M756A2 Recovery! NY-DE (pics)

[No.2Diesel]

Hi,

I want to first give a huge thanks to maddawg308 as he is the person who informed me of this forlorn M756A2 with the hope that this unique piece of equipment would be saved from the scrapheap. I kept putting off the recovery for over a year but it kept nagging me so I finally acted. I had first visited the M756A2 in person when we went down to Aberdeen for the show to verify its condition.

I'd also like to thank Lex_Ordo who was nice enough to accompany me and help loading, navigating, etc.

Along with this recovery summary I'd like to share a kind of equipment review: Onboard headsets with intercom....

Roadtrip Summary:

Left home at 02:00, picked up Lex, had breakfast at a Waffle House on the way down, and arrived at TNJ Murray at 08:00. Its 211 miles each way and fuel mileage on the way down was 8.2 MPG and thats with the cargo top erected and towing my empty 6,000 lb. equipment trailer. The route is very flat with some occaisonal grades (suspension, bridges) haha.

The folks at TNJ are very friendly and accomodating with good knowledge of their parts inventory and MVs. Picked up some odds & ends, filters, a hard to find wrecker pin. Loading the M756A2 was easy with the Off-highway Pettibone Forklift. Got to see M911 HETs being jockeyed around and lots of wreckers!

If anyone's interested in other unique Deuces they have:

- M275 Deuce short wheelbase tractor
- M108 Deuce Crane W/W
- M342 Deuce Dump W/W
- Auger Pole Deuce

We enjoyed wandering the yard and taking in the sites of C-5 Galaxies taking off from nearby Dover AFB.

The trip on the way home was uneventful except for hearing two loud explosions as we were heading east on 440 on Staten Island, we checked our vitals and were stumped what the noise was. It turns out it was a Tractor-Trailer behind us towing a sea-container. It blew its rear driver side duals and the tires took out the rear bumber and tail light assembly on its trailer. Otherwise we sailed through the city both ways with little stop and go. Arrived home at 18:00 long day but not too bad.

Headsets and Intercom Review:

Having an onboard headset/intercom system is the main reason we had such an easy stress free trip. I had recently purchased a pair of David Clarke H10-13.4 headsets, an AvComm 2-place intercom and a small flight bag to store the headsets. I have many many hours riding shotgun in small aircraft so my choice of manufacturer was a no-brainer. The entire setup was worth every penny. Cost was not really an issue when it comes to comfort, and quality. The intercom can be either hard wired for 12-28V, or a cigarette lighter, or you can put two 9V batts. in it. We were conversing non stop for over 8hrs. and the batts. were not used up. I have not had time to wire it in so batts. were the easiest route.

They have gel ear cup cushions that are as soft as a breast/booby and the top cushion is also very soft. Being able to speak as if your in a library was great. If you do any roadtrips I'd recommend this setup. When I got out of the truck at the end of the day I did not have a headache, not stressed out, not in pain, and did not feel like I had just completed a long single day roadtrip.

Please enjoy the pics:

 

[Angus1]

that last pic looks like 278 near cadman plaza. congrats, on a sucsessfull pick up.

 

[emr]

Sold me on a pair with the breast/booby cups..... nice find good luck, any places to purchase these headsets would be helpful i have trouble finding things....Thanks...

 

[gimpyrobb]

Good save! Congrats.

 

[No.2Diesel]

Hi,

Thanks it going to be a fun project. Angus that would be correct on the location. The tolls for the entire trip were almost as much as the fuel cost, haha.

$150 in fuel
$120 in tolls

emr, you can go to your nearest pilot store or GA airport or go to David Clark: Headset Communication Systems for High-Noise Environments and go to aviation products. You can search for distributors by plugging in the zipcode.

Try on any other brand of headset (sennheiser, AvComm, teleflex etc.) and compare the comfort, cost, quality etc.

 

[mistaken1]

What is the roller at the back of the deuce?

I have seen that roller one other time on the back of a deuce and it made climbing in the back darn near impossible.

 

[No.2Diesel]

Hi,

There are a handful of forum members here with this unique version of Deuce and a half. Just by typing in "M756A2" in the search box gives a bunch of pics and details. I don't mind reiterating it here though.

The M756A2 is a baby/mini-me oil field winch or boom truck. It can erect or dismount tall equipment, winch or un-winch modular containers/equipment onto its bed and use its A-frame gin poles to lift objects. The tailboard roller aids winching of equipment onto the bed.

The M756A2 was either purpose built from the factory or could be added to an M48 cab & chassis Deuce. Please enjoy these pictures of fullsize oilfield trucks in action. Searching popular video website gives these results:

Video Link 1: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO_0LFnmNcs[/media]

Video Link 2: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWnd2giFm10[/media]

Video Link 3: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px8e6R30O1Y[/media]

Video Link 4: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKf-J-CLaec[/media]

 

[vtdeucedriver]

Great save on the 756 and good choice on the headsets.

 

[powerhouseduece]

Is the m819 done yet slackers? Good job on the recovery!

 

[No.2Diesel]

Hi,

Yeah this thing had to be saved. I did not expect though to get some extras with the truck....

I also got:

- the metal slats that clamp the wood decking to the bed,
- the metal drop in headboard and metal drop in sides with troop seats.

I am missing the tailgate but that can be fab'd from a regular tailgate. I'll have to add some pics later.

Oh and Matt PHD, we gave up on the wrecker and had it towed to a scrapyard.....hahaha not!

 

[Desert Deuce]

Congrats on a great and important save. That's going to be a project!!

My M756A2 is still waiting its turn for some attention to get it on the road. It runs like a top, just can't stop it! Needs Brake work.

 

[No.2Diesel]

Hi,

Thanks DD! When I was doing some research on the site I found your pics.... I am jealous, that thing is immaculate! I may ask for some detailed shots things in the future...is that ok?

Thanks for the pics, the tail light and reflector boxes that attach under the bed are nearly rotted off so I'll have to fabricate new ones. Its also missing the outrigger feet or pads so I'll be making those too. It seems like mine was partially sandblasted and primered with a red oxide primer and then left outside for many years.

The other boo-boo that has to be fixed is that both gin poles are lightly bent as seen in the photos..... It won't be too bad as the wall thickness of the poles is not as thick as I first imagined. The gin poles are not hard to lift up onto the headache rack...

...my guess as to how they were bent:

When lifting the major force placed on the poles is compression from the trunnion down the pole to its pivot pin at the bed. The poles were probably laid back so far that they were resting on the tail roller in an almost horizontal position and some downward force was placed on them. It wouldn't require alot of force to bend a 12ft. pole when the other end is fixed and the fulcrum is 11'-6" away from you. Oh well... I can't complain as the price was right.

I have been informed that it was surplused from Aberdeen Proving Grounds and thats how TNJ got it. There is also significant rust pitting on driver side bed rail in one location so it looks I'll be splicing in some proper C-channel. The heavy pitting is very localized to that area thankfully. I have uncovered the serial no. on the frame rail but I'm not sure how to decode it...

I'll take some more detailed photos over the weekend...Thanks again for your interest.

 

[maddawg308]

GREAT SAVE, No.2Diesel! Glad to hear that it got picked up by you with the intent to restore it...

Sometimes, when others save vehicles I find, the feeling is very warm and fuzzy knowing the vehicles will be brought back from the dead.

 

[Recovry4x4]

It would be nice if they had included the original data plate. I'm pretty certain that the M108 they have sports an M35 data plate. Maybe I'm weird but I place great importance on having the original and matching DATA plates on my trucks. This was one reason the latest M275A2 was sold. Once the original data plate is gone, I lose interest. With that said, the DATA plate from my scrapped M756A2 now resides with Cranetruck for his collection. I also have tons of pics from my truck should you need them.

 

[No.2Diesel]

Hi,

Yeah no data plate... They weren't even sure it came with any sheetmetal when purchased many years ago...

Oh I'm sure I'll need photos, thanks in advance!

I have looked through many TMs that show the data plates for almost all the Deuce versions but I've never found a representation for the Pipeline truck in any TM...hmmm

 

[AZDeuce]

Is the frame special on those? if not, why not buy a M35A2, and swap the bed/rear winch set up? That's the easiest, quickest route to go

 

[No.2Diesel]

Hi,

No the frame is not special... I am already have a decent M35A2 (the one I drove to pick it up) so I am deciding whether to convert my current deuce into a 756 or just buy sheetmetal, and engine/tranny etc. and complete this....


Have not decided..

 

[Desert Deuce]

Sure, photos are no problem, just pm me with any requests.

I went out to the warehouse just now to get some dataplate photos.

Also, one of my wrecker mascots. She and her twin sister wandered into the back of the warehouse last summer at about midnight (it was still 100 degrees outside). Their mother had died, they were verrrry young. Pixie & Dixie.

 

[hndrsonj]

I'm by no means an expert on pipeline trucks but isn't that one of the early conversions and not an A2? If so any M45 chassis would be right? Thoughts???

 

[cranetruck]

Here is Kenny's pipeline data plate.
My bed was made as an individual unit with its own data plates and the truck may have had any dash mounted tags depending on which truck was converted. That was the original idea, according to David Doyle's research, the complete m756 model came later in the sixties.
My bed is dated 1960...
Chris's (steelsoldiers) dad ended up with the gin poles and some other parts from my bed.

Does your bed have those tags? What are your plans for the decking?