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need some close up V17 pics

Steve6437

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In about Feburary 1971 all operations was taken over by contractors. One day I was driving the V17, the next day I was walking and that was the end of that. Dynaelectron Corp took all the trucks and as of July 1971 they had all of them still in operation. Where they are now I have no idea. I would guess scrapped by now. I think since they were old anyway and had been sitting in Korea since they were new, Vietnam was the last stop the Army had for them. I think a lot of old equipment went there as a final stop for them as the V17 / 18s were obsolete anyway by 1969.

I don't know what the policy is in Vietnam now and if some of that old equipment can be found brought back here. I would guess the shipping would cost more than the equipment, unless it was something rare making it worth the shipping costs. If and it is a big if, maybe Dynaelectron Corp were to be contacted they might be able to tell you what happened to the equipment or they may know of someone that did . Of course when the North took over anything could have happened to the equipment. But it might be a starting point for collectors to go on.
 
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Steve6437

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More V17 MTQ pictures and other stuff. I would like to point out picture 5. What you see on the other side of the fence in the picture is a huge military salvage yard. When you needed a used part, usually they would have it. Their policy was take what ever you need. 05550001.jpg05550007.jpg05550002.jpg05550003.jpg05550004.jpg05550005.jpg05550006.jpg
 
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Steve6437

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I would like to have a V17 again (if I could find one) but if I parked it in my drive way, my HOA would have a fit. LOL They won't even let you have advertising on a car or truck or allow anything over a 3/4 ton pick up truck parked in the drive way.
 

Steve6437

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Here is something I just thought about. I never did like the idea of the white star on the door as it makes a perfect target. We tried to get them removed or just paint over them, but we were told, no way. I think this was done for use in Korea so U.S. planes would not mistake them for enemy trucks. But in Vietnam all OD green trucks were US military, so it did not make any sense, to me anyway. Also the V17s had a bad habit of snapping off the lug nuts on the rear wheels when loaded down with equipment. One time we stopped somewhere and I just happen to look and only two lug nuts was holding on one of the rear wheels as the all the other studs just snapped off. One of the odd quirks of these trucks.

Another problem was the grease seals in the front end would leak and would need replacment every so often. When they would leak grease would be thrown around the front wheels and fenders. You had to keep your truck clean and any rust spots painted over with OD green paint at all times, it was a real mess to clean up the grease. Sometimes the grease seals on the rear axles would leak and throw grease around the rear fenders and wheels. Other than leaking grease seals, rear lug nuts snapping off there were no other serious problems with the V17s.

No oil filters were available in country so all the trucks had the original 1952 oil filters, just change the oil only. Drain air tanks every day. Check batteries for proper fluid level. Check oil. Always started day after day and ran just fine, never overheated. Great brakes for such a heavy truck, lots of under steer and took both hands to drive it as no power steering, no seat belts either. Small left side mirror with a huge blind spot to the rear right side. Make lots of left turns but very few right turns or none if you could. Lane changes in traffic, forget it.

The windshield wipers were fun to watch go back and forth, but did not do much. The canvas top was leak free even in a hard rain. The bed had a canvas cover that kept most but not all the rain out, Rusty equipment was a problem, but the side bins were leak free but not dust free as the dust would really collect on the equipment.

The lighting at night was better than nothing, but not by much. The front window latch was just the right size to hold the little RCA transistor radio I bought at the PX so I had AFVN radio to listen while driving to if you could hear it over the exhaust and all the rattle and banging around of the equipment in the back end. Just get in and go. Some what slow but could carry a lot of equipment. Always got you where you needed to go, but was a real gas hog lol.

Also never drive off with the front or rear winch in operation as it would bend in the front bumper. Never happened to me, but it did happen to other V17s as it was easy to see the damage it caused. All the front winch shear pins were replaced with bolts after a while and would not break the winch if you were careful and always used snatch blocks. Never once seen a broken winch. The front winch cable would ball up sometimes and cause the cable to become so intangled that it was very hard to get it off the drum.

Using the front winch and the drive wheels at the same time to get unstuck was almost hopeless as the winch would usually pull faster than the drive wheels as the drive wheels would slip and of course the winch would still be pulling or the wheels would grip and the winch cable would go slack and then go too tight and the winch cable would ball up. So you could really get in a worse mess quickly.


Better to use snatch blocks, long log chains and just let the winch pull you out. The rear winch was very powerful with the very long cable and with enough snatch blocks and log chains you could pull anything out of the mud if you have something solid to hook on to. One time I hooked the rear winch to a power pole to pull the truck out of a mud hole only to see in the rear view mirror the pole bending over with a 13000 volt power line coming down at the truck.

A flat tire was usually a two man job as they were heavy. I replaced one myself one time and it was a real slow go and took some doing. The onboard compressed air with the air hose was handy for filling low tires with small leaks.

The V 17s were some what top heavy and liked to slide off mud roads side ways into the ditch. They would lean way over to the side, but not fall over even though it seemed like it would. I was told that the single rear wheels had better off road traction and that is why the V17 had them on the rear, but I don't know one way or the other if it made a difference. I do know the extra weight of the bed loaded down made for really good straight line braking and the rear end would not hop around like a duce sometimes would under hard braking. The brakes were very good and hard braking would throw all the equipment in the back up against the cab.

Even though the V17 was obsolete by 1969 for working on modern cable based communications facilities, it could still prove useful in many situations. The amount of equipment you could cram into a V17 was amazing.
 
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Steve6437

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I noticed something in a picture on another thread regarding a V17 in Vietnam. The bins are on the drivers side and the jin poles are on the passenger side. I have never seen this before. There were some minor differences between V17s, but this is really different and may be very rare indeed. This may be a later model. I would rather have it this way as the jin poles blocking the drivers door was a PITA and the main reason they were usually missing. If the jin poles were stuck out the rear of the truck, you would get stopped by the MPs and told that it was unsafe to have these sticking way out the back like that. Most of the time they were left in the motor pool and if you needed them, just pick them up and put them back when finished. They did work for lifting poles and cable reels, but they were some what limited in positioning as you had to steer the truck very careful in reverse and forward many times to get it to line up with anything you wanted to lift and you had no power steering.

The rear winch had a lot of cable on it so with snatch blocks and enough chain, you could pull the truck out of anything, if you had something solid to hook on to. Lifting heavy cable reels would lift the front of the V 17 off the ground. We had a Duce wrecker for doing that. Did have the cable reel trailers, but never used them. Instead a Duce and a half was used as the cable truck. One of the pictures shows a V17 and the multifuel Duce cable truck and often went out to the job site as a pair. In one of the pictures you will see a V17 with jin poles on in the background in the cable yard repositioning cable reels.
 
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Steve6437

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Here is something you might like. The company CO was always on our case about speeding through the company with the V17s. The speed limit was 10 MPH and we were not even doing that much. The V17 gassers just sounded like we were speeding going up or down hill. So the first sargent called in the MPs, with a radar gun (yes the MPs used radar guns in Vietnam) and was going to catch the speeders going through the compound. The result was that no V17s were speeding, but many jeeps were and one of them was the COs jeep. lol
 
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Steve6437

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The V17s had a very loud exhaust that was really too much at times. The exhaust pipe came out under the bed and stopped. One day I was digging around in the truck bins and found a wooden box that only said "extention" and a part number on a paper tag. Opening the box I found steel a pipe with a flange and a cloth sack with nuts and bolts, but no clue what it was for. Then one day a little light bulb went on and I got the "extention" out of the bin and found that it matched up to the outlet of the exhaust pipe perfect. Attaching it to the exhaust pipe instantly made the truck much more quiet. Soon all the trucks were more quiet, in the cab anyway.
 
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WRMorrison

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Awesome pictures and awesome stories; thanks! I for one, would gladly listen to anything you (or any other vet) would like to tell or look at any pictures you may have; MV-related or otherwise. Gotta get all the stories out there before they're gone forever. I've got lots of military pictures stored on my PC about things I'm interested in and what-not, but semi-knowing the "real" person that took the photos or was there somehow makes them that much more meaningful. I've had a few uncles and cousins that were over there around the same time, but none of them took any pictures, and they're not around to tell their stories any more.

From one vet to another, thanks for all you've done and, just in case no one's ever said it, "welcome home."

-WRM
 

Steve6437

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I usually don't say anything online about Vietnam, but I found that there was some interest in the V17s and their restoration so I dug around in some old boxes to see if I had any pictures of V17s. I found these. I think like most people that were in the service, pictures were not top priority at the time. I just took pictures of interest in the area and wished I had taken more, but there was work to do and schedules to keep.

Most of the time it was just regular work in your MOS with long hours and it was so hot day and night, it was hard to sleep much. I liked working nights the best as it was cooler. Some people had the fancy 35 MM cameras that took great pictures. Some people had 8mm movie cameras, but they were expensive at the time and they had to sent the film back to the states for processing. I just had a cheap Kodak I bought at the PX. I wish I could tell you interesting stories about Vietnam, but actually, it was just a job to be done a long time ago.


Here is a good book describing in detail what the US Army Signal Corps did in Vietnam. Vietnam Studies Communications Electronics 1962 to 1970 Department of the Army. 71-184863

You may be able to find it online. In this book I found out what I was doing during my two years in country. The reason I say this is because when you were there, you never got to see the big picture, just your little part of the big picture. In this book I found out why we were doing what we were doing and the reasons behind it.

From the book it seems that a huge mistake was made early on in that someone decided that the Vietnam conflict would use only two way radios for all communications. As the situation became more involved it quickly proved to be a really dumb idea as there were only a limited number of radio channels available and the airwaves were all quickly used up resulting in a breakdown in communications.

A crash program was put in place to improve communications at all levels using telephone cable based land lines and Tropo sites to connect the land lines to each other. The need for better communication grew at a rapid pace right up to about early 1971, then slacked off as the draw down in troop levels started. I got in at the tail end of the rapid expansion of communications facilities. Went from go go go in 1969 when I got there to slow slow slow in 1971.

Actually there were even bigger plans in the works for improved communications that included larger facilities and the latest modern equipment, but they got cut off as it became clear that the US was on the way out. So the plug was pulled on everything and was sort of put in a holding pattern of maintain what you got. When the contractors took over the communications facilities, that was the end of the communications facilities build up.

The contractors offered jobs to many military personnel stationed there when their enlistment was up and some took the jobs offered as the pay and benefits were really good. But after two years there, I had enough and wanted to go back to the "world".
That just about covers it as to what was happening there that I remember or want to remember.

Welcome home also, your service will be important to future generations. May be you could write a book detailing your time in the service as it it may be more fresh in your mind. I can't seem to remember what happened yesterday, let alone 43 years ago. lol
 
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vtdeucedriver

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Vermont
Hi Steve,
I have distanced myself from the SS site recently for many reasons but I am glad I came to this section where I normally do not go.
Thank you for taking the time and writing about what you did in Vietnam with the V-17's. I hope you dont mine but I would like to copy and paste your posts for future reference. I am only 41 yrs old but I have a deep interest in the Vietnam War and preserving the history. Please take the time to check my site out and see what I do with trucks I own.
http://linehaulrvn.tripod.com/
You never did mention where in Vietnam you were? I associate with many who were with transportation and maintenance units that served in the Central Highlands. Those units were responsible from bringing material from the port at Qui Nhon and get it inland to Pleiku.
In your posts, you mentioned right on the money about many things that other veterans had told me over the years. One of the bigger ones was the star on the door for the exact reasons you mentioned!
Well I look forward to hearing from you and reading more of your posts.

I would like to ask if your unit or yourself do any modifications to the truck to make it work a bit better for you to accomplish your job?

Thanks again and Welcome Home.
 

Recht71

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Great Pictures liked the one with the M-88 in it spent some time on one of those 1/63rd Amour Fort Riley . Before I went to Nam trained in Armour put in an Engr. outfit in Nam Go figure.
 
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