m37 towing/payload ability

[Saberr]

Been looking around and haven't found quite what i was looking for. I went through the tm's and found the military factory ratings, but what i was curious about is real life ratings. I understand it can pull/haul more than its rated, but its may not stop like it should ether, and gov like to play on the safe side. I'm just asking out of curiosity and to have the knowledge. I know its says 3/4 ton. What is the max you guys have hauled and or towed ? Also how does it do when hauling or towing on hills ?

 

[NDT]

The 1920's design 230, at maybe 100 horsepower on a good day, is just able to move the truck around by itself, add max payload or loaded trailers it becomes slower to a point of being a road hazard.

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

The operator's manual from the 1970s says the max towed load on highway is 6000lbs. I wouldn't want to tow nearly that much on a public road today. An m37 is gutless enough already and the brakes aren't up to the task in my opinion (I'm assuming the manual expects no trailer brakes since that's the likely scenario in service at the time). Even an empty m101 trailer is noticeable behind a stock m37.

 

[Sgt Jiggins]

Granted I've repowered mine with a 318 and have discs up front (thanks to Ray Suiter of helitool/uglytruckling). And I would advise against doing this in any kind of heavy traffic, but... I rented a 6-ton diesel powered, tandem-axle chipper a few years back. Towed it home and drug it through my woods feeding it telephone-pole-sized stuff. Neither the truck nor the chipper complained.

The truck itself is fully capable. The stock engine... not so much.