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M6 Bomb Truck: Power winch conversion


P Bellamy

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Some images showing a conversion done by the 44th Bomb Group at RAF Shipdham in May 1944, removing the hand-cranked bomb winch on their M6 Bomb Service Trucks and replacing it with a powered one.

 

As standard:

 

M6C4.jpg

 

Converted:

 

M6C5.jpg

 

M6C3.jpg

 

Details:

 

M6C2s.jpg

 

M6C1s.jpg

 

It appears they rigged up a drive from the transmission.

Was there a straight-swap PTO from a GMC or similar that could have been used?

 

All the best,

PB

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Nice pictures, Paul! :-)

 

I'm sure they would have installed a pto on the gearbox (which was a Chevy 4 speed not GMC 5 speed, but a GMC PTO would fit on just fine, or indeed a Chev PTO!) - but what about the winch?

 

I'm not aware of any standard fitment winch which would fit in between the chassis rails - the other alternative would be a front mount winch off a GMC or 1 1/2T Chev and reeve the rope back under/alongside engine to rear of gearbox (bit awkward).

 

My money is on a simple non-standard winch installed behind the gearbox, running off a standard PTO.

Edited by N.O.S.
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The PTO would hang so far off the left side of centerline that there would be no way to mount anything under the cab.

 

The one shot that shows the bottom of the carrage does not show anything hanging like a winch/shaft.

 

Best guess is that they took the front winch off a G506 (4x4 1.5 ton Chevy) and mounted it on the front, then used guides pulleys to run it under the chassis up and out from behind the cab.

 

If you look at the latch used to secure the PTO lever, it looks like a production latch from a winch mounted truck.

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An entry has turned up relating to similar modification which may help.

 

1825th Ordnance Supply and Maintenance Co. (att. 392BG), Wendling.

August 1944:

 

A most important and interesting project was started at the 3rd Echelon Repair shop during this period.

In the interest of economy of effort, a bomb service truck was modified for the purpose of using the engine power to lift the bomb load.

The parts required for this modification were as follows: power take-off from 1½ ton Chevrolet, winch from ½ or ¾ ton Dodge, a drive shaft to connect the two units, pulley wheel similar to the wheel on end of bomb service truck boom, and material to make gear-shift lever.

The successful completion of this job points the way to similar modification of all bomb-service trucks on the Station.

Edited by P Bellamy
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