New M916A3

[highway]

We are pulling the M-916 into the shop to start working on it. I have called Daimler Truck and talked with their design engineer. The PTO is activated by a switch in the cab but is controlled by the engine ECM to shut off at 1,200 rpm. A simple re program at the dealer will allow us to operate the pump at all ranges of engine output while driving.

One thing I am puzzled about is the hardware they used to mount the fifth wheel plate. It has no nuts and the it appears to be some sort of swedged rivet assembly. Anyone have any experience with this arrangement?

We just ordered the new 13' dump body for it and should see it in 4 or 5 weeks.

Ed

 

[highway]

We are making great progress on the truck. I wish I had more time to post our progress, but here are a few.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Its good to see she is getting a new lease on life.

 

[R Racing]

You guys did a nice Job !!!! not so sure about the red and black colors. but if it works for ya then so be it.

 

[highway]

We had our maiden voyage with the truck last week and are impressed with its performance. One concern is the high temperature the transmission seems to run at while pushing the plow and wing. With a single speed transfer, we have no options to reducing gearing like our other trucks with a high low transfer case.
We may need to try a different fluid to see if the Allison will run cooler.

 

[highway]

Some more pics

 

[R Racing]

What kind of Temps were you seeing??

 

[gimpyrobb]

Thats tough!

 

[DrillerSurplus]

We had our maiden voyage with the truck last week and are impressed with its performance. One concern is the high temperature the transmission seems to run at while pushing the plow and wing. With a single speed transfer, we have no options to reducing gearing like our other trucks with a high low transfer case.
We may need to try a different fluid to see if the Allison will run cooler.

I doubt a different fluid would make much difference. I would suggest making sure the transmission is set up correctly with shift points at recommended rpm and torque converter lockup occurring as it should. I'm not familiar with the A3, but on drill rigs there is almost always a thermostat that controls whether the hydraulic fluid goes to the cooler or not. If it gets stuck closed, the system overheats just like an engine would if the thermostat stuck and didn't send any water/antifreeze to the radiator.

Also, if you are plowing at low speeds, there may not be enough air flow through the radiator/trans cooler. The fan clutch will kick in to compensate, but that is triggered by the engine coolant temperature which is probably fine, so it doesn't kick in. A bigger or additional transmission cooler would be easy & relatively cheap to add. an example 11 oilcoolers $642.22

If the trans temperatures really are too high, it wouldn't take very many hours to cook the transmission. I'd hate to think what replacing that Allison would cost.

 

[Carlo]

Some more pics View attachment 531028View attachment 531027View attachment 531030

I would think the trans setup is HD but designed to be used more at speeds higher than plowing snow. Maybe not enough airflow? I doubt the motor is also heating up so changing the fan kick on temp might work against you making the motor run cooler just to make the tans cooler. I think the 8V92 needs to stay at the right operating temp so modifying the temp the fan turns on might not work. If it was mine I would add a seperate cooling fan for the trans and maybe another radiator for the trans or relocate it. In any regards you did a nice work! All in house is a great thing in my book! Bravo.
I plowed snow here in Italy. Our provinces use private operators instead of doing it thier selfs.

 

[Trailboss]

I am the public works director for our Town and have been purchasing Federal Surplus property for almost 20 yr. Everything from dozers, loaders and trucks. Our small town of 1,000 people has not purchased a new truck since 1997. We have been buying military 5 tons, Osh -Kosh Mixer Chassis and CUCV's to upgrade our fleet. We build the truck in house as plow trucks or dump trucks and have bought equipment from Japan, Korea, England, Germany and Italy...

I applaud your use of the Federal Surplus system to get good equipment at minimal costs. With a population of only 1000, your property taxes should be high, but I see that your tax rate is among the lower NH rates. Good Job keeping down the costs!

 

[highway]

The transmission gauge in the cab ran on the green and yellow, never in the red. The engine temp was high as well indicating that both need to be adjusted. I have looked into an auxiliary cooler for the Allison tranny and think this will be the best option. We never travel above 25 mph while plowing, salting so lack of air flow is certainly a problem. This truck has a Detroit series 60 ECM engine and can be easily adjusted for clutch fan kick in by the dealer.

 

[Floridianson]

Shame its going to be a plow truck toooo nice. Take lots of pics as it will never look so good.

 

[Carlo]

Don't forget the plow frame and plow block allot of the air flow what little you are getting at 25 mph. All my plow trucks had manual transmissions. I had no temp gauges on the trans but I'm sure they ran hot. The motors would run warm even at -20c but mostly from the ice/snow being blow back from the plow.
I had more worries with overheat on the hydraulic systems running the spreader. There is no standard cooler radiator. I added one with a small fan on all my hydraulic spreaders and it cured the problems.
You did a nice job on your truck and you and your township should be proud.

 

[highway]

Here are some before and after pictures of an AWD Osh-Kosh we purchased from an air base in Italy a couple years ago. This has an Allison 5 speed as well but the hydraulics are run off from a live pto coupled to the engine crank adapter on the front of the engine. We have never had high temp issues with this set up.

Well I have talked to Allison and they do not seem to be too concerned with the temps, They told me if the tranny is not sending an over temp code then I don't need to worry. The electronic gauge in the cab is probably not reading the accurate temp, otherwise we would have a check tranny light and a code in the ECM. I checked for codes and there are none.

We reconfigured the hot shift PTO to run at all rpm's so we could have live hydraulics all the time to run the spreader and plow equipment. The original pto was set to kick out above 1,200 rpm's to keep from pushing too much fluid through the system that came with the winch set up. I am confident that this is also working the transmission harder and causing the higher temps.

We are actively pursuing an auxiliary cooler for the system which should take care of our problems.

 

[highway]

5 Ton Plow tuck

This is 1 of two 5 tons we ran as a plow truck for 10 years here. It was an animal and never got stuck. I loved these trucks although they are not as comfortable to operate as the newer chassis. This had a Mack 210 HP diesel and a standard 5 speed with high low transfer case. We ran live hydraulics off the front crank adapter for the plows and sanders.

 

[Carlo]

View attachment 532995View attachment 532996View attachment 532994
Here are some before and after pictures of an AWD Osh-Kosh we purchased from an air base in Italy a couple years ago. This has an Allison 5 speed as well but the hydraulics are run off from a live pto coupled to the engine crank adapter on the front of the engine. We have never had high temp issues with this set up.

Well I have talked to Allison and they do not seem to be too concerned with the temps, They told me if the tranny is not sending an over temp code then I don't need to worry. The electronic gauge in the cab is probably not reading the accurate temp, otherwise we would have a check tranny light and a code in the ECM. I checked for codes and there are none.

We reconfigured the hot shift PTO to run at all rpm's so we could have live hydraulics all the time to run the spreader and plow equipment. The original pto was set to kick out above 1,200 rpm's to keep from pushing too much fluid through the system that came with the winch set up. I am confident that this is also working the transmission harder and causing the higher temps.

We are actively pursuing an auxiliary cooler for the system which should take care of our problems.

This Oshkosh is nice! Do you know what base it came from, maybe Aviano? You guys do nice work on these trucks.

 

[Wildland]

Hey folks, just weighing in to add to the conversation on the M916A3. I work for the Oregon Dept of Forestry and I just picked my new water tender up from Smith Equipment in Prineville OR, last week. ODF bought the truck through FFP for $750 and we had a 3030 gallon tank, 1000 gpm pto pump, self loading, 3 sprays (2 rear, 1 side), fender-shelfs, 4" rear dump, 2.5 & 1.5 rear pressure discharges, hosereel, plus frame clean and paint, and tank and cab paint, for approx. $30k. This is one awesome truck, 430 hp, 7 spd allison push button trans, cti, jake, ac, proximity sensors, 70k gwvr, 6x6. This replaces our 5 ton 6x6 1400 gallon tender, circa 1970. Day and night difference.

 

[NEIOWA]

Anyone know why Sam is getting rid of all these M916A3? What is replacing them? HEMMT tractors?

Looked a some today at local DRMO - 1200mi, 5000mi, 9000mi, 20000mi obscene getting rid of 7-8yr old trucks But a couple hopefully coming to my Fire Dept for tankers.

Does anyone have electronic version (or link) to the -20-1?
I found the -20-2 at liberatedmanuals.

 

[NEIOWA]

Hey folks, just weighing in to add to the conversation on the M916A3. I work for the Oregon Dept of Forestry and I just picked my new water tender up from Smith Equipment in Prineville OR, last week. ODF bought the truck through FFP for $750 and...

There is NO charge from DOD for transfer thru FFP to a Forester. Perhaps transportation from ______ to Oregon/you.