G749 preservation

Two of those look like 5 ton models.

G749 Preservation

SturmTyger380 said:

Two of those look like 5 ton models.

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I thought they looked odd and threw them on a shelf for now. We'll get a chance to compare soon
.....but first, ......a toast to the G749 series of trucks.

This must be one of the most widely "re-purposed" former military vehicles on the planet.
If you guys have any photos or stories on the many uses you've seen with the G749's we'd love to hear them.



This truck was donated, first to one of our MVPA mentors....and when he didn't want it,.....anyone guess why he didn't want it,,,,,,, it was then donated to the G749 farm. With this being a family site it may be difficult to describe the post army life of this M135 but I'm thinking IT SUCKED,,,, and maybe the Steel Soldiers community would help come up with a few more one-liners and a name for this poor manure suckin' sweetheart.

With an unknown weight I decided to let the big boys do the rescue even with the Duramax snorting to do the pull, using the right gear for recoveries is very relaxing. Thanks to the crew on Steel Soldiers always pushing to use the correct recovery equipment.

This truck carried 1500 gallons of pig manure.... I've seen you crazy kids do your weight calculations but can you guess how much 1500 gallons of pig poop weighs. Cool drive system running off of the stock PTO.



Tires look good, still holding water.



Got to the pasture and rolled off near the temporary storage area TSA. One of the cleanest recoveries ever and she's getting disinfected with Simple Green and sprayed off tomorrow, thanks to Reg.



Not sure if I want to get the tank and pump off it or get the yellow paint out and restore it to its re-purposed format. Good weight balance for off-roading and can you imagine the expressions at the drive through windows when we pull in for coffee.

The brother rolled in with this wreck as I was leaving the farm, now we both collect manure....lol.

SturmTyger380 said:

Two of those look like 5 ton models.

Click to expand...

Won't the piston out of the 5 ton airpac interchange with the G749 airpac so that we can use the 5 ton rebuild kit?

I can measure my 2.5 Airpacks but the 5 ton has a longer tube where the brake fluid is and I think a longer air cylinder. But the diameters are the same so the 5 ton kit can be used. I think the 5 ton air switch is larger.

Air Power Unit Air Pac

SturmTyger380 said:

Two of those look like 5 ton models.

Click to expand...

This is way better than the "You might be a redneck when".........

You might be an "Early Deuce Freak" when...........

You can spot a 5 ton air pac from thousands of miles away. Good eyes, here's the length comparison.

With an air pak kit to compare with we're going to find out what fits.


In the meantime "Piglet" took a quick bath. Nominations for MV of the month might be worthy.



After the bath we found a rear view mirror and discovered the frame and data plate stamps don't match, interesting.



113500680 on the dash and 113500685 on the frame.

"Pootrica " has probably had an interesting life no doubt. Wonder if at some point in her history she was rolled and her cab swapped. Either during her military life or shortly after. Most likely during her green service an not her more recent (brown lol) service since the numbers are only 5 digits off.
Plowboy, you could always spray here back to green and call her a M217 tanker of the era.
Even though it's an M135 and not a M211 chassis.
Another great save none the less.

The 50's

I just climbed out of Canada's first nuclear protected bunker.

All the information and links are covered here http://edmontoncivildefencemuseum.com/
and here. http://civildefencemuseum.ca/

It ties in with the G749 Preservation theme so I won't start a thread until this project is a sure thing and I have the blessings of Steel Soldiers for a party....sometime in 2015/16 with luck.

All the bunker info is in the links. To keep the post shorter I'll only tie my trucks, the MVPA and Steel Soldiers into the story. I have a ship load of various projects on the go for the G749 trucks but this one is now set in cement.

The bunker, built in the 50's had been a mystery to most of the City's residents until today. After 5 years of work, an individual by the name of Fred Armbruster, brought the City, Architects, Accountants, Maintenance staff, money and short fat balding guys together to open discussion on its future.

I met Fred through research I was doing on the 50's shop van comms' system



and we immediately started brainstorming MVPA/ Steel Soldiers invite letters for gatherings and awareness campaigns, what the displays will look like and where the buses will park. I threw my hat into the ring a few months ago still not knowing the potential fate of the building. The City owns it and they don't know what to do with it......but Fred does.

It's all still a dream with an uncertain ending so I've been quiet about it until now. A few weeks ago I hauled Fred out to the G749 farm to look at the 50's era toys I collected. He met with our local MVPA group and the link between our two passions was obvious. The timeline of the G749 trucks and the development of Canada's bunker system will tell a story of planning, communications and secrecy.

Today I cleaned the parking lot, helped set up the generator and cracked the door to watch Fred do a spectacular presentation to the CCDMA board and the City of Edmonton. We were the first 'public' group to see the building in decades. Years of 'administration' work still needs to be done before we hook the 50's comm' van to the bunker and haul an air raid siren in the deuce, but I'm in the game.

This bunker is partly powered by an inline 6 Chrysler which ran on natural gas but was also multi fuel.



Electrical systems were UPS (uninterrupted power supply). She had one of the earliest ionizer air systems and a boiler which burned coal but was also multi-fuel.........and I have a lot to learn.



The group wants to discover, preserve and tell the 50's nuclear story, from a global perspective. There are so many links and stories between Canada and the United States with the Pine tree line, the Dew line and the benefits of a great relationship..........

.......what's your 50's nuclear story?

The photos on the website are probably better than these but I'll add them for flavor.

Pretty neat that you got a tour of the facility

Atomic Shop Van

Does anyone have this extra row of tracks in their shop van and what are they for? If I gotta go to Shilo!



Had a chance to visit the guru at his shop today, took a picture of the inside of his van and it is different. He doesn't have the extra bottom plate, slots, tabs......and I don't have a corn broom.



The guru mentioned that it may have had something to do with a 'radio van' set-up and I'm hoping for the positive pressurizable Atomic Shop Van angle. Any input is greatly appreciated.

G749 Starter Options

Why do I have 2 different model and style of starters?

It was time to get Goose out of the barn so I met a new Steel Soldier and his waaaay better half at the G749 farm today. I'm not saying anything he doesn't already know.

After forcing the new visitors to do chores around the farm, the reward was getting Goose, the M135 out of the barn.

I needed to get it out in the sun to a cleaner spot to work on it so did the minimal inspection just to get it fired.
We checked the batteries for voltage, added a cup of 50/50 anti-freeze to top up the rad, checked the oil and turned the key on to hear the fuel pump come to life.

I pulled the starter lever to hear the wonderful whrrr .....of silence.

Somehow the stud for the main power wire on the starter broke over the winter and was a dangling dangler. I don't have a reasonable explanation how it broke but it lead to a cool discovery. This pic shows the new starter and where the stud broke on the original wire.

View attachment 554442

I purchased 2 starters off a wizard in the U.S. who knew that I was going to need them, thank you Mr. Henderson. The shiny green one came from the south and the dirty one came off a Canadian M207 which was in the North, most of it's known life.

View attachment 554444View attachment 554447View attachment 554448

I was hoping to just swap out a switch but the ground band is in a different location and the switch housing is turned a few degrees.

Someone had the insight to tape over the tag on the M207 starter so I hope the pictures turn and we can all see the difference. U.S. starter model # 108595 CAN. model # 108581

View attachment 554443View attachment 554446View attachment 554445

G749 Starter



This is a test, this is only a test......... Not sure what happened last night to the pics but here's another shot.

One label looks like an original 50's starter label and the other maybe one produced at a later date but it does give us 2 options for casings that we can work with.

I purchased some starters from him too. I bet you paid less than I did even with my good brother discount.

G749 Spring Start-up

Well now, I don't want to say anything between brothers that would cause you guys to give each other any more grief than I'm sure you already have. I will mention that he somehow went out of his way to make sure it was almost the perfect color.



I won't say what I paid but I do remember thinking I don't want no cheap $5.00 starter when I can get a good one for only double that. I can tell you that he gave that stuff up so cheap, hand-painted, hand-delivered, with a 10 year warranty...I'm glad he's your brother.

Hopefully if starters come out of a dusty warehouse again in 3 months, someone as sharp as your bro knows what they are.

Here are a couple pics of goose with a little oil seeping after 2 winters in the cold so I'm anxious to get her into a hot bath soon. I'm going to try a re-torque first but I'm guessing wheel cylinder. Fluid level in the MC was good but I haven't got her running yet so we'll see. My rear-end is leaking.



Found a cool little half circle of metal under the truck that looks like the one that fell out of the winch drain-plug. I was going to shove it back in the drain-hole but I don't think it will work.



...and this small chunk of round steel with tapered ends that fell away from the starter when I removed the switch. Not sure if it came out of the starter or was just sitting on top but I'm going to MANUALLY find out unless someone knows what it is.



If it says U.S. Property on it, do I have to give it back?

small chunk of round steel with tapered ends

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I don't recall any type of metal rod with my starter or switch. there were pins on the linkage.

Yeah that Woodruff key might need to be placed in the correct spot in the Winch.

Was going to tell you your pictures didn't work but you figured that out faster than I figured out I wasn't on the last page.


If you are heading out to the farm this weekend let me know, I should be able to go on one of the two days (probably tomorrow).

Terrh said:

Was going to tell you your pictures didn't work but you figured that out faster than I figured out I wasn't on the last page.


If you are heading out to the farm this weekend let me know, I should be able to go on one of the two days (probably tomorrow).

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If you can make it to Wendy's on 118 ave and 142st for 1200hrs tomorrow, April 17th.....and it's not raining.....we should be able to see a few green MVPA toys roll in.

A few of the boys are in Cali at Tower Park http://www.mvpa.org/home/mv-events/ so we'll miss them but the broke guys will be there.

I'm taking a lesson on how to get the M1010 up and running after sitting for nearly two years but I got it insured again today. If the better half feels like twisting wrenches tonight, we can be CUCV frustrated together.

White-oaks goes tonight too, starting now, so if the sun holds up tonight and you want to see a few hundred Rods at an A&W, I'll leave the 1010 and buy us a burger. You got the last meal, paid for gas and re-engineered my building so I think I owe ya!!!

These guys are making me work Sunday so Goose and Gracie will slide down the list https://www.facebook.com/CanadianCivilDefenceMuseumAsscociation

G749 Leaky diffs

Has anyone seen the spring in the inner hub seal try to invade the bearings?



We had a chance to get at the leaky rear wheel on the 135 and I found some of the best help.

There's no shortage of try with these guys so after hanging from the ratchet, sitting on the ratchet, we finally added 30" of cheater bar on a 2' ratchet and pulled on it with 200lbs of uncle to break the wheel nuts loose.



They boys had to point out the leak and lack of cork or seal in the tang valley......the boys also pointed out the tab that folds over is called a tang so the cork goes in the tang valley at the G749 farm.



Working off-grid is a little different so we use a generator and electric impact to speed things up. Having the right tools like Seano11's big ratchet and the large wheel sockets is a big help when pulling this stuff apart.

It would be interesting to know if there was any play in the bearings that may have distorted the seal lip.
So it is my understanding the disk with the 6 holes that is bolted to the drum is an oil shield. I wonder where they think that oil is going to go? I don't see a hole to the outside?

G749 Leaky diffs

After backing off the adjusters on the brakes I still had to us little cheater strap to help pull off the hub. I couldn't tell if the spring from the seal made it tougher to get off but using the strap allowed me to tension it up and using a soft hammer, wiggle it off. The boys are now convinced that wiggling can get anything off.


I did a forty mile trip from the City to the bush last fall and topped everything up before I left. Should have left the diffs an inch low maybe. She was dry when I left the city and I'm guessing I popped the cork on the trip before backing into the dark barn.......must do post trip inspections.




It is kind of odd because the rubber on the inside of the seal is in good shape but somehow the spring was piled everywhere. Over-all the brakes look good and the ol' high pressure brake cleaner got things de-greased. Did a test fit with new seal and the old one must have got hot or dry and stuck to something for it to pop like that, very odd.

Help me out. My bearings are all running in wheel bearing grease. They are packed. It takes about a pound per wheel. The outer seal keeps the oil out of the bearings, the inner keeps the grease out of the brakes. Where did your grease go?