MossRoad
Super Moderator
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2001
- Messages
- 60,162
- Location
- South Bend, Indiana (near)
- Tractor
- Power Trac PT425 2001 Model Year
Bobbed Deuce
- Thread starter bcp
- Start date
4570Man
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2015
- Messages
- 17,821
- Location
- Crossville, TN
- Tractor
- Kubota M59, Kubota L3800, Grasshopper 428D, Topkick dump truck, 3500 dump truck, 10 ton trailer, more lighter trailers.
Aren't the tandems 5 tons?
dickfoster
Elite Member
just buy a "new" unimog. same machine but with front/rear pto and configurable 3pt hitch front/rear so you can actuall do "tractor" work with it
This one is on local CL right now.
A Unimog is whole nother kettle of fish.
dickfoster
Elite Member
I think some were but some were deuce and a halfs. My outfit had a bunch of em and we all called them deuce and a halfs including the motor pool folks. Pretty sold trucks as I recall and they'd run on just about any flammable liquid you could put in the tank diesel, jet fuel, gas. Not hard to drive either. Unlike the M108s I had which liked to roll with those swing axles under them and all that weight up top. I had two of em and didn't like driving them on or off road.
I don't know how those stinkin things ever made in into service because they were so dangerous to drive. Can you say unsafe at any speed?dickfoster
Elite Member
Some folks called them a 6X6 as well. I never asked, I just drove the thing when and where I was told to.
bigdeano
Platinum Member
Isn't that a M151? I drove those. I thought they were great fun, like little sports cars. It was fun squealing the tires shifting down. I never tried hard cornering though.
dickfoster
Elite Member
Yeah but when you add all the comm gear it became the MRC (Mark) 108. At least it did in the Air Force. You try that kinda stunt in one of these things and I gaurun tee you'd be on your head before you knew it. Add all this crapola and see just how tipsy it can get.
This was forward air control version that used the M151 as it's base. From the Wiki article on the M151.
Unlike other military transports, such as the WWII and Korean War Jeeps and Dodge and Chevrolet transport trucks, the M151 was never widely released into the civilian market. This was partly because it did not meet Federal highway safety standards for civilian vehicles, and also because of a series of early rollover accidents. While these were often blamed on the independent suspension (which played no small part), they were also due to driver errors, with operators unprepared for the increased performance compared to the Jeeps which it replaced. The swing axle rear suspension design was prone to radical camber changes when subjected to abrupt shifts in lateral loads, resulting in catastrophic oversteer, which often led in turn to a vehicle rollover. Sudden and excessive steering input, as commonly found in a high-speed emergency avoidance maneuvers, was a recipe for disaster, as was heavy braking mid-turn. The vehicle's tendency to lose control was reduced when there was weight in the rear, so drivers would often place an ammunition box filled with sand under the rear seat when no other load was being carried. The box could simply be emptied or abandoned when the extra weight was not needed. Recoilless rifle carrier models were especially prone to rollover accidents due to their stiffer rear springs and were typically subjected to severe speed restrictions any time the gun was not aboard.
The handling issues were eventually resolved by a redesign of the rear suspension, introduced in the M151A2 model. However, due to liability concerns, the U.S. Department of Defense deemed all M151 series vehicles "unsafe for public highway use", limiting their public use. Continuing problems with vehicle roll-overs into the 1980s led the US military to retrofit many M151 series vehicles with the "Roll over protection structure" (ROPS), a roll cage intended to protect both front and rear seat passengers.