As a Canadian army mechanic for 28 years, I drove ,used and maintained these wreckers. Love them. Very reliable

M62 in 1967 at Baumholder, Germany 1/68 Armor. I was the battalion maintenance wrecker operator for about two years. That was a 1952 IH, built in Chicago, the crane was made by Austin-Western in Aurora, IL near my home town. The Continental gas engine and 5 speed tranny did not make a powerhouse for towing and the worn out hydraulic pump made it a struggle to pull M60 tank power packs. I pulled a lot of tank decks, power packs (engine & trans assy) truck transmissions, towed trucks, APC's etc. Heaviest tow was loaded 5 ton with loaded trailer through the mountains.

@khalifgreen581

3 жыл бұрын

I was stationed in baumholder aka the rock! Great duty station Aco 2/6 infantry

@Slim_Slid

3 жыл бұрын

Those Continental R602 gas engines were thirsty behemoths,just like a Mack Magnadyne or International Harvestor Royal Red Diamond.The five ton trucks as the A1 with the Mack Thermodyne in my opinion were much better,more reliable and had a ton of torque.And then there's also the A2 with the multi-fuel engines which I'm not very firm with.They could still do grunt work,but they should've kept them with the deuce only.

100% that’s a relic of my old unit, 12 Svc Bn… saw the “Sea Island” stencilled at the end and that clinched it. Thanks for saving it, love seeing these old workhorses come back to life!

@tellmesomething2go

3 жыл бұрын

you have to be kidding. how cool.

Here in Greece we got it on duty even these days. I examined for my army driving licence on a M62 back in 1991.

669 miles on the clock ... I drove one of these in the Army and I can tell you the Speedo has probably been changed out more than once .... Loved these old Wreckers.

My Uncle drove one of these during his tour in the Marines in Vietnam. He was part of a column that would go from Da Nang to Dong Ha. I've got a few pics of him with it, he called it "No Slack". It took a land mine to the furthest axle and he still got it back to the motorpool. He got a commendation for recovering a stuck bulldozer that they didn't want to leave to the enemy and no one else could manage to break loose. He loved that truck.

@bolinfan1519

3 жыл бұрын

"He got a commendation for recovering a stuck bulldozer..." Excellent.

@Trobertsdsgmach1

3 жыл бұрын

Maybe people forget from time to time that EVERYTHING the young boys did to serve there country because it FORCED them to....in Vietnam, should be respected because people were trying to kill them the whole time they were doing it!

@bolinfan1519

3 жыл бұрын

@@Trobertsdsgmach1 Our lads were killing Commies to avenge the hoaxed Gulf of Tonkin "attack" and to prevent the "Domino Theory" of one nation after another falling to the Commies. It was all a scam. It's hard to applaud their bravery in Viet Nam because of the wasted effort and wasted lives. Those veterans can make up for it by learning the truth and teaching their grandchildren what happened instead of encouraging them to join the army to fight illegal wars for that sh***y little country in the Middle East.

@Trobertsdsgmach1

3 жыл бұрын

@@bolinfan1519 maybe you should reread my comment, they were forced meaning drafted, they know the truth, My father was there and i know the truth as well.

@bolinfan1519

3 жыл бұрын

@@Trobertsdsgmach1 Yes, I saw the word "forced" in your comment. My point is that the veterans of that war have one more obligation... to learn exactly what the scam was and how it operated, and then communicate it to their grandchildren and others, as a warning to dissuade them from fighting in more wars for the Zionist Entity, such as Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The only wars the US should fight are ones in which our country has been attacked or is in imminent danger of being attacked. Defensive wars.

That thing is absolutely sweet. A lot of people don't realize that these trucks are part of the reason for our victory at war time. Just imagine if we had to just replace tanks and other heavy equipment at the military uses. With this vehicle we can go in and bring back the broken tanks and trucks and every other vehicle the military uses. During war time this is very critical. You have to get your equipment fixed and sent back into battle as fast as you can. Without a vehicle like this that would not be possible. Thank you for showing you picking this up. Good luck with getting it up and running.

My first unit in the Army was 3rd ACR back in the mid 90's. I was assigned to the Recovery section. Best times I ever had in the Army and best starting point. I learned allot of about the Wreckers from 5 tons to 10 tons. And of course since I was a Bradley mechanic I was assigned a M88a1. I got REALLY good at fixing and operating the M88s. Over my 15 yrs of service I did 1 Kosovo and 3 Iraq with a tour in Germany. And every unit I became the recovery guy lol. I had the experience and knowledge so many other mechanics simply didn't. My 2nd tour in Iraq I put close to 5K miles on my M88a1 doing recovery missions and lifting operations. I had to replace the tracks twice in 8 months lol. I was a busy beaver during that tour. I could drive the M88s better than my own pickup lol. I miss driving tanks and tracks. And I definitely miss doing recovery work. If my back hadn't been messed up during my last deployment. I would have wanted to go work as a civilian contractor. But yeah I love seeing old military trucks and tracks get some love. Great video.

in australia i drove one of those many thousands of miles as a recovery mechanic , good to see some one saving another one

Man that is f***ing awesome.. I've seen a lot of towing equipment in my 28 years of towing but I have always had a thing for the Army's wreckers... I love historical stuff...good luck restoring that beast my friend...

Enjoyed watching .. it's great to see these older trucks and bits of history coming back to life . I'd love to find stuff like this .

This was awesome to watch. I built a 1/35 scale model of this when I was a kid. This brought back so many memories. Thank you.

Count me in if this becomes a series

@outlaw1015

3 жыл бұрын

Me to

Great find. Love to see it alive again

A trip down memory lane... I drove in those when I was doing my military service !

I'd love to see a revival video of this M62 seeing it come back to life after years of sitting

Wow ,love to see old gear being saved. Nice

I was Wrecker operator for the 46th Transportation Company, medium truck, in Inchon Korea in 1967. Just like this one.

Fantastic find, cannot believe how good it looks after being left for so long. Cool truck.

I miss my M813 that I drove in the Marines. It had a naturally aspirated Cummins 250, but the gearing gave it the ability to pull a house off its foundation. You gotta love these old military vehicles.

Great episode, looking forward to the future with this project.

@thebackyardtankshow1782

3 жыл бұрын

Really appreciate it man!

The place I worked in high school had one of these. I loved it back then, and I always wanted to drive it and never got to.

I actually drove one of those during my Army career. I mostly used it to pull power packs from M60 tanks, working in direct support Maintenance Company for the 1st Calvary Division on Ft Hood Texas back in 1974-76

I drove a M816 wrecker while stationed in Germany in 1973-1975, and sometimes a M578 track recovery vehicle. The scariest was when you are on a road march and it's so foggy that you can't see 3 ft in front of you on a 2 lane road.

This editing is smooth af, kudos for whoever put this video together. Voice over actual footage with details in real time, keeping the flow, adding interesting bits of history without making it too long, clean audio, man... i'm impressed.

I used to drive operate one of those while i was in the Army, mine was a 1956 international Harvester, 650ci straight 6 gas engine, i loved that truck!

Good old 5-tons. Drove the tractors and a water truck. Multi-fuels. Love 'em. Thanks!

@Slim_Slid

3 жыл бұрын

I'm not really a fan of the A2 with the multi-fuel engines.I always thought that they would've been better left alone in the deuce and a halfs,not the five ton trucks.The A1 with the Mack Thermodyne was a torque monster in comparison to the little whistler.

@lewiemcneely9143

3 жыл бұрын

@@Slim_Slid All the whistler needed was a 10-soeed RR behind it. All you could get was 7 gears with the stock setup and transfer case. An even split would've made a lot of difference but they'd stayed torn up because of no syncros. I yanked a 7-E around and never had any need for more power. Just couldn't be afraid of a gear shift.

@Slim_Slid

3 жыл бұрын

@@lewiemcneely9143 I understand that,I've owned a five ton truck personally,I was just referring to the EDNT-673 and comparing it with the LDT-465 or LDS-465 because they were 210 HP/710 TQ and the multi-fuel was 135-175 HP/330-447 TQ.

A small tip for you guys. When you cut through a tree limb whatever size or position' put an undercut/s into the limb below first. Directly under or very near the point you're going to cut through from the top. This gives the tree (as you cut from the top) space to sag without pinching the saw as you experienced. It also, in the case of limb removal on a living tree that's to be kept in place and growing, stop the limb tearing back along the limb noggin you leave as you cut the limb/trunk begins to sag and fall away downwards.

@willymesserschmitt4411

3 жыл бұрын

..and use some PPE

@Harry-zz2oh

3 жыл бұрын

Very good tip. I learned this the hard way. It only took me a couple of hours to get my 18" chain saw freed. When I cut the trees in my back yard down (they are pretty old & holey, not holy) I'll use a few wedges too.,

@philips4169

3 жыл бұрын

@@Harry-zz2oh Hey Harry, Glad to be of service my man 😊Sorry to hear you had such trouble getting the blade out of the tree. This causes damage to the links and the guideplate groove. The strain on the chain links trying to get it out can be so great it can later result in a chain failure then a loose chasin-end leaving the saw guide and the sprocket as it rotates around the sprocket !!!! A deadly whip indeed! If ya cut a smaller V on the fall side of the tree first (about 1/3 rd of the way through) and cut this in a downward pointing angle aiming the base of the V in the direction you want the tree to fall, then the bottom cut and the top cut on side you stand - (falls way from you) in a bigger wider cut making a few bites bottom then top then bottom then top as the tree begins to move towards the V on the falling side of the tree the cuts on your standing side of the tree will always widen never close ...hey presto! The bigger / more open your standing side of the tree cut is means you'll never need to use pesky wedges ever again (these will get in the way of your saw and usually forces you to make another cut that if done correctly is never needed. Sometimes a smaller wedge out then a large wedge and so on until the tree begins to lean towards the fall line Wedges are foreign dangerous obstructions, cause jambing and dangerous kickback too. I've never had to use a wedge ever and never pinched a saw cutting a tree ... if ya practice this with maybe a log standing up that you can control and practice on you'll be surprised how easy n foolproof it is to do. It's what we're taught in Australia -all tree loppers and feller use this technique here.

Saw a couple of these during my time. Then mostly HEMTT and LMTV wrecker/recovery vehicles. Also an M110 8" howitzer variant recovery track. King of all was the M88A3 tracked recovery. Always have been a fan of tow trucks/wreckers/recovery vehicles.

Really cool find, good job on caring about the old girl!

I was a wrecker operator while I was stationed at Ft Bragg in the mid 80s, I loved it.

@fredflintstoner596

3 жыл бұрын

WHAT WAS THE SKY LIKE WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG ?

@sgtJOOSEcapeS

3 жыл бұрын

😂 88mike I'm a fueler myself brotha

LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!! i dont have the room for military vehicles,,,,,,but i have a ton of M1 helmets from WWII//KOREA//VIETNAM and through 1984. awesome collection you have!! keep us updated on your projects,,love the raw video and commentary!!!!

I drove one of these, Canada had them STILL in use up into the early 90's. I did my apprenticeship recovery training on one. We had both the gassers and the diesels. The diesels looked a lot like the 250 Cummins and pulled just as hard. The glasses were miserable to use, the diesels, were good.

I’d like to see the end result What a beast !

Had some that looked like this (very similar) in USMC (1968). We called them 5 ton wrecker. The engine had a multifuel with something called a "Density Fuel Compensator", which would supposedly burn anything from gasoline to diesel, although we only ran diesel in them.

Looking at the military truck, and looking past all of the growth on it, that is one beautiful looking truck!

Use to find all kinds of old equipment in the logging camp bone yards till Safari salvage did a big coastal clean up and took all the steel out, that was back in the 90's .

I was assigned to the 12th Eng Battalion at Dexheim in 59-60 as a motor pool driver. We had a wrecker that had two engines, one for traveling and the other operated a twin boom wrecker. She could lift about anything and was called the "Dragon Wagon"

30 years and the tiers got air on em, and they look in good shape too. That what is a quality means. Great gob thu .

Great recovery job guys 🤗

always Kool talking to the old times in camp they do have all the stories ..... one guy that had been in the bush his who life was telling me some of his stories .... a camp out on the west coast near cougar annies place was closed and everything got put in a hole the boom boat hayes logging truck etc you never know where they will leave somthing ... good find!!!

love the old army trucks, man do i ever want one

Drove a 5ton dump, 12 Bravo Combat Engineers, operated in the Fulda Gap in the early '80s. Great Machine!

Nice recovery! I was looking at saving a 1954 IH M246 tractor wrecker in a similar situation, but this truck looks to be in much better shape than the one I was considering.

I have a m816 wrecker it’s a great truck and I use it all the time . Not a fast truck but I view it more like a Mobil tool.

Thank you for giving that truck a new life. You guys are great.

@thebackyardtankshow1782

3 жыл бұрын

Really appreciate the comment. We look forward to recovering more forgotten machines!

@bigtex441

3 жыл бұрын

@@thebackyardtankshow1782 what is the CFR of that truck?

Awesome find!

Absolutely gorgeous! Clear coat it, drive it...

Just found your channel great content love all the old army vehicles will be watching in the feature paul webb Australia 🇦🇺

Two years back there was a guy that has a unimog and he has traveled from Australia and all over the US. He did have a solar panels mounted. There is a military version fully equipped for sale with all the goodies.

@jeffmoore2351

3 жыл бұрын

The Australian Army is selling some of its Unimog fleet at Ettamogah. I'm more of the Mack 6 by 6 myself. Which their selling off occasionally as well. Aussie Jeff

@holdfast7657

3 жыл бұрын

@@jeffmoore2351 All the Mogs and Macks are going. Just retaining some until we have enough coded drivers in the new fleet.

@Harry-zz2oh

3 жыл бұрын

@@jeffmoore2351 Either way, those are pretty darn nice pieces of military gear to own. One caveat is it takes $$$$ to keep them going.

@jeffmoore2351

3 жыл бұрын

@@Harry-zz2oh yes if I was to do it. Its going as the hard ass back block work truck. Unimog being Benz parts would cost a motsa. ( Heaps)

The first wrecker I drove, was a 816. I believe the 816 replaced this in 70, which was replaced by the m936 in the 80s. I loved and lived in my 936. Me and it had some cool adventures on float in the Med!

Very cool. Can't afford it but would would love to have an old 5 ton wrecker!

Drove one in Germany it was unstoppable go up a mountain down a mountain pulling all kinds of vehicles at graf private drive his truck off road which was a no no thru barb wire got it all tangled up before I pulled it his other troopers and he had to cut all that barb wire from around axles underneath

I love the old technique.

That winch on the back would pull out just about anything when you replaced the shear pin with a grade 8 bolt.

According to wikipedia, the m62 would have a low horsepower engine somewhere in the 150 to 200-ish tange. But it has a maximum speed of about 52mph. Which could mean a really high differential gear ratio to compensate for the weak engine. If I had to guess, the DGR would be at least 5.0. Wikipedia doesn't spell that out. The gearbox is a simple 5x2 rather than a Spicer 6x4.

IT Rolls.Thats impressive.

drove one of these in germany in 1962 .unloaded lotta tank engines with it .had a guy paint pegusus horse on a disc and mounted it on the spare tire everyone knew my trucks i always had some sort of charactor painted on them

I don't believe the tires still that good...Amazing

I remember when I was young kid my father use to take me from school and he always use to short the path to our home by going through a military base where at that point he use to work as electrician for that military base , so when he use to drive me I use to see every day all kind of tanks and all of military vehicle back in my natal country , not American just sharing my story so where I want to get is that each time I see anything connected to military especially restoration I say Thanks You .

This is one of two of these Wreckers that were held by 12 Service Battalion. This is SEA ISLAND SHOW GIRL. The other one, SEA ISLAND HOOKER, is at the Sherman Armoury in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. The unit was previously located on Sea Island in Richmond, where the Vancouver International Airport is. The 12 Service Battalion Museum has SEA ISLAND HOOKER which has been on display on a concrete pad out front of the armoury. It is inside the vehicle compound right now. I am Curator of the 12 Svc Bn Museum and we have just obtained funding (2021) to give the static display vehicles a face-lift, i.e. cleaning, cosmetic repairs, painting and markings, as well as a stronger pad for this Wrecker. The other vehicles we have are an early 1950s M135CDN 2-1/2 Ton 6x6 ("Deuce and a Half"), a military issued 1980s CJ-7 jeep and an early 1950s M100CDN 1/4 ton trailer. As well there is another old Wrecker in our vehicle compound. This is the CULTUS QUEEN and it has the silhouette of a submarine, with a tow truck crane and hook aft of the conning tower, on the sides of the engine compartment with the name. It is "famous" because it was operated by 1 CER, was parked on a ramp towing a boat trailer, and the crew went inside a hut or tent for a refreshment. To keep the story short, the truck rolled into Cultus Lake, which is near the Canadian Forces Base Chilliwack (since closed down) and was completely submerged. The truck and the trailer were salvaged and put back into operation.

Not sure how the KZread AI got me to your channel. Subscriber now! Looks like the wrecker is ready for a closeup on FTWD!

awesome find dudes

How exciting!! It looks pristine. The tyres are still fully inflated!

As a plant and vehicle lover seeing that amazing truck with that beautiful moss all over it oof *chef kiss*

Nice vid, the best of luck. like to see the end product.

cant believe theirs an old collectors yard in amercar for old word wars trucks I love old military vehicles .would love to come over from britain to see your collection of military lorries.

I'd love to see some updates!

You know that 5 ton keeps looking better the more I saw of it. I dont know what year the truck is but I am guessing it would have a multifuel of some sort in it. The first thing I would do is pull the seats out, pull the batts and clear as much shrubbery off it as possible and spent about a day with a 2500 PSI HOT water pressure washer and clean every square inch of this truck including the INSIDE of the cab, you going to have to strip it all out anyway its always better to start at least clean! Where are you at on this project now?

if you are looking for an M113 apc you could try to contact the danish government. they just retired the last ones and it seems like they are going to get scrapped but you never know

@thebackyardtankshow1782

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for letting us know! Unfortunately, we don’t have connections with the danish government :(

@jacobmoses3712

3 жыл бұрын

@@thebackyardtankshow1782 You never know who will watch this video. Anything is possible

Nice find.

Same era the British Army had a similar rotator recovery truck called the Leyland Martian Heavy Recovery.

I could use that thing ! :D Winch power is never an issue, It's the ability to be an anchor that's the issue in Recovery.

Love the save. Guy swinging hammer should go ahead and hit it with his purse. Lol. Swing that hammer son

Love to get my hands on something like this one day...dreams of big boy toys haha

Nice old wrecker like to see her running again & the boom working again also & you can also tow rigs that's on the side of the road with it also not just military trucks

Good job guys.

Amazing rescue. Wonder why the tires aren’t flat. Looking forward to see the restoration

i grew up in agassiz harrison , went to elementary school in harrison in 70's , we used to play on a tank that was at the works yard next door , long gone now but , motor used to sit near the boat launch ,lol

Much newer than a '55. This wrecker has the later military taillights. (larger and made of plastic, not the oval ruby glass type) Probably '70's

I drove one of those wreckers when I was in the army heavy equipment operator engineers

pretty bad ass man, ive always wanted a truck like this. Theyre cheap now too, 4-7000$ can get you a pretty good running truck... its crazy

Cars in past: "I waited for 30 years to get to work again! Even my tires are not flat!" Cars nowadays: "You did not drive me for a week, i sucked the battery dry and you have to replace it!"

@4WDutah

3 жыл бұрын

If that ain’t the truth I don’t know what is!

@hunterbear2421

3 жыл бұрын

to be true through that thing was plob made to sit for years and years and to start right away even through it would sit for 3 years. cars today ain't built for that

Out in Saanichton there is a yard with 3 old I believe M37 vehicles just parked with a bunch of other vehicles in it, not sure whether they are willing to get rid of them or not.

FROM SCOTLAND THIS IS WHAT ANY ONE WOULD CALL HISTORY GOOD TOO SEE .

In the early sixties I was stationed in Wurzburg, Germany. I was an Army mechanic in an S&T outfit. We had a 5 ton wrecker that looked a lot like this one. I do not know what the designation of the truck was. The sagenet that was the driver was transferred to Viet Nam and I was the only man left that has enough rank to take over as the wrecker driver. That lasted one day because as I was turning the truck around to put it in my company's shop bay I backed the boom through the garage door of the company across the alley. Our motor sargent was a retired supply sergeant that had been called back to active duty because of the fact that so many soldiers were being pulled out of Europe to go to Nam. He had a chip on his shoulder and didn't like me because I was not a "yes" man.

@gordonmusic1631

3 жыл бұрын

I was heilbronn from 87,89 wrecker operator used it to pull everything,mostly for pulling engines and stuff

OK, so I've been around the M54 series trucks (The M62 is on a M54 chassis) for more then 30+ years between active service & reserve. My guess is this truck's last assignment was to a National guard/ Reserve unit judging by some of the mods I've seen so far. First thing I noticed about this rig is it has an "add-on" 50 gallon fuel tank on the right side which they shielded correctly because the exhaust pipe comes out just before the R/I axle (OEM was empty space) - so they have to shield the fuel tank (I've seen them shoot flames out there & also the pipe get "red hot" @ extended highway speed). Second thing is the tail lights have been changed to "composite" lights which debuted on military vehicles in 1970. Extensive rewiring needed to be done to add the turn signals (not OEM in 1955) and also the right tail/brake light had to be rewired to accept the composite brake & right turn signal light. (OEM right tail light was a blackout light ONLY - blackout marker light over blackout brake light) Third thing is the REO engine has a "split head", oil bath air cleaner. The oil filter - you can (& may) find a "substitute" filter in there (a roll of TP was the accepted "go to" in many cases). Got any questions, contact me

G'day BYTS, a mate of mine was a recovery mech in the Ozzie army he did a couple of tours in Iraq now he restores Grants and ships them back to the US as 27 tons toys 👍🇦🇺.

Yall got anymore on video about this one...my neighbor had a tow service for years and had one of these he used on calls half regular

Used to be a combat engneer. We had at our shop a wrecker or two around. And they were verry use full. Especially around hog creek in ohio.

Best Camo ever.

I used to drive one of those when I was in the Marine corps back in 2002.. those five tons are tough!! They started fazing those out with the new seven tons.. they're actually kind of dangerous to drive LOL

Im wondering if this truck has the multi fuel engine. viet nam vet and a lot of 6 x 6's had that multi fuel engine but we only used diesel.

First thing I ever drove in '83 was a M62 at Ft Bragg. It would have pushed that tree outa the way, my Art.15 says so!! Seems they frown on clearing trees on post with the Atomic Dog... whoda thunk.

Should be called: "How not to use a chainsaw, chain hoist, torch, and tow strap".

So awesome 👍👍

I drove HQ 62 for the 1/102nd looked almost the same as this one.

Bon boulot / Good job Messieurs Best regard to France 73"s

I like the smart guy with his face near the chainsaw looking....

I'm surprised there's still air in the tires. First time viewer. I expected you guys to be in the bumfuck middle of nowhere, US. Then you mentioned Whistler and Harrison, and I see (blurred out) BC licence plates! Never thought there'd be military vehicle collectors in BC. I'm mainly into collecting and restoring old computers myself, and I've started getting into tube electronics as well. KZread must have figured I'd be into old military hardware. Well, I wasn't, but since we're here...