Dodge D60 L5 cargo bed

gustavo · #1 29-03-11, 10:32

Good morning to everybody, I am going to restore this Dodge D60 L5 and I am facing some troubles to understand how was originally this cargo bed: it seems it was shortened in the front section to allow the dumping, as well as in the rear section for the unloading operations. All what I found is a picture of the side coming from a Italian Army manual, but I have no idea on how was the rear. Does someone know how it looked the rear cross section? I suspect it was tapered, of course I am not sure.
Thank you in advance for your support.

mlu.JPG mlu 2.JPG mlu 1.JPG

cliff · #2 29-03-11, 11:04

Not entirely sure what you mean by "Tapered" but here is two photos showing the Dodge in a Polish Units hands during WW2. It also appears from these photos that the sides on yours have been lowered as well as the front shortened. Hope these help

gustavo · #3 29-03-11, 12:16

Hi Cliff, thank you for your post and for the pictures. The cargo bed you attached is the standard one, but my D60 was supplied with a cargo bed lowered. I suppose there were two cargo beds, as it was for the CMP's. For tapering I mean that the cross bar where it is hinged the rear door is not straight but tapered.
Here is one picture coming from the Imperial War Museum where the two cargo bed are shown: the left truck has the standard CMP GS bed, while the right truck has the lowered cargo bed. If you look inside the red circle you can see the tapering, I suppose it should be the same also for the rear.

gustavo · #4 30-03-11, 14:23

A friend of mine sent me these pictures showing the shortened GS cargo bed mounted on his preserved CMP, it should be very similar to the one mounted on my D60. Does anyone of you have a picture of a D60 mounting the same cargo bed, just to verify that the back section is like this?