These will be mostly B/W pics although I do have some color ones as well.I will post them as I crop them and for the most part I have forgotten a lot of details but I probably remember enough to bore you.LOL.I welcome and questions and comments.Ron G
You can also just change the resoulution, lower it. Nice picks I like cable for a change. I use to run one that had a BE Hydraulic. Nice starting on gas then to diesel. Great pictures.
A guy I once worked for told me "You are NOT an operator until you hold grade with a cable lift dozer!" He had 3 D7 with pony motors, 1 D8 PM start and a 1 D9 PM start, all cable lift! He also had a D6, D8 & D9 Hydraulic lift and tilt. The one that was a trip was the Emico rear engine automatic loader! It had this bucket that had a curved cutter bar where the center was the deepest part! He told me it was a quary bucket of some kind! That Emico also was 8V71 DD powered! That thing was a trip to run and no roof or cage!
Hi Ron G . GREAT PICS. , I love to see old iron working , cant wait to see more ! Where was these pics taking and was that you operating the dozer ? Keep the pics coming . Wingnut
Thanks wingnut.The pics were taken in what used to be West Germany where I was stationed from '60 to '63 at Downs Barracks in Fulda.I was assigned to the 58th Engineers. We used to do a lot of work for the German nationals building ball fields etc to keep everybody smiling.Since I took most of the pics I seldom show up in them but the 4th pic could have been me.I drove the lowbed in addition to running the dozer my last year there to break in a new operator for my replacement but that was my dozer and PFC Dice was running it in those pics. I could tell my machine from a distance as the first platoon had a double drum unit on their dozer (X17) while the other two platoons had winches. I will post more as the spirit moves me and time permits,thank you for your comments.Ron G
Never tire of the real period pix:thumbsup thxs Ron!!
Thanks Lance,Steve is pretty generous with his bandwidth here and I plan to eventually post all of my early pics at least and maybe some of the more current ones if the interest is there. I did not start carrying a camera again at work until the late '90s when I bought that Sony Mavica FD-7 new which took just terrible pictures but at that time it looked good and there was not much to compare it with. I used it to justify the $800.00 it cost but I am ashamed of its capabilities. It is too bad the other board cheaps out and deleted all my pics to save space but I think they will be here a while and those that want to see them can find them here. I will post some more later today.Ron G
I hear ya loud and clear, this particular section I would say is dedicated to the history, admiration and preservation of old iron, your posts fit the bill here and should have been preserved on the "other" sites, especially as one has to jump through the hoops to post em, present co excluded of course..... Once you get your scanner all warmed up with the oldies er classic pics we can continue into the latest............:notworthy
'nother batch Be careful what you ask for....lol.I am going to add the pics first and describe them later,maybe it will make them more interesting.Never too old to learn,huh? Well,the first one is of the dozer after I had given up any hope of getting out of there alone.We were building another ball field,they called them "sportsplatz" or something close to that but the ground was originally a dump before I started work on it,that happened quite often as I remember. My "tow" vehicle would be an m48a1 tank.While I was there our mission statement changed apparently and they added a tank to each platoon.The tanks eventually were fitted with a hydraulic blade on each of them.Don't ask me why I did not ever take a picture of them with a blade on them but I guess I didn't realize how rare they would be. I didn't get a pic of the tank yanking me out of the mud either but I am sure shame played a large part of that.LOL. The others are of the second platoons dozer,it looks like PFC Ruder running it and LT Burnette standing back to there.I cannot remember what we were building but it looks like fun.Once again,if anyone has any questions,fire away. I cropped 84 pics this morning,still see no need to change the resolution unless they are too large for dialup.I have many more of bridge building,pontoon and bailey bridges.........have some of the crane that rolled back into the meine river after the driver cranked it up with no air.Pretty interesting stuff but of course,I was there and it is history to me because I lived it.Ron G
Yeah that does look pretty sticky :cool2 any more wigglin and it would likely just disappear more :beatsme Looks like those were all 182 series thusfar, how did they standup as far as reliabilty and breakdowns??????
They were good dozers.Ring and pinions may have been a problem,mine had to be replaced after a Sargeant showed me how to break ledge,yanking the master clutch in and out at full throttle for a while ) I really don't know how they would hold up over the years,they were pretty young when I was there.Ron G
Nice Pics Thanks Ron G, Excellent pics from about the time I was born.I really liked the beside/above shots that looked over the operator on the dozer.Sometimes,you can't beat the B&W shots. The only time I ever operated a TD18 was 21 years ago....stupidly,I never had my camera.I remember enjoying the experience, over 3 days. Thumbs up,Ron. Jim
I thoroughly enjoy your posts and wisdom Jim.I have many more pics to share as time permits.Ron G
More B/W pics from the old days. This first pic is part of the last batch.I am trying to place our mission for the next several pics,it was not uncommon for us to be out in the field for weeks at a time playing war games but I think that this particular set of pics had us on the east german border building a road for the border patrol on our side of the plowed strip.I remember us operators had live ammo in our weapons and carried them with us at all times. Sooo,here are a few more of the lowbed etc.Ron G
Dozer on the lowbed Here are some random shots of the dozer on the lowbed that will be interesting to those that are following this thread I am sure. It has been my experience over the years that that the composed shots are not the shots that grab you,it is the random shots that you are taking to use up film so that you can get it developed,in my case develop it myself. The price of the film was not so much of a factor because I could buy it in the PX on the base. We can now experience the same sensation with our digital cameras,the film is free so who cares how many you take? I still use my film cameras when I can but it is getting more difficult to set aside the time for them with the quality and convenience of this generation of cameras at our disposal so to speak. There are times that my 35mm will be my weapon of choice over any digital camera that I have yet encountered for pure speed although I have heard that the higher end cameras can be had with no lag between shots.My budget favors the 35mm.Ron G
WOW! Amazing pics...Thanks also to you for your service:usa:usa
Those are neet pics,you cant go wrong with td 18,5 ton tractor,and a lacrosse loboy.
Jobsite pics These pics are from a new school that we were grading around and building a ball field etc for what ever town we were in at the time. I actually have a book of some of the old buildings and monuments in the area that was given to us at a dedication of the school that we were invited to attend and also have newspaper clippings of the event. This job was large enough that we got to use the D7 from subpost so the TD-18 pics had another operator on it,my good friend Don Bird from Oregon who showed me a lot of tricks at my young age when I would listen to him. Since I got to run the IH whenever I wanted I jumped at the chance to run the Cat so the pics of the D7 has yours truly doing the honors.That is rare to ever see me in any of the pics since I was always holding the camera.Enjoy,more to come.Ron G
I never saw a early 18 with that style blade, only B-E The late 18 used that style but the pistons mounted closer to the front
Some pics of field maneuvers,bivouac area. Here are some pics of the equipment while we were out in the field playing war games,this would be Operation Wintershield I,II or III,not sure which but probably not I because I might not have had my Voigtlander 35mm yet. I got to do guard duty such as guarding a bridge,living out of my pup tent for a few days at a time with a demo guy in case we had to "blow" up the bridge and interacting with the "locals". ) I made all three Wintershield exercizes,we used to load all our rolling stock onto a train and head out for a month,ending up down near the border of France where we did everything that the officers could dream up.Fun,fun,fun. One of the pics is the dozer parked in our motorpool,the rest are various shots of our bivouac area.You will see the mine spoon mounted on the blade of the dozer,not sure what the civilian equivilent of that is.Ron G
Nice pics Thank You! Ron, I'm curious about the mine spoon. I guess that's for putting land mines in?
Yes,that's it.It works just about as you would imagine it to work.You can see that it has runners on it to help control the depth.Since the dozer had no down pressure other than the weight of the blade it it worked pretty good.Ron G
Those are neet pictures RonG.That looks like a lacrosse lowboy,maybe 9 or 10 foot wide.I have a 25 ton lacrosse lowboy.Fore some reason they did not have A "beavertail" on the back of the lacrosse trailers.Mine has one but it was added on.I noticed the long ramps in the picture.I bet they were heavy.Thanks for all the pictures.
The ramps were not too heavy,they had wood inserts and nice handles to horse them around.If you look at my older pics on the first page you can see there is a beavertail of sorts at the end of the trailer and there are lips all the way around the trailer to engage the ramps so you could load in any direction.I cannot remember the mfg of the trailer but Freuhauf comes to mind.It could very well be something else though. I am pleased that others can enjoy the pics,I still have pleasant memories of that time in my life.That was my vocation for the rest of my days............well......not yet. )Ron G
How I miss that messhall coffee ) Here are a few more from that same site,I will throw in another motorpool pic to round out the five pics allowed per post. I honestly cannot remember what led up to the snarl on the rear of my dozer.I notice that I am hooked up to the front CCU so the cable must have snapped at some point that made it too short to reconnect using the rear CCU.Sometimes it is rather convenient to forget certain events if there might be some blame involved although I might not have been the operator at the time. .Ron G
Great pictures Ron. People need to realize this was probably the height of the cold war. A lot of tension on both sides of the fence. I would imagine you were watched like a hawk when you got close to the border. By both sides! There sure seems to be a lot of Chiefs standing around watching you work. One of my pet peeves. Anyway great pictures. Back when a guy had to have some talent too.:thumbsup
Thanks for the favorable comments.On the weekends I used to fly with the border patrol.Their Heliport was right next to our motorpool and if I was in uniform and there was no brass flying with them that day then I was welcomed to go along with them.I have many pics of the plowed strip and the fence and guard towers.As you can imagine even carrying a camera was not allowed but those pilots knew when to look the other way. .Ron G
Hey Ron, while you were out and about on maneuvers did you ever dig up any unexploded ordinance that was left from WWII? Also, and this maybe a stupid question but you showed a pic of the mine spoon. Did they maintain mine fields on the borders at that time? Were there any left from the war?
Those are really cool pictures. The experiences you had are amazing. They are experiences that you will remember for a lifetime. The iron is really cool and the circumstances amazing. Were they all taken at the East German border? Seems we flattened the place and then built it up anew for them, schools, sportplatzes and all. Thanks for posting these unique photos. Exactly what year were they taken? '46, '47 or so? How were you received by the locals?
still like your pictures after seeing a couple times a year. thansk KoO Published Author
The time frame was early '60s.The war had been over for about 15 years by then and most of the dangerous explosives had been located and disposed of. The remnants that I saw mostly was damaged buildings from the bombs and it was thought provoking to be sure.It seemed as though some of the debris was being preserved to remind us of the sacrifices that would need to be made should they choose that solution again. I did not find anything outside of the firing range that could surprise me but our demo guys did get called out occasionally to dispose of some "artifacts" of the war. I had heard that the plowed strip was mined and have no reason to believe that it wasn't but they would have to work around the mines to keep the soil turned and it looked to me like it was pretty well maintained.The object of fresh soil was to track the footprints I imagine but of course they needed the open space for the guard towers to be effective. The roads that I built would occasionally snake right up to the plowed strip so that the guards could have a peek from their Jeep without dismounting. We were pretty well received by the locals and went out of our way to ensure that we were welcome as the policy was always to respect and remember that we were guests of the country that we were in.Ron G
Moving to a new job. Here are some pics of the lowbed moving the dozer to a jobsite.Not exciting but pleasant to look at for me since I was there although I am not sure in what capacity.As I had mentioned before I drove the lowbed for quite some time before my tour was up to break in a new operator so I might have been there first,who knows?That was the third platoons lowbed and Spec4 Warchocki was the operator on the machine.Enjoy!! Ron G
Great pictures Ron, I'm sure those old girls had air conditioning and air ride seats! Only the best for the troops. LOL. I am curious about the transmissions? Main and a Brownie maybe? Top speed? I remember you posting pictures of them on a highway changing a tire. I think?
They were 5 speeds with a transfer case or at least a low range with a short lever between the seats more or less.It shifted pretty good,I used to use it to split the main box under way.Technically the front axle was controlled by a sprag unit that detected when there was a speed differential between the rear wheels and the front axle and then powered the front axle for traction but I have forgotten the percentage of differential that caused that to happen. I will be posting the tire pics again near the end of the pics,I still have a few more to go. All of our vehicles had canvas cabs and the only heater the 5 ton had was that big Continental puffing away up front there.LOL.Ron G
Pics of the same jobsite that we were unloading at. The next couple of picture sets will be here.I hope to avoid duplication but I didn't start scanning at the beginning of my negative book so it is hard to put a timeline on some of these things.I think that I will include some engineer things such as bridgebuilding etc that could be interesting even though there isn't a dozer in every pic. I met a gentleman on another board with a similar background who has started posting his collection and they are great pics,better quality than mine and would be a great resource here and I will try to convince him that we would benefit more from them than where he has them now but it is a very unfriendly site with nag screens every time you click on something trying to get you to spend money which I am fresh out of.His TOD was in Germany as well but a few years later than mine and we share a lot of stories between us.That second pic might have been me on the dozer but it was not my dozer,it was probably Warchoki's machine because he is in the rest of this set of pics.He was the third platoon operator.Ron G
Ron, thanks for the great pics. I really enjoy this thread.
what was the best dozer for pushing dirt at the time the photos was taken and push the most the old D7 or the TD18. David
The TD-18 would push more dirt than the D-7 push for push but the D-7 would be available for work with less "interuptions"over the life of the machine.Ron G
Ron you have a real nice way of saying things!
LOL,gotta be careful here.I have some friends over on the Redpower board too Darryl.
Here are some more of the same jobsite..........I remember it like it was yesterday.....LOL..........well,maybe the day before yesterday. I am going to say that the second and third pics are of me on the third platoons dozer.That has got to tell us one thing,mine was down for repairs.That had to be for the ring and pinion after a ranking NCO showed me how to break ledge.Ahhhhh,it comes back to me now. The dozer went to Hanau for repairs,seems like it was gone for a couple of months or more.Sometimes they just replace the machine but the one I got back was the one that I sent down there to be fixed.Ron G
Thanks for the pics and your service. I have a question on the TD 18's > On the last pics and some of the others they all had a cable control tube on the side of them achine and a floor mounted control instead of an over the hung control for a rear ccu. And that looks like a towing winch on the rear instead of a CCU. Did this machine have a CCU under the winch or was it a front CCU with a rear winch and the cable tube on there for spare purposes.
I imagine that all the TD-18s had the tube installed when built to military specs as it would be cheaper to install the tube than to pay somebody to figure out which dozer got it and which one did not.Adding the winch or CCU could be decided later depending on their needs. The 58th Engineer company had three dozers,two with winches and one with a doubledrum CCU which was assigned to the first platoon which was the one I ran.That was in their charter I imagine. All of the dozers were equipped with front CCUs and I ran my blade with the rear CCU because I liked the feel better than the front control unit. Of course if I had to pull a scraper then I had to change to the front like the rest of them.Thank you for your comments.Ron G
Great pics Ron.... some new ones I can't recall seeing before, that looks like I good bladefull of material being moved there.......curious that the repairs weren't made in a safe field and machines were sent out?????? Keep pluggin away, with 2200+ views somebody's following along.........LOL
once again great pictures and i enjoy them because everyone says they are in black and white, LOL (i'm colour blind, LOL) thansk KoO Published Author
Thanks for the explanation. Dad said the few Construction companies here all used TD 18's. My neighbors in the day had 12 of them and pulled pans. After he sold out and retirted they sold parts all ocver the country. Bonds used use them alot. Dad said Tom and travis bonds had one when working for their brother. He said it was hard to start and they had loaded it on the lowboy and pulled the blade up the the gooseneck. Dad told me they had left it running and had the clutch knuckled out to let it run. Then they chained it through the draw bar and took off to a site down the road they went undder a few low branches. Then they felt something and looked back and saw the old 18 comming up the gooseneck to the cab. they think the limb let the clutch engage. Dad asked Mr. Tom what they did and he looked at him and said we just got out of the truck no stopping just got out. Dad started out on a TD18 with the B&E blade that had the outside arms. He said it was teribbly slow and if you made wave you had to start somewhere esle because it wouldnt catch itself.
A couple more of the last job then moving on. These are probably the last pics of this job,we will be moving on to other things like bridgebuilding and other things that engineers do to make themselves accountable. I will need to crop and edit some more pics before long,I also have a few color shots that will show up here eventually to add to the mix.Ron G
The Bailey Bridge I cropped and edited 150 more pics the other day so will have something to post for a while yet.I sure wished that I had taken better care of my negatives although I am not sure what I could have done.They were stored in sleeves in a scrapbook made for the duty of storing film. These first two are of the dozer being used to move a bailey bridge as it was being built.We were using the piers of a bombed out bridge over the meine river adjascent to the site where we crossed it with a pontoon bridge every year when we bivouaced in Hanau every year for about three weeks to practice our skills and entertain the frauleins who were always plentiful,especially around payday ) The last three are of some german contractors Cats parked at a construction site as we passed going somewhere.It appears that I am a rider here so that I could take the pictures so we may have been on alert and I was probably listening to that ole Mopar 413 thrashing its heart out making me smile and pushing that M113 personell carrier on down the road. I will have plenty more of bridgebuilding and other interesting (to me) things in no particular order but hopefully of interest to the majority of our readers here.Ron G
Wow Fantastic pictures please keep them coming. I have to admit that when you (RonG) said on the first page that you had a lot of pictures and stories to go along with them the first thing that went through my mind was Abe Simpson. "Back in my day .... ZZZZZZZZZ!" All kidding aside, please continue to show us young un's how things used to be done.
keep them pictures coming, i enjoy the black and white since i'm colour blind. thansk KoO Published Author
I will be posting some color pics someday Ko0 but I ain't sayin' when.LOL.Glad to see that you enjoy them.Ron G
New tires?? We have all heard about the rotten tires that were circulated for our vehicles.Here is one that blew for no apparent reason while driving on one of the local streets and it blew with a bang,it was not low on air. That is me doing wrench duty there,a rare occasion when I was not holding the camera. That tire came on the truck as it was new,that is I was the first to use it after it was built but who knows how long it had been in storage somewhere. I will include a couple of sorry pics of us under way convoying to who knows where for more excitement )Ron G
Absolutely brilliant RonG please keep the pictures coming I have really enjoyed seeing them . Stock
great pictures RonG, please tell me when you post in colour so i don't have to ask xena, LOL those were the good old day, you had hair, you could wide load with no signs, beacons or permitts. thansk KoO Published Author
A shot of defective welding,broken beckett on TD-18. This might be the cause of the snarled cable on the rear of my dozer when we were out in the field back a few posts ago.You would think that I would remember these things since it was only 45 years ago or so. I remember the girl that used to bring my lunch pretty good.LOL. I will include a pic of the dozer sitting in our motor pool and a couple of color (don't tell KoO) pics of me to clear up the "no hair" comment a while ago. The first one is of my new guitar that I bought in Germany,still have it and it is strung up as a dobro presently.The other one was taken last December,getting kind of gray now but I will never worry about growing bald I don't think.I turned 68 a couple of weeks ago.Hah!I guess that the motor pool pic was alread posted so I posted the original of that wedge pocket before I rotated it.I think it is clearer too.If you look at that weld you can see that it did not get good penetration in spots there.I doubt that anyone was horsing on the controls enough to break it if the weld had been good.Ron G
Nice Gretsch there Ron.
RonG, 68 and still have hair, oh my!!! when i'm 68, i'll be bald for sure, LOL. great pictures again. thansk KoO Published Author
Pics of captured Russian tracked vehicle on my lowbed. This looked to be a personell carrier,it was delivered to us by a squad of defecting russian soldiers who boogied across the plowed strip right into our hands.Wish I could give a more dramatic story with it but that is what happened.Now,the bad part.............I was on guard duty that day I didn't get to go pick it up. It was parked on the parade ground so I was able to shoot the pics between shifts but I hated to have missed that one. It was supposedly the only russian vehicle ever captured during peacetime up to that date anyway. I am going to add a couple pics of my tractor in our motorpool,all shined up to go get the ruskies present to us.
once again RonG, excellent photos. what would have happened to the truck x-17???? thansk KoO Published Author
Thanks KoO,glad you enjoy them.I am still using that camera today....takes excellent pics,using color film these days of course.Not sure what you mean about what happened to X17.......It stayed on the base there when I left to return stateside along with the TD-18 assigned to the first platoon.........it is late in the day,it will probably come to me by morning. .Ron G
so once you left base, you lost track of your cat and truck. did a lot of machine stay over seas??? thansk KoO Published Author
Yes,I took over as the lowbed driver the last year of my tour so that I could break in a new dozer operator and somebody else took over the lowbed when I left.I did keep in touch with the new driver for a while who told me that they painted the tractor a new Olive Drab that was supposed to be a NATO color for a show that was upcoming.I didn't care for the new shade of green but I don't recall ever seeing another one like it.LOL He did send me a pic of it,I think he was trying to Pi** me off because I had it looking pretty good while I drove it. I don't know how the military deterrmines rotation of equipment,I witnessed quite a lot of it while I was there,new tanks,personell carriers,tank retrievers and the list goes on.Our tax dollars at work!!!Ron G
yes that is the way is usually is, once you leave everything goes down hill. i like working with a bunch of guys that enjoy their equipment and the job they do. if you are not having fun, why be there, LOL any more of those great BW photos i enjoy so much. thansk KoO Published Author
I try to post about once a week.I cropped 150 more pics for this thread a while ago and last week was the beginning of the new batch so there will plenty more yet as long as there is an interest in them.I shot a couple of rolls of color,some of which will be on topic here and I will include them as they appear in the list of pictures.No warnings or disclaimers for the vision impaired.lol.Ron G
keep them coming RonG love looking at that type of plant.
The Bailey Bridge at Hanau. This is part of the training that did during our annual visit to Hanau.We bivouacked at the training area for 3 or 4 weeks each summer and that is where we would be staying while we built the pontoon bridge across the Meine river in Frankfort etc. These pics are of the Bailey bridge but we did a lot on site there,there was a pond where we could swim the PCs as well as plenty of area to play with our other vehicles.As mentioned before each platoon had an M-48A1 tank and each of them got a blade fitted and at least one of them had a big searchlight installed but for the life of me I can't understand why that I did not get any pics of them after they got the blades on them.I think that I may have one in a company picture but I did not take it and it would be too big to post here I am afraid. The next several pics will be of various activities while we were there in no particular order.Ron G
sorry my "real job" has caused me to fall behind in replying on this posts. once again great pictures and it was amazing what you guys did back then. thansk KoO Published Author
Some pics of Hanau and our toys. These pics are our personell carriers,preparing to go swimming etc. We used to unload most of our valueables less they go in the drink due to some oversight on somebodies part,don't laugh,we sunk one in the Meine river while we were crossing it with the pontoon bridge one year.There will be pics of it in the series here. The PCs were the M79s,we did not have the M113s yet.This might have been the first year that I went to Hanau,it seems like we had the M113s most of the time while I was there.Maybe it was because I liked them better with the Chrysler 413 barking at me while we were cruising along at 40+MPH ). The M79s had two 302ci GMC engines,six cylinder in line,one on each side behind panels with auto transmissions behind each one,very likely Allisons but I cannot say for sure. I would say that in the pic of us unloading that it looks like me standing in the center on the ramp there.I have the negative so it had to be my camera that took the pic,I must have let my buddy Don Bird take the pic. I think that that may be the chow truck in the second photo there.The third pic with the crane tells me that we may have been practicing our pontoon bridge building skills before we went to do the crossing in Frankfurt. The woods to the right rear in the fourth pic would be the bivouac area where we set up camp while we were there in the field playing our games.I will answer any questions as I can remember them.Ron G
Ron, you are aware that we had software installed that automatically resizes your pictures to the proper size as you post them, aren't you? Thanks for all the great pictures too. I love looking at this kind of stuff. :drinkup
Ron,I really enjoyed your pics and thank you for your service.I was stationed in Ansbach for a while at Bismarck Kaserne.It was a small place with Katterbach Kaserne across the road from us.I loved Germany,beautiful place,beautiful women and good beer. Thanks again for sharing your pics. Gene
Big Picture I am going to try to post that company pic with the M48 with the blade on it. The reason I was apprehensive about it was that the pic,as scanned was 127mb but I resized it and we will see how it turns out.Of course that was in the .tif format and I saved it at 50% in .jpg.The issue really is that the pic was a panoramic shot and to maintain the aspect ratio the pic would be so small that you couldn't see anything worth looking at.If it does not work I will crop it at some point so the tank will show up so we can see it. Since I have a post started I will add some color pics that have not been cropped so you will have to excuse the borders etc. but these were taken leaning out of my barracks window,in fact probably my cubicle but these were some of the regiment returning from a field trip which we were also a part of I am sure,we just got back before they did. Notice the M88 tank retriever pulling two broken personell carriers like nothing. I better get this posted before I run out of time here........I had to search for these pics that were good enough to post.
if you can hold a grade useing that dozer than you are truly an operator.....
Some pics of our M79s out swimming. These are still more of the training area at Hanau,there are always many things going on at once depending on which squad you are in dictates what you do that day.Next week you will see pics of our M48A1s raising hell putting them through their paces there.Ron G
Here are the tanks,at least one of them anyway. Each platoon had one tank assigned and the crew were tank guys,they had the armored MOS,whatever that was for a tank crew,assigned to an Engineer company.I regret to this day not getting any pics of the tanks after the blades were installed and I cannot account for none showing up in other pics that I took by accident even but here they are,just pretend that they had blades on them.They looked similar to the blades on the M88 in the previous pics,the tank retriever that was pulling the two PCs going by our barracks while returning from the field maneuvers. The spotlights were equipped to send semaphore,that is they had the baffles in them to enable interrupting the beam,flashing the code.Needless to say,they were bright.Hope you can find these interesting.Ron G
GEE RonG, I think I've seen that company picture somewhere before David
Yes,it has lasted pretty well over the years.You have seen it more than I have I am sure.Now we can all see it. Ron G
Odds and Ends,next week will be better ) These are self explanatory pretty much.Next week starts the river crossing with the pontoon bridge on the Miene river.There are several different scenerios there that are memorable to me,pulling out the PC that sunk and pics of the crane that ended up in the river presumably because they started it with no air to apply the brakes. Spring brakes had not been implemented in those days and you actually had to have some forethought about where you parked and "what if" was always on your mind. The proper procedure when parking is to pull the fuel shutoff out and leave it out in the event that you parked the equipment in gear in case it rolled it would not start unattended.That was in the days before spring energized parking brakes.I don't know if any trucks use mechanical engine shutoffs anymore,I think most shut off with the ignition switch. The exception in the old days was if the vehicle was parked outside in freezing weather then you had to leave the shutoff in the "on"mode because the shutoff cable would freeze and you could not start it up when it was time to go. Enough nonsense,exitement next week.Ron G
Ron,great pics.I like that one of the 113 with water pouring up in the air while she fords the river. The m48 pics are cool as well....
Thanks for the kind words,those are M79s,we had not gotten the 113s yet.Soon I will have pics of the one we had to fish out of the river,you will see the drain plugs gushing water out of it.Ron G
AHHH, The 79 was the first version of the 113? or APC in the early days. I never was on a 113, our four deuce mortars used them as gun tracks to carry those big tubes. Looking forward to the next pics. Gene
The M79 was an APC,thanks for thinking of that,been too many years for me.It was in service when I got there mid 60's.Within a year we swapped them for the M113s.They were a little smaller having only one engine but had just as much room in them and were a little quicker as well.The M113's came through with the Chrysler 413 engines but the military was changing over to multifuel engines and I think the M113 ended up with a V6-53 detroit.We got the M60 tank about the same time as I remember. Glad you enjoy the pics,I try to post once a week.Ron G
Lets get started with the APC that sunk in the river. These pics are taken on the Miene river below Frankfurt where we built the pontoon bridge each year to cross the river for practice.The bridge company would show up with all the parts and the utility boat that was designed to push the bridge segments around during assembly and of course we got a crane from another engineering company in the area.We had our own compressor mounted on a deuce and a half assigned to our headquarters platoon and there will be plenty of pics of the bridge building to follow. Today I will post a few of the APC (thanks Finish Blademan) to start with.The first pic is of the utility boat after he got word that the APC went down.I have never seen a bow wake that big on the utility boat before.LOL. There will be more pics in the future but this will set the stage for them.Noone was hurt,the cause was that the vehicle had too much water in the sump which is supposed to be drained and probably the rules were to leave the sump pump running while swimming the machine which may have been overlooked.Ron G
Some more in the series of the APC in the river. Here is the driver drying off and helping to guide his baby back to dry land. The rest are self explanatory,the crane is getting in position for the days events,will start those pics next week.Notice the water draining in the second pic after they pulled the drain plug.Ron G
Some Pontoon Bridge Pics Here are some of the pics of the pontoon bridge,as I said before they are not in any particular order so these are the completed bridge,I am sure that later there will be others of it under construction. They stop the traffic on the river for us to do our thing so we have to work once we start to complete the job in our time allottment to free up the river for commercial traffic.We watch the barges go by until it is our turn.Ron G
RAW power , and team work !! Ya gotta love it ! Thanks for sharing :drinkup
More of the Pontoon bridge,tanks crossing. I gotta put in another barge pic,LashLander said it added to the story ) This one is of the hausfrau standing in the doorway of the wheel house on the stern,probably taking her beer break (wiretops in those days) and watching all the excitement on the bank there. Anybody that wonders about LashLander,he has been working 7 twelves for quite a while now and there is no end in site for the forseeable future. Enjoy.....Ron G
Pontoon Bridge Pics again I am jumping ahead in the roster a little to give some continuity to the story here,hope I don't regret it later but I don't think that the board will allow me to post the same pic twice so I am going ahead with it anyway. These pics are of our APCs crossing but you will notice that they are the new M113s instead of the M79s that we have seen up until now.The one that sunk was the older model. These new ones had that big block Chrysler 413ci engine and pushed those M113s along very nicely,thank you ).That exhaust grill turned a nice cherry red at night.......well,in the daylight too but we couldn't see it to marvel at but that engine would just sing to us gearheads.........yah,you could see us smiling! Our squads driver was named Michalski and he was a Mopar nut before we found him so it goes without saying that Chrysler was well represented in his company. I was watching the Gunny last night and he was demonstrating the M113 but pretended that it was the first of the series,he ignored the M79 altogether. One of the other threads today mentioned the possibility of "front wheel drive" tracked vehicles,well,here is an example.The 105 Howitzer was also front sprocket driven.I have pics of them as well,might post them someday.Hope you like.Ron G
The crane went swimming. Here are the pics of the FWD carrier backed into the river to get these out of the way.I mentioned earlier about the hazards of parking your rig in a safe attitude and exploring the "what ifs" mentally knowing that certain criteria have to be met before departure whether it be you or someone else at the wheel. These were the days before spring brakes that set if you lost air pressure and the mechanical parking brakes were only reliable on nearly level ground holding an empty truck if they were in proper adjustment.They might have been a little better than that under ideal conditions but I always considered that they would fail if I counted on them not to.They were only a brake band on a small drum on the driveshaft exposed to the elements and there was always a U joint close by to throw grease at it so in theory they were great but in practice they left something to be desired in my book. I don't know what actually happened that landed this rig in the drink but I would be willing to bet that it was because the brakes were not aired up or the handbrake failed.I was on site but I was not watching when it happened.Ron G
Five ton dump trucks driving by my barracks.WooHoooo Here just happens to be a few pics of our dump trucks hauling gravel past our barracks.These buildings were right on the fence line and provided an opportunity to see what rad was doing as well as watching our own stuff clearing the roads as it went by since it often took both lanes to get anywhere. Notice how the trucks had a driver and a shotgun..........ahhhhhh.....the life,huh?As I said before,these pics were not really scanned in any particular order,I scanned them as they showed themselves in my negative folder which is similar to a three ring notebook. I bought the notebook after many rolls of film had been developed so they were added as they came out of the box.LOL.Ron G
More pics of the APC getting rescued. These pics have got to be interesting if only because you can only see it here.LOL. I still enjoy looking and I have seen them many times.I still have some variety ahead of us,military life was seldom mundane especially when you had a camera.Ron G
Thanks for the pictures Ron. Different times back then for sure. I'm wondering if that tower is the only thing holding the bridge from heading down river. I assume it has deadmen buried in the ground? Also how does that reel on wheels figure into the mix? Does the river have a concrete curb? Not real happy about the Crane either. An APC is understandable but the poor Crane?? LOL! I find these old pics fascinating. Thanks for posting them up.
Nice to see you posting again Lashlander.If you look closely at the reel and imagine that I am sitting on the dozer to take the picture you will detect the cable threaded over the top of the tower that hooks to my drawbar.There is a similar installation across the river. I wished that I had been looking at that crane when it went in but I had some other things going on I guess.Is your work slacking off so that you can be around more now? Keep in touch with us.Ron G
Thanks for the reply Ron. I've got a couple days off. Our Barge departed for Skagway yesterday so have to fly in and meet it when it arrives. I'll be there for two to three months. Hope to be done by Christmas. Then have a rebuild to do for the Coast Guard here in town.
I hope you can find time to post some more pics.Nobody else contributes the type of pics that you take for granted.Just getting those shots from the plane puts you in a league of your own.Be safe and keep in touch.Ron G
Nice pics
I finally found a power supply for my computer and have it back online again.I didn't back up the pics that I cropped for this thread on any of my other computers so was dead in the water for a spell there. The next series of pics will be showing the logistics involved when uncle sam wants to play war games but I guess that there was plenty of money around in that era and keeping the troops ready for "what if" is what the military is all about,right? This particular deployment........was that a word back then?.......was for "Operation WinterShield" and it was on the other side of the country and considered too far to drive the tracked vehicles in peacetime at least so we had a railroad siding on our base at Downs Barracks and just loaded everything onto the flat cars and took off.I remember being on the train over night so it was quite a ride.Germany is not that big but that is what it took anyway.So........here are some pics of that ordeal,in no particular order,as usual.Enjoy.That last pic was taken inside of an APC looking forward while we were underway.Ron G
Ron, I really enjoy looking at your collection of pictures! Keep them coming!
yes i like the colours too. just joking, remember i'm colour blind, LOL. thansk KoO Published Author
More of the loading up the flatcars for Wintersheild. Thanks for the replies showing your appreciation guys. I made at least two of these Wintersheild gigs,there was Wintersheild I and II and maybe III but I was present at two of them at least.My buddy Don Bird is on my dozer in the first pic,he was a logger from the west coast and taught me a lot about operating.It was old stuff to him but I ate it up. Here are a few more pics to help put you on site there.Ron G
Ron, given the opportunity would you revisit that army time again? Again my thanks for reminding me how old I am,I do need it every now and then you know.
As difficult as it is to admit it,they were probably the best days of my life.Not a worry in the world really,three meals a day of great food and there were always challanges to keep your brain working.Not knowing what I know now I would have still gotten out when I did though.Ron G
Some odds and ends pics as they appear in the list. Here are a couple more of the railroad cars and some more that you have not seen in Hanau of the APCs getting ready for a swim.I will have some of our bivouc area while we were at Hanau showing the five tons in the staging area with the cyclone fence around them for security.......I think that was to keep us from the german girls.LOL
Heir freauline you say ................ Good stuff Ron........
In case there is any doubt about how old I am Lance.LOL.Ron G
der leibling!
That fence is concertina wire,not cyclone.I have got the gout and it is going to kill me I think so I am not thinking with both brain cells it seems.Ron G
Here is a couple more of the APCs and now our bivouac area. The pics of the 5 tons are significant to me in that the X17 which was my tractor apparently was right after I had gotten it because I had done very little to it.I do see that I had upgraded the mirrors from the traditional round basic issue mirrors that it came with and that was the best I could do with what was available.The mirrors that I wanted were what the army called "10 ton mirrors" and the only place I would be able to get them were from the 10 ton on the base there and there was only one of them so it was not likely that I would ever get any.Even if I did they would be stolen immediately as soon as I was out of site of the truck.As it was I went to another military base for a few days to build a motor pool for them and they stole the pintle hitch from me the first night I was there. One of these pics has me standing in front of my truck,I have to look at that more often,I can't imagine that I ever looked like that.LOL.Ron G
A few more of the bivouac area. This brings back the memories,wish we all could have been there.I was a real star in these pics I guess,showed up in four out of the five.Enjoy guys.Ron G
Some more of that pesky meine river. These pics should all be new to you because the board won't let me post any pics that have already been posted.Therefore at the most they will be different views of familiar territory.Ron G
Here are some more of Hanau,I still enjoy these. I never get tired of looking at these..........I am still using the camera today that took these pics and it still does a credible job,in fact it is one of my favorite cameras.I regret that I did not get these negatives scanned earlier to preserve the quality but it is what it is. Here is one of the deadmen coming in on the lowbed.Seems like yesterday Hope you can get some pleasure here as I have.Ron G
Amazing pics and stories can't wait for the rest of them. Thank you
Some more of the lowbed and dozer. Here are some more of that dusty old five ton blowing exhaust from that big Continental right down into the sand and choking everybody up that happens to be near it.............wouldn't you think that someone would have had a better idea about where to point that pipe?LOL. A few more of our bridge being used to cross the river.Ron G
Excellent Ron; keep them coming PLEASE
Some more bridge shots to ponder. Here are a few more of us gloating over all of our hard work and marveling at the engineers who designed it all to make it work like it does.I think that the Bailey bridge is the most labor intensive,those panels are heavy,it takes four guys with spreaders to lift them and carry them into position.Ron G
Was starting to wonder where the update was. Looks like you got tired of swimming those APCs across and decided to give them a rest. That one pic looks like they barely fit but when I saw the different angle decided it was an optical illusion. Maybe if you hadn't let your crane roll in the river the bridge wouldn't have been so labor intensive. LOL! Back in post 110 there seems to be a strip of concrete laid down on the waters edge. Is that something you guys did where you were entering and exiting the river to control erosion or was it already there? Thanks for the pictures.
I am getting near the end of the pics that I have cropped although I have many more that are interesting they might not have as broad an appeal to make them worth posting. I am trying to wean everyone off of it gradually...lol. I do keep pretty busy and it sometimes slips my mind.I thank everyone for their interest,I do have a couple more installments but some of those may be duplicates. The others would be pics of artillery,tanks etc taken on field trips or on the parade ground at open house day for example.Come to think of it I do have a few color pics of the TD-18 that I must post as well.Don't tell KoO that they are in color. I would speculate that the concrete apron was there before we got there,probably to control errosion.As you know the Germans were pretty neat,almost anal it seems about some things.I work on German cameras and some of their shutters are complicated to the extreme it seems,tolerances very tight and if one thing is not up to spec it throws everything else off kilter.I enjoy it but you need the patience of Job to succeed at it. I love those old Voigtlander Bessamatics but a good working one comes with a price.Ron G
I don't remember this angle before ) Everybody gets in on the act here..........the kids,everybody.Look at the carriers that the pontoon bridge travels on. A couple more of the Bailey bridge....ouch....my back hurts.That is a lot of work assembling that Bailey bridge.The Engineers were always on the front lines building things or blowing them up.My hat is off to the demo guys,even today.I heard that they surgically sever the nerves in your arm to keep it from shaking to disarm the ordinance that has to be neutralized.I don't know that,I heard it though. I should have gone to demo school,there was a nice chunk of change each month to make it worthwhile to you.Something like the Airborne benefits.Ron G
The color pics Here are the color shots of the dozer on the lowbed.Something tells me that the reason that we were out in the field had to do with our company failing a couple of AG inspections in a row and the old man sent us out in the field and said that we would stay there until we passed the reinspection. In any case the guy in the pics is Leslie Jones..........not a mean bone in his body but he did not know his own strength.He once broke a guys ribs just grab assing around.He was from Oregon....I have searched for him,he was from Paisley as I recall.Ron G
Great pictures Ron! Heck of a way to have to shave isn't it? That picture is priceless!
OOOOH! I remember it well training up in the Wicklow mountains doing the same shaving thing .
THAT IS NOT TO SAY "OLD IRON" BUT "GOLD ARE ON" THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO THAT GOLDEN PICS FROM GOLDEN TIMES OF GOLD ARE ON Thank You [email protected]
Welcome there hemetco how is work in your neck of the woods.
Many thanks for the TD18 pics, Ron. My Father drove one on a farm over here from 1952 to 1991. It was like Paddy's brush, new handle, new head but the same brush. In Dad's case, new tracks, rollers, engine (upgraded to 18A engine in 1967), clutches, gearbox but still the same tractor. The farm had three at one time, two ex army, one (Dad's) bought by the British government for the groundnut scheme in Tanzania. I put some time in the seat ploughing under Dad's supervision when I as 16. Those steering clutch levers!!!! My oh My. Dad put in regular 12 hour days from harvest right through to spring. Didn't do him too much harm, he lasted until five weeks ago, just short of his 84th birthday. Mind you he was bloody near deaf. Straight through exhausts, it sounded like a Lancaster bomber on take-off roll from half a mile away.
Welcome there IH100 sorry for you loss thanks for the story . Welcome to the forum..
They were good old machines.Mine was a 182 model I think,the first model with hydraulically assisted steering clutches.I like the sound of any 6 cylinder with twin exhausts but mine did not have them .Thanks for the comments.Ron G
awsome pics Ron Those are great pics Ron you never get to many opportunities to see pics like that! Thanks Steve
Thanks Steve.DieselDave painted a picture of the one in my avatar and sent it to me.That man has talent.It is hanging on the wall in my computer room.I didn't know when I took those pics how much I would enjoy them in later years,I was just feeding my habit of cameras and developing the film etc.Ron G
Ok Rob you have all the equipment and talent so why not share it with us all?:idea
I am amazed that after all these years, there is one machine that has not been modernized at all... WHY have they not come up with a better way to greese machines? some of those bridge photos look exactly like the bridge in the new ice road truckers in India. I think my dad called them Bailey Bridges. I showed my dad, who was in France during that time in an army engineering group, this thread and this is what he had to say via IM: I love my Dad, It ment alot to me to be able to show him these photos and learn a bit more about this part of his life. Thank you for posting them and if you have any others please post them.
I'm Intrigued by the old War pics Yes thanks again Ron.While Im not Intrigued about war itself that much, those old pics of the mass of equipment and the engineering feats you guys and other countries around the world did still amazes me!I had my Father inlaw who was a war vet and a couple uncles, but most guys were tight lipped about the war and pics were almost non existant.My father inlaw would only talk about it after a few whiskies and Jackie my wife says I was the only one to have been able to get him show some pics(that none of the family had seen).It must have been a heck of time for you guys and You all did us proud.Keep up the good photos. Steve
Just for clarity, My father was in Orleans France during the same time and has several photos as well. When he is back from his snow birding in AZ, i hope to scan and upload some of his photos to add to this thread. My dad had the chance to do some work at Omaha beach recovering some landing craft used in WWII. They moved them to what is now the Omaha beach museum.
Germany This maybe another reason it intrigues me as a made a trip through west Germany last April.We attended a world tecnical trade fair in Hannover.
Seems i can not edit my post, the correct place for the recovery was Utah Beach. And the landing crafts were relocated to http://battlefieldsww2.50megs.com/utah_museum.htm where they are still on display today.
I would love to see your pics of old military construction equipment.I don't watch that "truckers" show so cannot comment on what you have seen there.The controls for the double drum unit on the dozer are spring loaded and can be operated with one finger if properly maintained.Thanks again for your comments.Ron G
Great pics Ron! Thanks for posting. As far as the M113 being the first in a series....they were. Same basic shape and look but totally new design. The 48's gave way to the 60 series and had the regular tank, a blade tank like you have talked about and a CEV (combat egnineer vehicle). M1 tank is a whole new ball game...WOW! Got my first one in 88 as the tank commander! What a ride! I served from 74-96, Armor! That included 3 tours of Germany 76-78, 83-87 and 91-93. Rick
Thanks for the comments Rick.I sure would like another ride in that M113 with that 413ci Chrysler in it!!What a sound!! They upgraded it to a 6V Detroit,probably a 71,I don't think the 53 series was out yet.That would have had a nice wail to it too.Ron G
Nice to see that they are still here.Thanks Steve for making this possible.I am sure that I will be checking them out in my final days even though I have the originals to look at there is always the chance that someone else might get some enjoyment out of them and make a kind comment,Ron G
yes great thread. thansk KoO Published Author
Great pictures!
Thanks for posting those pics. My daddy was in the Army about the same time but stayed in the states. He was in the same kind of unit so it's good to see some of the same stuff he was working with. He's been gone four years now so I can't ask him anymore questions. Thanks again.
My grandfather said once that an old td18, it might have been a td21 but any ways, could out push a brand new 17a d7 any day of the week but the final drives or something in the td18 would have be replaced 2-3 times while the cat just got 2-3 undercarriages
we ad the td-18 known as Dually out for filming pulling a couple of sleighs. hopefully this weekend we will have the dual stacker out for some real action pulling 6 sleighs. thansk KoO Published Author
Great pictures and a lot of lost history here that you've posted. I grew up in a place called Boys Ranch up in the Panhandle of Texas and at one period of time before we all got so smart and everything became so expensive we did all of the physical labor and that is not the case anymore. Some could argue it was a kind of slave labor and although that isn't my points here. I started working at age 12 because we all had jobs to do and mine was in the chow hall waiting tables. Next I became a dish washer and by 14 I was cooking and that stuff never interested me because I like being outside. So I worked in the garage and that was also my school vocation and the following year I was in heavy equipment. Everything we had was Army surplus and I ran a 1952 Euclid belly dump with that screaming 6-71, and I also ran a M-817 dump with the multi-fuel whistler along with several civilian loaders, maintainers and dozers during my final 2.5 years until I graduated. When I look at that picture of you guys changing a flat I knew all about that and not only did I change the flat but I also got to fix it! I didn't have the modern luxury of calling the tire folks out to change and fix the flat when I needed help. I didn't pursue equipment operation after hi-school because I joined the Navy and things just changed for me. I do wish however I did take more detailed pictures of my life as a kid and also the work we did because I was as good an operator as the guys in the large quarry across the Canadian river and I was a teenager! Thanks for sharing your pictures it sparked a lot of memories with me
Well,I just finished this old thread and am thankful that I can still be here to do it.Thank you all for the kind words and to Steve Frazier for allowing this thread to remain on line.Ron G
It's been a pleasure to revisit my favourite thread of all time, Ron. Thanks again.
Ron, IIRC it was Campo Pond.
Wow,what a memory,right on!!I've got tears in my eyes from the reply before yours and now you bring me back to Hanau!!!Thanks,Ron G
Ron, this thread will remain as long as HEF exists, it's a documentation of our history. I can't tell you how grateful I am that you put it together. I hope our younger members can appreciate the sacrifices made and hardships endured by men like you protecting the freedoms many take for granted. Thank you for posting, and more important, thank you for your service!! :salute :usa
With a tear in my eye I only need one word...Ditto! :usa
Thank you all and it has been a pleasure to be able to provide something that that is interesting to so many and give exposure to the wonderful readers here that part of my life that they may not ever experience. I might not have even found my way here again,my GF said that I died 30 times in the 3 years that I was convalescing so just being able to participate again is a blessing.Ron G
Just read through this whole thread. Great stuff ! Thank you RonG for your service to our country, and also for the great pictures and stories behind them. Wishing you good health sir. :usa
Thanks from Meriden Joe,I am a Mopar man too.Ron G
yes it is a good thread rong with a lot of history. i can't believe it took me till jan 2015 to put a windshield in the td-18 knowns as Dually. we have hardly any snow up here so i have not had the cats and sleigh out. i did move the td-18 known as Dually when it was -29c. keep your health up rong and keep posting. thansk KoO Published Author
RonG I can't believe that I missed that you were from Ct. Damn eyes ! Don't know if I should congratulate you or feel sorry. ( about living in Ct. ) :beatsme
LOL,you should live in Meriden.Not saying any more than that so don't ask.Ron G
You should try Kent Ct - Our gas is still over 2.50 - And thats for the cheap stuff..................
2.17 here at Bj's if you're a member. Mike Van what kind of loader is that in your avatar ?
Looks like an old Trojan,the 254 was bigger than that as I remember so not sure what model that one might be.It is difficult to tell from a distance.It might be a Pettibone too.I don't think it is a Nelson,they looked more roundish on their body panels.I have not driven since I took sick so don't know what the prices are in Meriden.Ron G
Joe, Trojan 114, 1960 I use it all the time here, sawmill, firewood,
Ok. Checking and couldn't really tell from small picture. My son has a couple of Case Terra Loaders out in Co. and searching for some parts. Just thought I'd ask.
Ron: Some more little tidbits for you. The M113 was modified again in the late 80's. New engine and they moved the fuel cells outside. The engine/tranny update was because the M113 couldn't keep up with the M1 tank. The fuel cell was crew survivability. The extensions on the back above the tracks are the external fuel tanks. Still using a Detroit but not the screamer. There are about 13,000 of them still being used. Medics, combat engineers and OPFOR were the ones with them when I retired in 96. You posted a picture of an M48 and said you didn't know the MOS. Back in your day it was 11E. You had 11B Infantry, 11C Mortars, 11D Scouts and 11E Armor crewman. When they adopted the M1 they created career management field (CMF) 19. 19D Scouts, 19E M60 tanker and 19K M1 tanker. OPFOR is opposing forces. They use the M551 and the M113 as their armored vehicles with fiberglass add on's to make them look like Russian tanks and PC's. Someone ask about how the Army got rid of stuff way back in the thread. With the exception of tanks and BFV's they are most often, even way back then, sent to property disposal. PDO then auctions them off wherever they are at. They can't get enough out of an old, often not running, with worn out track systems/undercarriages dozers for enough to pay to ship them back to the states. Most of the ones in Germany became Liebhier equipment ! Joking but most were turned into scrap. Armored vehicles on the other hand are cut up for scrap (never sold as complete/sometimes contrated out) or refurbished and passed on/sold to the National Guard, police or friendly foreign governments. On things like the M1's with the thermal sights and computerized fire control system on the ones sold are degraded and not to the same standards of the ones we keep. Now things were a little different during the drawdowns of the 90's. A lot of stuff no longer needed was sold through PDO that was in pretty good condition. But we cut the Army by 1/2 so there was much more than we needed for the size we were left with. That's why Afghanistan and Iraq cost so much. When they increased the size of the military from 400K to about 550K all that stuff, trucks, engineer equipment, aircraft and such had to be bought new. Stuff like weapons were stored but the equipment had to be replaced. Rick
What a lot of good info Rick,thanks.I just surmised that the new engine in the M113 was a 6V53 Detroit and I used to talk to an engineer or at least read his posts on the Allpar.com site as I am a Mopar nut too and this particular poster was an engineer who helped design and test military equipment and the M113 was one of his babies.He used to post in detail about it and had enough to say about its configuration that I was pretty sure that that was what it had for power.When I left it was only a couple of years old and as far as I knew they were still being shipped with the 413 Chrysler engine.That M1 with the turbine has got to be the a real bear if the M113 could not keep up with it.The M60 was replacing the M48 while I was there and was the first tank with diesel capability and am pretty sure one of the first "Multi-Fuel engines.I have quite a few pics of the armored vehicles too.Ron G
Thanks for all your great pictures! I would have loved to do some of those things you did. Pulling the 18 with the Continental powered 5 ton must have been fun and you didn't have to worry about the 2-3 MPG that it was getting! I have had so much fun with my old TD18 that I save from the Chinese smelter!
RonG: The Army got rid of the multifuel engines in the late 80's in everything. The purchase of the HMMV sealed their fate. Now everything except aircraft burns diesel. The Army did buy new pickups outfitted with tactical lighting in the 70's. They got the Dodge Power Wagons, 318 auto full time 4X4. They were so much trouble that they replaced them with 6.2 diesel Chevy's in the early 80's. That's uncommon because the Army gets something it's normally in the inventory forever. The 113's with the 1st Detroit's would run about 40 MPH. Faster than the M48's and M60's. The M1's are governed DOWN to 45 MPH. The M113 PC, 577 (command version of the 113) M109 and M110 howitzers couldn't keep up with the tanks. So the 113/577's got new engines along with the upgraded Paladin (M109) while the M110 was replaced with the MLRS (multiple launch rocket system: surface to surface ballistic missile). Increasing the speed of the tank from 32 MPH to 45 cut track life in half. And faster cuts it by half again. At 60 on flat dry pavement the tracks last less than 1,000 miles. At 70 they fly off. Last time I knew of the price of tank tracks they were about 30K a set and that was years ago. As it is track life went from @ 32MPH 5,000 miles to @45 2,500 miles. Generally in a peace time military it takes a long time to wear out a set of tracks. I can only remember once of twice seeing an M60 get new tracks. With the M1 someone was always getting new track. The Army also dumped the deuce and a half in the early 90's. They had just gone over to a new 5 ton. With the drawdown and 50% of the units going away they had all these old 2 1/2 tons and nearly enough new 5 tons to replace them. So the deuce and a half went away and were replace with the 5 ton. Before the deuce went away, as they went bad the multi fuel engine was being replaced with a turbo diesel called the clean air engine. Right now the Army is replacing the M2 browning .50cal. The new gun is still the same design but has a quick change barrel that doesn't need the head space and timing set! Rick
Wow,I'll bet I could still set up the .50 caliber in the dark.Thanks for the info.Ron G
Yea me too. Head space and timing was easy to me. The new tanks don't have a search light. They have a thermal imaging sight. It see through the dark, the rain, the snow and the fog. That's coupled to a ballistic computer that takes into effect the angle the tank is at, ground speed, cross wind and outside temp. Plus the range and speed of the target to come up with a firing solution in1/100th of a second. No stopping to fire either. Chance of a first round hit is 98%. The 2% error is crew error. Tanks are a lot different than they were. The construction engineering equipment is just newer. They did buy the ACE (armored combat earthmover) in the very late 80's and some other better stuff for the combat engineer side. Pretty sure the CEV is gone but the AVLB is up dated Rick
Just got to comment,I was looking around yesterday and it turns out that the Browning .50 calibre machine gun that we used in the military is the same one being used today.Wikipedia has a nice write up on it but that machine gun was developed back in the early '30s.Thanks to Mr.Browning.Ron G
Nope, sorry, it's not. They are in the process of fielding the new one. Looks pretty much the same but has a quick change barrel and they no longer have to set head space and timing. My son is currently Army Nation Guard, Infantry. His unit has already transitioned. According to what he says it's pretty much the same gun except for the barrel mounting system. Rick