Mark's Green Pages » Motor Pool

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

Mark J. Blair, NF6X — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:57:00 +0000

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!

My project for today was to begin working on my M35A2C 2.5-ton 6×6 truck, whose brake pedal presently goes to the floor with no resistance. It’s been parked there for many months with no attention, ever since I hauled my larger commo shelter over to the ranch from the house I’m renting. The commo shelter is still on its dolly set, hitched up to the truck.

I noticed fluid leaking out of the front right hub, and thought I might have a leaking brake cylinder in there. So, I started pulling everything apart to see what’s going on in there. That’s my neighbor’s house in the background of the first picture. I took the pictures after I was done working on the truck for the day, and I’ve wrapped pallet wrap around the brake assembly to keep dirt out.

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M38 Radio Installations

Mark J. Blair, NF6X — Thu, 24 May 2007 20:30:00 +0000

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

Mark J. Blair, NF6X — Thu, 25 May 2006 13:41:00 +0000

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.

Pictures

Specifications

Here are the specifications for my truck. Note that these trucks were made by many manufacturers, in many revisions and configuration, so similar trucks (even other M35A2C trucks) may have different specifications.

General Specifications

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Name	M35A2C 2.5-Ton 6×6 Cargo Truck
Manufacturer	Kaiser-Jeep
Year	1969
Cargo capacity	Cross-country: 5,000 lbs Highway: 10,000 lbs
Towed load	Cross-country: 6,000 lbs Highway: 10,000 lbs
Height	112 in (9 ft 4 in) (Reduced height 81 in)
Length	264.25 in (22 ft 1/4 in)
Width	96 in (8 ft)
Weight	Empty: 14,930 lbs Gross (cross-country): 19,430 lbs Gross (highway): 21,930 lbs
Van deck height	50 in
Rear door opening	Height: 70 1/2 in (5 ft 10 1/2 in) Width (one door open): 31 3/4 in (2 ft 7 3/4 in) Width (both doors open): 51 3/4 in (4 ft 3 3/4 in)
Van interior dimensions	Height at center: 77 1/2 in (6 ft 5 1/2 in) Width: 90 in (7 ft 6 in) Length: 144 1/2 in (12 ft 1/2 in)
Pintle height	36 1/8 in
Ground clearance	Under axle: 12 1/2 in Under chassis: 10 15/16 in
Vehicle/bridge classification	Empty: 6 Cross-country: 8 Highway: 10
Wheel base	154 in (12 ft 10 in)
Approach angle	47 deg
Departure angle	40 deg
Turning radius	36 ft
Cruising range	300 mi (max payload, @ 1500 RPM) 275 mi (max payload + max towed load, @ 1500 RPM)
Fording depth	30 in
Tires	9.00 x 20, 8 ply.

M38A1 1/4-Ton 4×4 Truck

Mark J. Blair, NF6X — Thu, 25 May 2006 13:41:00 +0000

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.

Pictures

These are the “wrong” tires and wheels that came with the Jeep. I plan to put properly-sized tires (though they might not be military NDCC tires) on the truck eventually, and then probably sell off these big wheels.

Cosmo poses for a picture, and Sweet Pea sneaks into the frame, too.

These three wheels were also provided with the truck. If they’re the right kind, then I’ll just need two more to put proper wheels on it.

Here are my new reproduction parking brake parts from Midwest Military. The lower lever and stop plate are in the white, so I’m sandblasting, priming and painting them before installation.

My steering wheel could use some repair:

My serial number dataplate behind the passenger seat appears to be stamped.

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S-448 Communications Shelter

Mark J. Blair, NF6X — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 05:58:00 +0000

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.

The S-448 is sized to be carried in the bed of the M35A2 2.5-ton 6×6 trucks, and other similarly-sized trucks. I haven’t found any manuals for this particular shelter, but I think that it’s very similar to the S-280 communications shelter. When installed in the bed of a truck, it’s generally secured by four steel cables which attach to a pair of tiedown blocks mounted in the centers of the sides of the truck’s bed.

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M52A2 5-Ton 6×6 Tractor

Mark J. Blair, NF6X — Sun, 08 Jun 2003 05:29:00 +0000

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.

Pictures

	Right side 6/7/03
	Rear right corner 6/7/03
	Front right corner 6/7/03
	Front left corner 6/7/03
	Left side 6/7/03

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M561 1.25-Ton 6×6 Gama Goat

Mark J. Blair, NF6X — Mon, 18 Jun 2001 05:24:00 +0000

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.

I sold this truck to another collector in Ohio in May of 2006. I hope he will be able to devote more time to restoring it than I could! I think this goat will clean up really nicely. A few days later, I replaced it with a 1964 M38A1 Jeep.

Pictures

This batch of pictures was taken at the RV storage yard where I orignally kept the Goat.

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Front right corner. The trailer is not visible.

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

Mark J. Blair, NF6X — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 11:58:00 +0000

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.

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

July 31, 2005

This restored 1970 Kaiser-Jeep M109A3 2.5-Ton 6×6 Shop Van is in really good shape. It looks good, runs well, it’s ready for work, play or display, and you could drive it home if you want. I had originally planned to convert it to a combination camper and radio truck, and I’ve done a lot of work in the van box towards this goal. I’m selling it now because I’ve realized that I don’t really enjoy driving these things, so I’ll probably never use it the way I intended to. I know I won’t recover the money I have into it, because I paid top dollar for a fine truck and then spent a lot more getting it shipped across the US… before I even started spending money on van box upgrades! Oh, well… my loss is your gain.

Description

Mechanically, the truck is in fine shape. The only thing that even comes close to a mechanical problem is that the starter bendix occasionally sticks and doesn’t engage the flywheel.

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M109A3 2.5-Ton 6×6 Shop Van

Mark J. Blair, NF6X — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 11:58:00 +0000

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.

Pictures

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	My truck arrives from Maryland, on the back of a drop-deck disconnect trailer. 6/13/01
	Getting ready to jump-start it with my M543A2 Wrecker. 6/13/01
	As the driver who delivered my truck guides me, I back my truck off the trailer that carried it across the continent. I hardly even felt the 10 inch drop off the end of the trailer. 6/13/01
	Free at last! 6/13/01
	Safe and sound in my driveway, a few miles away from the unloading point. I told my neighbors that it’ll only be there temporarily. Only time will tell if that was an accurate statement… 6/13/01
	Here I am picking up an AN/GRC-122B radio teletype (RTTY) system mounted in an S250 shelter. Part of the deal was that I had to take the 1.5-ton trailer that the shelter was sitting on.

M543A2 5-Ton 6×6 Wrecker

Mark J. Blair, NF6X — Thu, 19 Apr 2001 12:03:00 +0000

This is my third ex-military truck. It’s a 1965 Kaiser-Jeep M543A2 5-Ton 6×6 wrecker. I probably crossed the line buying this one…

Pictures

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My truck arrives from Wisconsin, on the back of a drop-deck trailer.
5/1/01

Here’s a close-up of my truck.
5/1/01

This is the commercial wrecker which we used to unload my truck from the trailer, since no loading ramp was available. We thought that the wrecking company was going to bring a tilt-bed trailer, so that we could just drive my truck from one trailer to the other, and use the tilt-bed to lower it to the ground. Unloading my truck with this type of wrecker took a lot longer, but it didn’t cost me any more, and unloading my truck turned out to be a lot more fun for me this way! This commercial wrecker was really impressive. The driver told me it cost about $190,000, so I guess I’ll just have to be satisfied with my puny little 5-ton toy.
5/1/01

We used the wrecker to left the back end of my 34,000-pound truck, pulled the trailer forward, lowered the back end of my truck to the ground, lifted the front end, pulled the trailer out the rest of the way, and then finally lowered the front end of my truck to the ground.