5/4 van body

rob love · #1 06-10-10, 04:42

I have had a 5/4 ton for a year or two now. It was originally a URK van (unit repair kit, or as the army now calls them, shelter, internal combustion repair or something similar). The van bodies were all retained by the DND when the 5/4 tons were PCC'd, so any of the vans were sold off as cab and chassis. The van bodies were sent to Corcan (corrections Canada) ,where those individuals housed in the correctional facilities would refurbish the van bodies, after which they were installed on the LSVW.

So my truck came to me with no van body, although a M104 trailer box had been fitted. I later replaced this with the proper 5/4 ton cargo box, and never really expected a van body to come along.

A friend in Winnipeg came across a CUCV (diesel 5/4 ton) which did still have it's box. These boxes were a slightly later design, and were not to be retained for the LSVW program. However, many bases still held onto the boxes for sheds. This one somehow made it out intact. Walter had no interest in the box, and offered to sell it to me. It was a comms van, and still had the battery charger, the benches, book cases, lights, and even the chair still in it. Only the radio IKEEs had been removed.

Derk Derin and myself recovered it last Saturday, and by Sunday afternoon, I had it repainted back to the olive green form the white that it had been painted. It turns out the truck and van body had been to a UN mission somewhere.

Anyway, here are some photos of the body next to my 5/4 ton. I still have not had time to install it yet.

Jon Skagfeld · #2 06-10-10, 06:17

Hey, Rob: If it was a comms body, where is the flip up door for the electrical/charger connections?

Memories...my CP CFR was 29264. Believe it or not, we ran the comms suite with a Starlight generator.

rob love · #3 06-10-10, 14:02

The doors are on the opposite side. One has the usual telephone line, AC and DC connections. The other panel has had something removed so acts more like a window now. I am not familiar with what would have gone in there.

rob love · #4 23-11-10, 04:31

Here is the truck with a new roof and the van body installed. The roof had a huge patch on it from all the walking over it, and as a result a lot of water found it's way through all the pop rivets. I had to replace both the inner and outer skins. I just managed to splash some paint on it before the real cold hit, so the cam pattern is reversed in relation to the two greens on the van body. I also managed to find the telephone panel that was missing on one of those little side doors.

The cargo box is now under refurb. The body putty was so thick, it would fall off in large pieces. Sixteen years of service put these commercial off the shelf trucks through a lot of abuse.

Aide Memoire · #5 15-12-10, 05:29

Wound up with two of those at work, still in CF camo, ex-741 Comm Sqn (Res.) Victoria. Both were still the old format type off the Five-Quads as removed with the older interior layout (mapboard etc.) and still had all the shelving, electrical box, heater etc. though again had all the IKEE stuff removed. I don't know how they escaped being turned into LS pods by the Criminal Carpentry Corps, but the current owner found them in a field in the prairies somewhere and shipped them back here. One is currently mounted to an ex-Air Force M1010 Amb chassis that they stripped the back body off of in error (we wound up with two of those at work), and the other is sitting as a project waiting to get mounted on one of the 5/4s kicking around as soon as I can chisel off a couple of hundred pounds of bondo of the best one and replace a few really brutalized body parts. Then it'll be kitted out VHF x 2 and HF.

Heard of one other that came out of Crown Assets locally - Richmond at the time - and it was also on a white ex-UN CUCV. Came across the owner sans truck about a year ago at the gas station (I was driving a CUCV Blazer which got his attention) and he said he still had it. One of the other collectors in town told me the fellow had been to just about every shop in town after he bought it trying to get the thing to start reliably after he bought it from CADC.

rob love · #6 15-12-10, 15:49

Do yours have the same style corners and top as the one I have shown, or are they the early style with the rounded corners? Only the early boxes were to be retained.

I recently found some of the rear tail lamp cages and a couple of new reverse lights for it. The tail light cages were new in the box for $1 each.

I have also been trying to find some of the original 6" tail lamp units, but apparently these are obsolete. Everything today is either 4", 5" or 7". The original will be in a surplus place somewhere. What fun would this hobby be without the parts hunt.

davehueglin · #7 25-10-17, 15:45

Hi Rob,
Do you have any pictures of the inside of the pod? There is a group in Hamilton, Ontario that are trying to restore a rad van pod and are looking for reference pics.

rob love · #8 25-10-17, 18:57

Dave

I do have some of the installation instructions, which will vary on what model of SEV is in the box. The back of mine was a radio van, and I could take some shots if you want that. Remember though that mine is off a CUCV, so the layout may slightly differ from the earlier gas 5/4

Robin Craig · #9 25-10-17, 21:58

Rob,

do you need two more wheels for your truck. I know where there are two that are going out the door son.

rob love · #10 25-10-17, 23:36

Robin

Tempting, but as it stands my next set of tires and rims will be of the 16" size. I was not happy with the 16.5 tires from STA.

davehueglin · #11 26-10-17, 23:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by rob love

Dave

I do have some of the installation instructions, which will vary on what model of SEV is in the box. The back of mine was a radio van, and I could take some shots if you want that. Remember though that mine is off a CUCV, so the layout may slightly differ from the earlier gas 5/4

Hi Rob,

I think any instructions and pics would be great. At least it would give them a starting point, even if the layout is not exa tly the same. Here is the link to the group's Facebook page that are doing the project. They have posted their request for help about 4-5 posts down.
https://www.facebook.com/hamiltonsig...nf&pnref=story
I am not directly involved, but would be happy to relay any pics and info you post.

Dave

rob love · #12 27-10-17, 00:28

I'll snap some shots, but quite frankly the backs of these trucks were very modular. Quite often guys would get a better idea of what they wanted, rip out the furniture, and then the plywood furniture would start.

When the boxes were removed and refurbished, most of the same style original furniture, lighting and book cases were put back into the boxes for use with the LSVW fleet. The refurbishments were done by corrections Canada, a good source of captive labor.

At this point the boxes on the LSVWs are over 40 years old.

davehueglin · #13 27-10-17, 13:32

Thanks Rob,

It will be more than they have right now, so that will at least be a starting point.

Dave

davehueglin · #14 27-10-17, 13:37

Do you know if the 5/4 pod came from 1 CBG headquarters and signals squadron? I only ask because I know they did some custom renovations on the interior of their pods in the 1980s.

rob love · #15 27-10-17, 14:07

Mine came off a CUCV that would have been in Winnipeg. It had been painted white, so I suspect it was one of the ones that went to Africa or something in the mid 90s. Mine is fairly stock, although did suffer some minor missing pieces inside.

Customizing them was quite common, although with the LSVW fleet there came instructions to leave things alone.

Frank v R · #16 28-10-17, 14:48

Hi guys , that's the truck that I am working on , belongs to the Vintage Signals Team Cold war section , a part of Hamilton Sigs, main thing we are looking for are the mounts for the 1029 trays , the new radios use a smaller version of this mount , the exterior of ours is very complete and stock , ours was never on a LSVW, check out VST on Facebook,