Spring has sprung. Get out and shoot your Henry

Henry. My 1968 pickup truck.

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BMCTED
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Henry. My 1968 pickup truck.

Post by BMCTED » Thu Dec 08, 2022 2:18 pm

Well, he came home looking like this:

1.  the begining.jpg
1. the begining.jpg (163.49 KiB) Viewed 2357 times

... then I did some of this:
320319_110721162367253_2165484_n.jpg
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... and then THIS happened:

2.  Finish.jpg
2. Finish.jpg (392.32 KiB) Viewed 2357 times

Henry is a 1968 M35a2 Deuce and a Half. He went in the US Army 2 years before I did. I bought him about ten years ago when they were relatively cheap. I cut 4 feet off his back end, got rid of one of the rear axles, 6 rear tires built a rear suspension for him and even painted him in the privacy and comfort of my own back yard, all by myself, in a little less than a month.

I think of Henry as my old army mule and I love him to death. He's named after an old New Riders Of The Purple Sage tune, about some fella who makes a wild run down to Mexico back in the day. I call him that because he is big, green and hilarious. For a long time he was my daily driver, I put over 20,000 miles on him until I had both knees done and and rotator cuffs overhauled in both shoulders. I never put a drop of diesel fuel in him, Henry runs on any petroleum product ... including old motor oil, atf, 90 wt gear lube ... some airport gave me 300 gallons of out of date JP4 that I use for thinning the heavy stuff. Henry has a top speed of just over 60 MPH and gives me 13 to 15 MPG's ... no matter how fast I go or how much we're hauling. We've been just about everywhere, camping, bike runs whatever.

Henry has been in a number of parades ... he likes to blow his airhorn at kids and pretty girls (I don't think Henry has ever seen a gal he didn't think was pretty) and LOVES it when they wave back.
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Vaquero
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Re: Henry. My 1968 pickup truck.

Post by Vaquero » Thu Dec 08, 2022 2:27 pm

Cool.

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JEBar
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Re: Henry. My 1968 pickup truck.

Post by JEBar » Thu Dec 08, 2022 3:03 pm

OUTSTANDING .... truly outstanding
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BrokenolMarine
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Re: Henry. My 1968 pickup truck.

Post by BrokenolMarine » Fri Dec 09, 2022 7:57 am

Love it. Chick magnet.
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Re: Henry. My 1968 pickup truck.

Post by Hatchdog » Fri Dec 09, 2022 9:27 am

Man, that was some pretty intense modifications you made. Nice work.
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BMCTED
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Re: Henry. My 1968 pickup truck.

Post by BMCTED » Fri Dec 09, 2022 1:55 pm

Hatchdog wrote:
Fri Dec 09, 2022 9:27 am
Man, that was some pretty intense modifications you made. Nice work.

aaaawwwww shucks ... 'tweren't nothing. I did the whole thing with a Harbor Freight engine hoist, a 1/2 ton chain hoist, some lengths of chain and line, a couple jack stands and various hand tools. The hardest part was aligning the bed from an M-105 trailer in such a way that the cab - bed spacing was correct and the rear tires were centered under the bed's wheel arches. I spent the better part of 3 days and plumb wore out 2 Stanley Powerlock 25-Foot by 1-Inch Measuring Tapes getting that all worked out and lined up. Not to mention the sleepless nights. :shock:

The best part of the whole thing was the cost. I bought the truck from a guy up in West Virginia for $1,500. As I remember the M-105 trailer that donated the bed cost about $500. I don't recall all the miscellaneous expenses, but call it $500.

I sold some of the take-off on ebay, and what I didn't sell I took over to the local scrap yard and cashed it in.

By the time he was painted and sitting out in front of the house, looking pretty, my total out-of-pocket was about $800.


Below is the aforementioned M-105 trailer.

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Last edited by BMCTED on Fri Dec 09, 2022 2:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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BMCTED
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Re: Henry. My 1968 pickup truck.

Post by BMCTED » Fri Dec 09, 2022 2:04 pm

Now Henry just ain't another pretty face. He's a workin' mule and he earns his keep.

Like the time he hauled an entire jeep, less the seats and engine, home from Alabama.

8. Hauling Jeep.JPG
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Henry ain't never refused a load. I took the axle and spindle from that M-105 trailer, cut it in half, welded some angle iron on it and mounted it on the bed. Then I took the hydraulic ram and lifting arm from that Harbor Freight engine hoist ... and made Henry a bed hoist. I'm not sure what those tires weight, but its a lot.

6.  Working Mule.jpg
6. Working Mule.jpg (554.49 KiB) Viewed 2319 times


Henry will pull stumps and haul firewood all day long ... and he don't ever ask for nothing extra.
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Re: Henry. My 1968 pickup truck.

Post by clovishound » Fri Dec 09, 2022 3:02 pm

Cool

I've loaded a couple duece and 1/2s onboard a C-141.
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BMCTED
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Re: Henry. My 1968 pickup truck.

Post by BMCTED » Fri Dec 09, 2022 4:28 pm

clovishound wrote:
Fri Dec 09, 2022 3:02 pm
Cool

I've loaded a couple duece and 1/2s onboard a C-141.
Although I've never seen it done, its my understanding that these trucks were designed to be stacked :shock: in various a/c.

The USAF actually had their own M35a2. The difference between the ones you guys had and the ones everybody else got ... Power Steering!

When I was a grunt, they told us it was ALL about logistics. Bullets, beans, band aids and trucks to haul all of it around ... but you got to get it there before you can use it.

That would be you!

Are they still lifting stars with those things? What's it ... like 50 or 60 years now?

Not to change the subject, but I always loved the C-7 and thought it was the best looking cargo carrier in the air. If they were coming in or leaving, I would always stop what I was doing and just watch. For a time way back in the day I was stationed at Fort Dix in NJ, right next to McGuire AFB. There was a short runway next to the fence that separated the two bases, and scores of Caribou would run a racetrack and shoot T&Gs all day long. I would skip lunch just to go stand by the fence and watch. If they had asked, I would have flown that thing for free.
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clovishound
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Re: Henry. My 1968 pickup truck.

Post by clovishound » Fri Dec 09, 2022 6:44 pm

Not sure what you mean by being "stacked". You couldn't put one on top of another for a lot of reasons. I remember sitting in front of one of them as a new loadmaster, hoping that the tie down I had put on it was sufficient to keep it from rolling over the top of me. I was a pretty much by the book guy, and never had a piece of cargo come loose. It's one thing for a 25 lb piece of luggage to come loose on landing. It's quite another for a 25,000 vehicle to come rolling down the cargo floor at you. I took my job seriously.

Sadly, the c-141s are no longer in service, although there were a few that were upgraded to glass cockpits and some were used strictly for medical air evac I don't believe those are still in service, but I'm not sure. The Starlifter entered service in 1965 as the A model and delivery continued through 1968. The airframes were stretched in the late 70s, early 80s as they were able to carry much more weight than the size of the cargo compartment would allow. They literally cut the aircraft into 3 pieces and installed two plugs to lengthen the fuselage. They were phased out in 2006. I flew on them as a loadmaster in the AF Reserves from the early 80s to late 90s.
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