theduncans

12 years in Cdn Army53/65. 2 years in BAOR 55/57 spent a lot of time on recovery with diamond t's Macs and M62"s Rest of the time taught and was final inspector on completed repairs to veh. Also did Helicopter conversion but got out before the RCEME disapeared. Love old military veh as a lot of the so called modern SUV's etc have thier beginings in Mil Veh.

Hi During the late 50's and early 60's I drove an M62 doing recovery work in Cdn Army. Started in Diamond Ts and Macks then Halalouya THE M62 arrived. It was like someone finally thought of us poor reccy mechs. Glad to see someone is keeping them alive and well. As to the cover on the boom operaters seat, the originals had no cover. We created our own as we used them in all weather including at 30 below and snow so it at least kept us a little protected. Our workshop canvas worker made the covers to suit the bows and we all had slightly different setups, I had curtains on mine that rolled up and tied off for summer work or if it was frosty and couldn't see with them down. Have fun and don't break a cable. Dick

The women with the ball joints got them from her father who at the end of the war was a Captain REME and in charge of scraping veh. He was the one who salvaged them and made rose bowls from them by mounting them on a wooden base and partiallyt filling them with lead to give them stability. As he is long dead all I can go by is her memory of the family story behind them. He also copper plated the joints and they are heavy. Having worked in RCEME in 50's and 60's they do look like ball joints from a Willys. HUM, makes a good story anyway. Will pass them on to the local RSL (Returned and Service League) for the display cabinet and write the story as unsubstantiated. Still a good story.

During the 50's when I did my initial driver training in CDN army we were told to lightly apply brakes during fording and use low gear on exit and apply brakes a little harder for about a minute or 2 and all should be right. Seemed to work on most veh. but jeep took longer to dry Don't know why. Oils were 40 summer or 50 if in warmer climate and 10 or 5 winter depending if northern climate such as Churchill. Never liked the jeep. Tires too narrow. Always bogged in mud as tires break through surface too much.

Does anyone know if Monty had a willys jeep during the WW2 period. Have been offered the front steering ball joints from a willys and was told they came from Monties jeep that he took with him everywhere during the war. I would have thought he would have had an English vehicle. Maybe these were from an English jeep type vehicle. Can anyone help here?