My M292A2

[area52]

Well I flew up to Oakland this week to go put my M292A2 expandable van into storage until I can bring it home. I was in a hurry and forgot my camera so sorry no pictures. Drove it about 5 hours down to Paso Robles. It was pretty slow going, topped out at about 56 MPH down hill. It has 1800 original miles and 129 hours. The paint is faded/flaking but the body is very solid.

Funny thing - the guy I bought it from runs a training movie/promotional business for the Army and has a very large fleet of MV's.

Some questions: the data plate says its a M46A2C. So I guess that it was originally just a chasis truck and they put a van body on it. Are the M292A2's that way or are the data plates different?

I didn't get a chance to go in the back and test the lights and stuff, but can the lights in the van body run off of the engine or does it need a generator hooked up?

One exterior plug was marked 3 phase 400 HZ only, what was this used for?

Also for David Doyle - my rear window in the cab is a rectangle with rounded corners and with sliding glass. I guess this is not a true M292A2.

 

[DDoyle]

All the M292A2s that I have seen are data plated as such. However, I am now curious as to what the data plate on the van body says, and also the first four digits of the VIN stamped in the frame - which will tell you whether or not it left the factory with the body.

The body lights work both ways. IF the air conditioner is the 3 phase 400 hz type you are in luck - the trailers with those generators mounted are plentiful and cheap - mine has a 3ph 60 hz AC - and those generator trailers are expensive - cause that is the "normal' power supply for homes. My understanding is that the higher frequency is common in aviation electronics.

Best wishes,
David Doyle

 

[papercu]

M292A2

Congat on the new truck I like the van type trucks best of all. The exterior plug is for hooking the external generator cable to and will go the breaker box inside, hopefully the cable is still with the truck but the plug is a commercial type so you can find them. Good luck, Wayne

 

[area52]

RE: M292A2

David

the vin on the dash is 04J88690322xxxx and on the frame is 0322 xxxx. I did not get the info off of the van body yet.

the van body still has the shore power cable and reel under the back end. I didn't unreel it yet to see how good it is.

 

[DDoyle]

RE: M292A2

The 0322 tells us that the data plate is indeed correct, the truck was built as a cab and chassis, sans body, in 1969.

Best wishes,
David

 

[area52]

RE: M292A2

Thanks David for the info, greatly appreciated.

One other interesting thing to note - the exhaust on the LD engine runs down and under the cab like its going out the back but does a 180 degree turn beside the battery box and has a muffler attached to it before coming back out and up the regular stack. Anyone every see something like this? This is straight out of the military so no mods were done to this according to the guy I bought it from.

 

[CanonNinja]

RE: M292A2

all non-turbo trucks have that muffler as far as I'm aware... the turbos make a good "muffler" as it is, so that's my guess as to why the different trucks have the different systems

 

[DDoyle]

RE: M292A2

non-turbo LD-465 trucks with vertical stacks have the muffler inboard of the battery box.

non-turbo LD-465 trucks with horizontal exhaust have systems similar to the gassers.

The LDS-427 turbo trucks have horizontal exhaust.

The LDT turbo trucks have larger diameter vertical pipes.