Reserve components had M54 into the early 1990s but those units that deployed to support Desert Storm were reequipped with M923 series.
2/102 armor NJNG still had two or three M54 series in 1992. One was so old it didn't have the filter on the fender or stacks.

The filters on either side and different grilles confused me. A five ton was a five ton. No one ever called one or the other by nomenclature.

Note that the far side headlight is almost hidden by
the edge of the grille since the headlights are recessed a lot more on the M809 than the M54.
On this M54 both headlights are equally visible


The designs of the grilles are different.
The M54 has a straight grille and the M809 has an angled grille.
This can be difficult to see from the front. The pattern of the bars in the grilles are also different.
The front edge of the M54 hood is straight:

and the M809 hood has cut back corners (is the hood longer as well so that the cut back corners actually match the M54 hood??)




Note how the front edge of the grille is further forward on the M809. The M54 grille is in line with the point where the engine covers end on the fenders. The M809 goes forward a bit.

Many images out there on the internet are labeled incorrectly, saying that M809's are M54's ....
/ Robin

Edit

M809 brushguard showing the angled design.

Thanks to Frenchy for pointing out the most obvious way to distinguish between the M54 and M809. I forgot about that one, duh ....
See below

So, from the info kindly provided above, I take it that first pic in Robin's post is of an M54? That's the same truck I mentioned in my post.

Quoted Text

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So, from the info kindly provided above, I take it that first pic in Robin's post is of an M54? That's the same truck I mentioned in my post.

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Nope. Heartless Wonder has the aircleaner on the M809-side as well as the angled brushguard, deeply recessed headlights, extended hood and brushguard pattern of the M809 so it is not an M54 (actually an M813 as Frenchy points out).

I hope AFV-Club continues with the M54 track and eventually also the M809-series
/ Robin

All Real Model conversions are just crap.Better wait for AFV or Trumpeter to release 800er series..

Btw: the voyager pe set for m54 has some really, really small parts ..have fun using them .Most parts are not better than the kit s parts..some parts are nice to use

Is Voyager's stuff smaller than some of the parts on the M923 set? I' m looking to sell or trade the M54 kit as I bought it in error and I'll probably add the pe set in the sale .