M26 Tank Recovery Vehicle.

[Motorpool-Mac]

How rare is this truck? Can anyone who knows let me know where some of these trucks are located? I’d like to put together a list of this truck’s brothers…and to know who to turn to for tech question and parts.

Thanks!
Daniel

 

[Gordon_M]

1372 built

That's the number quoted, to include all three types (M26, M26A1, M26A2) No-one quotes an exact split of the types, as some of the early ones were later rebuilt as M26A2.

Armoured ones tended to end up in Europe, (France, italy, Germany, Scandinavia) where they are not that uncommon, although the supply is drying up. Most of the ones left in the US seem to have been either soft skin as built, or rebuilt as soft skin later on, hence all three mentioned here are soft skin.

Probably a few armoured ones re-imported to the US recently from the European stock.

Not aware of much NOS, though dealers like Army Cars (in US and Europe) and Jaap Rietveld would know.

If you run across one and can't afford to use it, I'd still grab it and throw a sheet over it for the future, even if it won't drive.

 

[rmgill]

The armour on the M26 was a good idea, but probably not that useful.

It added about ten tons to the weight of the tractor unit, ballpark 25 tons with armour and 15 tons without. You had to take out the windows to put the armoured shields in place, and it wouldn't have stopped much more than small arms fire I think. With a top speed of under 30 mph it wouldn't get out of the area that quickly either. The sheer weight of the armour also contributed to a lot of front axle breakages too I seem to remember, if you look at the armoured version you can see that virtually all the armour weight is carried by the front axle.

Well, it'd be useful against shell splinters and small arms from long range. The main thing you might have to worry about doing a battlefield recovery of a damaged tank. Recovering tanks from the Battlefield as quick as possible could be a VERY important factor between a win or a loss at the next encounter with the Germans.

 

[rorygrenier]

I just want to jump in and show you what I found. I was looking through my old Gar Wood winch info and thought I would post this photo.

 

[gunner01]

how much does she weigh???? and how much for her???? does she run???? I`m interested

 

[bigbee]

I happen to have Doyle's book in front of me. Weight on the M26A1, unarmored version is given as 27,600 lbs. Armored 48,895 lbs.

 

[bigbee]

Some pics

These are from 1995. The two at Winer's in Akron, and the restored one belonged to a guy named Jim Welty (I think?) at the time. The road to the Medina show was narrow and hilly IIRC, with large trees on both sides. Would have to watched the Pacific meet up with a lesser vehicle on that road, as long as I wasn't in the lesser vehicle.

 

[Gordon_M]

RE: Some pics

Nice, those two that are sitting in the field - are the rear bogies off?

I know you could remove the rear bogie quite quickly, pull the whole lot for maintenance. You could take the twin winch pack off th back similiarly quickly.

It's worth noting again that all the ones shown in the US are unarmoured - either built that way, or rebuilt as A1 /A2. I'd guess taking ten tons of armour off it made it quicker off the mark and at least slightly more agile cross-country too.

 

[Junkyard Wars Crusher]

I know how you guys like pics
I snapped these at the 2006 MVPA national in Dayton, OH