Hi all. Recently picked up a 1971 P&H 20 ton military crane. Also known as an M320T2. Gotta love military stuff. Was able to download all the old manuals for it for free. Gasser IH 549 V8 in the carrier and, gas burning IH 450 straight six in the crane. 30 ft of boom. Got a 3/4 yr clamshell to go with it. But missed the dragline on the auction. So I'll be looking for one of those before too long. Obviously hasn't been run or used in a few years. Got the carrier running pretty good and hauled my Ford loader tractor down and spent a day and a half stripping off enough weight to make it legal without having to get overweight permits. Pulled off the boom, front and rear outriggers and the counterweight. Down from 30 tons to well under 25 now. Swung the house around and locked it down with the struts. Still sorting out the air brakes and making sure everything is road ready, then planning to drive the old girl the 50 miles back to my farm. Should be a long slow trip. Once home I'll reassemble and get some new cables then I'm planning to do a little remodeling so to speak of my swamp ground. And other general cleanup around the farm. Should be a fun toy, that should keep me off the streets at night.. Here's a couple pics. As bought and after stripping it down a bit. TDF
Stout looking machine. Does it have the typical P&H juice frictions?
Well I'm a new guy to the crane world so I'm not up on all the lingo yet. Juice frictions? TDF
Do your control levers run a master cylinder similar to older vehicle brake system, connected with steel brake lines to an actuators on your frictions ( drive frictions and brake bands)
Ah yes, of course, juice frictions = hydraulic brakes on the crane, that's what it has. Most all of it looks to have seen little use. Haven't looked at the hour meter on the crane yet, but the one in the carrier shows 200 hours and 1600 miles on the odometer. Well now 201, and 1601, after me getting it running and moving it around on the lot it sits on now. I had to pull a valve cover to repair an oil leak and am inclined to believe the low miles on the engine as it looked like new inside. However the military has a tendency to roll the meters back to zero after a rebuild so that's more likely the case. TDF
I am a lurker and a retired GI, but not a tree-hugger by any stretch. "Remodeling swampland" raises serious questions to this non-lawyer: Swampland is usually classified as regulatory wetlands by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Unauthorized wetlands impacting is prosecutable by the EPA, and can result in sentences to federal prison. The on-line National Wetlands Inventory maps are not proof of the presence of wetlands, but can be a good start in investigating whether wetlands are present. I strongly urge the OP to perform wetlands due diligence before moving any swampland dirt. Neill
Not to worry Tarhe Driver. I'm well versed in the regulations protecting such areas. It's a large part of my regular job. I'm a civil engineer, for the DOT and literally have to deal with environmental issues daily. I should clarify that what I'm calling swamp land is not a swamp at all but more just the low ground on my property that is not farmable. I have documentation from the FSA (I realize their not the Corp., who has the final authority) that there are no protected wetlands on my property.
Goodo TDF, glad you clarified. I'm a commercial appraiser (MIA/AI-GRS) who deals with that stuff almost daily, so you can understand my concern.
In my experience with military surplus i have had a couple of cranes that showed hours and miles like that . The lack of wear and tear led me to believe that the readings were original,seems they have a lot of stuff sitting around.
Could be Tugger2. I was down working on it today and looked at the hour meter in the crane. 188 hours. There is very little wear on anything. This one was in private hands but not sure yet how long he had it. He had another larger military surplus crane that I think he was using more. Got the brakes starting to act like brakes. Had to fix a bunch of air leaks, and bypass the air dump valve and the spitters, as they all leaked excessively. Finally got it to build pressure and got the brakes to start working and the air shift hi/lo in the tranny to start working. Getting closer to attempting to road this thing home. TDF
Does it have Maxi brakes on it ? Im sure you will be well prepared for stopping going forward, but stalling those things on a hill can be a disaster . I lowbed mine everywhere , we have DOT. and too many hills here to contend with.
Has Maxis on the rear axles. If I had any hills to contend with I'd be worried but there isn't much flatter country anywhere, than the middle of Nebraska. I can take gravel roads the whole way home. We'll take it slow and easy. I've already pre driven the route. You have a nice looking rig. Wish I had your trailer I'd haul it home in a heartbeat. But our semi trailer is an ex-air force drop deck behind an M818 tractor. It's just too tall for this thing. Would put the top of the load at about 16 feet. TDF