M26 Draggin Wagon

The Knuckey Truck Company in CA built these trucks during WW2 and the Pacific Car & Foundry
in WA also built them. They used A Hall Scott
gas engine. We ran one of these engines on a stationary dynamometer for 1000 hrs. There was
no wear on the crankshaft or bearings. Knuckey truck also built this field dynamometer after the war known as the M7 and the trailers. They all had the same chain drive as the M26. The M9 was a medium dynamometer had the same chain drive. This vehicle had a 500hp Ford engine and a Reo engine. It would hold a drawbar pull of 20000 lbs. Later a small dynamometer was built known as the M8 using a Ford truck with a retarder. It was for light vehicles. I think they still have it. Pac Car also built the M578
a light recovery vehicle. We tested it in the 1960's ran drawbar & cooling tests. We also ran a lot of winch tests using an M48 Tank for load and the M578 was sitting on top of a 40% black top slope. It was a very good vehicle we used a load of 60000 lbs when winching in and 30k when paying out. The only problem was the hydraulic oil over heated quickly. So we installed an oil cooler to circulate the hydraulic oil. Anyone remember the Goers? The 8 and 16 ton. We sank one of the 16 ton during an amphibious test. Several of us got wet. No damage to engine. Hal

Yea I remember the GOERs. They quit swimming them sometime in the late 70's because too many were sinking. The big problem with the GOER was it couldn't keep up with the tanks. They had them in Cargo, fuel and wrecker configurations. Was replaced by the M97X HEMMT. Configured as a cargo truck with cherry picker crane, a ROLO cargo, fuel, tractor and wrecker.

https://search.yahoo.com/search;_yl...;cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&p=us army 8x8 truck

https://search.yahoo.com/search;_yl...;cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&p=us army 8x8 truck

The cargo model with the crane made loading and unloading pallets of tank cannon ammo a breeze!

Rick

How about the Pershing Missile System? The Gamma Goat and the M551 was another hot project.
Hal

(quoted from post at 07:17:57 01/08/15) How about the Pershing Missile System? The Gamma Goat and the M551 was another hot project.
Hal

Click to expand...

Was never around the Pershing.

The Goat was fun. I loved them things! Very loud with that Detroit Diesel 3-cylinder 2-stroke diesel engine!

https://search.yahoo.com/search;_yl...mss&ei=UTF-8&p=gama goat engine specs

The M551 Sherdian light armored reccon vehicle was interesting. Amphibious and fired a 152MM cannon and a missile through the gun tube too. The missile was wire guided and the gunner had to keep his sights on the target until the missile hit. The thing weighed in at 16 ton and the recoil from the gun would lift the front 3 road wheels off the ground. Was air droppable too.

https://search.yahoo.com/search;_yl...op=mss&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-901&fp=1

After it was no longer used in Cav units it was use for opposing forces (OPFOR) in Germany, Ft Irwin CA and Ft Knox with "vismods" to make it look like a soviet tank.

https://search.yahoo.com/search;_yl...op=mss&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-901&fp=1

The add on parts were fiberglass and were just there for visual effect only. They had stuff like that for the HMMV to make it look like a Soviet BRDM too. They were still using them for OPFOR in 96 when I retired.

Later vismod 551 https://search.yahoo.com/search;_yl...op=mss&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-901&fp=1


551 with swim barrier extended.
https://search.yahoo.com/search;_yl...op=mss&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-901&fp=1

The last M551's used were by the 82nd Airborne during Desert Storm. They worked on the"M8" armored gun system to replace it but it was canceled during the post Desert Storm draw downs.

PS The links are for those who have never seen these vehicles and may want to see what they looked like. I think Hal already knows what they look like!

Rick

The 551's were very fast and caused some accidents. They had the power lowered. We had one to lose traction on the 60% longitudinal slope
and slid to the bottom. No one was hurt and no damage to the vehicle. After that a safety cable was attached to the test vehicle just in case it lost traction. Hal

My summer time neighbor bought a surplus HEMMT last year. It's pretty impressive. Cost him $600 in fuel to drive it from his place in Jersey, up here to Central NY