any info on FWD's???

[gordon]

Well if yours has no front bumper it might have started off as a snow blower.

There would originally have been a plate on the dash, the chassis will just have a stamped number on it somewhere.

You need a cargo body and a front end then.

Gordon

[Mike K]

Hi Jenny

Over the years , I have seen a few of them in various states of disrepair here in OZ . The sawmills used them and you can imagine the state they in . There is a nice restored example here , owned by Glen Stones , he lives about 100 miles East of me . His truck appeared at Corowa a few times , ( ten years ago ? ) finished in a yellow livery , with US stars , beaut job he did.

I had the TM parts list for one .. it detailed the cargo body in some detail, with drawings , I sold it to a chap In Tasmania ( Graham Bussey ) who owns a HAR .

They featured a chain drive in the transfer case I think ? Permanent 4X4 maybe .

The AWM archive has a pic or two of them up in the islands .
Mike

[Mike K]

RAAF using a HAR on Morotai .OG 2002

And in the Phillipines with RAAF.OG 1882

Mike

[Mike K]

I suggest you contact this chap , I think he resides in the UK .

Ben Rippingham

QUOTE from the HMVF :

"i've just spent the best part of £15.000 and 4 years restoring my truck (fwd har-1)! i had to sell all other trucks n projects and use all my earnings to do it! To be honest i enjoyed the 4 years of hard work, now own a truck i couldn't have bought restored because it's only one of three left in the world , but won't be able to afford to own/restore anything else for a loooong time!!!!!!!! "

Mike

[Darrin Wright]

FWD trucks or the HAR-1 are a very tough rudded truck and they look good, one of my favourites. Out in Australia they were used to build the Adelaide Airport, what happened to them after that I am not sure. Many were used in Darwin for quarry work and civil construction, they were worn out and eventually scrapped. Many FWD trucks were converted to dump by lifting the tray and placing a hoist assemble between the tray and the chassis.
To my knowledge, all HAR-1 trucks were only produced in cargo version, I beleive that any other varients will be post war modified or modified by their Army owners ie: Snow blowers. I stand corrected if there were other varients, the manual only shows cargos and makes no mention of other trucks like other US manuals do.
I have included a scan out of my manual showing what the truck should look like.
Glen Stone in Sth Victoria does have a very nice and accurate truck painted in desert sand. He restored this vehicle when he lived in Rutherglenn and I beleive hed used 2 or 3 trucks to make his. There are several other trucks in Victoria, but they are hard to restore due to lack of parts (in Aust anyway).
There weak point was their diffs, the pinion gears sheared due to over laoding, in Australia it was common to place Chev blitz diffs under them, this may also have assisted with the gear rations and road speed. An unusual feature was the diff casings, they were cast square- saved on the production of U- bolts. Another point is the manual only shows the truck with one headlight, wether this was the photographed truck for the book or all trucks off the production, line I am not sure.
The T case was chain driven.
I hope this info helps.

[Jenny Rator]

I have just found out that when the sawmill got it, they converted to an artic, to pull a pole wagon. I have also found out it DID used to have a cargo style back, but this was taken off when the mill got it. We think the bumper may also have been removed by the mill.