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1944 Federal 606 C2 Wrecker

Robo McDuff

Robo McDuff

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Wolfen said:
Nice looking trucks.
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NICE LOOKING TRUCKS ... That's all you can say ???? :wink:. I would say this is close to blatant sadism.

Then again, seeing your avatar, :drool: you probably have at least on nice looking MV as well.

Standard 5-tons and certainly deuces are relatively easy to find still in Europe, even some WW II. But those earlier large beast ... not so much aua :sad:
 
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grumblesa23

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Great to see these trucks, we have one here in South Australia that we are restoring too. All mechanicals done just have to repair the cabin wood work due to its time spent out in the elements.
cheers Julianne
 
Jeff Lakaszcyck

Jeff Lakaszcyck

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Julianne, I've seen pictures of your truck in the other thread, it is a nice one. I've just been contacted by someone else in Australia who has a C2. He bought the John Belfield truck. We need to connect you two, send me a pm.
 
B

brainfade

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Hello Jeff,

My name is Brian. Just stumbled across this thread and am so glad someone is taking care of the old girl. I sold the truck to Sam (it was the second time I sold it, first time didn't stick) and have been wondering what happened to it. Great to see it getting some love.

I bought it from a junk yard, they were going to scrap it because steel was up at the time. I only found it because I was randomly driving around one Sunday and saw the nose sticking out from some trees. I like old stuff so I asked about it and when the junk yard guy told me it had been driven there! and they had the original title! I couldn't let it go to scrap. Cleaned the carb right where it sat, stuck a battery in and over boarded a fuel can and it was running. I even managed to find plugs for it locally after it blew the ceramic out of one. It didn't have brakes, wouldn't build air at first but I tracked that down to a mud dauber nest in the manual trailer brake valve on the steering column. Cleaned it up and it was fine. I also pulled the air cylinder for the steering and gave that a good cleaning, worked fine after that. I changed all the fluids (dropped and cleaned the screen in the engine pan) and used it for a number of years to move my Egg Harbor around the yard. I have photos somewhere.

I had to put it outside as I needed the floor space in the barn for a boat restoration but it was always covered with a tarp. Eventually I realized I would never live long enough to finish all the projects so I sold it to a fellow from the UP but he could never make arrangements to come get it. It sat in my yard another six months and he eventually decided he needed the money back and he told me he would come down and drive it to the scrap yard. That's where Sam came into the picture. He and his girl friend climbed in that thing and took off down the road, it was amazing to watch.

I think the owner prior to the yard was Hamilton Towing in Southbend Indiana. They bought Matt's business as I understand it. They may still have the wreaker gear around though I could never pin them down on it. I think the business has changed hands a couple times since they bought Matt's. When I got it, it had a 3/8ths plate steel wreaker bed on it that someone had fabricated but no winch or other equipment.

Anyway, good on you for keeping it around. If you would like any further info feel free to ask. I'll do some digging and see if I can come up with the photos I took.

Thanks,
Brian
 
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Karl kostman

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Jeff nice save and congrats an a really neat truck! You know every once in a while (not very often at all) you see and old truck pre-restoration and you look and you can instantly visualize the truck looking better than it did brand new, Thats what I see with this truck, take you time and do it right Jeff, it will sure be worth it in the end!
Karl
 
Jeff Lakaszcyck

Jeff Lakaszcyck

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Brian, thanks very much for posting ! I have been searching for some history on the Matt's Garage truck without much luck. I did have one of the Hamiliton's contact me through Facebook and he had an old photo of the truck, but it was taken after the boom was removed. He is looking for more photos. Hopefully he will find one with the boom. Thank you for saving and preserving this truck, I really like it. I'd like to continue out conversation through email, I will send you a PM.

Karl, thanks for the encouraging words. I have another truck to restore before this one but I plan to fully restore one of these in full military gear.

Here are a few videos: EDIT: I guess the youtube links no longer work here ?? Search youtube for "Federal 606".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LsVXPDUaCo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDK6ivG7gd0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjH6wswBXV0

Federal 1943 606 Matt's Garage Matthew Thompsonhamilton FB.jpg
 
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Jeff Lakaszcyck

Jeff Lakaszcyck

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Over the past several months I have been doing a little work on the red Federal. A NOS carburetor and rebuilt fuel pump has it running smoothly. I swapped the generator from the other C2, installed an NOS regulator, and rewired the charging circuit, so now it is charging like it should. A new fan bearing took the "growl" out of the engine. I took the air steering cylinder apart and cleaned it up, and it seems to be working better now. Now I need to find a good exhaust manifold as both of mine are full of cracks and leaks. A tight exhaust system and muffler would really make it sound good. It is surprising how well this truck runs, drives, and stops.

Last February my youtube video on the inertia starter had over 15000 views so it seemed that people found it interesting. So I took the red Federal to the Vintage Trucks of Florida show in Leesburg in February. It's a two hour drive so I had it hauled over on a lowboy. Folks really liked the truck. No one had seen one of the WW2 7-1/2 tonners before and they were fascinated with the inertia starter. I must have demonstrated it at least a dozen times each day of the show. A number of people told me they loved the truck and I should keep it the way it is.

So now my plans for both the Federals have changed somewhat. I had originally bought the red Federal to be a parts truck for the restoration of orange Federal C2. I still plan to do a full restoration on the orange truck. But I am going to keep the red Federal as it is, in fact I am looking for an original Gar Wood boom for it. With a boom it will make a nice yard truck, and it will not take much to make it roadworthy for a few local shows. I have newer tires, tubes, and flaps ready to go on. I want to replace the brake diaphragms and hoses as a safety measure, and there are several leaks in the drivetrain that need new seals. And I will need to install and wire some tail lights. But that is about it. Now I need another parts truck to restore the orange C2 !

Here's a few photos from the Leesburg show in February.

Federal 1943 606 Deberardinis Heavy Haul JL.jpgIMG_3967.jpgIMG_3963.jpgFederal 1943 606 inertia starter Jeff Brocky.jpgIMG_3965.jpg
 
Robo McDuff

Robo McDuff

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Often new tires exceed the purchase of "scrap yard saves", especially if you really buy new or 80% tires because you need 10 of them.
I only bought reasonable tires for the front, the rear has four on each side, so they still have the old original worn down US army tires.
 
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