Australian M816 wrecker build.

[Howard Smith]

Passenger side stop end with rego plate lamp.
Had to resize pic before it would upload..

Need to find source for reproduction Army number plates!

[Ron King]

Sorry I cant tell you about differences on the Aussie M816.
I did do some miles on them at 2 EME services at Homebush who had a few.
I know at the time they were a couple of inches too wide for then Australian rule rules and we had restrictions on driving them over Tom Uglys, Ryde bridges and Parramatta rd during peak hours.
I do remember the front bumper being white and back striped .....I think for the extra width and caution left hand drive painted on the rear.
They were not often used off road as the high wheel loading meant they sunk easily and you spent a great deal of time doing self recovery.
The auto front wheel drive didn't help.
I remember the M816 being extensively used with the Freighter 15 ton dual axle tilt bed trailer and we mostly seemed to get jobs of moving around M113s to save track wear.
Rarely did lift tows as the trailer was nearly always on the back.
Heavy clutch, light steering, cool exhaust noise if siting in passenger seat.
When loaded with a M113 on the trailer splitting the gears on the main gearbox with the transfercase was common climbing steep hills, the synco in the transfercase helping, but the ratios line up between the main box and transfercase was no where ideal.
Ron

[Howard Smith]

Originally Posted by Ron King

........
I know at the time they were a couple of inches too wide for then Australian rule rules and we had restrictions on driving them over Tom Uglys, Ryde bridges and Parramatta rd during peak hours.
I do remember the front bumper being white and back striped .....I think for the extra width and caution left hand drive painted on the rear.
Ron

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 LHD on the back - gonna get some funny looks/questions.

[john piercey]

Hi Howard,love your way of thinking,will be good to see pics of it at shows etc you will definately get some curious looks etc.
Are you actually going the whole hog and converting it to RHD or just going with the stickers,and if you are converting will it be legal for the road there?,i couldnt see Aussie state road authorities letting anything on the road here unless it was imported and came that way from its country of origin .
W.A. and the N.T. let LHD cars on the road pre 1988 but anything after that date has to be converted to RHD,other states have different rules(i think)but i dont think anyone has actually tried to convert something RHD to LHD and still stay registered in Aus on the road (unreg or off road they dont care).
American DOT may have a more liberal approach than our guys,im not saying it cant be done but i reckon the hoops they would make you jump through would be enough to make MOST people shy away,if it was possible you would probably have to run on a special permit-limit hours etc etc.
My son has a 1942 Diamond t 980 and a Diamond Reo M35 here both rough conversions to RHD we will probably convert at least the Diamond T back to orig LHD configuration.I have a Humber fv1601 and a Inter Acco 6x6 f1 GS
Again Howard i am just fascinated by what you are doing and would like to see how it all turns out,a U.S. truck converted to RHD Aussie spec piloted by a pom in The U.S.of A---Lucy you got some splaining to do---.'
cheers and best of luck John

[Howard Smith]

John - I am going as "whole hog" as I can... BUT that doesn't include switching to RHD! The purchases of M816's in '71 and '73 were factory LHD - and hence the "Caution Left Hand Drive" stenciling on the rear.
There are other Aussie LHD's - mostly WWII yank stuff.
Here in the States RHD isn't a problem - both my Land Rovers were imported without issue and have never had any problems driving them either.

I can convert the gauges to metric but that question hasn't come up yet in my research - I think Australia went metric from the early '70's to late '80's but as far as military purchases from overseas - not sure.


Pick attached is of "Shakey" at the Puckapunyal Tank Museum. The other wrecker is a M543, Vietnam era, also LHD.
Seen in this pic is the subframe (4"tube) above the drag winch rollers - an inservice mod, when the Mack troop carriers entered service, to switch over to Holmes tow gear from tow bar (Hollebone) and Whiffletree.

[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.

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Howard Smith

Need to find source for reproduction Army number plates!

The commercial suppliers of stamped Aluminium plates are progressively becoming more reluctant to supply in these "Homeland Security" times, but a REMLR member Rod (aka HotRover) produces some very fine "vinyl on aluminium" versions that look quite good with an accurate font for the numbers and letter.

See His Ebay listings for his AMF plates to suit the period of your truck. The TAC signs he lists are the 6"x6" light vehicle size, but will make the larger truck versions on request.

[john piercey]

Gday Howard,i dont have any useful info to help you with ,but was just wondering if you were an ex-pat aussie now residing in the US or just happen to like the look of the Aussie spec wrecker.
I ask purely out of curiosity .
Cheers John

[Howard Smith]

John - yes Ex-pat but not an Aussie..... a pom!!

I am more a-kin to REME stuff from the UK and had an opportunity to get a wrecker cheap'ish a few years ago. When I saw a vid of John Bellfields 816 I noticed the differences... then more differences. With the Blue/Yellow/Red TAC plate on the front ....Well that was all I needed!

Been researching ever since.

I have full size TAC stickers - with the roo for out of country!

Oh yeah - I will need a couple of genuine, made in Oz, plastic water Jerry Cans... saving up for the postage!!

[Howard Smith]

Originally Posted by Tony Smith

The commercial suppliers of stamped Aluminium plates are progressively becoming more reluctant to supply in these "Homeland Security" times,

Hey Tony - yeah it's a shame. In the UK they are now destroying all released vehicle plates too.. "In my day" they came with the truck!

Originally Posted by Tony Smith

but a REMLR member Rod (aka HotRover) produces some very fine "vinyl on aluminium" versions that look quite good with an accurate font for the numbers and letter.

I think it was Rod that I got the TAC plates from. Will probably go the sticky route for the rego plates when my quest for genuine punched ones hits a dead end...
Cheers