db72
New member
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- Location
- Palmyra, MO
Good evening everyone. As I mentioned in my introduction post, I'm thinking about buying a 5 ton, and I want to make sure I have all of my bases covered.
I can already tell this post is going to be longer than some novels, so please bear with me.
First things first, I guess I should describe what I'm looking for. This all started one day a couple months ago when I was browsing FB Marketplace, and I saw a cool '61 GMC cabover that someone had put a ramp bed on to use as a car hauler. I was actually looking for a 67-72 Chevy Suburban at the time, and thought that having something like a ramp truck would be a great way to haul around various projects. The cabover was cool, but not really my style. I thought about getting a 67-72 Chevy C60 grain truck, removing the bedsides, and adding a small dovetail to be able to load things more easily. I didn't much care for the big block 366 gas that was in most of those trucks though, so I wanted to put a big diesel in it. I pretty quickly figured out that a Cat 3406B or Big Cam Cummins wouldn't fit without hacking out the firewall and having basically half of the engine in the cab with me (doghouse style). That would be a lot of work, and I wouldn't have it done in a reasonable timeframe. I started thinking about other options when I remembered the bobbed Deuce my uncle used to have, and how I've wanted a military vehicle for quite a while.
I found an M812 bridge truck that had the bridge bed removed, and I got to thinking. The M812 has a diesel already in it, and has the space in the engine bay if I decide to put a hotter motor in it in the future. The manual transmission is important to me too, which is why I haven't looked at the M939 series as much. I didn't want a Deuce since the weight capacity is less than I'd really like. The Deuce also wouldn't be a good platform for the larger diesels either, even though I'm sure something like a 5.9 or 8.3 Cummins would do what I need. What I'm looking for is something that I can cruise around in or let people ride on in parades, but also be capable of moving vehicles, tractors, equipment, etc. when I need a vehicle to do heavier work. With the M812, my thought was to see if I can find a flat bed for it that is about the right length to be flat to the end of the frame/right above the rear axle, then have a dovetail at the end so I don't need crazy long ramps. I'm not dead set on an M812 though, that was just the first truck I came across. I'm not sure if an M813 would have the frame length I want to get a vehicle on without having a lot of rear overhang. I'm thinking something in the 18-22' overall bed length would be about right, with at least 15' flat before the dove.
My first question is: does my reasoning sound solid based on the above? What issues do you all see?
Other modifications I'd plan on making to the truck are adding 16.00 R20 tires on HEMTT wheels. I think this will take care of the overwidth issue on the bridge trucks -- correct? One advantage for the M812 in this respect is the extra rear axle spacing. I'd prefer the tires not to be as close together as what I've seen on the other 5 tons, though I don't think this is a deal breaker one way or the other. Since the tires are so tall though, that would put the bed way up in the air, and I'd have to keep maximum height in mind. My other question about height is stability. Say I bought a larger tractor in the future, would the truck be too top heavy with ~5+ ton that far off the ground? I'm guessing at that point I'd look at getting a trailer.
Thinking about trailers makes me wonder if the the dovetail is a dumb idea because of potential interference between the tongue and the bed. I'd suppose that I could get a gooseneck, except I'm not sure if the truck would end up being too tall for a gooseneck hitch without the trailer being really high in the front, even with the hitch slid all the way up into the neck.
My next question is what should I be looking to pay for one of these trucks? I'm not necessarily looking for something that's mint condition. I also don't want to spend a bunch of money and a lot of time getting to the point where I have something that will pass a MO safety inspection and also not leave me stranded on the side of the road every time I drive it. I would really like to have a winch, but it also wouldn't be a dealbreaker if the price was right.
What options (if any) are there for adding a winch to one of these trucks if it doesn't have one? I'm not necessarily stuck to the PTO winch that these trucks would have came with, but I'm also not sure if I would trust an electric winch to do much good if I managed to get the thing stuck. Would it be possible to add a "wet kit" so I could add a hydraulic winch if I needed to? Is there even room on the front of a truck w/o winch to mount one?
I'm guessing I'll need to buy a bunch of tools to be able to work on one of these trucks, since I'm sure a lot of the hardware is larger than what I'm used to dealing with. To give me an idea: I've got a 1/2" drive air impact, is that adequate for most of the stuff, or is the truck just going to laugh at it? What kind of maintenance should I expect to be doing after I get the truck on the road? I'll admit, I still need to look at the TMs in depth, but I imagine real world experience from you all will give me a better idea of what to expect than trying to read a 400+ page manual. On the same token, what do I need to inspect when looking at a truck to buy?
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading! I'm sure more questions will come up, but I think this is enough typing for tonight.
DougB
I can already tell this post is going to be longer than some novels, so please bear with me.
First things first, I guess I should describe what I'm looking for. This all started one day a couple months ago when I was browsing FB Marketplace, and I saw a cool '61 GMC cabover that someone had put a ramp bed on to use as a car hauler. I was actually looking for a 67-72 Chevy Suburban at the time, and thought that having something like a ramp truck would be a great way to haul around various projects. The cabover was cool, but not really my style. I thought about getting a 67-72 Chevy C60 grain truck, removing the bedsides, and adding a small dovetail to be able to load things more easily. I didn't much care for the big block 366 gas that was in most of those trucks though, so I wanted to put a big diesel in it. I pretty quickly figured out that a Cat 3406B or Big Cam Cummins wouldn't fit without hacking out the firewall and having basically half of the engine in the cab with me (doghouse style). That would be a lot of work, and I wouldn't have it done in a reasonable timeframe. I started thinking about other options when I remembered the bobbed Deuce my uncle used to have, and how I've wanted a military vehicle for quite a while.
I found an M812 bridge truck that had the bridge bed removed, and I got to thinking. The M812 has a diesel already in it, and has the space in the engine bay if I decide to put a hotter motor in it in the future. The manual transmission is important to me too, which is why I haven't looked at the M939 series as much. I didn't want a Deuce since the weight capacity is less than I'd really like. The Deuce also wouldn't be a good platform for the larger diesels either, even though I'm sure something like a 5.9 or 8.3 Cummins would do what I need. What I'm looking for is something that I can cruise around in or let people ride on in parades, but also be capable of moving vehicles, tractors, equipment, etc. when I need a vehicle to do heavier work. With the M812, my thought was to see if I can find a flat bed for it that is about the right length to be flat to the end of the frame/right above the rear axle, then have a dovetail at the end so I don't need crazy long ramps. I'm not dead set on an M812 though, that was just the first truck I came across. I'm not sure if an M813 would have the frame length I want to get a vehicle on without having a lot of rear overhang. I'm thinking something in the 18-22' overall bed length would be about right, with at least 15' flat before the dove.
My first question is: does my reasoning sound solid based on the above? What issues do you all see?
Other modifications I'd plan on making to the truck are adding 16.00 R20 tires on HEMTT wheels. I think this will take care of the overwidth issue on the bridge trucks -- correct? One advantage for the M812 in this respect is the extra rear axle spacing. I'd prefer the tires not to be as close together as what I've seen on the other 5 tons, though I don't think this is a deal breaker one way or the other. Since the tires are so tall though, that would put the bed way up in the air, and I'd have to keep maximum height in mind. My other question about height is stability. Say I bought a larger tractor in the future, would the truck be too top heavy with ~5+ ton that far off the ground? I'm guessing at that point I'd look at getting a trailer.
Thinking about trailers makes me wonder if the the dovetail is a dumb idea because of potential interference between the tongue and the bed. I'd suppose that I could get a gooseneck, except I'm not sure if the truck would end up being too tall for a gooseneck hitch without the trailer being really high in the front, even with the hitch slid all the way up into the neck.
My next question is what should I be looking to pay for one of these trucks? I'm not necessarily looking for something that's mint condition. I also don't want to spend a bunch of money and a lot of time getting to the point where I have something that will pass a MO safety inspection and also not leave me stranded on the side of the road every time I drive it. I would really like to have a winch, but it also wouldn't be a dealbreaker if the price was right.
What options (if any) are there for adding a winch to one of these trucks if it doesn't have one? I'm not necessarily stuck to the PTO winch that these trucks would have came with, but I'm also not sure if I would trust an electric winch to do much good if I managed to get the thing stuck. Would it be possible to add a "wet kit" so I could add a hydraulic winch if I needed to? Is there even room on the front of a truck w/o winch to mount one?
I'm guessing I'll need to buy a bunch of tools to be able to work on one of these trucks, since I'm sure a lot of the hardware is larger than what I'm used to dealing with. To give me an idea: I've got a 1/2" drive air impact, is that adequate for most of the stuff, or is the truck just going to laugh at it? What kind of maintenance should I expect to be doing after I get the truck on the road? I'll admit, I still need to look at the TMs in depth, but I imagine real world experience from you all will give me a better idea of what to expect than trying to read a 400+ page manual. On the same token, what do I need to inspect when looking at a truck to buy?
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading! I'm sure more questions will come up, but I think this is enough typing for tonight.
DougB