Working On The M561 Gama Goat

[Another Ahab]

It's curious how the Japanese are some of the biggest fans outside of the U.S., of things American. Besides things like our MV's here, this also includes:

- Baseball, and

- Bluegrass music (I kid you not).

I do not have an explanation. Maybe some Japanese SS member (if there are any), could explain it.

 

[mkcoen]

Work at the blaster is going very slooowly (as in hadn't started as of this morning). In the mean time I figured I might as well start painting some of the little things that'll need to be put on once the body is painted. Today I got the passenger seat frame done (driver's side is still with the Goat), battery boxes, mirrors, and not shown, the mirror arms. I also did the other tail light and screws this weekend and put the lights together so they're ready to install. I should have kept the front turn signals and just stripped them myself but they went to the blaster.

I'm not going to paint the fiberglass seat inserts. While they're not the correct color green, they are green and look too nice and new to mess with. If it wasn't for them being on the outside I wouldn't have done the battery boxes either.

 

[TimOno]

Hello everyone, New Guy here, An I need a favor
A friend an I are working on a 1/10th scale Gamma goat, and trying to keep it as close as possible to the real truck, 6 wheel drive 4 wheel steer etc, But I don't remember the way the front an rear was connected together. An so far have not found a good drawing to get it right
Any help would be helpfull TY

 

[mkcoen]

Hello everyone, New Guy here, An I need a favor
A friend an I are working on a 1/10th scale Gamma goat, and trying to keep it as close as possible to the real truck, 6 wheel drive 4 wheel steer etc, But I don't remember the way the front an rear was connected together. An so far have not found a good drawing to get it right
Any help would be helpfull TY

Try downloading the TMs from here. Everything is available except the -20. The -34p might be your best bet for the actual drawing of the parts involved.

Or another option is to PM member AMGeneral. He's in Morgantown, NC and might let you take a look at his in person.

 

[mkcoen]

Here's a couple of shots of the finished products. The fiberglass seat insert and cushions as well as all of the mirror parts are NOS. I left the rattle can in the shot of the mirror to give you an idea just how tiny that mirror head is. If I was going to do any road driving I'd look at getting something a bit more expansive.

 

[Another Ahab]

Hello everyone, New Guy here, An I need a favor
A friend an I are working on a 1/10th scale Gamma goat, and trying to keep it as close as possible to the real truck, 6 wheel drive 4 wheel steer etc, But I don't remember the way the front an rear was connected together. An so far have not found a good drawing to get it right
Any help would be helpfull TY

HeyTimOno; welcome.

 

[mkcoen]

Prices are staying high for any of the GSA Goats coming out. Two sold in Idaho last night, after the sales were extended 4 hours, for big money. Both of these had been stripped of all breakable items and the fluids drained prepping them for the firing range. The orange one w/w brought $3736 and the red one $2655.

 

[Another Ahab]

Prices are staying high for any of the GSA Goats coming out. Two sold in Idaho last night, after the sales were extended 4 hours, for big money. Both of these had been stripped of all breakable items and the fluids drained prepping them for the firing range. The orange one w/w brought $3736 and the red one $2655.

View attachment 551162View attachment 551163

I'm not figuring that (but of course don't know the whole story):

- The Orange one looks beat to H*** (compered to the Red one, which seems to be in fairly good shape)

Is it the winch ALONE that bumped the bidding (I mean, as far as you could tell)?

 

[mkcoen]

I'm not figuring that (but of course don't know the whole story):

- The Orange one looks beat to H*** (compered to the Red one, which seems to be in fairly good shape)

Is it the winch ALONE that bumped the bidding (I mean, as far as you could tell)?

Could be the winch alone but the orange one also has all of the goodies for a USMC Goat rebuild. On the right side you can see the ammo can rack on the rear fender and the stub mount for a M60 pintle on the front fender. Those are both desirable additions. I think it looks more ragged due to the canvas top falling down. But that's another bonus as it has the bows for the original top still there.

 

[TexAndy]

If your wife kills you for buying another goat, I promise to take good care of the waffle house express.

 

[turnkey]

the two gammy goats look like good stuff for the range..Big price little return.

 

[mkcoen]

the two gammy goats look like good stuff for the range..Big price little return.

When there is a limited supply the price goes up. That little round piece of pipe on the right fender of the orange one is something I'm looking for and can't seem to find. If it'd gone for a more reasonable price I might have bought it just for that then turned around and sold the rest. David Doyle's US Military Vehicles Field Guide, publised in 2005, lists a "Parts Vehicle, deteriorated beyond the point of restoration" valued at $2k. Those are both fixers 10 years later so probably still reasonable for someone who really wants one. As the saying goes "one man's trash..."

 

[TexAndy]

As the saying goes "one man's trash..."

... goes in the ditch along my road?

 

[mkcoen]

... goes in the ditch along my road?

Well if there are any Gama Goats around there let me know.

 

[mkcoen]

Well it is finally "un-yellow" for the most part. There are some small spots here and there that were too difficult for them to get into. There are also some spots of the underlying material that I thought they should have gotten but didn't and the things they did shoot, steering wheel for example, that they shouldn't have.

I've spent the last 2 hours vacuuming and blowing sand out of places and I'm not any where close to being done. I think in the future I'll limit blasting to parts and not whole vehicles.

 

[turnkey]

Starting to look like something instead of a dunebuggy. Nice looking job..Keep up the good work.

 

[m38inmaine]

Sorry to see the sandblasting damage, I thought you were having it soda blasted since it is aluminum.

 

[BillIdaho]

If I ever won the lottery, I would buy another Goat, soda blast it, and then buff the whole body out.

 

[mkcoen]

Sorry to see the sandblasting damage, I thought you were having it soda blasted since it is aluminum.

It's not really damaged just a little rough. I hit it with a DA and some 220 and it looks and feels like the inside of an aluminum can. There was no warping due to the procedure (although some panels are bowed but were like that before I started on it). The media they used was all recovered sand so no sharp edges like fresh stuff. I decided to skip the soda due to the cost and time frame with getting it back. The only place I was worried about was really the dash area as those are fairly thin panels and they're fine. I also made note to them about a couple of thin spots that I found when sanding (break through the panel with foam showing) and have only located one such other spot that they opened while blasting. All of these spots are smaller than 1/4" in diameter.

They still have a couple of parts that are going to be soda blasted, like the windshield, and I'll compare how they look with the sand blasted area.

My biggest issue is the spots they missed that should have been gotten and the time it took them to get it done. Also the price came in 30% higher than he quoted. I got a lot of excuses about having to pull wheels and covering non-blast areas, etc and then sick employees for the delay. A lot of CYA for not meeting expectations. Like I said, I doubt I'll get anything this large blasted again so water under the Goat at this point.

 

[Keith_J]

The other good progress was getting the rear steering box cover removed. Unfortunately, a good deal of the screws were seized so they either broke or had to be drilled out. Now the rivet nuts (Rivnuts) will have to be replaced. Look like 1/4-20 thread so that is easy but still one more thing. The ones that slipped instead of breaking required a countersink reamer, then a 1/4" drill to remove. All went to plan.