Motor Pool

Military surplus trucks and related stuff.

A (Hot, Sweaty) Day at Mark’s Green Truck Ranch

Jul 012007

I’m getting ready to start construction on my 5 acre property near Riverside, CA soon. At least that’s the plan, assuming that the nice, friendly folks at the county who need to approve my permits don’t drive me insane first!

I have trucks and trailers parked all over the area where the grading will be done, and they all need to move. Unfortunately, a lot of them need some work done before they’ll be moving again!

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M38 Radio Installations

Motor Pool, Radio Room No Responses »

May 242007

Instructions for Installation of Radio Sets AN/GRC-9 or SCR-694-C in Combination with Radio Sets AN/GRC-3 to 8, AN/VRQ-1 to 3, AN/VRC-8 to 10, AN/VRC-16 to 18, AN/PRC-8 to 10, or SCR-619 in Truck, 1/4 Ton, 4×4, Utility, M38 & M38A1 (Warning: 35 meg PDF file!)

Thanks go to Ken Perkins for the scans, and Wes Knettle for passing them along to me.

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M35A2C 2.5-Ton 6×6 Cargo Truck

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May 252006

Since I’ve sold my other 2.5-ton 6×6 trucks (I had as many as 6 at one time!), this is now my only one left. This M35A2C is a cargo truck, which is the same as the most common M35A2 truck except that it is equipped with an improved cargo bed whose sides fold down to allow loading with a forklift from the side. This kind of truck can also carry a communications shelter, such as my S-448.

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M38A1 1/4-Ton 4×4 Truck

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May 252006

I bought this 1964 USMC Jeep right after I sold my M561 Gama Goat. This is my first military Jeep, and I think it will fix up nicely. It has a coat of what looks like Forest Service green over the original USMC semi-gloss paint. While it has some civilian modifications like a roll bar (not that it would help too much in a roll-over, as it’s bolted to the body, not the frame), it’s not too badly hacked up.

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S-448 Communications Shelter

Motor Pool, Radio Room No Responses »

Nov 232005

I bought this S-448 communications shelter on 11/22/2005 from another military radio and vehicle collector. I plan to use it as my primary radio room at home. It originally housed a Collins AN/TSC-60(V)1 “Communication Central” set. The interior was completely stripped of equipment when the previous owner bought it, and he installed some equipment racks, desks, drawers, etc. He also re-wired it to run from single-phase power instead of three-phase power. The shelter would have originally had a panel on the right side of the door with a whole bunch of connectors and binding posts, but that has been replaced by a blank metal panel. If I need to add any external electrical connections, that would be the obvious place to do it. Some of the ventilation panels leak, but they look like they’ll be fairly easy to repair. Overall, the shelter is in good shape, and it’ll make a really nice radio shack.

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M52A2 5-Ton 6×6 Tractor

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Jun 072003

This truck is a 19?? (dataplate missing) Kaiser-Jeep 5-ton 6×6 tractor. I won it in a goverment surplus auction, and picked it up on June 7, 2003 from March Air Reserve Base. I ended up selling it a few months later. It was a neat truck, but it was really uncomfortable to drive on a rough dirt road without a trailer, due to the very stiff rear leaf springs. I’m sure I would have fixed that by adding a trailer if I had kept the truck.

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M561 1.25-Ton 6×6 Gama Goat

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Jun 172001

This is my fifth ex-military truck. It’s a 1970 Consolidated Diesel Electric Company M561 1.25-Ton 6×6 Gama Goat. I found it on Ebay. It has 6-wheel drive, an articulated chassis (i.e., the part that looks like a trailer rolls and pitches, but does not yaw from side to side like a regular trailer), 4-wheel steering (the rear axle steers in the opposite direction of the front axle, at half the rate), and it is amphibious. It has a Detroit Diesel 3-cylinder 2-stroke diesel engine, and a 4-speed manual transmission with synchromesh on second, third and fourth gears. The part that looks like a trailer is an integral part of the truck, with a driveshaft, steering linkage, etc. passing through the pivot point.

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1970 Kaiser-Jeep M109A3 2.5-Ton 6×6 Shop Van for Sale

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Jun 142001

1970 Kaiser-Jeep M109A3 2.5-Ton 6x6 Shop Van for Sale

This truck has already been sold. I’m preserving the for-sale listing here because I’ve received many compliments about its thoroughness, and there are lots of good pictures here.

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M109A3 2.5-Ton 6×6 Shop Van

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Jun 142001

This is my fourth ex-military truck. It’s a 1970 Kaiser-Jeep M109A3 2.5-Ton 6×6 Shop Van. I bought it as a replacement for my first military truck, which is also an M109A3, but which needs a lot more cosmetic restoration.

I sold this truck in September, 2005, and I’ve preserved the for-sale listing because it has lots of good pictures of the truck.

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