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Yet another texan

terratek

Member
44
1
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Location
san antonio, tx
Hello, long time lurker, first time poster.
I just picked up a 1967 cn-40-a with a wisconsin 4 cylinder. Pretty much all of the wiring has been chewed up, brakes are shot, and clutch is out. At the very least it should be a fun project :)
Am hoping to restore it to near original condition, but have had no luck finding any information on it.

Attached are a couple of pics, I am mainly planning on using it as a farm/ranch vehicle.

I will be documenting the build when I start on it, right now I am in the information gathering stage.

Either way, it's good to finally stop lurking and start posting.
 

Attachments

armytruck63

Active member
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Redlands, CA
Interesting little truck. Like the Mule, it can carry more than its own weight. Do you have any engine photos?

And a big welcome to the site from a California Texan!
 

mkcoen

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
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83
Location
Spring Branch, TX
Welcome from another San Antonian (well, general area any way). Lots of happenings in the area to attend. The big ta-do will be at Camp Mabry in April but there's also lots in San Antonio itself. You have a very unique MV so I'm sure it will be a hit once you've got it going.
 

combatmech

Active member
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Location
Carrollton, Texas
Welcome to Steel Soldiers from a displaced Texan!! I do recall seeing one of those things at NAS Oceana rotting away in the woods way back in the late 80's......Best of luck with your project!!
 

terratek

Member
44
1
8
Location
san antonio, tx
Everyone, thanks for the warm welcome :)

armytruck63: I just took some pics of the engine bay. Once I find a supplier for the clutch parts, will get better pics. Until then I will probably be ripping out wiring and figuring out the bare minimum to get the engine started. As I have not seen a TM for one of these, and taylor-dunne (who acquired United Tractor in 2002) hasn't really been helpful as of yet, will be flying blind for now.

RodUSMC1962: My dad was a combat medic in vietnam, he said he has seen 1 (yes only 1), and at the time it was being used to move bombs. Which would explain the cracked outline under the paint that reads "explosive". Of course his friend roger who was also in vietnam said "what the h*ll is that?" when he saw it.

mkcoen: That's what it looks like. Luckily the person I bought it from found a supplier for some of the parts and will be mailing me the catalog. Also on the lucky side, he turned down 50+ offers from people who wanted to buy it for scrap. I ended up paying 250 for it with the promise that I would get it operational again. I figure he had it for 30 years, I should be able to get at least another 20 out of it.

reloader64: heheh didn't have to look it up, I used to spend a lot of time in the canyonlands refuge back when I worked in Austin. Beautiful area!

USAFSS-ColdWarrior: Thanks much

bbftx: Thanks, and I look forward to it too. I am going to have to be careful with the paint removal as I have no clue what color it originally was and the po couldn't recall. I figure when I get to the paint portion, will try to media blast a small area and feather the edges, see if I can get an idea of the original colors that way.

combatmech: Thanks much for the lead, I emailed Oceana to see if they have an on base historian that could help me get some more information on the vehicle.

Darwin T: Thanks


It took me a few hours to load the thing using a come-along and tow chain, luckily unloading it consisted of reinflating the tire with a bad valve stem, and pushing it until it started rolling on it's own. So far everyone that has seen it (neighbors) has liked it, my nephew asked when it will be running so I can teach him to drive.

Photos of the engine compartment are attached
 

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combatmech

Active member
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Carrollton, Texas
No worries.... When I did see it, it was down near the high-power pad. But that was 1988. They have changed that area a lot over the years.
You might also contact the folks at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Fla. I'm sure they would have something on this little gem. That is a cool project.....I tried to google the MFG and tractor model number as well....not much out there on the net.
And ditto....I would suspect lead paint as well. Navy GSE started to go away from the lead based yellow paint in the early to mid 90's.
 

terratek

Member
44
1
8
Location
san antonio, tx
Very cool, I just sent the museum an email as well, Don't know why I didn't think of that as it is one of the places I visited last time I was in FL.

I was unable to find any information via google, so went with the manufacturer, that led me to taylor dunne. The PO has the catalog he received a year or so ago, but forgot to bring it with him. He also has the original pintle hitch block that was uninstalled, and will be bringing it to his ranch next time he comes up from corpus.

The yellow seems to be similar to caterpillar yellow, so may go with that. Had to veto the wifes idea to paint it yellow and replace the "explosive" lettering with "tonka".
 

armytruck63

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Redlands, CA
Interesting engine shots. The side draft carb and intake manifold are unusual. I would swear that alternator is a Chrysler product. The oil filter looks like it could be a Military Standard Jr. used on many jeeps.
 
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terratek

Member
44
1
8
Location
san antonio, tx
armytruck63: Good catch, the po said that when he did the points and such, the replacements came from chrysler. He also said that he believed the rear axle and pumpkin were a ford product. Not sure on the oil filter as I haven't taken anything apart yet or looked for model numbers, I do know that I have a spare oil bath air cleaner exactly like the one shown sitting in a field in terlingua. I was originally going to modify my old jeep to use it as part of a snorkel system, but have since disposed of the jeep.
 

combatmech

Active member
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Location
Carrollton, Texas
I'll give my buddy at NAVAIR a shout and see if he can come up with anything in their records. I would put money on the folks at P-cola would have something.....maybe even an example in storage.
 

terratek

Member
44
1
8
Location
san antonio, tx
I managed to get some of the stuff cleaned up in the engine bay.

Motor is a Wisconsin vg4d spec no. 294141

Sticker on oil filter housing is unreadable, stamping says "Replace element with MS3xx46-1" xx looks like it could be x5 not sure on the two x's

Thanks much combatmech, I am going to look up wiring diagrams for the engine and do an oil change, squirt some oil in the cylinders after i check the plugs. Hopefully i will be trying to turn it over sometime tomorrow.

And, it looks like it will be close to a full restoration, but on a budget, ialso plan on a few mods but mostly invisible... maybe 4x4 and a dual head generator in place of the alternator.
 

M813rc

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
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Near Austin, Texas
Welcome aboard!

Glad you got that, several of us locally were oggling that, but none of us bit. I remember seeing lots of those on Marine and Navy air stations back in the 70s and 80s.
Hope to see it at a show when you get it going. [thumbzup]

Cheers
 

terratek

Member
44
1
8
Location
san antonio, tx
Managed to clean up the stamp a bit more, element is an MS35346-1, will probably try to source a wix 51100 for it.

I also looked over the year and engine serial, it seems this thing was 6-volt positive ground at some point, not sure if they did a full conversion or not, so will need to check all of that. Luckily I have some experience converting the old 6-volt vw's, so shouldn't pose an problem.

M813rc: Glad I got it too, I showed it to my brother today and he pretty much jumped at the opportunity to help me restore it. I need to check the lug pattern though, may go with some older truck rims for regular use and keep the split rims and tubed tires for show use.

Tomorrow I need to figure out where I am putting it for now as I am pretty sure the city will have a fit if i leave it in the road too much longer.
 

USAFSS-ColdWarrior

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San Angelo, Tom Green County, Texas USA
Tomorrow I need to figure out where I am putting it for now as I am pretty sure the city will have a fit if i leave it in the road too much longer.
TerraTek:
You might want to check out this thread....
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/politi...-texas-fmv-laws-former-military-vehicles.html
and see if you would benefit from titling and registering your TxFMV (Former Military Vehicle). It's a LONG thread, but worth your time and energy to read through.

The LAW says "regardless of size or weight", ANY FMV can be registered. There is NO LIMITATION that it was designed or used for ROAD USE, only that it MUST be a VEHICLE.

Once registered, your city would be hard pressed to prohibit on-street parking, so long as it is legally postioned on the street.

--------------------
Speaking of that - - - How big is your MV: Length, Width, Deck Height, etc.?

I presume you will be trailering it to events. What sort of trailer/rig?

John
 
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