplier suppliying the wrong drive shaft?

6. our pnuematic wipers don't workl. We have air pressure, but the wipers don't go--do they just need to be opened up and gone through or are they just junk to begin with? Should I convert to electric ones? I have a ton of old Land Rover electric wiper motors that I can use, one for each windo and get the 12 volts I need from one battery through a fuse and a switch.

7. when we mounted the bed on the frame, we weren't saure where the long bolts with the springs were supposed to go. Closer inspection reveale that they would only fit in the forward mounts--how tight do the nuts need to be? You could crank them down until the springs coil-bind, but that obviously would make them useless. Is there a spec on how tight these bolts should be?

I think that's all for now, but I will probably come up with more questions soon. thanks!

 

[No.2Diesel]

Hi,

Wow I think I remember your posts from last year. That really blows that you couldn't have it shipped whole.

qstn. 1........Its pretty common sense. Run low pressure 15-20 for offroad soft conditions and up to 80-100psi for highway.

question 2......It seems that your 14x20s are tubeless and breaking down rims to fix a silly o-ring is not something you'd want to do very often.....

I would suggest for reliability etc. that you break down all your tires and put old fashioned tubes & flaps in them. Just make sure the rim, tube, flap assembly is absolutely clean when mounting so no dirt gets caught between the tube & flap which will cause abrasion and tube failure.

Its probably alot easier and cheaper in the long run to use tubes & flaps instead of chasing down leaks and having to fiddle with a million bolts on a multipiece rim.


qstn. 4......All the applicable TMs can be found in pdf format on this website! The assembly TM will help with your door handle situation

7......tighten until the springs compress about 1/2"-3/4" its not critical. As long as the nut is fully threaded, maybe the equiv. of 100lb.ft. of torque?

Good luck on the rest of your project. We wanna see pics of the landscape man!

 

[Capt.Marion]

All of the M809-series TMs can be found under the "Resources" tab on the bar towards the top of the page. Click on "Resources," and on the menu that should pop up, click on "Technical Manuals"

Here's a link to the -20 Unit-Level maintenance manual. And a Link to -34 Direct Support level maintenance.

 

[cbvet]

1. I run 50-60 PSI.
2. Yes there is an O ring. One of mine leaked with no definite reason, although there was some rust in the seating area which probably caused it. HEAVY but not technically difficult to fix. Tubes may be a good idea, but I like the beadlocks with the tubeless tires too.
5. I think that means you got a driveshaft from an older 5 ton with a multifuel. Just lengthen it.
6. Pneumatic wipers can be a pain. Work some air tool oil or any light oil into them & you may get them working. Or I think you could put two 12volt wiper motors in series on the 24 volt system.
Good luck!

 

[JungleBiker]

Thanks everybody! I now have 5000 pages of maintenance manuals and parts lists.

I guessed that my winch drive shaft might be for an older generation 5 ton, (flat grill style). Good to have confirmation of that.

I dropped the tire pressures to 35 psi each, but I think I'm going to bump them back up to 50.

I like the idea of using tubes and flaps in our HEMTT wheels, but then I'll lose those really cool two way valve stems that allow me adjust tire pressures from either side of the wheel. Hmmmm. I'm reasonably sure i can keep the HEMTT rims from leaking, but tubes and flaps would unquestionably be more reliable. Decisions, decisions!

I'll try overhauling the pnuematic wiper motors, but the valve in the dash leaks too and it all just seems like a giant pain in the butt. Before all is said and done I'm pretty sure we're gonna see a set of Series II Land Rover wiper motors in there. I could wire them in series, but as the LR Series II wiper motors have switches mounted directly on them I'd have to make sure that they were both turned on at the same instant... I think I'll just take 12 volts from one battery. When I do it, I'll take photos of the mod and post them here somewhere.

Went for a drive today and got stuck in a river crossing! There was a huge rock in the water that stopped us dead, (got wedged under the front diff) so my buddy hiked over to a friend's house to get him to come pull us out with his Russian Ural 5 ton, but before he could actually start pulling I ended up just backing out somehow. I guess the 813 couldn't bear the thought of being pulled out by its Cold War rival. I didn't have a camera with me, but one of the Ural guys did and I'll try to get his photos from him in the next couple of days.

Thanks again, everybody!

 

[cbvet]

Need M813 "Stuck in the river" pics? Feel free to use mine.

 

[M813rc]

With Michelin XL's on the truck I run 60 psi in the front, since that is what the Marines stenciled on the fender. I figure they did the research, and it works very well for me, so I go with their recommendation.
I understand that the Goodyear style 14.00s run at a slightly higher pressure, but I have no personal experience with those tires.

Cheers

 

[fireball]

somehow the idea of Steve Mcqueen and Dustin Hoffman driving a five ton through the jungle of New Guiena is stuck in my mind

 

[Jared]

I can confirm #5 that the drive shaft is from the earlier G-744 (M54 cargo) series trucks because the same thing happened to me.

 

[JungleBiker]

I'm still trying to figure out how this door handle goes back on--for some reason I have the idea that I need TC 3-510 too see how it is all supposed to work, but it's not in the very excellent collection of manuals in the resource area. Noen of the 5000 or so pages of 809 series manuals that I downloaded has any info on the cab door handles, oddly enough. I know I'm not the only one who has this problem--I know of one 814 operator in the Wewak area of this country who has also had his door handle come off, (at least it's missing in the photos I have of his truck). Anybody have a good exploded parts diagram of the latch mechanism for an 809 series truck? Are the 2.5 ton trucks the same?

Thanks again! You guys are very helpful.

 

[cbvet]

Inside or outside door handle?

 

[JungleBiker]

Oustide, but it's no longer an issue. I had to do some slight modifications, but now I have an operating door handle that will not fall off again. Turns out the handle I had was the wrong one--the square shaft on it was too long and I couldn't make heads or tails of how it was supposed to be retained in the latch mechanism. I ended up making the shaft even longer, threading it for a nut, then drilling a small hole in the door on the inside so that the door handle shaft now goes all the way through the latch, through the inner door skin and is held in place with a nut and a big washer. The one thing I forgot to take into account was the door frame/cab stiffener--I had to grind a little notch in that to clear the end of the now extended shaft and nut. All good now, though!

 

[JungleBiker]

Hey, ours in an ex-USMC truck--I understand that USMC 809 series trucks have Detroit lockers in the rear diffs. I followed another thread that talked about how to tell if you have lockers or not involving jacking up one wheel and spinning the tire with the trans in neutral, etc., no hard conclusions though--is there any way to tell externally if the lockers have been installed? Might there be a tag, or a number/letter stamp or something like that?

 

[JungleBiker]

Oh, and another thing--what can I realistically expect from the hand brake? Is it supposed to be able to keep the truck from rolling when parked on a hill? Ours doesn't, even though we've adjusted it according to the manual. Now it takes a lot more effort to put the brake on, but it still won't keep the truck from rolling down even a small hill. The drum is a bit rusty from transport, once all that surface rust is knocked off and the adjustment checked again, can we expect it to actually hold on a hill?

Thanks again!

 

[bevanet]

Pull/coast starting?

I cannot seem to find a new thread button, so I am posting a reply to a similar one. I just bought an M813A1 and it was delivered to a lumber yard near my mountain property where I plan to keep it. I need to go get it in a week or two and I need some advice. The hauler said that the batteries were dead but otherwise it looked complete. I won't use it often and batteries don't last in the arizona heat, so I hate to buy 4 batteries just to move it. I have 2 good batteries I can use. Is there any problems with pull starting the truck? I have a duece that has dead batteries. I keep it parked on a small hill and routinely start it by coasting it then engaging the clutch in 3rd high. It starts right up. Note that the alternator seems to be bad so there is no voltage even when it is running. I'm not sure how the diesel gets to the injector pump since there is no voltage. I have driven it 10+ miles this way. I was thinking with the 813 I would hook up 2 batts so that the lift pump and lights etc would work, then I could pull it to start. Thanks for your help and any other advice about this truck would be appreciated!

 

[DaveP]

I cannot seem to find a new thread button, so I am posting a reply to a similar one. I just bought an M813A1 and it was delivered to a lumber yard near my mountain property where I plan to keep it. I need to go get it in a week or two and I need some advice. The hauler said that the batteries were dead but otherwise it looked complete. I won't use it often and batteries don't last in the arizona heat, so I hate to buy 4 batteries just to move it. I have 2 good batteries I can use. Is there any problems with pull starting the truck? I have a duece that has dead batteries. I keep it parked on a small hill and routinely start it by coasting it then engaging the clutch in 3rd high. It starts right up. Note that the alternator seems to be bad so there is no voltage even when it is running. I'm not sure how the diesel gets to the injector pump since there is no voltage. I have driven it 10+ miles this way. I was thinking with the 813 I would hook up 2 batts so that the lift pump and lights etc would work, then I could pull it to start. Thanks for your help and any other advice about this truck would be appreciated!

If your taking 2 batterys why would you need to pull start?

my M819 starts on 2 batts when it feels like it. ( its my problem child )

 

[JungleBiker]

Do either of your trucks have electric lift pumps? I would have thought that they would have all mechanical pumps.

I finally got some pics of our truck working here in PNG. These are from the first time we had it out and got it stuck on a pile of big rocks in the middle of a river crossing. That's me standing in the door waiting for our neighbor to come pull me out with his Ural. We hooked the Ural up with a chain, but then I ended up just backing out without the Ural's help after all. Last pic is of the two trucks side by side--turns out the Ural weighs almost exactly half as much as the M813A1. The Ural in these pics originally had rocket launchers on the back--those stayed in Mother Russia and the bed and bull bar on there now were made by the present owner, who uses two of these Urals to haul coffee out of the bush after he buys it from local growers. Next time you go to Starbuck's, remember that there's a good chance your coffee spent some time in the back of a Ural. Anyway. In the background of one of these photos you can see the wooden bridge that I was trying to avoid crossing. I ended up driving over it.

 

[bevanet]

Nice picts! I can see why you didn't want to cross the bridge. It doesn't look like it would hold 22000 lbs!

 

[No.2Diesel]

Hi,

Thank you very much for posting pictures. That looks like alot of fun! You aimed right for that rock! Interesting about the Ural's weight. Car & Driver should do a head to head comparison between US and Ruskie trucks

Wow be careful crossing those bridges.

 

[bevanet]

If your taking 2 batterys why would you need to pull start?

my M819 starts on 2 batts when it feels like it. ( its my problem child )

You are right. Based on some data, and the wasps nests inside, I doubt that it had been started in several years. I removed the 4 army batts, put in 2 700 CCA car batts. I turned it on and hit the starter. It spun the engine quite fast and the engine was running almost immediately. I doubt you would need 4 batterys unless it is real cold outside.