Interesting Subject that may be of interest to you.

[Texasmark]

I was watching a Clint Eastwood WWII film just now and they were using Half Track armored vehicles in the movie. No doubt a half track would go a long way in the European mud as compared to non directional rear rubber tires in tandem on "Duce and a Half" Army trucks. I recall there being an Army compound down near Galveston, Tx., where they did some testing on them. My daddy took me over there on a couple of occasions as a little boy and I really enjoyed the experience but it was de-activated at the time.

Conversations appear on here about different kind of trucks in addition to tractors and they are real HD workhorses. What I found interesting about what I'm going to post is the companies that the Army contracted to build the half tracks. The article may be of interest to you...hopefully so if you are one of us that are into big trucks and tractors and other amazing things.

Just click on the "Loading" icon to view the article.

A look at the M3 Half-Track

The M3 half-track was a mover of men and much more!

www.militarytrader.com

One thing in the article that I never saw before was the Army using a non directional front tire on the machines...like R1 farm tractor tires.

 

[matthies]

Local guy here, I think a Korean Vet has one restored, and another he might get to. Also guy in my hometown had one but never seen it move till the auction.

 

[Mule Meat]

Friend had an M3 for about five years. He sold it because it would use about three gallons of fuel to go one mile. I think it needed a new set of rubber bands, aka tracks also.

 

[Fawteen]

Interesting! Thanks for the link.

 

[Welding man]

My dad was a half track driver in WWll. He told me about running blackout one night in upstate New York before shipping out overseas. MP's had the intersections all blocked as the convoy all passed through. Some old man ran the stop sign at an intersection and he hit him broadside. They would not even dad stop. He totally obliterated the old car and didn't hurt the half track. He never knew the condition of the man he hit.

 

[Russ from MN]

Interesting, thanks for posting, I watched some of that last night too, have seen the whole movie before. I had to read the section about the front roller, never heard of those before.

 

[Texasmark]

Friend had an M3 for about five years. He sold it because it would use about three gallons of fuel to go one mile. I think it needed a new set of rubber bands, aka tracks also.

For something weighing a posted 8+ tons, I think the article mentioned that the M3 had a 157 HP engine....for that kind of fuel consumption gears must have been higher than 4:11.

 

[Texasmark]

Interesting, thanks for posting, I watched some of that last night too, have seen the whole movie before. I had to read the section about the front roller, never heard of those before.

My comment too. I saw that roller in the front and curious as to its purpose. The article solved that mystery for me.

 

[David from Kansas]

Having spent many years in the field artillery, I remember how great a vehicle the cargo carrier, M548 was. Used primarily as an ammo carrier for the big 8" M110 howitzers we had, it was much better than what we had previously used, the 5 ton 6x6 cargo truck. I don't ever remember getting a M548 stuck. Our guard unit was activated for snow duty one winter in the 1980's and we used the M548 to rescue stranded motorists on I-70 and transporting hospital and other emergency personnel to and from work.

 

[47fivewindow]

Dad was motor pool sarge with Patton. He loved the White halftrack. It carried their tools and had a pto driven winch that was used to pull tanks out of mud and snow. After replacing the winch shear key with a bolt he said they would rev up the motor and dump the clutch to move the Sherman's. As the mechanics were at the end of the convoy they were often strafed by luffwaffle. The White had a 50 cal mounted and they made a grave mistake leveling in behind my Dad. He was the best shot I ever saw.

 

[jddrawbar]

Friend had an M3 for about five years. He sold it because it would use about three gallons of fuel to go one mile. I think it needed a new set of rubber bands, aka tracks also.

Agree on the gas usage......local farmer picked up one, I guess an M3, that he was going to pull a drag harrow with it. Pulling the 20' harrow, it would go thru 55 ga. drums about as fast as you could pour it in. It didn't stay in use very long, but was fun for awhile. I bet the supply chain to keep them fueled during the war was a big deal!!