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Best military vehicle of all time

BKubu

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I figure this debate will get some hearts pumping! I'd like to see what trucks people nominate as the "best military vehicle of all time." I'd like to nominate the M35, which has been in service for over 50 years and is still being used by our front line military units. Even when the military tried to replace it with the 2-1/2 ton FMTV, they had trouble doing so. Due to some early teething problems, the initial FMTVs were limited to 35 mph due to roll-over problems.


Honorable mention: M113 APC. The M113 is the most widely produced tracked vehicle of all-time. It is being used by many, many different armies around the world.
 

Recovry4x4

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Jeff, I would sure like to see you load a spare on that truck by yourself. ANYTHING is a pretty inclusive word. Speaking of spares, try driving that thing home with a few flats.
 

Recovry4x4

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No offense here Jeff! Anything is just very inclusive and like you, am offering a different opinion! The deuce has a winch to load the spare tire. No lifting at all. I would hate to load one of those big tires on your truck. Also, I've had the infortunate mishap of getting 3 flats at the same time before. Luckily it was no front tires. I was able to drive home without changing a tire by simply chaining up one side of the rearmost axle. The other tire was in a tandem location and supported by the remaining tire. As far as not hearing it run, you're right. That in no way underestimates what kind of power the engine produces. 6.5 litre 4 stroke diesels in any number of cylinders will make reasonably similiar power. Mathematically I am aware of the possibilies of your truck and I'm not throwing stones at it just tossing out some facts. As far as gearing and power in relation to a drawbar pull, you can have 1000 HP and and a 400 to 1 crawl ratio and it won't make a hoot difference if your not factoring in drawbar height on each vehicle, surface to be pulled on and weight of the truck respective trucks. Some surfaces favor wider tires and some skinny tires. As far as weight, that's going to be hard to compare since nobody here has any first hand experience of what the W-50 can do. I know my cargo truck was rated at 10,000# I would think (but not guarantee) that the lower profile and tandem spread of the deuce would lend to be a more stable platform for toting high weights in an offroad situation and even on road. There are guys on this list that have hauled 16,000# without a problem. Again, I'm not saying that your W-50 can't either. Besides yourself, I might be the only guy on this list that's ever seen a W-50 and offer this to everybody. It's kind of like a Unimog on steroids.
I don't think anybody is taking things to seriously here at all. The basis of a good thread is varying opinions and facts to back them up. I was certainly not "Taking things to seriously" at all, just sharing my viewpoints.
 

Recovry4x4

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Just curious Jeff, what is the load rating on the tires of your truck or better yet, what tires do you have? 20,000# (10 tons) on 2 rear tires seems like alot to me but I'm not an expert on tire capacities.
 

Desert Rat

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Boy I wouldn't want to put a 10 ton load on just 4 tires. I had an International 8900 and a 9600. Both had 4 &1/4 CAT engines and air ride. These bad boys had a 13 over and 15 over respectively and I'd never dream of loading them up with 10 tons except to make the trailer legal. And these trucks had a much heavier duty suspension than the military 5 ton trucks. The 10 ton trucks were about equal as far as capacity but mine, due to the air ride, were much smoother on the highway. Hauling beer around the end of baseball season means people become angry without their beer if you don't use an air ride truck! Plus, as we all know, just the semi by itself is a 10 wheeler. 10 tons is quite a bit of weight to put on just ten tires let alone four, two being steers. Now that's demanding driving not to peel the tires off the rims going around a curve unexpectedly. Just my concerns.
 

Cheek

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[color=#0000ff>My]


<FONT color=#0000ff>Here's Some Interesting Pics I Found! That 4 Door Monster Is Pretty Cool. I Wonder How Big That Cannon Is On There? [/color][color=#0000ff>I]<FONT color=#0000ff>On The IFA In The Third Pic! The One With The Lift Is For Railway Inspection/Repair. [/color]
 

Cheek

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[color=blue> After]I did translate the other numbers which were for wheel size. These tyres are the original ones from the factory in East Germany and I seriously doubt they would put a tyre on a 10 ton rated vehicle that couldn't handle it! (IFA produced a truck in the mid eighties, the IFA W-50LZ, that had a <FONT color=red>25 Ton Payload!!![/color]) My tyres can be mounted on 13"-20" rims and are 14 ply. Since a regular 20" semi tire that is 10"-11" wide is rated at about 7,500 lbs in a single configuration, it is reasonable to assume that a tyre 16" wide can handle 12,000 lbs. It is designed to operate at 3 bars pressure which is 43.5 lbs. I can only imagine what a 20" X 20" wheel would look like! It gives the term "Super Single" an entirely new meaning! If I ever pop one of these, I'm in serious trouble! I don't have a spare either! I'll probably go to the 16-20/52 Military tire as that is the only one I know of that I've seen that is comparable. I just thought I'd post the info on it in case anybody wants to know. I'll get back on topic now!

[color=#0000ff>The]

<FONT color=#0000ff>Later![/color]
 

ajg6989

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Well for me I served on M60A1/RISE the most reliable tank of all time especially compared to the headache M1 series and russian tanks have crewed them too t-55, t-62 and t-72. The M60 is still a fearsome oppenent even today as many countries continue to up armor theres.
 

Pappa-G

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I own a DUCE. I have owned a M715 and a load of flat fender jeeps. I have wrenched on fighter jets, trainers and cargo pigs. Currently I work on OH-58's helos. As for the BEST I would say in the fixed wing catagory C47 Dakota. With a C130 Hercules a very close second.

Rotery wing would have to be a UH1 Huey

Ground vehicals hands down is the DUCE what else is there? [^] [^] :roll:
 

85-m1028

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I tend to lean toward the m715 smaller than a duece bigger than a jeep open top and big giant wheel wells to fit 44" tires with a spring over, although they do have 16spline axles and closed knuckle dana 60 and that weak six banger, its a great platform for all around vehicle. ohh and the m1028 too but it needs some bigger wheel wells, thats on the usa side if it were foreign I'd say a unimog 404 or a doka double cab
 
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