(first posted 11/11/2011) Time to salute our veterans, and what better way than with a military veteran, especially a deuce and a half. Next to the Jeep or Humvee, it is the quintessential military wheeled vehicle, the classic Army Truck. And since this one was sitting at the curb, it was just begging for a bit of appreciation and a closer look.
The M35 was developed shortly after WW2 to eventually supplant the really classic 2 1/2 ton truck, that was also built by Studebaker and was one of the great heroes of that war. The Germans loved to get their hands on them, and held it in great esteem. What better praise than that?
Originally developed by REO, the early versions of the M35 used gasoline engines. But later versions, like this one, used a “multi-fuel” engine, that operated normally on diesel, but could also swallow kerosene, jet fuel, heating oil and even gasoline (in a real pinch). Running it on gasoline was to be done in an emergency only, and a quart of motor oil was to be added for every 15 gallons to lubricate the injector pumps.
The LDT-465 was built by several manufacturers, this one by White. Even with a turbo, it made all of 134 hp. This one was obviously retrofitted in 1986. More recent versions often have a more modern Cat diesel engine. Remember as a kid seeing those convoys of Army trucks on the freeway, and how they would all be doing about 40 or 45 mph? This is one reason.
There’s the manufacturer’s ID plate, which shows this to be a M35 A built by Studebaker in South Bend in 1962.
The gearing didn’t encourage freeway driving, although the tags on this one shows fifty-five as the maximum speed in top gear.
Who can resist the allure of an Army truck cab, with all those dozens of knobs, levers and other mechanical porn? Army trucks are the ultimate toy for hard-core freaks of having it all be rugged and exposed, in high quality metal too.
The drive shaft runs over the top of the differentials, and at the rear, there’s the provision for a take-off to power the driven wheels of a trailer.
The view between the rear axles is quite accessible, as is pretty much everything else about this rig.
A tough truck always ready to take on the toughest jobs, just like our veterans. Our hats are off to all of you, as well as those still in active duty.
Fabulous beast. I need to rearrange my life such that I need one of those.
Well spoken! Yes, that’s the ticket. I have come so close to getting one of these so many times. But I always wake up to the fact that I don’t need it. But I might be able to use a camperized expansible shop van version, or not, sigh……
There is a company name Boyce Equipment that removes one axle from the M -35, puts super size single military tires on and turns it into a killer pickup truck. I am trying to rationalize buying one (only about $16,000) now…Looks good painted in desert sand.
http://www.boyceequipment.com
The NZED line construction gangs used WW2 6×6 trucks into the early 70s when they began getting hard to maintain, They were replaced by 6WD diesel D series Fords which having chassis sprung rear axles instead of a walking beam had to be towed over really rough ground. Those WW2 Studebakers were excellent bush trucks my uncle had 2 for log hauling till the 80s when regulations closed native timber mills.
Bryce, just to avoid confusion: Studebaker’s WWII truck was the “US6,” a different design than the GMC CCKW, and kind of rare in US service. Some were used on the Alaska Highway, some on the Burma Road, and the rest went, via Basra, to Russia.
This truck is the “Eager Beaver,” two design generations later, used from Korea through Vietnam (and by Guard units in Gulf War I). The suspension is a REO design, the cab belonged to the DOD, and it was assembled by REO, Studebaker, Kaiser, and AM General. It’s the most-built military vehicle anywhere, outnumbering the WWII Jeep, and, surplus, it was popular as a heavy off-road civilian construction truck back when budgets were tight and men were men.
Mine is the short wheelbase dump truck version, convertible (although the cab shield eliminates the ring-mount, darn it) and it’s just about as much fun as it looks. You have to learn to keep your thumbs out of the steering wheel spokes.
Most of the Govt run 6×6 here were GMCs but my uncle had 2 Studes ex army
I’ve also recently seen a WW2 Studebaker 6×6 truck, one used and still owned by a trucking/logging company that regularly takes it to classic car shows. I was going to say they have restored it but I don’t think it has been off the road, and in any case is in company livery.
This later model truck is something not seen in Australia/New Zealand that I am aware of, there was a locally built International 4×4 & 6×6 that took over from the WW2 era trucks in the 1960s
NZ Army went to RL Bedford 4WD trucks with the S cab for many years, Ive seen the Inters in OZ. What ended up in this part of the world rarely matches what American or British records claim.
@comatus here is one I spotted here in Olympia WA. Do you know which model it is? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtbxDfHESr8
The engine plate is later than 1962 with the emission control information, Helvetica font and zip code after “Canton, Ohio”.
Nice find for Veteran’s Day–I’d like to salute all our veterans, human or mechanical, including my late father-in-law, who was career Army and may have been tougher than this truck. 😉 Thank you for all you have done and continue to do.
Oh, wow – another explicit centerfold in the mechanical-porn category. All parts exposed…
One thing puzzles me. This is a 1962; why does it have an “engine emissions information” tag on it? There were NO requirements on emissions until 1968 – for cars. Trucks came later; and standardized tags like that one later still. And, if I recall, military equipment has always been exempt; although it may be that manufacturers are required to post declarative tags.
So…was this one retrofitted?
Also…I’m curious. Kaiser Jeep bought the Studebaker military-truck plant and designs in 1964; and later they, and their successor AMGeneral, continued to produce a truck cosmetically like this one. WAS it the same; or just the cab design?
Finally…what happened to the White multi-fuel engine? We know what happened to White. Did that engine design pass on to another manufacturer, or did it head off to the land of the Hupmobile?
That’s because the tag shows this particular engine as manufactured in July 1986. The USEPA didn’t even exist until 1971!
Makes me wonder if there was an engine replacement in ’86.
I used to be on a local volunteer fire department a couple years, and we had one of these with a 1000 gallon water tank as a chunk of our pumping equipment. Interesting to drive–it was a diesel, but no glow plugs. An ether cartridge was set up as standard, though on most days, we didn’t need it.
I never had it in 6 wheel drive, but it wasn’t half bad off road. If you had it greater than 50 MPH, on the highway, you better have ear plugs. You see a fair amount of these (and the bobbed version) on eBay. Prices range from OMG to not too bad. I wouldn’t want to drive one cross country, though.
BTW, the trailer is set up so that the wheels are powered. The back of the drive shaft isn’t the PTO (there is one, IIRC, but in the front), but it can be connected to the trailer diff.
Final note, check out the shift pattern.
I’ve wanted one, but we don’t have enough land to actually need one…
Yes, I realized that’s what the output shaft off the end of the diff would have to be for, shortly after I wrote it. There would be no way to control the speed of it, except for the road speed. Thanks for clarifying that.
This is an AM General built truck. The data plate for the engine shows a contract year of 1984 (the two digit number after DAAE07). These trucks had multi-fuel engines only, never CAT engines. The replacement for the M35, the FMTV, had a CAT engine. Totally different trucks.
The engine was retro-fitted. I just added a picture of the manufacturer’s ID plate, which clearly shows it to be a Studebaker.
Those trucks and the newer models looked mighty fine in Air Force Blue as well. What else can I say? It’s a beautifully restored vehicle that will stomp almost any other vehicle like a beer can!
Awesome conveyance critter and the vehicle-type was of immense value for conveying troops and the supplies/materiel of which the warrior’s mere presence rendered the near useless.
Even those who “merely” supported the front-line warriors won the battles as much as those sending high-velocity hunks of metal at the foe.
If given the choice, though, I would prefer to own this a sleek destroyer to slice through the ocean’s swell but the 78 gallons to the mile would limit those Sunday jaunts.
My father owned the WWII predecessor of this rig. It had a 8-10-yard dump box and was stout as could be. I discovered that I could put it in first gear, let it amble across a field on its own, and walk beside it picking up rocks etc. to throw in the back. Worked ok as long as it didn’t hit a big stick or rock. We also had a 1949 International truck that had the same shift pattern except that first and reverse were opposite; helped to keep us alert!
As a WWII vet my Dad loved these and had more than a few tales about their prowess. I had a buddy in engineering school that had one of this vintage. The service manual had specific instructions on how to permanently disable the engine with gunfire!
Studebaker’s defense business was even more confusing than its retail car and truck business. Controlled by Studebaker, Curtiss Wright, Studebaker again and then Kaiser Jeep/AM General – they built a lot of good stuff.
There was an M35A3 version that did use a Cat 3116 with an Allison transmission. They were basically remanufactured from earlier multifuel or Continental diesel engine versions in the early 90’s, a few likely remain in service with Guard units. The Canadians had there own very similar version manufactured by Bombardier that used an 8.2L Detroit Diesel V-8 with an Allison automatic transmission. Externally very similar to a U.S. M35.
Oh how do we get those in the States? The sound of that Detroit is Heaven.
The 8.2L was a regular 4 stroke design, doesn’t sound much different than any other diesel, sadly.
I love the fact that some of these are still rolling along as part of Mission BBQ’s catering fleet….
What fun to drive when I was young and in the Army. Power brakes…nope, disc brakes….nope, power steering…nope (and don’t even think about sticking your arm inside the steering wheel for extra leverage, she’d snap it clean off), heater/defroster…nope, vacuum operated wipers that worked…nope, legroom…nope, room for three fully kitted up Soldiers…nope, leak proof canvas roof…nope, gear pattern designed to be understood…nope, armor…nope (unless you count about a ton of sandbags). But by golly Molly, the Deuce could scoot across all sorts of terrain with authority and noise, and if she broke, some duct tape and a bit of wire and she’d be as good as new. Soldiers nowadays with their FMTV deuce and a half have no clue.
What, no touchscreen??☺
I rode my motorcycle through Fort Hunter-Ligget in central California today (awesome remote country road, no entry restrictions, highly recommended as a driving or riding road) and saw a few of the modern version of these. To the casual observer they look the unchanged, but like other modern “retro” vehicles, the tires are MUCH wider.
Think I saw a few of these today……..
In the X-Lent true story movie showing at theaters now. “Hacksaw Ridge”
In 1967 we bought one of these from Ayers AFB and put a manually operated V snow plow on it .
Bugger all cold in January in New Hampshire (no heater !) but it always started right up and ran fine .
It was a Studebaker with a gasoline engine ~ I no longer remember what year it was, looked mighty good in blue .
-Nate
Brings back memories to anyone who served in the IDF and I believe some are still in use, you can’t kill them with a stick…
Here’s one being driven somewhere up north, complete with that mega turbo whistle…
Great truck, drove many a M35A2 – the shift pattern took some getting used to…
This was a raw truck – heavy everything. What surprised me was moving over to a bigger 5 ton M-939 – it couldn’t have been more different – was very smooth and easy driving with the Allison automatic.
I never drove one, but I sure put in a lot of miles riding in the back. The truck I was assigned to later was one of those M37 (Dodge) 3/4 ton units. Those were rugged, too.
Why are so many old military “trucks” showing up for sale on Craigslist. These ads are from all over the US. If someone has some insight into this please let me know. I am sure there is a good reason for this I just don’t know.
Did the WWII Studebaker US6 truck shipped to the Soviet Union have power steering?
The shift pattern resulted from 5th gear being an overdrive gear (and was labeled as such on the shift pattern plate.) To get 4th gear, a rearward motion of the shift lever moves a collar on the trasmission mainshaft forward to lock on to the transmission input shaft, effectively making the transmission (in 4th gear) just a shaft running through from front to back of the transmission, yielding direct (not over-) drive In any other gear (including 5th-overdrive,) gears connecting the main shaft and countershaft in the transmission are involved in transmitting power to the wheels; not so in 4th where no gears are involved. I believe Clark made a lot of these transmissions with the overdrive 5th, and I think I remember Spicer made a few as well. The overriding point is that a rearward motion of the gear stick in a conventional transmission is what is required to lock the input shaft to the output shaft, by-passing all gearing, so direct drive is always chosen by the aforementioned rearward motion.
A guy in McClouth has three of thesemhe’s restoring. Vietnam vet. Amazing guy
I bought my 62 Studebaker/Packers in Springfield Mo. Picked it up mid June 07, drove it a 1000 miles at 40 mph to Biddle Mt. I got a regulation hair cut and wore my greens. Convoys were headed to summer camp. Every convoy waived at me and I waived back. the front end was so out of alignment I needed tires in South Dakota. The lights didn’t work or wipers. In serious rains I’d pull over, when it go dark I’d stop tell daylight. Even with the front end issues and what a monster it is still averaged 10 mpg.. The day I pulled in we had a tractor stuck in a field that like a mud bog. Parked the truck on dry ground. Ran a chain out to the tractor, put truck in low gear and pulled out the tractor. Funnest road trip I have ever had
BMC USN Ret.
My 62 white