new M931A1 owner here, and of course i have questions

[wizner17]

yesterday i bought a 1987 (engine block date is 11/86) M931A1 with 640 miles and 32 hours on the clock. there are a bunch of MWO tags and i found some paper work with what looks like a pm checklist filled out from fort shelby with a date from 1996. so from that im deriving it is original and not a rebuild. but you guys know more about that then me so let me know what you think. it is in absolutely perfect condition excluding some random dryrot on rubber grommets behind switches in the dash here and there.

so here are the noob questions-(and yes i just spent hours looking through this forum, and also skimmed or read the entire tm on this vehicle before asking for help)

1. is there anyone in my area (sterling heights, mi) that knows this vehicle well enough for trusted service?

2. even though i have found a ton of information as to the torque the engine produces, i never found anything directly from either the manufacturer or a military document. so can anyone confirm that the NHC250 has 685 ft lbs of torque? on wiki (amongest tons of other sources) it lists 250hp and 685 ft lbs of torque, but obviously i trust the tag on the engine for hp which says 240 so it makes me skeptical of the torque values i have found on the internet.

3. the spring brake warning light was illuminated the entire drive home. (approximately 20 minutes) without loss of power from stuck brakes or any brake smell indicating a dragging brake. i had 125psi on both gauges all the way home also. im aware of an update (MWO) to these vehicles regarding the spring brake and i havent had a chance to check weather or not my vehicle has recieved this update. i have read the tm for the update but it didnt elude to what it was specifically improving, or i read it too fast. but should i try to use the spring brake release control valve to get it to activate before setting off next time? the vehicle needed the blow off valve to the air brakes lubricated before it could hold pressure and now it works fine, but is there something else that sounds like it is simply stuck like that for me to look for?

4. is it possible to track this specific vehicles location history?

5. and finally, im looking to have a keyed ignition and i just got done with over an hour searching on this site and all i found was one guy flaming another guy for asking without a link to the solution. i couldnt find out what line voltage or milliamps the on position is so i can start looking at civilian or other military keys to mount where the standard off, on, start switch goes

any info will help, and thanks in advance

 

[juanprado]

on #3, Was the spring override switch engaged on the dash with the black knob? It sounds like it was pushed in so the light came on. What that is doing is bypassing the spring brakes so you can control the vehicle for a few stops to get it off the road before the spring brakes lock up when you have a major loss of air or malfunction. If the switch was not engaged, there is a pressure switch attached to the valve behind the dash. That pressure sending unit could be faulty. Search the 5 ton forum for "motherload" to get a link to download the newest tm's not posted on this site yet. Lots of good stuff there including the newest 10 tm for operator's.

It is not a parking brake like civy vehichles, hence the knob is black instead of yellow.

 

[wizner17]

thank you for the mother load suggestion, thats an incredible amount of information. and i cant remember if the over ride switch was pushed in or not, or maybe just needs to be worked a couple of times, so ill look into it tonight.

 

[wizner17]

well imagine that, the spring brake override was activated, im so glad the previous owner only drove it for a few miles and had it for a few weeks. so now that i have read waaaaaaay to many hours of tm's i feel confident that i can properly drive this vehicle.

but i cant seem to figure out if any possible damage or premature ware could have occurred since this vehicle has had the override engaged for about the last 20 miles. is there anything i should check into?

 

[Stein12501]

No should not have caused any damage or premature wear. It just overrides the spring brakes on the rear axles and when you set the e-brake only the mechanical brake would set and hold the vehicle until the air pressure dropped which would allow the spring brakes to set. The only problem would be if the mechanical e-brake was not adjusted properly the truck could roll away. Congrats on the new truck and I know you will love it.

 

[wizner17]

thank you for the reply, it puts my mind at ease. and although i did read the tm on it, your explaination makes perfect sense.

and yes i love the truck, even though i never drove one of these when i was in the military, it does bring back fond memories of delivering much needed goods into the field! but im now waiting on the title to be amended for the correct model year, so its going to be about a week til i can register and drive it.