What are these front bumper clips for?

[maddawg308]

Saw these on a GL deuce, but I have seen them on other deuces as well. Notice the straight pieces of rebar-sized metal rod welded to the front bumper on this deuce? They are just outboard of the lifting shackles. On the deuce I have seen up close, they resembled the "paper clips" on Marine Corps M-37s, on the outside edge of the bumper, used to tie down the truck for transport on a railcar. These look similar, but have the "eye" of the paper clip sawed off. Any explanations?

 

[citizensoldier]

This was probably a Marine truck. They look like whats left of what we call "paperclips" with the radius cut off . The Marines used them for loading the trucks on ships and lifiting with helicopters I think.. This would be my guess.

 

[maddawg308]

But why cut the clips off like that? All the ones I have ever seen show them cut off...

 

[citizensoldier]

Dont know?? Maybe the Army dont like em? Could they have been Marine trucks at one time and then the army end up with em? Somone on here knows the answer..

 

[jeli]

I looked at a Navy deuce in Jan that had them too. No idea what they are for.

 

[acetomatoco]

The Marine Corps answer is the best of the bunch.... You still see them uncut on a lot of their vehicles... they were better for slinging the trux than the tiedown shackles in the front. The rear ones on the spring perches withe the guides on the body were still used OK.....

 

[CGarbee]

ACE is right.

Now, why they are cut off "who knows"... Maybe it is part of some demil/prep for sale thing (sorta like that line that came out where they are supposed to drain fluids but most often these days they don't, but you always need to check since you never really know...). As stated, they also mounted a pair of hoops to bars that attached to the pins on the rear springs that went through the loops welded to the bottom of the bed and it's rare that you see a truck go up for sale in my area that still has them mounted... So, someone may think that "removal of sling gear" also means to cut of the paperclips...

 

[Recovry4x4]

Funny thing. As the military now contracts movement of alot of their trucks, it's funny to see how the longshoremen do this. There were about a hundred 900 series cargos that got shipped commercially out of our port. Slingpoint on the front and bumperettes on the rear. You could see the bend in the frame when they lifted them. The cab and bed were nearly touching at the top. Good thing they were mostly empty. Another astute observation, all the green ones and camo ones had pioneer tools, the 686 ones did not. They did a much better job slinging this excavator.