yes folks, with the purchase of the ORCA, my T-Bird and as of tonight a 1970 Kaiser M54A2 5 ton 6x6 truck, it is with great reluctance that I must accept the time has come to reduce the load of treasured but very unique vehicles I am sitting on including
I know we are all scattered around the country but it can never hurt to just put the word out there just in case. All vehicles run and I have tons of photos and information about each in case anyone might be interested out there in the world of the great unwashed maritime masses!
and since there will be a couple of you interested…here’s pics of the M54A2 I mentioned
According to the listing at GSAauctiions.gov, this truck has 4127miles in it. I am doing my research but so far I believe it has a Contental LDS-465-1A Turbo multifuel engine. Will be finding out much more about gears, axles, and all the other details soon. I’m planning to pick up the truck next week from a town about 50 miles from where I live.
If anyone has a line on a bed for this rig, I’ll gladly pay a nice finder’s fee if it isn’t in Mississippi or someplace like that
As much as you hate to downsize you are doing the right thing. You new boat will be taking up most of your time and it would be a shame to see the rest of your toys sit there and rust. Check out this forum http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php? A there is a section there where they talk about converting heavy duty trucks for personal use.
Best of luck in selling part of your fleet and please let us know what you will be asking for them as you never know one of us might just be read to expand our fleet.
[QUOTE=tugsailor;111871]That is a very nice looking truck.[/QUOTE]
Yeah ain’t it tho! Bid on it sight unseen from the GSA last night but feeling pretty good about the price I got it for even though it has no bed. Doing my research, these kick the ass of any M35A1 Duece which much more power and better steering. I am not sure what it is on the front of the rig? Looks like a hydraulic cylinder with some kind of lifting frame such as for a blade. I think there is a winch behind that but even if there isn’t, it still is an awesome heavy duty truck. Of course, no real idea of what I am going to do with the thing but likely will try to find a matching troop bed but I might invest in a very heavy rollback for her as well.
an interesting note is that a few of these M54’s were converted to rolling “guntrucks” in Nam with the addition of an armored bed and up to 4 50cal Browning’s…imagine the firepower!
First, I gotta get the thing moved to storage and then figure out a long term plan. I am just stoked that she has that massive Continental engine which if it has such low miles/hours as advertised in the listing is worth more than I paid for the truck itself. If she has a winch then it will be even sweeter for me but now another project to require me to pay storage.
[QUOTE=Tugs;111883]Best of luck in selling part of your fleet and please let us know what you will be asking for them as you never know one of us might just be read to expand our fleet.[/QUOTE]
In the OP I added the links to each of the last two vehicle’s corresponding ads on Craigslist or eBay. The F600 will be listed on CL today and on eBay likely tonight. Asking for it is $5900.
I think owning a bobbed truck would be awesome! Dual axle I think are a bit much, unless you need the capacity, but shorten it up and you can dam near drive it around town and get into some tighter spaces then a full size one.
[QUOTE=Jemplayer;111894]You going to leave it duel axle or bob it?
I think owning a bobbed truck would be awesome! Dual axle I think are a bit much, unless you need the capacity, but shorten it up and you can dam near drive it around town and get into some tighter spaces then a full size one.[/QUOTE]
The M35 Duece’s are nice when bobbed but this one will stay a 6x6 all the way. If I can find a van body that will fit it, it will make a great upgraded replacement for the F-600 to drive way back into the mountains of BC and disappear from the civilian population after I turn KP into a smouldering crater!
[QUOTE=rshrew;111903]Going to have to put 1000gal tank on the back to make it to BC?[/QUOTE]
I’ll just get me one of them Army surplus tank trailers and pull my spare fuel behind me but will definitely need to have those quad 50cals there to keep the zombies’ bloody hands off my liquid gold!
That’s what I first thought but now don’t think so. The yoke would be lower for a plow plus I don’t see anyway you would be able to slew it sideways, but what else would you mount on the front that you would raise and lower? A reverse towing setup? Whatever it is, it appears to have a winchdrum behind it.
big highway plows don’t need to be slewed, generally always set up to push from driver to pass side. what else could it be? the winch i’d guess is just a winch and for entirely different applications.
[QUOTE=rshrew;111919]Sure looks like a hook hanging on the bumper when I zoom in on my iPad middle of the left a-frame beam just under the beam anyone else see that?[/QUOTE]
Personally, I don’t think I’ve even got a front bumper on this rig. It appears that the frame rails protrude all the way out to form the foundation for this contraption, whatever it is? Recall this is a firefighting rig but I could see the need for a blade on such a truck to cut firelines through brush. Usually, when these Army trucks are converted to FiFi duty, it is the addition of a tank, pump and nozzles to do remote back country wildland work.
I don’t see the particular pic that you are referring to, But, I used to drive a 6x6 concrete mixer truck (damn that thing was fun, sometimes) and the PTO for the mixing unit was on the front between the frame rails. That video is pretty awesome.
DAMMIT ALL TO HELL that I won’t be home for 5 more days and can’t get up to Sumas where the truck is till a week from today. I want to see and drive the damned thing in the worst way right now!
It use to be that I get excited like this about soon expected sex but I just have to be satisfied with the simpler pleasures of life now such as jammin down a turbo diesel on a beast of a truck! I really should get more refined tastes that old Army trucks and wooden fishing vessels if I ever want that sex again? I cringe at the thought of the type of dames I’d attract with this monster!
[QUOTE=“c.captain;111932”]I cringe at the thought of the type of dames I’d attract with this monster![/QUOTE]
I thought you got the truck specifically so you could carry your girlfriend in the back. Something about an F-450 bed not being able to hold enough weight…
