I saw another thread that indicated the M548 could not tow an M115. A Google search did not produce any quick results so I thought would ask here. What could the M548 tow? Anything if carrying a full load of ammo for the M109?

It wasn't intended to tow anything-- other than maybe a light trailer, or another M548-- I've seen them doing that. I imagine it could tow an ammo trailer, but mostly I watched them being towed by M578s. I've had two bad experiences with M548s-- the first was in December of 1979, when one ran over the front of my Volkswagen Rabbit-- with me in it-- I had a real good view of the front sprocket as it ran over the hood of my car, which was all but totaled. The second was the night I was sitting in the rec center in Vilseck Germany when one exploded with a full load of 155mm shells on the Grafenwohr tank trail about a half mile away-- knocked out a bunch of windows in surrounding buildings, and when we went to look at the vehicle, it had peeled the sides out like a banana and flattened the frame into the ground, not much else was left!
VR, Russ

Vietnam option :



Full size

This M548 belonged to the 3rd Battalion, 6th Field Artillery.

H.P.

It has a towing pintle and trailer light electrical socket, so obviously the Army intended it to be able to tow things that had a standard lunette hitch. According to the TM:

"The carrier can tow equipment or a cargo trailer weighing up to 14,000 lbs (6,350 kg)."

This is typical for Army cargo vehicles since WW II with the towed cargo capacity being equal to the vehicle's cargo capacity.

The vehicle did not have an airbrake system as standard so an airbrake kit was available for the M548A1 (and perhaps the M548). Without the kit the towable load was limited to 3,000 lbs.

KL

Thsnk you for the responses. Now off to find a small trailer kit.

You want an M10 Ammo Trailer, as seen above in the Vietnam photo. Verlinden does/did one in resin (#2100). They are still readily available on eBay and the likes.

Actually you want an M332 trailer, not an M10. The WW II-vintage M10 had a gooseneck frame, among other differences. Also, despite what Verlinden says, the M10 and M332 were not armored.

KL

Another option for a 1/35th scale M332 is the one relased by Perfect Scale Modellbau :

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/review/8429

...Not to mention the Azimut one

H.P.

We didn't use them, but they would have been an asset for the ammo squad. Have no idea what the GVW is, but guess it's capable of hauling 100 rounds for a very short distance in granny gear. Yet I can see it hauling 200 powder tubes with no issue.

In the photo you will notice the trailers are small ones. We used a few that you could set three of them inside of it. But we used M54 trucks with a winch.

I have seen them modded into a gun platform. And maybe one with a search light (like two M48 style)
gary