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Steel Soldiers MV of the month 2024 - January VOTE HERE!

Please vote for MVOTM


  • Total voters
    43
  • Poll closed .

patracy

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Welcome to the MV of the month poll sponsored by Consolidated Press. If you need decals, magnets, stencils, or anything printing related, please give them a call!


Now, onto the vote! Please vote for MV of the month! Feel free to campaign in this thread, but please keep it here and not via PM.

1. whitgreen77


2. biscuitwhistler37


3. Migginsbros


4. Firemanmike69


5. Gunny 0369


6. msgjd


7. Tracer
 

Gunny 0369

Marine Gunnery Sergeant
Steel Soldiers Supporter
282
637
93
Location
North Carolina
Ok, I entered the contest before I noticed Soupkitchenmike entered his cousins sisters BFFs TANK, complete with a RPG hanging above the walk-through door like a mistle toe…..Ill just hope no one notices it. (if u see this its on ExPretender Portal) anyway,

This M38 Willys name is OLD DIE HARD. I purchased it from a great guy in Greensboro NC that was told the jeep had a new T90 and was Parade ready. (parade ready means it can be pushed along a parade route relatively easy by 3 guys.)

After rebuilding the entire T90 and transfer case and rearend an replaced the shocks and springs and about everything in between except the engine, I was on my way to hit the Rubicon trail grand nationals. I installed New high speed eco lockout warn hubs, high end correct parts from Oneida and Shisuang INC. and she looks just like one of those rotisserie restorations.

I 4X4ed this thing like a stolen Tacoma, all over the Brushy mountains and back trails, waiting for the 1956 F head 161 6 cyl to finally give up, this was so I could install a Cummins ISB out of a local Ram 3500 I was eyeballing. It will fit, a SIX is a SIX.

I CAN tell you, that when you JUMP a Willys into a 4 foot hole and back out again, upon touchdown you WILL lose your right- front black-out light dangling, and your battery will fall out of the front tray, kissing your fan blades like a 1 day old FMTV owner and your shovel will disembark to seek out a grave nearby.

Then one day it finally happened! A blown head gasket!! Now I could head down to the Piggly Wiggly and wait for that guy with the Ram 3500 to leave his truck running in the parking lot.

Meanwhile, I removed the Head on that rare F6 161 and proceeded to take a look. What I found was a cracked block, and head that had been brazed up with brass, and grounded down and installed with a prayer by some past inebriated biscuit eating M35A2 owner. Well, this motors toast.

I searched everywhere online and found I COULD purchase a back-pack nuke easier than a head for a F6 161.

In disgust I reassembled it all with gorilla glue and parked it, and hung out at the Piggly, waiting…watching.

A year ago, I had to move the Jeep to make way for more FMTV tires, so I started it up. No smoke, no pressurized overflow tank, no water in the oil. I then decided to press my luck, driving 5 miles, then 10 then 45. A year and a half later, OLD DIE HARD is still wheeling. I have had zero issues with the miracle muscle mini as of this wonderful write up.

I DO have 3 Ram 3500s for sale cheap, $200. no papers or questions, and 3 backpack nukes for $1200 a pc.

Vote now vote often.
IMG_2549.JPG
IMG_7004.JPG
m38 korean war.jpg
 

Attachments

biscuitwhistler37

Well-known member
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Location
Michigan
What I found was a cracked block, and head that had been brazed up with brass, and grounded down and installed with a prayer by some past inebriated biscuit eating M35A2 owner. Well, this motors toast

I DO have 3 Ram 3500s for sale cheap, $200. no papers or questions, and 3 backpack nukes for $1200 a pc.

Vote now vote often.
I assure you I had nothing to do with it, my screen name and truck are puuuuure coincidence..... Love the jeep, looks like a blast. Cummins powered I imagine it'd be like a rocket, if the frame didn't DNA helix at launch.
 

Gunny 0369

Marine Gunnery Sergeant
Steel Soldiers Supporter
282
637
93
Location
North Carolina
I assure you I had nothing to do with it, my screen name and truck are puuuuure coincidence..... Love the jeep, looks like a blast. Cummins powered I imagine it'd be like a rocket, if the frame didn't DNA helix at launch.
roflthe frames a 1946, scraped with a screwdriver . R u the guy that wants all three Rams?
 

Gunny 0369

Marine Gunnery Sergeant
Steel Soldiers Supporter
282
637
93
Location
North Carolina
I recused myself from voting for my own truck.. Everyone's stuff is nice but what catches my eye is anything unusual and "cute", like my GF
:ROFLMAO:


View attachment 915348
Is she driving it? I can’t get my Marine Cat to drive mine..she says “ Anything you built, I’m not driving” or some nonsense…

I better recluse myself as well.
See y’all in 2025
 
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msgjd

Well-known member
1,046
3,204
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Location
upstate ny
Is she driving it? I can’t get my Marine Cat to drive mine..she says “ Anything you built, I’m not driving” or some nonsense…

I better recluse myself as well.
See y’all in 2025
she's 60 now (46 in pic), and yes, still uses her CDL-A on occasion ... she was born-raised on a small mountaintop beef farm with an excavation side business .. On our 2nd date i tossed her in the drivers seat of the M51 and said "let's go !" and we hit the road after a quick briefer.. Down the highway we went and she got really annoyed at my very surprised sh-- -eating grin as she flawlessly ran the gears up and down.. As we slow into town from a good 60+mph run , I'm sitting there grinning and shaking my head with disbelief.. She yells across the cab with fire in her eyes "What's your problem? All it is is a stick-shift and steering wheel !!!" .. I knew right then she was a keeper .. The M51 previously helped cause a divorce, but it later created an immediate comradery
 
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msgjd

Well-known member
1,046
3,204
113
Location
upstate ny
M51 doing M51 things.. Thanks for the phrase, Soupermike .. (L) fuel tank was off getting cleaned at the time and toolbox/tire carrier rack was off for a parking brake cable/shoe replacement, the only reason this pic was not used for the contest .. Bed "full" of roofing slate trimmings.. I usually use a set of 30" sideboards for the chips but I was also hauling logs to a mill that week.. As you can see, the AC was on that day ;)


m51 quarry.jpg
 
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msgjd

Well-known member
1,046
3,204
113
Location
upstate ny
For a short time almost 20 years ago, the M51 was bedless after some factory welds failed .. Inadequate welds were apparently corrected by the time later models came out, as I noticed better weld spacing and longer welds underneath the M51A2's and the M817 I have... While the bed was off, I found it handy hauling a 24ft pintle-hitch equipment trailer.. Anyway, the M51's "bedless" look also gave me the opportunity to re-create a scene for a viet-vet friend who was with 597th Trans and 588th Combat Engineer .. The trailer pictured is an all-original beer trailer, and M52's sure were seen occasionally with commercial trailers in-country... He joked his time with the 597th was spent drinking the beer he hauled..:LOL: (but his 2nd tour, spent with the 588E, was quite the opposite experience)


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msgjd

Well-known member
1,046
3,204
113
Location
upstate ny
This will be my last campaign pic , showing further utility of the M51... Although I don't winter at home anymore, I sometimes have to bust my way in (1/4-mile private road) should I need to be there .. Late in the year the hoist is re-installed and at some point she gets nosed into the plow as seen and carries it up to where I repair or adjust whatever needs to be done to the funnel while the weather is agreeable.. I also have a wing w/hoist waiting for installation someday,,, maybe.. Currently she awaits on top of the hill at my place, chains on, ready to go.. No, she never had a heater but I am glad the AC works extremely well in winter , should the R6602 beast under the hood make the cab too warm :LOL:


M51 plow.jpg
 
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Gunny 0369

Marine Gunnery Sergeant
Steel Soldiers Supporter
282
637
93
Location
North Carolina
M51 doing M51 things.. Thanks for the phrase, Soupermike .. (L) fuel tank was off getting cleaned at the time and toolbox/tire carrier rack was off for a parking brake cable/shoe replacement, the only reason this pic was not used for the contest .. Bed "full" of roofing slate trimmings.. I usually use a set of 30" sideboards for the chips but I was also hauling logs to a mill that week.. As you can see, the AC was on that day ;)


View attachment 915363
Love to see these being USED and not just rubbed with a diaper in the evenings.
 

Migginsbros

Well-known member
2,148
6,421
113
Location
Berlin-Germany
Good morning your´ll MV enthusiasts.
This is our 1975 Unimog 406.145 build in 1975. It´s an airfield tug which is good for towing 20 tons.
She has the common Mercedes 6 cyl. Diesel direct injected OM 352 engine and a trany with 6 speed forward an 2 speed reverse. You can switch in 4x4 and all locked, if you want.
Special feature is the torque converter clutch system which allowed a jerkfree pulling or pushing. You can stop in every gear without disengage the clutch.

PICT2038.JPG

First pic we puchased the Unimog

camerabilder canon bis 15.01.2012 143.jpg


We hat to replace a cracked curved rear window , shocks, belts and so on. Nothing exiting.

campain 406.145 035.jpg


IMG_6310.jpg


It´s a Family truck, you can go for a ride with up to 5 members.:)
We own this not so often build Unimog since 2011.

Mercedes built 353 with crewcab total, 302 of them were aircraft tugs.
 
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msgjd

Well-known member
1,046
3,204
113
Location
upstate ny
One of my brother CWO's spent a year in the 588th Combat Engineers. No, they did not have an easy time. But, like the typical Engineer, he adapted, and overcame.
his 1st week with the 588th , uniform/boots clean , given a new set after R&R in between unit transfer.. At some point i was to re-letter the M51 contestant in 588th "colors" and have him drive it in an upcoming memorial day parade with other local viet truck vets, using a few of mine & others' trucks .. He passed just a few weeks ago :sad:



Steve.jpg
 
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