"Rescued" M816 Wrecker

[Truckdriver47]

I always thought it was just a figure-of-speech, but:

- Your friend is apparently an ACTUAL "block-head"!

The world never ceases to amaze.



View attachment 694065

Dang, didn't know that's what the side of my head ACTUALLY looks like... hahaha

 

[Another Ahab]

Dang, didn't know that's what the side of my head ACTUALLY looks like... hahaha

 

[red]

After a couple delays drove down to pick up the wrecker today. Slapped the other damaged wheel into place and drove the truck onto lowboy, trailer is just about perfect length.

Stopped for the night since it doesn't seem like the m915a2 alternator is charging enough to keep up with the lights. Will drive the last 230 miles tomorrow.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[wcuhillbilly]

Wow !!!!! Red,,,,
Ive been out for a few weeks on a Fire assignment and just catching up on the backfill. Sucks with all 20 on one side failing at once. My worth would be that the Right side is the force side when dealing with differentials. thus the inertia of forward force will usually travel through an open differential and exit via the Right rear..... (one wheel wonders at the drag strip test and tune nite..) Secondly... the pic of the sheered studs in the hub.... the hole in the hub is a good deal larger than the stud in that config (I think you said earlier that you "flipped" the hub) Hub is now riding on outside of the drum...????? I haven't done this conversion but just looking at the pics... I can see that if the gap around the stud will allow the stud to flex with both the force of the tightening and the force of the wheel in travel. The Aluminum wheel being a softer metal than the cast or steel hub would alow some flex at the WMS- wheel mating surface (evidence of would be wiped away when wheel exited hub) and result in the stud sheering off.

Good choice on the 24.5s I have 22.5s on my front with 11R22.5 tires which are the same size as our stock 12-20s.... I wish I had gone with 24.5s as they are a lot more plentiful with the logging trucks around here wanting more ground clearance.

 

[red]

Pics from the recovery. Loaded up in St George. Stopped for the night at a hotel since the alternator doesn't seem to be working on the m915a1.





Headed out saturday morning and stopped by Beaver, Utah to pick up the 24.5" wheels. Paid $200 for all 11, and I'm not a fan of aluminum wheels after this little fiasco. Need paint, then to find tires. 11x24.5"s are commonly available but I'd like to go with 12x24.5"s since they are 1" shorter than the 395's. Having a hard time find them used.





Got the truck back to Lehi, Utah this afternoon. Disconnected the trailer, will unload the truck and wheels tomorrow.





As for which caused the failure, it's gonna have to be debated between the wheel manufacturer and the stud manufacturer since they are blaming each other.

Tractor pulled it well, was definetly working on some of the grades (up to 6% on this section of interstate). Dropped down to 30mph. Downhill with the trans in 4th and jakes on high managed the weight with only having to step on the brakes a few times.

 

[red]

Wrecker is off the trailer now and into it's parking spot, where it's gonna sit for a few weeks while I'm working on the pickup. Next time the wrecker rolls it'l be on either 11r24.5"s or 12r24.5"s. Reason the outrigger on the passenger side rear isn't fully extended is because the actual tubing at the end of the bed is tweaked and makes it a major pain in the ass to pull it out. had to use the pickup to extend it last time and the sledge hammer to drive it back in. Going off the pics and remembering the first time of trying to setup the outriggers it's been like that since before I got it. Guessing it did a hard pull with the rear winch out to that side with the outrigger down when it was still in active service.





Also shuffled around a few things. Have the m51a2 remains sold (pending payment) so that should be gone next weekend. Relocated the m119 trailer over to it's spot next to the wrecker.

 

[red]

Poor wrecker is most likely going to spend the winter sitting there waiting for tires. the worn out dog bones didn't like that incident and look like the lower 4 are about ready to fail so will be replacing them. so the list of repairs/mods to the wrecker over the winter/fall:


Lower 4 dog bones (have 2 spares with good joints)
Replace the broken wheel studs (maybe delayed till spring)
Get the new wheels blasted/painted
Clean up the dash plumbing
Clean up the dash wiring
Fix the air leak (1 audible but not bad)
Secure the 3rd air tank better
Install the cab heater
Install the Jake brakes
Plumb in the 3rd axle air brakes and get spring brake cans for it
Install the replacement crane cable

Lots of parts sitting around waiting for install, with things slowing down I can start getting to them finally.

 

[MyothersanM1]

Wow! Sorry to hear about your stud misfortune! Glad no one was hurt!

Here's my recent tire adventure...
Back in February, I converted my M818 to Firestone T831 12R22.5's from Goodyear G177 11.00R20's. The two are comparable in size and the 12R22.5's are a hair less than an inch in diameter compared to the 11R24.5's. The military actually used T831 11.00R20 tube types on the M939-series 5-tons in addition to G177's.

The rims, 22.5" X 8.25", 5 hand hole, were found on-line and locally. These rims stud-piloted are not easy to come by. I was able to source eight brand new and two used Accurides and one used Firestone all made in USA. I just picked my last three used 5 hand hole last month. Now to swap out all the 2 hand holes out.

I bought four 2009 DOT stamped tires on rims for the rear inners from eBay and the rest are brand new from...
https://simpletire.com/catalog?search=t831



I love these tires and rims. They so simple to work with. Mount and demount are a cinch compared to the split ring rims.

 

[red]

Yea I'm not buying most new (can't afford that haha) unless I go with one of the Chinese manufacturers which wear faster but I'm not driving nearly as much as a over the road commercial truck. Will be looking for some decent used ones, retreads, or the Chinese brands for on/offroad use.

Pulled the 395's off today, guy is supposed to be picking them up tomorrow. Outriggers have most of the truck weight but the hubs are sitting on 1 wheel each. Pic of the lower dogbone ends that are being replaced before the truck goes anywhere. I have 2 spare bones with good stock ends. Thinking of replacing the other set with those upgraded greaseable ones.

 

[Another Ahab]

Pulled the 395's off today, guy is supposed to be picking them up tomorrow. Outriggers have most of the truck weight but the hubs are sitting on 1 wheel each. Pic of the lower dogbone ends that are being replaced before the truck goes anywhere. I have 2 spare bones with good stock ends. Thinking of replacing the other set with those upgraded greaseable ones.

View attachment 702665

Caked with mud and some rust signs, but look sound (to an unpracticed eye).

Are you replacing mostly for the "greaseable" feature?

 

[red]

Caked with mud and some rust signs, but look sound (to an unpracticed eye).

Are you replacing mostly for the "greaseable" feature?

The rubber is broken on them. The outer ring of rubber is no longer connected to the inner metal joint of the dog bone ends.

 

[red]

Guy picked up the 395's today, backed out of buying the m51a2 remains though which sucks but creates a few opportunities. Warning to any purists reading this thread, might want to turn away for a bit. There will be alot of trigger happy use of a torch on the m51a2 soon. Dump bed/subframe won't be cut but everything else remaining will be.

Going to take the 14.00x20 NDT's on bridge truck wheels from the m51a2 and move them over to the wrecker. Not as a long term setup, but (once the wheel studs are replaced) it will at least get the wrecker mobile around the lot. Won't have full turning capabilities and the tires are old/will be holding alot of weight so yard dog use only.

Dump bed will remain intact and placed onto the ground. Doesn't have any hydraulic components right now.

Cutting the spindles off the rear axles. Will use them along with their hubs to build the tail rollers for both the trailer and the wrecker. Necessary for the multiple bed plans.

m51 frame getting sliced/diced as needed.

 

[74M35A2]

Everything goes back to where it came from.

 

[red]

Heave ho. Front axle remains removed and tossed into the dump bed, and with alot more work than planned the dump bed/subframe is off the chassis. One of the other hoses on the crane decided to start leaking as well.

 

[tobyS]

Heave ho. Front axle remains removed and tossed into the dump bed

View attachment 702899

Did you think about making a trailer out of it?

 

[SCM35A2]

If I lived closer to you I so would have bought that rear axle section & turned into a trailer! I read this whole thread & cant wait to see what you do with the wrecker.

 

[red]

Over the past year building the m51a2 remains into a trailer if it didn't sell was the plan. However I only have room for 1 trailer, 1 mil vehicle, and it keeps the costs down. The M118 trailer will play a big part in this along with the wrecker.

The plan is for 1 truck/trailer with multiple different beds, like Soni's FEMMT build. Except I'm using a winch behind the cab with a tail roller at the end of the frame to swap beds.

Tomorrow will just be some general scrap metal cleanup then either tuesday or wednesday will clean the rest of the stuff off the frame and start chopping it up. Things go well all the scrap parts will be in the dump bed by the end of the week.

 

[red]

Got slowed down a bit but alot of the frame slicing happened today.

 

[98G]

Zz (can't delete)

 

[Another Ahab]

Got slowed down a bit but alot of the frame slicing happened today.

View attachment 703766

Not important but just curious, red:

- Plasma cutter?

- Or "old school" oxy-acetylene?