New XM818 made it home!

So this past weekend I traveled to Bryan Tx to recover my new XM818. I drove the truck nearly 700 miles home after swapping tires and and doing some maintenance and fluid topping. I must say its a very nice truck and big thanks to FuzzyToaster for selling me a good truck that was in the condition described. Its rare when you show up and the truck actually looks like the pictures. I made it home virtually problem free aside from a few clogged fuel filters and a leaking O-ring in the rear wheel. All together the drive home took 17 hours which included many many stops to check the truck over and make roadside repairs(electical issues). Luckily everything cooperated and we had the tools and parts to make it home safely! It was a great adventure and I cant wait for the next one!

Really digging the temporary ac setup, staying cool on a long recovery helps a lot

WOW!! I’ve seen battery replacements, maybe power steering or alternator changes, but never supersingle tire swap in front of an auto parts store!!! Mad props sir!!! And 16x20s as it appears!


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In pic 6 it looks like you only had 6 lug nuts.

pigpen60 said:

In pic 6 it looks like you only had 6 lug nuts.

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The store was out of inner thimbles?

Using hemtt rims on the front of 818's requires either replacement of the wheelstuds with longer ones or the use of offset lugnuts.

crazy idea on the A/C BUT looks effective!
KK

Pigpen thats a good eye but dont worry it only stayed like that for about 5 miles to limp into a truckstop. I lucked out and was able to find them at the first place we came across. I actually ordered new thimbles and lugnuts before I left but they sent me 15left and 5 right instead of 10 and 10 and I didnt notice til we started swapping tires

Are the thimbles that you mention Budd inner wheel nuts?

I'm loving you A/C Setup. by the way, does your XM818 have lockers in all 3 axles. I think I saw that truck for sale. If it does have a locker in the front axle, how well did it steer?

Flash yes the thimbles im referring to are the inner bud wheel nuts I have heard them referred to as thimbles before im not sure if thats correct or not.

Brutacus thanks the A/C setup while horrible looking served its purpose well and a permanantly installed unit will find its way on the truck soon its on my must have upgrades list. Not gonna be a window unit by tye way the truck is the one youtlr thinking of that was listed in the classifieds. I bought the truck because of the lockers unfortunately they are only installed in the rear 2 axles.

I'm just really digging the ingenuity applied to the A/C. My area has been plague with heat indexes in excess of 110 degrees. I can't even imagine driving my truck right now. I asked about the lockers because I have thought about putting one in my front axle, but I'm not sure how the truck would drive with one installed in the front. Still though, with lockers in the rear, 16.00's all the way around, that's the way to roll in a M818.

As said, major props for the wheel / tire swap in the parking lot. Inner Budd nuts have been "thimbles" to me since I worked on my first truck. I would love to put 16.00's on mine but she's already 11' 6" tall AND I would lose a lot of ( possible ) articulation. That truck ( M818 ) looks amazing on them. Love that it came from a Fire Dept. at some point. Many depts. around here have brush buggies built on M800 series chassis'. I too admire your "engineering" prowess with the a/c set-up. Did you use an inverter to power it while rolling ? Makes for one heckuva blindspot though.

my deuce has a detroit in the front and after i installed 395s it became impossible to steer more then maybe 50% of range on pavement, had to install hubs just to make it road worthy again

Brutacus said:

I I asked about the lockers because I have thought about putting one in my front axle, but I'm not sure how the truck would drive with one installed in the front. Still though, with lockers in the rear, 16.00's all the way around, that's the way to roll in a M818.

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That's why I wish ARB, or Eaton made a selectable locker for the Rockwell's. When ya need it, NOTHING else will do, but . . . when not needed it's no different than having anspool in there. Unless you idle around every turn, or have selectable hubs, it will NOT steer. Winfred, I am amazed you got that much angle before the hubs without breaking something. Lockers in the rear must be treated with respect on hard surfaces also. Throttle in the middle of a turn will either spin the inside tire(s) or break something. Either is not good, and in the rain or snow CAN cause loss of control ( skidding, usually violent oversteer ). Not fun unless yet wanting to in a safe environment. Enjoy the truck, it's amazing. Just respect it and it's intricacies. Happy Motoring !

Congratz!

Southern Krawler said:

Flash yes the thimbles im referring to are the inner bud wheel nuts I have heard them referred to as thimbles before im not sure if thats correct or not.

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When using the "thimbles" does the wheel press on the hub or does it hit the tapered portion of the thimble? The HEMTT wheels that I have don't seem to have a big enough chamfer to allow the wheel to contact the hub.

Flash said:

When using the "thimbles" does the wheel press on the hub or does it hit the tapered portion of the thimble? The HEMTT wheels that I have don't seem to have a big enough chamfer to allow the wheel to contact the hub.

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You really don't want to use the thimbles in place of lugnuts. They aren't designed for it and can fail. Replace them with lugnuts like you have on the front of the truck.

If you *must* use thimbles as an emergency temporary field expedient lugnut, the wheel goes on first, then the thimble.

Edit - what kind of truck do you have?