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rob love 28-09-18 22:59

M62 wrecker
 
4 Attachment(s)
A new piece to the Shilo Museum, this vehicle was parked for the last 25 years behind the Regina Armouries. Knowing it was there, and having a soft spot in my heart for wreckers, it took almost 3 years to get it transferred to us.

Once parked, it seems like time stood still for it. Full tanks of fuel have turned into yellowish poo, the batteries are cracked, the right door was hanging by it's check rod, and the engine was stuck.

Niel Yeo was by the other day and with his youthful exuberance, managed to turn the fan and get the pistons moving again. They are now soaking in oil. Today I replaced both right door hinges (only had 3 screws break), so the door isn't going to fall on the next guy who opens it.

Come Monday, I'll dump the engine oil and replace with fresh, as well as try and pressurize the oil system. Then I need to clean the fuel pump and line to the carb, at which time I'll energize the system and see if she goes.

These were the first wreckers I ever drove back in the 80s. Canada purchased 117 of them, and the years of mfgr were 52,53,55,and 56. This one is dated 12-12-55 and the engine was rebuilt by Tecmotive in 1990. There was a further purchase of 5 tons, including wreckers, in the 1970s. At that time, the gassers were relegated to the militia and airforce bases, while the regular army got the diesels.

I sold the idea to the museum here because the Honest John missile system used one. They had an m62 wrecker which was solely dedicated to the assembly of the rockets onto the launchers.

In a couple of the photos you can see some examples of attempted first line body repairs that will require attention. Especially note the door hinge on the hood. It looks like initially someone tried to mount the door hinge next to the original hood hinge location. Note to whomever came up with this idea: hinges, when in pairs, must have the hinge pins in the same plane or else something (the hinge or the surrounding metal) has to give. I hope you were not proud of this work.



Overall though, it appears to be in good condition....you gotta love Saskatchewan/Manitoban vehicles.

Wayne Hingley 29-09-18 00:22

Nice addition to the museum fleet Rob. Does this mean it is moving to the front of your backlog of projects?

Are all the wrecker components in working condition?

rob love 29-09-18 01:53

No, it is not a priority vehicle. But since it shares a lot of cab and electrical components with the current MLVW, I want to scrounge what I can while they are still around They could well be gone in a year or less as the new trucks are starting to show up at bases. For now I want get the engine to run, and clean the fuel system somewhat to stop any further damage.



The hydraulic levers on the crane all move. As to whether the systems are still functional, I'll find that out once the engine is running. Twenty five years is a fair bit of time, so we'll see.

Ed Storey 29-09-18 02:50

M62 Wrecker
 
Nice save, 55-60297 was disposed of out of CFB Moose Jaw in March 1993.

rob love 29-09-18 03:00

Never really disposed of Ed....it and one other from Saskatoon both just stayed in the Regina Armouries compound. I believe the NSN was changed over to an Artifact number, but it stayed on the Service Bn account, and eventually found it's resting space in one of the back compounds. There are still a number of old 3/4 ton trailers littering the compound....not sure what the story is on those. They never even stripped it of most of it's kit. The towbar attachments are still in one of the rear bins, tow cables in another, the light bar in another, and most of the snatchblocks are still in their bins.



Around 95, I was rounding up vehicles for the display in front of the MooseJaw Armouries and we managed to get one of the two wreckers over to that location. About 5 years back I was in MooseJaw helping to re-freshen up the vehicle display, and while painting the wrecker noted that the engine still turned. So once I was working full time with this museum,it was only natural to try and save the remaining wrecker.

wayne warrenchuk 11-10-18 05:48

I came back from Thunder Bay a couple weeks back and found one of those wreckers at a towing outfit in Ignace. Owner seemed motivated to sell including a spare crated engine

Bob Phillips 12-10-18 03:24

wrecker
 
I assume your wrecker is powered with a 6602 Continental gasser?
I remember buying surplus in the Levy / Tecmotiv yard in the late 1980s the yard was being cleaned out and evrything had to go. At one location in the yard they had ten rebuilt Contin ental engines (6572s maybe) that were for the high speed tractor.These had been brought in from Europe some years earlier at great expense. They were offered at $1000 and a month or two later were $500 and finally were scrapped, the crankshafts being saved for a 6602 overhaul contract. maybe you have one!
It seemed like a waste at the time, but over the next few months there were tons of GAA parts, W670 parts even Chrysler multibank parts on the scarp pile. Might have a photo somewhere.

rob love 19-12-18 23:21

5 Attachment(s)
Your story about Levy/Tecmotive might have some relevance to this truck Bob. The engine was rebuilt by Tecmotive in 1990. It must have been installed that year, because I went to MooseJaw in 91, and we never put an engine into this unit...it had to have been done before I got there.

So I have made some progress with the wrecker. The engine was cleaned up a little (plugs and fuel system), and the starter and starter solenoid both had to be removed and have their contacts cleaned. The old style fuel filter bowl had been brazed in it's service life and had since developed some new holes, so another one from the backroom was substituted. They are the same as the CMPs and WW2 Jeeps. One fuel tank was full of pinholes and the other side was completely rotten. The oil was changed, and the oil system pressurized. When I went to replace the two oil filters, the housing was bone dry, so it seemed important to me to pre-lube the system. With all of the above done, it fired right up and purred like a grizzly bear. Power steering had to be topped up, and I am happy to say it is now functioning perfectly.

Bodywise, the cab roof and back were patched or had major cracking or rust. The cowl had suffered greatly from having two different hinges on it, as well as more of the amateur oxy/acetylene bodywork.

Base maintenance has 4 MLVWs they are ready to send off to the scrapyard, having been cannibalised for the past few years. So I was able to get two fuel tanks from them, along with a new roof, windshields, back wall, doors, and a cowl was cut off. I spent a bit of time breaking the two million spot welds on each, and cleaning and shaping the two halves so they would go back together nicely. I decided to go with 3M structural epoxy for the firewall and sides, and drill and plug weld the metal at the door pullers. As well, prior to that, I had to weld in several of those caged nuts that love to spin. Again, the old MLVWs provided.

So this morning the cowl and firewall each got their bead of epoxy, and everything was clamped back together. Welding is all done, and now it sits until tomorrow.

Before re-installing the dash, it is my intention to replace the wiring harness. Although most of it was in decent shape under the cowl (but not all), there were more than a few jury rig repairs, and lots of bare wire underneath. Again, the MLVWs have provided new harnesses, although there will be some lengthening involved due to the longer engine as well as conversion to the metal shells in a lot of the locations.

Attached are some photos of the progress. While waiting for the glue to dry, I also put on the back wall. I actually lucked in on finding a cowl that hadn't been walked on all it's life. It was necessary when camming up a truck to walk on the hood and cowl, as well as the roofs if they didn't have roof racks. The donor truck was an AVCON (avalanche control) truck, so likely had not been to the field. The chassis was, however, quite rusty from the BC salt.

Bob Carriere 21-12-18 04:19

Can you imagine.......
 
.....being paid to do what you love!!!!!!!

All the best Rob.

rob love 21-12-18 11:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere (Post 256593)
Can you imagine.....being paid to do what you love!!!!!!!

All the best Rob.


Well yes I can. :) :) :)


If I cared less, the work would go much quicker. But when you must weld in the cage nuts, and you must chase every welded nut with a tap, and you must use the little dished hex "bolts, assembled washer", and you must apply antisieze to every one of the above, it takes a little longer. Hopefully some fellow 30 years down the road appreciates this.



It's projects like these that makes one excited to go to work, and stay a little late each day. I have to fight the urge to go back in after supper, or on the weekend.

Jon Skagfeld 21-12-18 12:25

Back in the late '50s, early '60s, our Signal Corps unit still had CMPs. (radio vans aka gin palaces). Because of the then somewhat fragile nature of their mechanicals, it was deemed to be mandatory that a local RCEME unit with their M62 had to accompany us on our convoy to and from whatever training area we went to.
We had a chance to "play" with the boom...the only lever I remember was marked "crowd".

Yeah, memories.

Wayne Hingley 21-12-18 22:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by rob love (Post 256602)
...I have to fight the urge to go back in after supper, or on the weekend.

Could this be an indication that you do not have enough projects at home to keep you occupied? ...surely that's not the case with you Rob. :p

Your work on the cowl/firewall looks good. What's the scoop on that 3M structural epoxy? Is it something you have to mix up and apply, or is it delivered/mixed via tube? Have you used it before... results? It sounds like a useful product.

rob love 22-12-18 01:11

It is two tubes side by side. You need to buy the special caulking gun, which can be fairly expensive.....our price was $140 but the list price was about double that. Of course, you can buy them off ebay for about half that if you don't mind waiting a few weeks. The tubes come with a pair of mixing nozzles. You discard the nozzle after each use (although you leave it on just to seal the tube until you use it again, then you place on a new mixing nozzle. The nozzle swirls the two parts of the epoxy together. It comes out a grey colour, and as it sets, changes to a purplish Hugh. You have a few hours before it starts to set, so plenty of clamping time. I applied a bead to both surfaces. It is actually fairly thin, and will run a little. As it sets, I ran a paper towel to absorb up the excess, and also worked it in the seams as a seam sealer. You can weld an inch away form it, but if you get too close it will splatter.



The next day, when everything had hardened, I sanded some of the excess, then brushed POR-15 over the seams as there still would have been bare metal.



While I had my edges reasonable flat, I was working with used panels, so there was bound to be a little distortion. Add to that the two panels were off vehicles that were made 30 years apart....fortunately there seemed to be very little revisions to this area.


I can see me using this stuff again. Although my MiG welding didn't blow any holes thru the areas I did weld, it does not waterproof the seams...this stuff does.



Yes, I have plenty of projects at home, but in the evening, by the time I have supper, and get the wood furnace running in the shop, I am just about out of time. My own shop time is mostly on the weekends.

Gordon Yeo 22-12-18 18:16

3M body panel adhesive
 
The another great advantage of the body panel adhesive is it seals up the joint between the two panels and stops rust from forming in the seam. Not an insignificant benefit.

rob love 22-12-18 18:34

That, Gordon, is the biggest reason I used the stuff. I want these vehicles to last for the long term....despite my Manitoba upbringing, cheapest (in this case spotwelding) is not neccessarily the best. I welded (both spot and at the edges of the seams) at the door pillars, for strength as well as that area is fully covered by the dash.

Gordon Yeo 22-12-18 18:41

3M body panel adhesive
 
Rob

I've used several tubes on the seams in the HUP body re-build and as you say the value for the money is very well spent. I would tell you about using it on the Iltis but, that would be trowing good money after bad.

rob love 22-12-18 18:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gordon Yeo (Post 256633)
Rob

I would tell you about using it on the Iltis but, that would be trowing good money after bad.

Kind of the reverse about the silk purse/sows ear analogy.....good money after bad.

chris vickery 22-12-18 19:07

A local body guy had been using this stuff for a while now.
Apparently it works really well for putting in replacement patches on vehicles.
He usually allows and extra 1/2” or so to adhere the new panel to and uses a tool to form a bottled lip that the panel with sit into.
He uses clamps where psossible as well as a few sheet metal screws to hold the sandwich together until it dries. Afterwards a quick skim of filler to smooth it all out.


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