wrecker 816 vs 936 whitch is better

[feldmarshal]

Need some opinions on which truck would be a better purchase. I'm leaning toward the 816 due to the manual trans but alot of 936's are coming out. Will the prices drop on the 816's ? Thanks

 

[doghead]

Better for what?

 

[armytruck63]

I don't think the rash of M936's being released will affect the price of M816's much. How are you planning to use the truck? Would a 20-25 year old truck be better for you than a 40 year old truck?

 

[Bob H]

Good question that I know little about!
but opinions were asked for.........................

M936's make me
M816's not so much
M819's too

The people I know with the M809 series are not convinced the 900 series was a step forward.

 

[feldmarshal]

Used for piddling around, no business or for hire. Wondering mostly any advantages one over the other. as in the auto trans breaks every 10k miles.

 

[Derrickl112]

Well the 936's have a wider cab, tilting hood, and all hydrualic winches.

 

[Derrickl112]

The 936's also have full airbrakes.

 

[Goose2448]

I think the 816 looks better and man trans I think are nicer unless your gonna do a lot of city driving

 

[13 MIKE]

Air brakes would be the number one plus.

 

[wreckerman893]

The 816 is LOUD and will suck the bottom out of the fuel tank......the M936 is geared a little higher and as memtioned has better creature comforts.

My 816 was a money pit from the word go.....I'm eyeing a M936 myself.

Also keep in mind that they are a much better boom truck than wrecker.....also insurance can be a problem......my Progressive agent told me if I had a wreck towing anything (even my own stuff) that they would not pay and would cancel my policy.

 

[Bighurt]

Seeing the wrecker prices this last week, I'm almost tempted.

Like Wreckerman said your first step should be insurance, if you don't like the answers, that may make up your mind completely.

Personally I'd like the M936.

 

[trooper632]

I had 2 816's, sold one for twice what i paid for it about two months ago. Been good trucks, have not put a dime into them except the batteries when I first got both of them. Dont have any experiance with the 936 auto trucks, kinda scared of 'em because i dont know anything about the transmission seems like it would be exspensive to fix if it broke.

 

[Monkeyboyarmy]

I was informed that you must put the trans in high gear on the 936 and run the truck at full throttle in order to get the transmission to shift into high gear to run the crane. You can run the 816 at idle in 5th and be happy.

 

[73m819]

I run the 819 at 1000 in 4th

 

[jwaller]

I was told by an operator of the older 936 and 936A1 wreckers that they don't have enough power(torque) to drive over a set of chocks. This is a huge problem when trying to reverse and you can't use low range.

I'd stick with the 816 or 819 . Much simpler and easier to work on and use.

 

[mdmorganwife]

Me personally... I like the M936 better for what we would need it for. Also it has the perfect set up, cummins motor with allison tranny . But I do like the way the 816 looks... It's all on what you want to or need to use it for and what you prefer. Either way they both are great trucks...

 

[TacticalTruck]

Has any one here actually run both trucks? I had an M62 and a M62A2. I like my M816 and have a M936 coming in. Winslow says I'll hate the M936. Another guy I know who has owned and worked every wrecker version hates his M936. Guess I'll find out.

 

[Stonepicker1]

We had 5, M816's in our motorpool back in the 80's. All went to Iraq during Desert Storm and all came back. We bent one of the booms on the M816 by lifting a 5,000 gallon water tanker( we used two wreckers to lift the tank, but it had about 2,500 gallons of water still in the tank and one wrecker lifted to fast and shifted the water to one end of the tanker. That wreckers boom bent like a wet noodle ). Replaced the boom when we got back to Florida.

In the late 90's we replaced 4, M816 with 3, 10 ton M984 HEMMTT wreckers and another with a M936A2 5 ton wrecker. In 2003 we took all the wreckers to Iraq again. This time we turned-in the last M816 we had oversea's.

If I had to work a wrecker all the time, I would go with the M816 (they would out-lift the M936 that we had all day long) we never had a problem with the M816's. The M936 would blow HYD hose's, Brakes would lock-up, Tires would go flat all the time. There was always somthing wrong with it.

 

[area52]

I like my M816, even though I have not worked out all the kinks yet, its still a great truck!

 

[466Navastar]

I have a question regarding the wreckers......Ive never seen one - only in pics....but from what I can see they appear to be rotating CRANE trucks .....Im not seeing any underlift or anything else to keep a towed vehicle - in tow-

all I can see is a crane hook -what am I missing?.....how do you keep the towed vehicle under control ?