Won a new truck on e-bay on 11-15-06. Have not even seen it yet, but I don't think it's a bad deal. M812A1 bridge retriever truck with brand new drop-side bed and spare set of tires. Problem is/was distance, it's in Down East Maine over 12 hours from central NH. Trying to arrange trucking now. For the monies paid, can't believe I won the bid (will have less than $ 6,000 into it after trucking). Now got to find something to use it for. Cut down for 4 wheel truck? Container roll-off truck? Mount crane next to cab and make a self-loading cargo truck with the new bed? Dump truck? Roll back flatbed? Any suggestions? Same problems as with all bridge trucks, overwidth as is, but we already have been through this with the water truck, but this one looks to have more "stuff" to deal with.
Yes, you can see where the spacer is on the front hub in the side view picture. These are needed so that the really deep dish 10x20 wheels used with the 1400x20 tires can clear the front tie-rod ends of the steering. The deep dish wheels are needed on the rear so the duels clear each other and I guess give the truck more stable footing when loading and unloading. Anyone know of any other 10x20 wheels (other than combat style) that have a shallower dish? They would work better on the front of the water truck so we could take off the spacers and narrow up the track on the front. We could use combat wheels without the spacer, but mixing wheel types would look funny.
How would this truck (M812A1) look with 10 1600x20 tires?? Other than shipping the cost is'nt that bad and the top end speed would be about 65-68 mph @ 2100 rpm. When we measured the water truck before flipping the hubs, it looked like it would work. Just think about the rotating weight of 10 1600's!! Would need to add disk brakes on the front and far rear axles just to handle the extra force generated. Would also still have the over width problem to address when getting plates (it would be over 9½' wide, maybe closer to 10').
I saw a bridge truck in Florida with duel super single 16'x20's, 10 total. It was pretty awesome and I bet it would float through almost any mud pit, definately wouldn't have to worry about the rear sinking under a load. If you own a bridge truck and aren't planning on making it legal width, why not go extra big? It would at least be fun to drive.
New Truck, another bridge type
Singles would be cool too.
