Vietnam vehicles

[Danger Ranger]

Question

Hi,

Here is some photographic evidence to back up USAFSS-ColdWarrior's post. It certainly shows very used and battle damaged equipment and vehicles stowed on a transport ship bound for rebuild in Okinawa or the U.S. Just by looking at these photos one can see how long it took/labor to properly tie down all of this loose equipment. Not only are the hulls loaded but every spare piece of the top deck is being utilized.

Enjoy the pics!

Hey, No. 2, what are those tractor-like things in the first pic?? I have never seen those, and wondered what they were and what for? Dozer blades, and articulated frames, 4wd....

 

[73m819]

Hey, No. 2, what are those tractor-like things in the first pic?? I have never seen those, and wondered what they were and what for? Dozer blades, and articulated frames, 4wd....

Look like m830s, the power unit for a 30?yd scraper, could be used as a rubber tired dozer if the scraper pan was dropped

 

[11Echo]

Hey, No. 2, what are those tractor-like things in the first pic?? I have never seen those, and wondered what they were and what for? Dozer blades, and articulated frames, 4wd....

Could be Clark 290 M's. Also, they look similar to JD 8010 / 8020's and the WA-14 and WA-17 model JD's of that era. These tractors were designed and tested for a dozer blade option.

 

[73m819]

Could be Clark 290 M's. Also, they look similar to JD 8010 / 8020's and the WA-14 and WA-17 model JD's of that era. These tractors were designed and tested for a dozer blade option.

Thank you,
Could not remember what the Clark number was, the 830 was cat, based on a big wheeled loader, also there was a M.R.S. unit that looked about the same, forgot its m number also, as I remember, the scraper pan would attach to any of the three power units. I don't remember any BIG JD, we had a few small units, backhoes, ect.

 

[11Echo]

Thank you,
Could not remember what the Clark number was, the 830 was cat, based on a big wheeled loader, also there was a M.R.S. unit that looked about the same, forgot its m number also, as I remember, the scraper pan would attach to any of the three power units. I don't remember any BIG JD, we had a few small units, backhoes, ect.

 

[Danger Ranger]

They seem more like CATs or maybe the Clarks (I haven't looked them up yet) in appearance but as far as I know, John Deere never made the 8010/8020 (the 8010 was updated (recalled) into the 8020) for the military. They were so far ahead of their time that only a few were ever sold. Only 100 of these were sold in the 7 years of production, starting in 1960.

The Wagner models WA-14 and WA-17 were produced by Wagner, with Deere's name put on and painted Deere colors. Wagner may have made military stuff but I don't know. Deere wouldn't have sent WA tractors to the military though. Only 60 of these total were produced for Deere in the 3 years they were available. This was between the 8020's time and the 7020's time, ('67-'70).

Thanks for the info! Echo, that looks like it.

 

[73m819]

We aloe used the power units as PUSH dozers, pushing on other scrapers to help load, with the tires full of water (didn't have to worry about freezing) a lot of tractive force was to be had, about the only place you did not want to use them was ROCK, a spinning a tire would kill it real quick.

I liked then, fast, had power, could move a lot of dirt, good visibility, could go about anywhere, though once STUCK, you were STUCK

 

[vtdeucedriver]

There is one of these sitting in a field about 3 mi from me........I have OFTEN thought about finding who owns it. She has been sitting there for going on 8 yrs!

 

[vtdeucedriver]

There is one of these sitting in a field about 3 mi from me........I have OFTEN thought about finding who owns it. She has been sitting there for going on 8 yrs!

Here is the scraper near me.

 

[Danger Ranger]

OK, I did a little more research, and found that the scrapers in the original pic I asked about are the CAT M830s. The above posted by vtdeucedriver (thankyou) is one of the Clark M290 series. Olive-Drab has a page on the Clark, but nothing on the CATs. Pics are of the CAT 830MB (B=hydraulic, and slightly later than M). There was no civilian equivelent to the CAT apparently, and it was produced from early 60s to early 70s.

link to clark page: CLARK 290M TRACTOR

last 2 pics are of the clark, note the styling differences

 

[maddawg308]

That's a helluva piece of equipment to save there VT. But it would be awesome to try and find out who owns it and if they were in the market to sell. I'm sure someone here needs a big time project like that....

 

[vtdeucedriver]

That's a helluva piece of equipment to save there VT. But it would be awesome to try and find out who owns it and if they were in the market to sell. I'm sure someone here needs a big time project like that....

Who knows whats going to be done with it but its registerd for the road so maybe I can have the plate ran to see who the owner is and try and contact them. I am sure its WAY out of my price range but I sure would not mind playing with it...................I used to have one in my sand box back in the day

 

[DKELONE]

I've had several mules over the years that had twisted wire bundles that were hanging from the 3 tiedown points. Early on I cut those off and threw them in the scrap. About 15 years ago I got one from the range near Ft Mcoy, WI that had both the twisted wire bundles and paperwork for return shipment from VN stateside. I have never removed a wire bundle from a mule since. I just sold a mule to a rancher from western Nebraska who had been a 106 gun mule crewmember in VN. The mule he bought still had the ship tie down wire bundles on it. So a few of the 5000 mules deployed to VN made it home.

I would imagine that a lot of the equipment abandoned during departure were rendered inop by thermite grenades.

 

[Wile E. Coyote]

Old thread, but while I was trying to scrape the scabbiest portions of the paint from an ancient deuce here at work, the paint came off in a sheet revealing nice, clean, FS24087 paint beneath and the painted-on marking in white, 'SIN LOI', which someone once told me is Vietnamese for 'Good Luck'. I've lost track of the truck since but it should still be here on the lot somewhere (didn't have the presence of mind to photograph it at the time - but just painted back over it with CARC 3-color rather than sand etc. and destroy history.)

(Hmm..just checking and it seems that 'SIN LOI' is actually:


XIN LOI : (sin loy) a polite Vietnamese phrase literally meaning "excuse me" or "pardon me", but used sardonically by GIs to mean "sorry about that", "too **** bad", or "tough ****"; sometimes misspelled "sin loi" or "xoine loi". Compare MEA CULPA, A-OK, CHECK IT OUT, GUSTO, FIDO, **** HAPPENS, ROTS O' RUCK, AMF, ZIP, ZAP. [nb: various phrases have been used by 20th century combatants for protective disassociation from epiphenomena, including: "There it is.", "It's all just rock 'n' roll.", "It don't mean nuthin'.", "It ain't nuthin'.", "It's just a thing."; the latter appears in "The Rescue" by Joseph Conrad (1920)] [v: sumimasen at ITTY-WA DESKA]

So yeah.)