Gun tractor abandoned

[Brett Nicholls]

On serious note....what a shame.

Regards,
Brett.

[maple_leaf_eh]

There is a large family of logging vehicles and pneumatic rock drills built on late WW2 tracked chassises. The majority that I have been able to identify are on M32 ARV lowers, followed by HVSS M4s, and assorted crawler tractors.

What boggles my mind is that the logging companies have a complete secondary industry to repair, rebuild and service these very old vehicles with re-rubbered tracks, road wheels and final drives. And AFAIK, no one in the HMV community knows about them!

[Alex van de Wetering]

I think I have seen this one in a youtube video before; It's based on a rare M6 High speed tractor.

There is a thread on the HMVF forum on surviving M6 tractors and there is only a handful that survive. There is a restored one here in Holland and another in the process of being restored in the US (?), that was rescued about a year ago.

Alex

[Luke R]

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

I think I have seen this one in a youtube video before; It's based on a rare M6 High speed tractor.

There is a thread on the HMVF forum on surviving M6 tractors and there is only a handful that survive. There is a restored one here in Holland and another in the process of being restored in the US (?), that was rescued about a year ago.

Alex

I've seen the clip to.
Look up youtuber skadill, he has a vid of this unit and a number of vids on these types of machinery

[gary_bath_jr]

Here are a couple of rock drillers I found that were made from old tanks, one is missing the tracks and I almost had it for free. The blue and yellow )missing the tracks) machines are owned by the same guy and still uses them that is why he changed his mind about the yellow one.

They appear to be the same type tracks while the third one is a Sherman (or likely Firefly) chassis and is called a "Tank Driller". One day I am going to stop and talk to the owner of the Tank Driller and see if he will get rid of it as I know it has sat idle for about 8 years in the same spot along the highway.

Gary

[Jes Andersen]

There was a business in Nanaimo B.C. that used to convert a lot of these various surplus tracked machines for the logging industry. S. Madill is/was a big name in logging machinery and finally went out of business a few years ago. The name has been resurrected but I think they build all new now. Log yarders, loaders, mobile spars and tank rock drills of some models used the tracks and finals from surplus armoured vehicles. Many are still in use, and rebuilt as already mentioned earlier in the post. There are some good pictures and a bit about that company here: http://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/...-in-Nanaimo-BC

Another place to get lost for more than a few hours... Jess

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by gary_bath_jr

Here are a couple of rock drillers I found that were made from old tanks, one is missing the tracks and I almost had it for free. The blue and yellow )missing the tracks) machines are owned by the same guy and still uses them that is why he changed his mind about the yellow one.

They appear to be the same type tracks while the third one is a Sherman (or likely Firefly) chassis and is called a "Tank Driller". One day I am going to stop and talk to the owner of the Tank Driller and see if he will get rid of it as I know it has sat idle for about 8 years in the same spot along the highway.

Gary, the 1st and 2nd are M4 High Speed tractors, not tanks. The 3rd is a Sherman, but not Firefly as they never had the HVSS suspension with wide track. Most likely a converted M4A2(76)W HVSS as used post-war by the Canadian army.

If you like them, go get them! Even if heavily converted, it would be great to see some of these saved.

H.