Jump to content

M6 High Speed Tractors Anywhere?


Scammell4199

Recommended Posts

Does anyone know of any Allis Chalmers M6 high speed tractors in existence?, its the big brother of the M4, weighing in at a respectable 36 tons and uses two of the engines used in the M4. The picture below is me with the one at the Marshall Museum in Overloon, Holland and I know of one other at the Indiana Military Museum. I have researched the subject quite a bit and can find no other survivors.

 

DSC00015.jpg

Hi Guys my name is Charles and this is the first forum i have ever joined so bare with me as i learn... I'm not a big MV buff but i found this thread while searching for info on M6 high speed tractors. You see i buy all cars and scrap metal and such in my spare time and i have ran across a M6 in the weeds in MO. A farmer owns it and I intend on buying it. It has a dozer blade that goes with it. It is in rough shape. When I figure out how to post pics i will. I'm curious if its just scrap or worth trying to find a buyer. Thanks for your time. And if anyone can tell me how to post pic from iPhone i will post

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

I've found another one! :)

 

I've tried contacting the owner but not had anything back yet. Does anyone know who it is and what their intentions are for it?

 

Also the one mentioned in the post above as being found in MO, actually wasn't, it was an M4

 

Richard

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a real M6 HST in Mission, B.C. Canada, relatively complete with original cab, the owner has both engines for it and has expressed the notion he may entertain selling it. If interested I will advise him of this thread so he can contact potential buyers

 

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...
Does anyone know of any Allis Chalmers M6 high speed tractors in existence?, its the big brother of the M4, weighing in at a respectable 36 tons and uses two of the engines used in the M4. The picture below is me with the one at the Marshall Museum in Overloon, Holland and I know of one other at the Indiana Military Museum. I have researched the subject quite a bit and can find no other survivors.

 

DSC00015.jpg

 

Hey Richard, are you still looking for a M6?

 

T212 Bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
  • 6 years later...
On 1/10/2011 at 7:26 AM, David Herbert said:

Like Richard I could not see the red High Speed Tractor behind the Yellow one in Mark's photos in post 19 as an M6. It is in fact one of four prototype T94 Cargo Tractors which were authorised in late 1956, intended as a very heavy artilery tractor, partly replacing the M8A1 or A2 shown in th other photos. Like the M8 it had a Continental flat six air cooled engine as used in the M41, M42, M75, this time a 525hp AOSI 895-3B and an Allison XTG-500-2 transmission but instead of the Walker Buldog running gear of the M8 it used the suspension and tracks from the M47 tank. The track links are interchangeable with those of HVSS Shermans but with a different centre guide. It was built by Allis Chalmers about 1957 and originaly had the single cab that is still on it, then the engine compartment and then a cargo body taking up the rear half of the length of the vehicle rather like the body in the middle of an M8A1. There was a large winch on outrigers in front of the cab, hence the depressed rectangle in the cab front. Overall length was 24' 11", width 10' 10", hight 10' 5". Weight 72000lbs with a 12000lbs load. All this from Fred Crismon's 'US Military Tracked Vehicles' and R.P.Hunnicutt's 'Bradley'. Hate to think what the fuel consumption was when towing !

 

Please note that the M6 used its own unique design of HVSS and track that was not interchangeable with Sherman or anything else. They fitted a set to a Sherman as an early experiment in improving its suspension but it was not strong enough and could not be fitted with dampers. The M6 track was very unusual as it had a triple sprocket, the centre one driving onto the centre connectors which also carried two guide horns as well.

 

Hope this helps.

David

Not to reopen a thread from 12 years ago, but if anyone was interested, I am now the proud owner of the T94 Cargo Carrier.

Sam Winer still has the M6, M8, and about 20 M4 HSTs, all in about the same condition as they were 12 years ago.

September 2023 2 279.JPG

September 2023 2 297.JPG

September 2023 2 301.JPG

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well done Harold. I hope that you will be able to restore it back to its original form but it will be a big job. At least it should be possible to obtain good quality photos and test reports of it from when it was being trialed. It will be quite a beast when it is done but you need to start saving for fuel ! Please post any developments here.

David Herbert

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It would be nice to see one of these with a British census number. I know to 10 used by 61st Super Heavy Regiment RA. H5849538, H5849539, H5849543, H5849549, H5849551, H5849561, H5849562, H5849565, H5849822 and H5849823. There are 3 others that I have come across which must be from a Super Heavy Regiment but do not know which one. H6164822, H6164823 and H6164827. Hope it is of some interest to someone.

Cheers

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, David Herbert said:

Well done Harold. I hope that you will be able to restore it back to its original form but it will be a big job. At least it should be possible to obtain good quality photos and test reports of it from when it was being trialed. It will be quite a beast when it is done but you need to start saving for fuel ! Please post any developments here.

David Herbert

 

I will be posting updates on my facebook page, but I may make another thread to share them here as well. I don't think progress will be very fast, but at least I can preserve her better than the care she was getting before. It's funny you mention test reports, I work in the archives specifically in Army documents from the era when the T94 was made, and I've found nothing at all on it. A few things here and there for the other prototype cargo carriers, but nothing on the T94. Hopefully something will turn up one day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/9/2023 at 10:48 AM, KevinT said:

It would be nice to see one of these with a British census number. I know to 10 used by 61st Super Heavy Regiment RA. H5849538, H5849539, H5849543, H5849549, H5849551, H5849561, H5849562, H5849565, H5849822 and H5849823. There are 3 others that I have come across which must be from a Super Heavy Regiment but do not know which one. H6164822, H6164823 and H6164827. Hope it is of some interest to someone.

Cheers

 

I would be pleased to see some photos of one in British service - that alone is pretty rare.  Even the illustration of an M6 in the R E Smith book, British Army Vehicles and Equipment Vol 2 Artillery of 1964 is of a model - not even of the real thing!  There was that set of very fascinating photos taken in the early 50s at Woolwich with CMP Oerlikon LAA guns, a couple of Dorchesters etc where one or two appear, but, otherwise, very little.  Interestingly, that seems to be true of medium & heavy artillery tractors in general - not many photos about at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow!  They're excellent, thanks, Kevin  Big beasts aren't they?  And that must be one half of the 240mm gun - like some sort of siege engine!  I am busy digging out pictures of the less usual vehicles in British service at the moment, just another little research cul de sac which I am following - or bee in the bonnet if you prefer.  I have just come across some pictures of FWD HAR1s for example - a type I knew little of - apart from a brief mention in Bart Vanderveen's book - apparently they were used by RPC smoke generating units and, sure enough, I found a photo of one with such a smoke generator.  The other great gap in photo availability seems to be vehicles in use by British forces in Burma and the Far East - where there was a preponderance of US vehicles such as the Dodge WCs which were rather less common in British markings closer to home.  Which reminds me of a fascinating series of photos I came across of Dodge Power Wagons with post-war British ERMs - in service with the Trucial Oman Scouts, I think they were.  All good stuff, but a bit off-topic from the M6s - sorry!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for re-igniting my thread Harold. Great to see that you've snapped up the T94, do please start a resto thread on here so we can track progress.

@Citroman the ones at Schipol airport were M4s, i remember an article in Wheels and Tracks magazine years ago on them.

@KevinT thanks for digging up those records. 

Good to keep the M6 data bank up to date. I can't fathom why so few of these vehicles exist now, but they do seem to be very rare.

Richard

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, 10FM68 said:

Wow!  They're excellent, thanks, Kevin  Big beasts aren't they?  And that must be one half of the 240mm gun - like some sort of siege engine!  I am busy digging out pictures of the less usual vehicles in British service at the moment, just another little research cul de sac which I am following - or bee in the bonnet if you prefer.  I have just come across some pictures of FWD HAR1s for example - a type I knew little of - apart from a brief mention in Bart Vanderveen's book - apparently they were used by RPC smoke generating units and, sure enough, I found a photo of one with such a smoke generator.  The other great gap in photo availability seems to be vehicles in use by British forces in Burma and the Far East - where there was a preponderance of US vehicles such as the Dodge WCs which were rather less common in British markings closer to home.  Which reminds me of a fascinating series of photos I came across of Dodge Power Wagons with post-war British ERMs - in service with the Trucial Oman Scouts, I think they were.  All good stuff, but a bit off-topic from the M6s - sorry!

Yes these are the only photos I have come across of the M6 in British service, there may be others around but haven't found them yet. The line of M6's is apparently in Liverpool after they were off loaded, hopefully somewhere there shipping documents listing all the numbers not sure if there are on line files of US lend-lease equipment. Photos of heavy stuff guns and lorries do seem to be few and far between.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...