Wanted: Spare tire mount for 76 Chevy 5/4

[Frank v R]

looking for the spare tire mount used on the front of the 76 Chevy 5/4 rad van pods, hope someone can help

[maple_leaf_eh]

I recall there was considerable discussion about mounting all 5/4's spare tires on the front bumper. Prior to the arrival of the LSVW (spit!), the 5/4 and CUCV were the utility vehicles for the Army, and I was working at FMCHQ. Some bright spark put ina suggestion award for this, and my brain cached the Maint office's response in spare memory space.

The Maint office refused the award because putting the spare on the front was going to restrict air flow even more. Their position was that the radiators were working hard enough thank you Corporal without further restrictions. The CPs were tolerated because there was no other place to put the spare where it was still accessable.

From memory, the mount was completely hidden by the tire, so you could weld up almost anything.

[rob love]

Originally Posted by maple_leaf_eh

I recall there was considerable discussion about mounting all 5/4's spare tires on the front bumper. Prior to the arrival of the LSVW (spit!), the 5/4 and CUCV were the utility vehicles for the Army, and I was working at FMCHQ. Some bright spark put ina suggestion award for this, and my brain cached the Maint office's response in spare memory space.

The Maint office refused the award because putting the spare on the front was going to restrict air flow even more. Their position was that the radiators were working hard enough thank you Corporal without further restrictions. The CPs were tolerated because there was no other place to put the spare where it was still accessable.

From memory, the mount was completely hidden by the tire, so you could weld up almost anything.

Terry: The CPs had it on the front alright....the front top left corner of the van box. No 5/4 ton variant officially had the spare on the grill. It wasn't just the cooling. We made the mistake of buying the truck with the puny Dana 44 front axle, which was already too small for the truck. That was why we never had winch bumpers on them, and had to install those goofy truss kits on the front axles.

[chris vickery]

Thanks Rob
I learn something new everyday.
I always wondered why the Cdn trucks had such a puny front axle for a 5/4t compared to the US CUCV with its Dana 60.
The 4.56 ratio was a lot better than ours as well.

[rob love]

The earliest trucks had the small tube front ends, which were especially bad. Mid production they went to the larger tube. That was still not enough for the loads we were placing on the trucks.

There were initially plans to install winches on a portion of the fleet, but the axle problem squashed that idea. Instead the army went with the unstucker. We have discussed those before.

I would have to look up the gear ratio on the gas vs diesel trucks. I had always thought they were the same. I know there was a fair bit of commonality between the two fleets of vehicles.