M543A2 wrecker joins the family

Looks like I'm joining the "wrecker owners" club. Thanks to NF6X "Mark" I'm the proud new owner of this M543A2 wrecker. She's on her way to Nor. Cal. and I should get it on Tuesday. More pics to come as I begin the resto project. I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions.

Now that's a machine!

It's a winner for sure. Little underpowered for towing but a great recovery truck. Good luck with it.

Congrats Mike !

Good for you, I like the wreckers.

Take it from someone who drug broken down trucks all over California and Georgia with a M543, they tow just fine. Such great memories. I am over your truck.

Welcome to the club! I thought I was going to have to use mine today to recover my deuce today.

Awesome

I'm preserving the for-sale listing in case anybody would like to see some more "before" pictures:

1965 Kaiser-Jeep M543A2 5-Ton 6×6 Medium Wrecker SOLD » Mark's Green Pages

I'll probably also make a new post on my web page soon with some more loadout pictures. I'm going to miss this truck, but I'm happy to see it going to a home where it will get more attention. I just never had the time+gumption to fix it up right. It came in handy many times as a yard crane while I had it, though.

Good luck with the wrecker, Mike! I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it, and I'll be happy to help answer questions. And there's a full set of TMs on a USB stick in the glove box, along with the title.

Save the pics then dump the ad in a day or so

I'll be dumping the classified ad here in a day or so after giving any interested folks a chance to see the "sold" posting, but the link I posted above is on my personal web page. The pics are much higher resolution, and it'll stay there indefinitely.

I tried changing the classified ad title to say "SOLD", but I got a "vbulletin database error" from the SS web server.

Here are some more pictures of the loadout. They're also on my web page at higher resolution:

M543A2 Wrecker Leaves for its New Home » Mark's Green Pages

Notice the trailer frame scraping the ground as the driver goes through my gate. Many drivers wouldn't have wanted to bring their truck onto my property, but Frank from Hamner Towing used to operate heavy equipment, and he knows how to drive in the dirt.

great pics Mark.

Looks like the trailer dragged a bit when leaving the yard in picture #5.

Yup! The trailer dragged on the way in, too.

wrecker arrived today

The wrecker arrived today. It does take a bit to start but otherwise, sounds and runs good. I drove her around the property and settled it next to the house. Next set is get the brakes to work...power bleeder do your stuff.

Hooray!

I suspect that the master cylinder needs rebuilding, but then I have had enough trouble keeping the brakes working reliably on some of my trucks that my advice is pretty questionable.

Oh here's one other thing I learned about this truck The crane needs to be rotated a bit to the drivers side to let the passenger side toolbox lid clear the hydraulic filter, but make sure you get that lid opened before turning the crane too far so the crane doesn't catch on the lid. I dont seem to have this particular issue on my M936A1, but I can still see that clearances are tight and it doesn't take much of a sprung lid for stuff to start interfering. Also look out for gear stowed on the bed interfering with the crane. I think you'll learn soon why there are threads about modifying the stowage on the 5 ton wreckers! Despite the headaches these trucks often have, that hydraulic crane is very versatile.

Mark,

I stumbled across an NOS master cylinder at Tower Park last year for $5.00...so I'm good if the master is shot.

I see that one of the storage boxes is a bit tweaked and won't open with the crane in it's current position. I'll be studying the TMs for quite sometime before I get her on the road for some action.

Thanks again for the opportunity. I'll give her a good home and nice facial.

I never tried fixing that lid because my sheet metal skills are in the hit it with a sledge hammer category.

Step #1 going thru the brakes

Tore into the wrecker's brake system yesterday. Man, are they making the tires heavier each year??? It certainly can't be me I found several lug nuts very loose and some were super tight. The robo impact works good on everything but the super tight ones. That's where the tire iron and 9' long pipe come into play.

Set up the "garden sprayer" power bleeder....this thing works awsome "thanks Will Wagner"...and started by bleeding out the entire truck. There was a ton of air in the system. Then I started pumping fresh DOT 5 brake fluid thru the system. I got some seriously nasty looking fluid (iced tea colored and weird gunk at the bottom of the catch bottle). I ran out of DOT 5 so I had to stop for the night. I ran down and got a gallon of DOT 5 from NAPA just before the closed so I can continue to flush the entire truck until everything runs PURPLE. I'll start that this morning.

All the major components, master cylinder, air pack, etc. look really good. Performed inspection and adjustments to the brake shoes. A couple were gapped a bit high .020" and couple were a bit low .005" measuring at the top of the shoe. I adjusted everyone to .010" gapping at the top and .005"-.008" at the bottom. There looks like plenty of brake pad left on the shoes so I'll not need to tear down any further. The drums look to be in good shape. Overall, the undercarriage of this truck is in excellent shape. I would not surprised if the 1,700 miles on the odometer were actual miles. There are no rebuild tags on anything.

Next step, find and fix the hard start. You need to crank the truck pretty long before it fires. I'm gonna guess those pesky plastic lines or something to do with the dual fuel tanks. Any guidance would be appreciated.

Great to see progress on the truck already!

The engine only draws fuel from the left (driver) side tank. There's an electric transfer pump to refill the left tank from the right one. The wiring to that pump is badly decomposed, so it needs to be rewired before trying to energize the pump. There's a switch somewhere on the dash to turn on the transfer pump. I've never pumped out of the right tank, so who knows what evil lurks in there?

This is different from the system on my M936A1, where the engine can draw from either tank and there's a valve on the cab floor to manually switch between tanks. Or the Gama Goat, where the tanks are plumbed together and the engine draws from both of them (if I recall correctly... I sold my goat many years ago).