Went and looked at the 5 ton wreakers today...

[FrankUSMC]

First, they are big...
The guy has two. I did not have that much time today to look them over, but I plan on going up again with a camera.
The truck that I might be after is a M543, with what looks like a brand new multi fuel motor in it. The truck looked very complete. Had the front and rear winches on it, and the boom surports. I also found one of the.....help me on this...it looks like a spade you would hook to the back of the wreaker to keep it from being pulled backwards? It was near by and if I get the truck, I am sure the owner will throw it in the deal. I will also look for the other one. All the gages are there and not broken out. The steering wheel will need to be replaced, but I have a NOS one.
The down side, the truck has been sitting out side for awhile. It has a no top (soft top). The door handles are frozen due to rust, I did not try the windows. I did not see any rust out in the body but it does have plenty of surfice rust. The truck does have the inverted V for desert storm on the doors, so it was running in the early 90s.
The owner says he wants $5000 cash for the truck. I will call him this week and see if he can get it running.
What else should I look at? any advice? I am looking at this truck to use on my place for picking stuff up, not for towing trucks down the highway.
Oh, the second truck has a hard top, but looked a little rougher than this one.
One of the few, Frank

 

[DaveP]

ground spade is what we have called them. (the poles that hook to the truck to hold it stable when winching)

 

[pa.rich]

Frank , you probalbly know alot more about these than I do. But the truck , if it does run well, sounds like a great price to me.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Frank, do you know if he will be selling both?

 

[FrankUSMC]

Kenny
Yes, they are both for sell.
One of the few. Frank

 

[Recovry4x4]

There you have it Chris! Take the offer on the 923, buy a wrecker and pocket some cashola.You will never be sorry for having a wrecker.

 

[steelsoldiers]

Hmmm, definitely worth looking into. Thanks Kenny.

I would like to see some pics after you get back up there Frank. Was the hard top model a multi-fuel 543 also?

 

[FrankUSMC]

Chris
Yes, it was.
I hope you are in no big rush, as the Bride and I are also in the middle of buying and selling a house.
I will try to get back up there in a couple of weeks.
Also, the hard cab truck had better winch cable than the one that I am after.
One of the few, Frank

 

[steelsoldiers]

Thanks Frank. No hurry. I'm still shopping around and looking at some trucks on ePay and GL.

 

[poppop]

Sounds like a great price to me. I paid $2500.00 for mine with no winches, no doors, no top, and no windshields and no spades. With the purchase of all these parts I have much more than $5000.00 in mine. And I love it by the way!!!

 

[rizzo]

crawl under it and look for the pto shaft that goes to the pump under the crane turret. it has a rubber boot on it. check over the boot and make sure it is in good shape. if it is not in good shape you will have a ton of work replacing it if they have not done the split shaft upgrade. the shaft that goes to the pump will have a type of flange on it so that you can take the shaft apart to change the boot. I think this info is in the PS articles on the 543