Australian M816 wrecker build.

[john piercey]

Originally Posted by Howard Smith

Thanks Ron - yeah, I have pics of a few wreckers, all with red/white diagonal stripes on the front bumper and "WIDE"... and ..."LOAD" on the outside quarters. I think it's the guards for the body side lamps and or maybe the mirrors!
Can't wait to get it on the road with the CAUTION RHD on the back - gonna get some funny looks/questions.

Hi Howard,i think i got confused when you said Caution RHD but i think you meant to say Caution LHD in a country which is LHD in which case yeah you will get funny looks.
Holden HQ series 71 to 74 is my way of remembering roughly when MPH to KPH took place ,early cars were old measurement and around late 73 leading in to 74 their speedos showed both miles and kilometres on the speedo face,the next model HJ series were just in metric (i think) my memory has dulled though so i could be wrong.Dont think you would have to convert even on a truck that was imported in to Aus as there were probably no metric gauges available yet for direct fitment to m816 dash anyway,although a decal/sticker was available for quite a few years by various makers to suit a wide range of vehicles speedos.My guess would be they stayed in miles per hour for a fair while at least and then MAY have copped a conversion sticker at some stage of their later life.
If you are aiming for a Vietnam era wrecker i think MPH is a fairly safe bet.
Cheers John

[Howard Smith]

Just curious what ground anchor set the RCEME guys used on their 816's - any one know?

Plate and hex pin sets - like the Brits and Aussies or the collapsible triangle type that the US had WWII+

[Ron King]

Guages. when I was driving them in the 1980s was as per delivered in imperial/.....MPH measurements.(standard M series instruments)
It would not have changed in service until they were desposed of in the late 1980s to 1990.
I remember the stop lights had to be turned on before driving them on a public road.
The other interesting thing was to double pump the brake pedal if you wanted to stop with a trailer on or you would get trailer only brakes and a big lock up with little braking effect.

[Ron King]

Australian Army during the 1980s used a hold fast system which was a cast steel frame with about 8 holes for ground pins to be hammered though.
Early pins were round and later pins were hexagonal as the hex pins when twisted round a bit were easier to remove.
The cast frame had a big D shackel which could join it to other holdfasts in line to increase anchoring force..
I don't remember any special anchoring gear just for the 816 as it's 20 tons weight with hydraulic micro switch brake lock on was usually enough for most jobs.
On the East coast of Australia where I did use the 816 plenty of trees are around.
Heavy winching done out the back with the front winch for self recovery and if necessary out to a tree or another anchor point.

[Robin Craig]

Dear Howard,

congratulations on another barking mad project, great read and great attention to details.

Do you still have the 1 Tonnes?

Love reading this

Robin

[Robin Craig]

Ron,

I call them ground anchors, but hold fast works for me also.

was this similar?

[Ron King]

The Aussie ones were the same in concept with the same pins, but the main body of the holdfast was a steel casting and thinner in the body of it.
The pins were angled the same.
The Aussie holdfast did not use a pin arrangement to join them together, but had a hole in the end of the body which took a large D shackle which was normally left in place.
I remember it well..........having to knock in those pins into the ground with a sledge hammer in rocky ground,40c degree heat .............and having the drama of trying to get those pins out again.
Then having to lift it all into the back of the wreaker which is shoulder height on me.