What's the ding dang hurry? All these trucks are SLOW. Sit back, put your
head phones on, yank out the hand throttle (OK, I know you're not supposed
to) and enjoy the scenery. It's true the wreckers aren't great tow trucks in
the traditional sense but they're awesome recovery vehicles. Towing with the
front lifted has been a dilemma for me. I've never tried it, I tend to buy
junk that at least rolls. I've spoken with Vets that remember doing it and it
wasn't a big deal but they can't remember the specifics and I've spoken with
guys using surplus wreckers and they have the same issues discussed here. I
guess it's kind of like how do you use all those tie down loops on the front
of your cargo bed to lash the tarp? I know the designer had something in mind
but I've never seen it up close in a manual. I've had wreckers where they've
added front shackle brackets to the bumperettes, for possible backwards tow
bar?
I've got a M819 (that I need to sell by the way). It's the
tractor/wrecker with the three section boom and fifth wheel. Someone could
put a fifth wheel mounted tow rig on it and eliminate these issues. I
considered the possibility of pulling a box van with it and I think it would
be hard to do. You can remove the stops and rotate the boom forward though.
The M809 series has a 250 Cummins and the nose was extended to accommodate
the big motor. I'd be interested to see a M39 series truck repowered with a
250 to see how they shoe horned it under the hood. Also the M939 series
trucks have an air controlled front axle.
Jeff
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Apr 04 2001 - 08:10:45 PDT