M34 What was this used for??

[MountianDelux]

Im very new to this site. My main objective in joining was to figuire out what my 6x6 was out fitted for. Below are some photos of my 51 ish M34. Its obiously spent some time with a fire dept as you can see from the red paint iot also has a CTHS fire dept aluminum sticker in the door. ( that fire dept is now merged with a larger metro dept)

The truck has some type of dump bed (there is a home made boom in silver - not original) on it as well as front and rear winches. The bed was removed prior to me finding it. The dump hoist tag reads gallion all steel body company.

I cant seem to find a logical reason to have a dump bed with a winch in the rear. It dosent seem to be a wrecker or just a dump truck. Nor what a fire dept would have wanted this truck for... All the parts are the same fire red and olive green underneath so I belive its all original. Any help wpuld be great.

I have owned it for about 2 years and just now have it running driving and stopping so Im very excited to continue working on it. Thanks

 

[quarkz]

I don't know the use of your truck, but Howdy and welcome to the site.

 

[hndrsonj]

That whole mess in the back is not origional. I assume it is a gasser? It does take a special cargo bed. M34's aren't easy to find.

 

[hndrsonj]

The bed is actually identical to a M135 bed without the 45 degree braces where the wheel well cutout is. Google M135 and look at the bed.

 

[11Echo]

This similar cargo bed is in the SS classifieds.

M135 bed - Steel Soldiers::Military Vehicles Supersite

 

[hndrsonj]

That is it minus the little angle piece over the cut-out.

 

[spicergear]

I found one of them at a scrap yard one time and and rescued it for parts. It was cab and chassis and had been used as a township truck for plowing and salting. Paper thin frame from years of duty from that...some the nuts holding the chunk into the axle housing were rusted off! It had a Memphis Equipment hard tag on it and had a T-case PTO and a T-case sprag eliminator kit (REB) kit. Seem's like the M34's may have been made available to the civvy market- ??

 

[wreckerman893]

It may have been a recovery vehicle for rescuing stuck brush trucks......that's all I got.

 

[ryker725]

Congrats on bringing it back to life...

 

[MountianDelux]

Thanks for all the info and support guys!! So eventhough the rear winch and hoist are olive green underthe red paint your thinking its just random surplus stuff all put on prior to the time it spent with the fire dept? That could be althought Im not sure Im totally sold on it yet. All the levers and PTO stuff looks to correct to be an after thought.... Plus what was the pourpose of these item for the fire dept?

 

[hndrsonj]

Several deuces had rear PTO's. It could have easily been added. Usually when the military did that, they used the M44 or M45 as they were just the truck without a bed. The M34 definately has the special bed that is very similar to the M135 bed shown above. An internet search shows Galion made garbage trucks and add on dump beds in the 1950's.

 

[NDT]

The dead giveaway that the dump bed is not factory original is the rear pivot pillow bearings welded on the frame. That is a no-no. The winch with the extended shaft to the right tells me your truck used to be a V17A-MTQ auger/pole setter truck. If the winch is a Highway then almost for sure.

 

[MountianDelux]

Good point about the welded mounts. That sounds right. The winch has some very bent / broken controls so im going to need to find a way to bypass the winch and still run the dump hoist. I have a flat bed I might put on it if the dump hoist will work... Otherwise not sure what I could use it for. Thanks again to everyone for your responces and information.