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M880

NDT

NDT

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Data plate looks legitimate, I suspect you have a truck that the Navy bought after M880 production ended in 1978, and since it was equipped just like a M880, Chrysler stamped that on the data plate. M880s were 1.25 ton rated, even though they were 3/4 ton trucks in civilian trim.
 
msgjd

msgjd

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Early-79 power wagons had 2 round headlamps as did the earlier years.. Your grille and directional design is not 77-78 as you know.. Mid-to late 79 had four rectangular lamps .. The VIN indicates 1979 (6th digit) .. Your dash plate looks suspicious to me, as any salvaged plates and trucks I have here have plates with straight-line clean stampings.. Yours looks like someone took individual dies and stamped a blank plate, one digit at a time, uneven and crooked out of line .. All real M880's/890's I have ever come across or owned were/are 1976-77 only, and rated 5/4T, not stamped 3/4T as is yours... I have driven and serviced military dodges, ex-military dodges, and civilian dodge products from the entire 1970's spectrum, as well as owning several 70's models over the last 46 years... If yours was originally an ex-Navy vehicle , Seabees could've "required" BO lighting and may have put the BO kit on a commercial W200 .. However, I am thinking somebody took a W200 commercial truck, ex-Navy or not, installed the BO conversion kit (which was available as a surplus item for a long time), tagged it M880, and painted it US Army .. The other thing I spotted was the number "NG11R". Did the Navy use that gov't registration number format?? Yours starts similar to the Army M880/890 format but there's not enough digits. .. Now let's look up the NSN on the tag .. It starts out close to a cargo truck's NSN, but ends with no cigar .. And next we look at the TM entry on the tag.. It points to a TM/TB which I could not find online, but some of us know the 2300-section is reserved for special add-on equipment, not a vehicle itself.. Trucks are of the 2320-section... Your truck looks nice, but you either have a clone or a unicorn .. I hope I am wrong.
 
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D

Ducekrazy2

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Washington
msgjd said:
Early-79 power wagons had 2 round headlamps as did the earlier years .. Mid-to late 79 had four rectangular lamps .. The VIN indicates 1979 (6th digit) .. Your dash plate looks suspicious to me, as any of the salvaged plates and trucks I have here have plates with straight-line one-shot stampings.. Yours looks like someone took individual dies and stamped a blank plate one digit at a time, and not good at keeping them straight in a line .. All "real" M880's/890's I have ever come across or owned were/are 1976-77 only, and rated 5/4T, not stamped 3/4T as is yours... I have driven or serviced ex-military dodges dating 1972 to 1976 , and 1978-80 , but those were not stamped "M"- anything and did not have BO lights.. If it is a true ex-navy vehicle , the only outfit that would've "required" BO lighting is the seabees , and they may have converted a commercial W200 into what you have.. However, and I hope I am wrong for your sake, but i am leaning towards somebody took an ex-navy W200 commercial truck, installed the BO conversion kit (which is/was available as a DIY add-on package), tagged it M880, and painted it as a US Army truck
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Thank u it has green paint underneath Camo paint im going to look into more what else can I find that will tell me otherwise no vin numbers on front dash were they are on regular trucks .
 
NDT

NDT

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Is this 4 wheel drive? VINs that start with D are 2WD. If you have 4 wheel drive, then the VIN data plate is bogus and you have a 1976 truck.
 
msgjd

msgjd

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NDT said:
You have a real 1976 M880 and a fake data plate LOL. Actually a good problem to have.
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yep, i hope that is truly his case ;) ... '79's have full-time as well, though , and grilles/rad supports are very interchangeable... He also needs to check if he has the heavier M880/890 rear axle , and there might be a VIN stamped into outside of the frame rail, passenger side below door , near the mount
 
M813rc

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NAVFAC is short for Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command

TB 9-2300-390 would indicate a rebuild bulletin, though there should normally be a dash and two more numbers.

If it was a one-off (or small number) Navy rebuild, that might account for the hand stamped plate and if the rebuild was in 1979, the date listed.
Conjecture on my part, so take it as that . ;)

Cheers
 
msgjd

msgjd

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gringeltaube said:
I'm assuming they all had #60s (?) So, what has changed and how to id that heavier axle?
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I would like to say they all had the same model axle with same features, but I had a M880 I sold several years ago that had a single-wheel dana rear stamped "70" .. Due to the rust and original style u-bolts/nuts, it did not appear to be a swap.. I bought it from a town who had gotten it surplus 3 years prior... I have not yet had to do anything to the rears on my remaining two "M's" except check fluids and adjust brakes, thus I don't know what they are stamped.. The dana 60 and 70 are very similar in appearance.. I believe they had different drums and shoes even if both are single-wheel version..

To further muddy the mix, the 1970's dodge 100/150's also have a dana 60 rear however the bearings, seals, hubs, shoes, axle shafts, etc are different than the 60's in the "larger" models.. What I am saying is dana 60's are not all the same , just as dana 70's are not all the same.. Not all trucks will have the same axle rating as others within the same model.. This is something that was going on before and since the early 1950's .. Case in point, I have a '50 L180-series IH dump spec'd with a 190-series rear. Nowadays for another example, you can spot 2000's F450's with the F550-style box-tube rear and other 2000's F450's with a round-tube rear, of the same model year ..

In the manner/speed which Chrysler Corp had to pump out so many M880/890's to fulfill its narrow military contract, I would not be surprised if we learn they may have jumped between dana 60's and 70's whenever supply of one or the other compromised vehicle production speed.. The axle model number should be stamped on the rear face of axle tube if the tag is missing at cover bolts... With mid-late 70's dodge light trucks, the single-wheel dana 70 and dual-wheel version are typical for the 300, but you can also see single-wheel dana 70's on 200's depending what the customer ordered .. Now you are making me want to low-crawl in the snow under my M880 and M890 with wire brush, tape measure, and camera :rolleyes: .... Not exactly something I am eager to do at my age and agility :LOL:
 
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msgjd

msgjd

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M813rc said:
NAVFAC is short for Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command

TB 9-2300-390 would indicate a rebuild bulletin, though there should normally be a dash and two more numbers.

If it was a one-off (or small number) Navy rebuild, that might account for the hand stamped plate and if the rebuild was in 1979, the date listed.
Conjecture on my part, so take it as that . ;)

Cheers
Click to expand...
All conjecture is welcome to see all possibilities of his mystery... Correct, there are incomplete numbers on his tag , but as NDT stated above, the VIN on his tag indicates a 4x2 truck, not a 4x4 .. Perhaps could be a mistake by the puncher, but the VIN denotes a 1979 factory 4x2 VIN .. Something about that tag is truly strange
 
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