And it is painted blue for some reason...Your truck could have been a "Decontamination Rig" which means it would have had a water tank on the back. Mine was an Air Force truck too and had the double frame like yours.
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Thanks,
BaconFarms
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And it is painted blue for some reason...Your truck could have been a "Decontamination Rig" which means it would have had a water tank on the back. Mine was an Air Force truck too and had the double frame like yours.
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I didn't pay a whole lot for it. And like you said, it's not a great candidate for a restoration. I have a small collection of 47-53 GM trucks, all 1-1/5-2 tons. I will probably take the steetmetal off and clean up the frame, etc. I like the idea of truning the hubs and making it single wheel axles (M34) on back. I don't have enough one piece 22.5 rims for 10 wheels, so only six wil be better (read cheaper). Get that all spruced up and set a GM 2-ton cab on it and see what it looks like. If I don't like the look, then back to either patching the M34 cab or look for a better one.My 2 cents: This truck was set up by Memphis Equipment in the 1960's for a construction company to do some hard off highway work. The back of the frame angle cut indicates it had a dump bed. This truck would be a huge effort to build back as an original M34 mainly due to the frame issues. Personally I would find a civilian stake bed for it and make it back into a farm truck as is.
In the 1970's I occasionally grabbed a copy of the "Rock & Dirt" construction equip advertising newspaper. The ads for Memphis Equipment listed 5-ton's as "Big-M's" but always referred to the M34/35 deuce's they sold as "Eager Beaver's". Legend has it when the Reo trucks were first issued in 1950, someone in the military or in marketing started calling them eager beavers and it stuck. Early US Army informational films about M34's use the name as well.The data plates says M34 and no winch. The other tag is really hard to read, but I can bearly make out Eager Beaver (?) and is stamped 136
Very good. That is what I had thought, but when you look at one and then look at another 100 miles and 3 days difference, they look simular...M34 and M35 were REO products. Totally different from the GM M135 and M211. I don’t think there are any common parts outside of the light switch and wire ends.
I remember seeing a deuce on Facebook Marketplace that had a Ford F-450+ truck cab on it. I'm curious to see how your project turns out!I didn't pay a whole lot for it. And like you said, it's not a great candidate for a restoration. I have a small collection of 47-53 GM trucks, all 1-1/5-2 tons. I will probably take the steetmetal off and clean up the frame, etc. I like the idea of truning the hubs and making it single wheel axles (M34) on back. I don't have enough one piece 22.5 rims for 10 wheels, so only six wil be better (read cheaper). Get that all spruced up and set a GM 2-ton cab on it and see what it looks like. If I don't like the look, then back to either patching the M34 cab or look for a better one.
I concur with you about the M34, however, there were/are plenty of gas M35's and other gas-powered models within the G742/M44-series that were built by Studebaker, White, Curtis-Wright, Utica Bend, and if I missed one or two I am sure someone will pipe in that they own an example of a non-Reo M35 .. I have a Curtis-Wright M35 sitting right outsideM34 and M35 were REO products.
I think @Barrman meant the truck was a REO design.I concur with you about the M34, however, there were/are plenty of gas M35's and other gas-powered models within the G742/M44-series that were built by Studebaker, White, Curtis-Wright, Utica Bend, and if I missed one or two I am sure someone will pipe in that they own an example of a non-Reo M35 .. I have a Curtis-Wright M35 sitting right outside
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