Old wrecker troubleshooting

[Xperimental-M816]

Hey guys,

I'm new here, but have had FMV's in the fire service for a long time.

I recently had the opportunity to purchase a 800 series wrecker, and am working towards getting it all operational again.

Getting the title was quite an experience. Texas is supposed to be pretty easy, but the TX DMV wouldn't do anything until I had the police do a VIN inspection. Being that the vehicle had never been titled by the Army, there was nothing in the records. To add complexity, they didn't like the ID numbers, and had never even heard of a model XM816, and truth be told neither had I....

The auto theft guys came out with an entire task force, like 7-8 trucks and a whole bunch of guys. They crawled all over the big green beast and ran every number that they could find. They were extremely thorough and professional. In the end, I have an original Texas titled XM816 with all the original motor, transmission, transfer case, and boom.

In my efforts to operate the boom I have found that my truck doesn't match the TM's. I am guessing that this is because it is prior to the 'official' version of the m816, and somewhere they made some changes - yay!

I think that I am engaging the rear power divider properly, I can hear the transfer case turning....I think...but no power/output from the power divider. When I operate the hand clutch at the rear station I hear an air leak, and I am not certain if the clutch for that system uses air to engage, or dis-engage the system.

Is there an easy way to check? I don't want to hurt anything along the way, or get run over while under the truck engaging things

Thanks for any insight that you can give. I am looking forward to getting this rig up and running down the road.

Here are some things that we have done/found:
Super Single Conversion (this was the PO's idea, but it looks pretty cool)
Fixed the fuel shut-off (the PO was stalling the motor to shut it down)
One of my guys managed to strip all of the studs on one wheel as he 'forgot' that the DS has LH threads
Found front winch and front axle driveshaft in the rear tool box
Acquired NOS transmission, transfer case, clutch, tow bar, and not so NOS HET tow bar
Rebuilt the fuel primer cylinder and fixed the leaks
Added solar battery maintainer (starts really easily now)
Acquired a 8-way air suspension driver's seat - pending installation (might be from an Oshkosh crash truck?)
Working on getting FMV registration, right now it's a yard queen and hasn't seen a public paved road since Army owned it

 

[NDT]

Welcome,

Any time someone shows up at the tax office with no title for a vehicle, lots of red flags go up, which is why the LEO inspection is required. Is the vehicle stolen? Illegally imported? In your case, the first time the vehicle was released from the government to civilian ownership, a government document called a SF97 was to be generated and given to the new civilian owner to get a title. Either this did not happen, or the first civilian owner neglected to process the paperwork. Or worse.

The crane driveline in these trucks are notoriously known for blowing CV joints. These joints are after the power divider, under the crane.
The air control at the rear winch operates the clutch on the main transmission. Sounds like an ancient hose has a hole.

 

[Joe Bertram]

Lever beside the seat pulled forward, transfer case in neutral, gear shifter in 4th gear all this after bed lever engaged is how I run our m-62 and m-816. I don't use the air clutch in the rear very often

 

[zebedee]

Welcome to the sickness. Do some digging in the forums, over the years there have been a dirth of wrecker and 5 ton specific threads on operation, use, modification..... hrs of reading!

 

[5tonpuller]

Welcome, I got a M543A2 witch is pretty much the same thing except for the motor and the trans. I run mine in 4 gear. Transfer case in neutral lever on the left of the driver seat forward. In the back 4 levers. The one to the right is the gas going left is crane engagement then the rear winch. When I was in I got trained by the old guys on these then the hemmits. ( still want a hemmit) Get the manuals for it and read. The X before the M means experimental. They changed something.

 

[WillWagner]

On the M62 we have at the Museum, either the manual or the truck is wrong. The levers at the rear winch are backwards from the TM. On ours, the inboard operates the boom and the outboard is for the winch. Go under it and have someone move the boom engage lever to see if the PTO is indeed being shifted into gear. It might be an adjustment.

On that note, I need to post some update pics!

 

[Xperimental-M816]

Thanks guys. I knew that the X was going to be an adventure

I think that something is not engaged, the drive line to the hydraulic pump is intact and reasonably solid at this time. It looks like there is an inspection port on the power divider, I'm going to open it up and see what I can find.

Thanks for the warm welcome!