Hello all,
While I was looking for somethig interesting to do with my 1/34th Mack CL, I remembered this picture -

The description was only CL713, which of course is for the Mack tractor unit. The trailer looks to be a TrailKing. Having spent quite a bit of time searching numerous trailer manufacturer sites plus Mack and DoD sites I keep drawing a blank as to what this setup is.
Does anybody know anything about this unit, was it an evaluation vehicle/combo ?, a contractors proposal vehicle ?.
Any info would be most appreciated.
Many thanks in advance.
Roger.

Nice idea. In looking at the trailer with M1 load, it seems the trailer bed width is narrower than the track width of the tank, with the suspension suspended over the sides. If that's the case, what is the M1 sitting on??

this looks indeed like a military version of a typical US civil heavy transport truck/trailer combination. The part the tank sits on is something we call in the Netherlands a "smalbed". It is just a number of steel beams that is small enough for the belly of the load to rest on this and the tracks to hang on each side. It is originally designed for equipment such as caterpiller cranes or draglines to keep the whole thing as low as possible so it does not hit any overpasses or bridges. The awkward looking axle/dolly setup has to do with maximum loads that are allowed on certain types of roads. For offroad this is a terrible setup IMHO. Too much tires, too long, too complicated and will get stuck on any bumpy road. That's the reason most countries use a 5 to 7 axle semi behind the tractor. More sturdy and much shorter.

I wonder how they were trying to unload this thing quickly. For this kind of trailer you have to remove the gooseneck from the rest of the trailer. I have seen this taking place many times and it takes some time to perform this action. Time you won't have in a war.....

Many thanks for the info Marcel, I knew I'd seen it in a book or magazine but couldn't remember which. Probably doesn't help when all my Mack Trucks books and info are on loan to a friend .
Thanks for the explaination Mat, saves me from having to explain it for m75 .
Thanks again to both for your assistance.
Roger.