I think that this could be classified as a really heavy hauler.

Neat pic Dave I wonder if that's some type of new truck
I wonder why it has civilian tread on front tires but military pattern on rear Curious to see what the function is of the crane and what type of stuff that trailer hauls

The truck is the M-819 recovery truck. It is built on the M-800 five ton series truck. It is capable hauling different types of trailers as well as pulling a disabled tractor or cargo truck. This is not a new truck and the civilian tread tires on the front is a common practice on military trucks that are used on the road. We used them back in the mid 1960's on a lot of our trucks in Nam. It gives the driver a better ride and makes it control a little easier.The trailer is the M-269A1. I have never hauled this type of trailer so I am not sure what it was designed for .

now I could have used one of those to haul all the WW2 trucks that got scrapped 200 clicks from here back in June home (LOL) :-)

Cheers
Cliff

PS> Dave you started your heavy hauler yet?

This is my first project for this campaign. There are a lot of parts in this box. Is there anything that I should be aware of. Any little problems that I should be aware of during the build?

Dave:

The M819 was a crane/wrecker with slightly longer boom than the "pure" 816 wrecker. While technically capable of supply & materiel handling, etc, in my world (1970's, 3AD, 1ID) I only saw them in aviation units.

The M269 was a 12-ton trailer IIRC designed for recovery & hauling of aircraft. There was also an M270 which was longer. I believe that I also saw the M269 in aviation units & believe that an M819 pulling/loading an M269 with a busted up whirly-bird would be valid.

I have TM's for all the above in pdf format; if you would like them, PM me your snail mail address & I'll send a CD.

Thanks a million for the information. I did not know any of this about the truck or the trailer. It congers up some ideas for a build now.

Hey Dave, I remember some of the old guys that used to have some of them old stationary axle, step decks. Before the 45' and 48' footers came along, them used to be real neck breakers.

Sense you couldn't slide the axles up the main part of the load was in the middle, and the flex of the floor would just beat you to death. You wouldn't think that little flex would mean that much, but once it was transfered all them feet to the cab, it really got to shaking by the time it got to the cab. It was really hard to get a load that road good.

You would hit a big bump, and keep feeling it minutes later, and usually if the guy could only afford a trailer like that, he had a tractor with only a solid rubber block Hendrickson suspension on his tractor to, and never could find anybody to take a ride with him to the truck stop, during off time hours.
Kerry