M62 wrecker

[rob love]

Never really disposed of Ed....it and one other from Saskatoon both just stayed in the Regina Armouries compound. I believe the NSN was changed over to an Artifact number, but it stayed on the Service Bn account, and eventually found it's resting space in one of the back compounds. There are still a number of old 3/4 ton trailers littering the compound....not sure what the story is on those. They never even stripped it of most of it's kit. The towbar attachments are still in one of the rear bins, tow cables in another, the light bar in another, and most of the snatchblocks are still in their bins.



Around 95, I was rounding up vehicles for the display in front of the MooseJaw Armouries and we managed to get one of the two wreckers over to that location. About 5 years back I was in MooseJaw helping to re-freshen up the vehicle display, and while painting the wrecker noted that the engine still turned. So once I was working full time with this museum,it was only natural to try and save the remaining wrecker.

[wayne warrenchuk]

I came back from Thunder Bay a couple weeks back and found one of those wreckers at a towing outfit in Ignace. Owner seemed motivated to sell including a spare crated engine

[Bob Phillips]

I assume your wrecker is powered with a 6602 Continental gasser?
I remember buying surplus in the Levy / Tecmotiv yard in the late 1980s the yard was being cleaned out and evrything had to go. At one location in the yard they had ten rebuilt Contin ental engines (6572s maybe) that were for the high speed tractor.These had been brought in from Europe some years earlier at great expense. They were offered at $1000 and a month or two later were $500 and finally were scrapped, the crankshafts being saved for a 6602 overhaul contract. maybe you have one!
It seemed like a waste at the time, but over the next few months there were tons of GAA parts, W670 parts even Chrysler multibank parts on the scarp pile. Might have a photo somewhere.

[rob love]

Your story about Levy/Tecmotive might have some relevance to this truck Bob. The engine was rebuilt by Tecmotive in 1990. It must have been installed that year, because I went to MooseJaw in 91, and we never put an engine into this unit...it had to have been done before I got there.

So I have made some progress with the wrecker. The engine was cleaned up a little (plugs and fuel system), and the starter and starter solenoid both had to be removed and have their contacts cleaned. The old style fuel filter bowl had been brazed in it's service life and had since developed some new holes, so another one from the backroom was substituted. They are the same as the CMPs and WW2 Jeeps. One fuel tank was full of pinholes and the other side was completely rotten. The oil was changed, and the oil system pressurized. When I went to replace the two oil filters, the housing was bone dry, so it seemed important to me to pre-lube the system. With all of the above done, it fired right up and purred like a grizzly bear. Power steering had to be topped up, and I am happy to say it is now functioning perfectly.

Bodywise, the cab roof and back were patched or had major cracking or rust. The cowl had suffered greatly from having two different hinges on it, as well as more of the amateur oxy/acetylene bodywork.

Base maintenance has 4 MLVWs they are ready to send off to the scrapyard, having been cannibalised for the past few years. So I was able to get two fuel tanks from them, along with a new roof, windshields, back wall, doors, and a cowl was cut off. I spent a bit of time breaking the two million spot welds on each, and cleaning and shaping the two halves so they would go back together nicely. I decided to go with 3M structural epoxy for the firewall and sides, and drill and plug weld the metal at the door pullers. As well, prior to that, I had to weld in several of those caged nuts that love to spin. Again, the old MLVWs provided.

So this morning the cowl and firewall each got their bead of epoxy, and everything was clamped back together. Welding is all done, and now it sits until tomorrow.

Before re-installing the dash, it is my intention to replace the wiring harness. Although most of it was in decent shape under the cowl (but not all), there were more than a few jury rig repairs, and lots of bare wire underneath. Again, the MLVWs have provided new harnesses, although there will be some lengthening involved due to the longer engine as well as conversion to the metal shells in a lot of the locations.

Attached are some photos of the progress. While waiting for the glue to dry, I also put on the back wall. I actually lucked in on finding a cowl that hadn't been walked on all it's life. It was necessary when camming up a truck to walk on the hood and cowl, as well as the roofs if they didn't have roof racks. The donor truck was an AVCON (avalanche control) truck, so likely had not been to the field. The chassis was, however, quite rusty from the BC salt.

[Bob Carriere]

.....being paid to do what you love!!!!!!!

All the best Rob.

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

Can you imagine.....being paid to do what you love!!!!!!!

All the best Rob.

Well yes I can.


If I cared less, the work would go much quicker. But when you must weld in the cage nuts, and you must chase every welded nut with a tap, and you must use the little dished hex "bolts, assembled washer", and you must apply antisieze to every one of the above, it takes a little longer. Hopefully some fellow 30 years down the road appreciates this.



It's projects like these that makes one excited to go to work, and stay a little late each day. I have to fight the urge to go back in after supper, or on the weekend.

[Jon Skagfeld]

Back in the late '50s, early '60s, our Signal Corps unit still had CMPs. (radio vans aka gin palaces). Because of the then somewhat fragile nature of their mechanicals, it was deemed to be mandatory that a local RCEME unit with their M62 had to accompany us on our convoy to and from whatever training area we went to.
We had a chance to "play" with the boom...the only lever I remember was marked "crowd".

Yeah, memories.

[Wayne Hingley]

Originally Posted by rob love

...I have to fight the urge to go back in after supper, or on the weekend.

Could this be an indication that you do not have enough projects at home to keep you occupied? ...surely that's not the case with you Rob.

Your work on the cowl/firewall looks good. What's the scoop on that 3M structural epoxy? Is it something you have to mix up and apply, or is it delivered/mixed via tube? Have you used it before... results? It sounds like a useful product.