Australian International K5

[Ron King]

My father many years ago in Nowra restored a K5 and was lucky enough to find many more wreaks for missing parts at local saw mills.
The K5 should have 20 inch split wheels front and rear.
The 20 inch wheels are called suicide wheels and no one much in the tyre game will know anything about them or touch them.
They are different to the split rims and two piece wheels still in use to day.
The 18 inch wheels and hubs are military but not K5.
18 inch tyres were standard on american and Australian trailers during the war.
The tyres are no longer advailible in Aust except for a very low speed rated tractor tyre of in correct tread pattern.
The cabin tops and rears will very between WW2 K series.
They were imported during the earlier part of the war when we were desperate for trucks as partly knocked down and supplied as bonnet to windscreen and doors only.
The roof and rear part of the cabin is all local stuff done in a hurry and cheaply.
The cabin rear is usually wooden frame with sheet metal nailed and bent over the top.
Some had canvass roofs and some had sheet metal.
Local rear cargo bodies usually fitted which could be all timber or metal runners with timber planks on top.
Some ......but not many had a two speed rear diff fitted and worked by a a simple push\pull rod link from the floor of the cabin.
They were assembled in Melbourne and I think it was Licombe in Sydney.