Powerram

Yeah, it was no charge for the rust, Lol, no, that's Mrs. Powerram 400k hoopdity. I drove it up to get the truck, she made me promise that I'd bring it back with me. It works good, and it's treated like a tank, right down to the white lettered all terrains on it. I'm not mobile yet so we have been tag teaming on the ol' van

Got the new old tow truck home now, worked great on the trip, here is a shot enroute

Lists are good, especially when getting crossed off, feels good to read the progress and see the light

Iv actually done alot of figuring on the red topkick, I'm going to leave it as a tractor unit, and install a new 5th wheel onto it, and pick up a low boy flat deck trailer, that way I'll have the means to move some heavy equipment, or several jeeps at a time.

Yep, still planning on making a wrecker out of the red one, so hopefully with some $ rolling in from the new one I can start getting the red one together

It needs some minor tlc, but should be able to do something with it

Update, the wrecker I had purchased is beyond my means of repair, I'd basically be having someone build my wrecker body from inside out by the time they finish, not financially feasible. Still have some ideas about swapping and mix and match some gear to the burnt wrecker body. But in the meantime iv purchased a roll back car Carrier with wheellift , it is a topkick chassis, 6 speed trans, 2 speed rear so it has 12 forward gears and 2 reverse gears. It has been gently used privately and is in ok shape. Very similar chassis as my other topkick, also has the same Cat diesel engine. The new topkick also has a sleeper for the long haul, The deck is an alumnium jerr-dan with a wheel lift , so I can tow 2 at a time. It will have lots of other uses other than moving cars.

Got the new to me truck home, worked great on the cross country venture. Fuel consumption averaged 22.3L/100km or roughly 10-11 mpg. Its short and rough, made for a long drive. Encountered some snow in my travels

Yep, love the grille and squareness, makes it look like it means business. You got it jay, it is 100% 80's this extra tall hood and raised cab config came out in 1980 and ended in 1989. The other 'c' chassis trucks had similar look from the 70's and lighter duty in the 80's the cab sat lower to the frame and has a less tall hood. Thanks man, really looking forward to getting hauling again

Some update, picked up a different chassis to put under the wrecker gear, a medium duty topkick, still going to build the 4x4 wrecker, but need something to get rolling with now. Its currently in Alberta, I'm going to drive it home in Oct. Specs are 1989, the last of this body topkick, 3208T Cat , 10 speed, air brakes. Not many left around this body style, should be pretty easy to identify me going down the road. And the price was right, milage is 300,000 so should be lots of life left in it

Has air actuator on the 4x4 engagement, its like any other twin lever case, but has an air actuator and the lever has no detents, just a spring, so 40 + psi locks I. The front driveshaft . speed selection is still manual with a lever. Hi, N , and Lo

Thanks for moving this thread and posting in it . Here is the transfer case, it is a T136-27 air shift case, weighs 500 pounds, exactly 500 according to the scale. It has a high range of 1to1 and a low of 1.9to1. Same reduction as the np205. But much heavier.

Can I request this to be moved to "builds" or should I start a new topic?

Going to pick up a transfer case tomorrow for the rig. Using a case from a m35a2 duce and a half

This is the goal or direction I'm going for, but as a wrecker

So this is really starting to take shape. Iv got most of the major things to build my wrecker now, the blue wrecker body above, a cat powered chassis and now a f600 cab and front clip, with Rockwell axles going under it. Just picked up the cab and flip nose last night. Its usable and has a nice interior.

Well, its a start . picked up this wrecker body . it is a Jerrdan 12 ton wrecker. But .... It has some surprise issues to deal with. When we removed it from the chassis , the main rails of the wrecker are rotted and need replacing and there is a crack on another part because of the rust. Everything is functional and usable and is complete with recovery gear , dollies and more. The welding and rail replacenent is more than i can handle so that job will be farmed out to someonw who can undertake a heavy repair. Here it is loaded up. Once it is welded up then im going to get it sandblasted and painted.

So truck and total investment into it is a loss. No coverage. Thats the end of thst story. Onwords and upwords ... I am building a new to me tow truck. As normal my projects are slow moving with kids and family and work. I have looked at countless local trucks complete and some in need of repair and some in pieces but funding for this is extremely limited so i dont get much to work with for equipment for what i can afford and nothing iv found is close to what i want to work with. So i figured ill piece this truck together with a wrecker i want and a chassis i want. Iv secured a 12 ton jerrdan wrecker and body in ontario that is exactly what im looking for. Going up there to pick it up next weekend. It is a twin line boom with twin 12000 winches and has bumper bar, and has a wheellift. Seems to be well maintained, and everything is included with all the recovery gear, straps, dollies . Had several chats with the fellow who is selling it and it is a pretty good deal for me. Some pics of said gear. Planning to strip, repair and clean and paint all the gear so it will be like new to install on a chassis.

We figure lightning struck it. I had the truck parked at my moms. I was up late last night and saw/heard the lightning. Thought it was real close. Few minutes later mom called and said the truck was on fire.

Yep

Lost my wrecker tonight

I dont think ill make it either ...

Very close, so close I can taste it, due to the heavy gvw, it has to go through Commercial vehicle inspection. While under it I found a broken away bar link, so going to replace all 4. Also have to replace sling rubbers and pick up a couple of recovery items along with a couple straps for the wheel lift. , Hopefully after those items it will be on the road

Was checking why the round rubber mount lights under the rear didn't work, pulled the light from the housing.... And the entire housing was full of water to the top, did not see that coming, and both sides. Bought what I thought was a pair at princess auto.... Guess not, only one in the big *** box that could have fit 3. So went back and picked up another to make the pair Thanks

Also got 6 new tires on her now and 4 new dolly tires