AUS CMP tyre loading ramp

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Harry Moon

Why would the Australian Army make up a manual or picture of the tire Carrier with an oddball truck unless they were more common than thought.

Hi Harry,

It's my guess they just picked the nearest truck and it happened to be a tipper! They were produced in considerable numbers here (judging by the number of survivors) so it's not particularly unlikely. I'm sure Mike is correct in saying: "In Australia, the tippers were the only CMP during the war to be fitted with conventional wheels and 8.25x20 tyres as standard that I'm aware of."

I guess it's possible that dual wheels occasionally found their way onto non-tippers in the field, as seems to have been the case in post war years as mentioned by Keith: "I have seen post-war pics of No6 CGTs fitted with dual rear wheels, a field mod no doubt." However I don't recall seeing any wartime pics of duals on non-tippers.

After disposal of course a great many CMPs were fitted with duals for road use, mostly by dealers I suspect, who offered customers a choice of singles or duals (see ad below). It seems there were several different types used, and I happen to have a couple of the type pictured on the spare tyre ramp. These came off an F60L wreck. As you can see they have 6 cutouts in the wheel centre, unlike yours which have 5 cutouts. I suspect the 20cwt trailers may have used early Ford wheels - I'll post some pics shortly which may help identify.

Cheers,
Tony