M109 Radar Van

[historyfanatics]

I have been thinking about restoring an M109 back to a radar van. My dad used a similar van to repair Nike missile radar sites back during the Korean War. His van was an M220. Given the shortcomings of that truck, I thought I'd try building it using an M109.

I have the info on the radar. And, the one I'm thinking of will be for display only. The only hard part will be set-up and tear-down of the antenna. Everything else is self-contained.

Does anybody have any photos of what the van compartment of these trucks looked like? I'd like to take it back to as original as I can.

I plan on using a small battery-powered motor to spin the antenna.

It would give my dad something to do.

 

[phil2968]

I can offer no help but commend the effort. I own a M109 myself. Good luck with your project.
My dad worked on radar in Okinawa in the late 50s. He has cool pics but not of truck units.

 

[bones1]

Sounds like a nice project, good luck.

 

[Darwin T]

good morning Robert,
i guess since you are starting another project the quad 50 is moving along, is it at the museum? i have not seen these trucks, is the antenna on the roof? there was a M109 for sale in San Antonio some rust issues on the roof but over all the truck was sound. by the way, here is a picture of the truck that i put the spring ride seat that i got from you in (about a month ago i took a trip to Red River Amry Depot and thought how nice the trip was with a springer, unlike the drive from Georgia to Texas with the old box seat) and the winch i had installed on her. i am up to 3 deuces and a M1028 with a maintance bed. i have almost as many projects as you.
have a great day
kevin

 

[M813rc]

... thought how nice the trip was with a springer, unlike the drive from Georgia to Texas with the old box seat...

I wouldn't have made it from Georgia to Texas! My M185 had a box seat when I picked it up from Ft Sam. Due to back/leg injuries from a 'non'-standard' helicopter landing in the Marines back in antiquity, sitting straight up causes me a lot of pain. I made it about 50 miles and was seriously considering abandoning the truck on the shoulder of the highway, but I squirmed around and found an almost not-painful driving position where I could j-u-s-t see over the dash (felt like I should have tiny gold rims and a thumping stereo) and made it home.

While I liked the storage box under the seat, in short order, and through the kind auspices of Pawnshop and Reloader64, I had a springer seat installed. Much better!

Okay, sorry Robert, hijacking divergence from your thread topic now veering back on track....
Looking forward to seeing the radar truck finished.

Cheers

 

[Darwin T]

Brunswick, GA to port arthur, TX 19.5 Hours of A$$ numbing fun, but thank to Robert no more of that.

 

[historyfanatics]

The Quad project has bogged down a bit due to the heat. I hope to get it back up and going shortly. The truck is at the Museum, although they moved it from under the cover where I was working on it to out in the weather. I learned I need a new wiring harness, and am waiting on that to get here.

The radar van is just another one of those crazy 3AM ideas. I wanted something for my dad to play with that he can talk about. My real fun is in the research.

I looked at the M109 in San Antonio. It would have been correct for a lot of what I needed. Escept that I would have had to re-roof it. And, that's more than I can do right now.

I like the trucK! Glad you were able to make use of the springer seat.

 

[Darwin T]

i think that was the one that i almost bought in january. i bought my 3rd deuce and put a down on that one. rented a car loaded up my tow bar and headed to corpus christi to pickup my 3rd (M35a2) duece. drove it to san antonio to get a forth (M109a3) for the box and found out it had a bad roof also (like mine) so it would not help. got my deposit back the truck was sound and ran good but i needed the box. so i patched my roof with bed liner and mesh tape after wire brushing and osfo. no more leaks