C60L Extended Chassis

[jim sewell]

Extended chassis .

Did all 60L trucks have their chassis extended or was it just those that had machinery bodies on them ?.

What length were the various bodies on a C60L ?

Thanks
Jim S.

[DaveCox]

I believe that the 15cwt & gun tractor chassis was a 108" wheelbase, the 30 & 60 cwt was 134" wheelbase.

[Richard Farrant]

Originally posted by DaveCox
I believe that the 15cwt & gun tractor chassis was a 108" wheelbase, the 30 & 60 cwt was 134" wheelbase.

Dave,

The C30 and C60S were 134" wb, the C60L was 158"

Richard

[Keith Webb]

The gun tractors and 15CWT were 101" with Fords 1/4" longer.
The F60T tractor was 115" and the C60X 160"

Here's a F60S 134 1/4" wheelbase with an extended chassis for a radar body:



And here's another with the remains of the body:



I've also seen extensions on 158" chassis too. Usually they were for special bodies.

[Tony Smith]

Originally posted by jim sewell
Did all 60L trucks have their chassis extended or was it just those that had machinery bodies on them ?.
Thanks
Jim S.

I have not physically yet come across an Ex-Aust Army F60L or C60L that has not had an extension on the rear of the chassis! The extensions are 18 inches long and appear to be made from chassis rail stock (What was the donor source of all these rear chassis sections?), and appear to be professionally done. What actual date these modifications were done remains to be answered. Some in the collector scene have suggested that they were done to accomodate ex-GMC trays in the late 40s and 50s, or upon release to Bush Fire Brigades to accomodate more fire fighting equipment.

[Tony Smith]

Some vehicles were modified earlier than that, though. This vehicle (well known to those in the Eastern states) has a chassis extension and a wartime Aust 3 ton GS body.

[Tony Smith]

While some others were no doubt modified by their Post-War commercial operators for increased payload, like this overworked Ford Cab 12 with with no less than an extra 3' 9" added to the rear of the chassis.

[Max Hedges]

I have cab 12 s here that have not been extended, ford and chev.I did have a late production ford 3ton that was done and when we bought the blitz the original tray was still attached as if the extension was done during the war.
Max

[jim sewell]

I believe the answer may lay in these diagrams from W.A.Greggs book , Canada's Fighting Vehicles .

It appears that the standard 12 feet body could have the spare tyre on the outside ( between body and the cab ) or the spare tyre mounted within the body or maybe have run flats and no spare ( although I have not seen 20 inch runflats ).

The Australian machinery bodies were 14 ft and the spare tyre was mounted on the right hand side of the body and have the extended chassis .

The extensions may have been done during manufacture as they are professionally carried out .

Jim S.