M135CDN Deuce with tracks

[Robin Craig]

Does anyone have any knowledge or photos of a Deuce that was used at LETE fitted with duals on the rear wheels and a steel track kit fitted over them? This would be circa 1950s might be early 1960s

[Bob Phillips]

YES- a have seen and somewhere have a (photocopy of a ) photo of said beast! If by any chance I can find it again I will post it- it came out of a vehicle directory type book. Perhaps of greater interest is that at least one set of such track survives. Ten years or so back well known ( and then deceased) Tilsonburg hoarder and surplus dealer Charlie Laister had an esate clearing under way. It took a year plus. In one of the small front building was a large stack of crates containing a new unissued set of track.Some Ontario collector/hoarder owns this now- but I don't recall who it was....BP

[maple_leaf_eh]

As a boy in the 70's I remember visiting a farm and the fellow used his farm tractor off road in the sugar bush. It had a front idler/tensioner axle mounted under the transmission. I think there was a roadwheel on the ground. The tracks were two heavy woven belts with curved U-channels bolted in between, and the tractor tires rode in the curve.

In the context of your 2 1/2 ton, a pair of tracks around the rear wheels wouldn't be much different - only much harder to tension.

[Jes Andersen]

"As a boy in the 70's I remember visiting a farm and the fellow used his farm tractor off road in the sugar bush. It had a front idler/tensioner axle mounted under the transmission. I think there was a roadwheel on the ground. The tracks were two heavy woven belts with curved U-channels bolted in between, and the tractor tires rode in the curve. "

These were common in the oil exploration mobile seismic crews in norther Alberta in the '50s. I have pics of them and Bombardier half tracks in bush camps where they were working to 'discover' the oil that was much later 'rediscovered'.

The deuce setup has appeared in a few pictures and would have involved the same principle. Bobcats and skid steers today use tracks that go over the tires without adjustments other than tire inflation. The deuce could have used the same concept. Pictures, please...

[Robin Craig]

My Dear Lady hollered at me the other night as I was on my usul bimble through the intra web thing.

There was on the telly a program called Northern Classics that is a constant stream of former CBC or NFB type shows which show you very staged views of various places around the country in various places.

We missed the starting but this one showed testing of military vehicles "North of Ottawa" and if my memory is accurate the licence plate on the Deuce was 12744F and was a dark background with a lighter characters on it.

The place, somewhere in the country had military boffin types and vehicles wandering around in the background and the civvy narrator droned on about this experimental track system on the truck and how the Army were trying to make it's trucks better capable.

The system fitted had steel track with a centre guide horn that ran between the duals fitted on the vehicle.

I could see nothing non standard about the wheels and tires mounted and I would assume that they were using the air pressure in the tires to give track tension which is a common way of doing it on many vehicles.

The vehicle was going across some very challenging terrain with considerable ease.

I think there was an adaptation of one of the Scammel recovery vehicles that used an over wheel track kit but that was on single wheels.

[chrisgrove]

Not only Scammells, but all the many 6x4 British three tonners of prewar and wartime vintage carried such tracks. Morris CD recce cars had a set carried on the rear mudguards. Not a new concept, though how often anyone could be bothered to stop and fit the things I wouldn't know.

Chris

[Bob Phillips]

Gentlemen, I have found the data sheets I wrote about. They are dated Feb 3 1959 and the tracks are referred to asJungletrac. It shows a photo of shoes to fit both single and dual rears and the pictured vehicle is a CDN 2.5 ton G749. It says they can be used on 5 and 10 tonners as well. This publication from the Army Development Establishment in Ottawa. If I can gert a decent picture of the page I will try to post it sometimne later.,

[DanJahn]

I bought a Diamond T Wrecker some years ago that came with a number of steel track sections. Most were very rusty and not nearly enough to make up a complete set so I scrapped them except for a couple of the best ones. If I was better at posting pictures I would post one on here. I also have a U.S. manual ( care of tires and tracks) which has pictures of these tracks in it.