Xperimental-M816
New member
- 3
- 11
- 3
- Location
- Great State of Tejas
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
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