Australian M715 Kaiser?

[MartinSmith]

Hey folks, has anybody ever seen anything to suggest that the Australian advisors in Vietnam had the use of an M715?

I've just bought one and I'd rather stick with the Aussie theme than go over to the Yanks..

[rick130]

I can't help with your question, but do you have any pics and does it have the original Tornado OHC engine still ?

One of my favourite mil vehicles :D


(yes, I'm a closet Jeep head :angel:)

[MartinSmith]

I'm picking it up Tuesday so no pics as yet, and it's been converted to a big Perkins Diesel at some stage so I can't help just now - I'll stick up a picture when I get it home,

It's in desperate need of a slap of paint, if I can find any evidence to suggest that the AATTV had one before I break out the stencils, it'll save me doing it twice!

[easo]

G'day Mate, the blokes over at Military Vehicle Collectors Australia Inc. (http://www.mvca.com.au) might be able to answer.

Easo

[Bigbjorn]

About 8 years ago I was looking for a big petrol engine for a project and a Riverina cockie offered me a 10 litre inline six Continental out of one of these. He wanted $8,000 for it. I offered $500 and he was rude to me. The budget for the entire project was considerably less than eight big ones. They had repowered the truck with an NTC-300 Cummins Big Cam. It was an unregistered farm truck used in paddock as a grain hauler. I reckoned the Conti 6 was of curiosity value or even scrap value.

[MartinSmith]

G'day Mate, the blokes over at Military Vehicle Collectors Australia Inc. (http://www.mvca.com.au) might be able to answer.

Easo

Cheers Easo, I'll give that a go now.

.....when I've registered.....

[rick130]

About 8 years ago I was looking for a big petrol engine for a project and a Riverina cockie offered me a 10 litre inline six Continental out of one of these. He wanted $8,000 for it. I offered $500 and he was rude to me. The budget for the entire project was considerably less than eight big ones. They had repowered the truck with an NTC-300 Cummins Big Cam. It was an unregistered farm truck used in paddock as a grain hauler. I reckoned the Conti 6 was of curiosity value or even scrap value.


Brian, the M715 was based on Jeeps J Series truck and used the 230 cu.in. 6 cylinder OHC Kaiser/Jeep engine.

[Bigbjorn]

Brian, the M715 was based on Jeeps J Series truck and used the 230 cu.in. 6 cylinder OHC Kaiser/Jeep engine.

I was thinking a military Kaiser was a proper truck like a GMC two and a half, not a Jeep. I refuse to call LR's, Jeeps, LC's etc, "trucks". A proper truck has at least one dual wheeled axle and requires a truck licence to drive.

That OHC Hurricane engine was a good one but expensive to overhaul. Popular repower was the Chrysler Hemi 6.

The Riverina truck was a 6 x 6 grey import and unable to be registered. A number were imported and sold as farm/station trucks. The 10.6 litre Continental had a prodigious thirst and most were repowered with a diesel.

[87County]

Is this it?

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=m715+kaiser+jeep&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=7Nw&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=7kcxUakTxJmIB8CCgagL&ved=0CEIQsAQ&biw=1540&bih=810








looks sort of .... American ?

[rick130]

Is this it?

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=m715+kaiser+jeep&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=7Nw&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=7kcxUakTxJmIB8CCgagL&ved=0CEIQsAQ&biw=1540&bih=810








looks sort of .... American ?

Yep, and looks American ?

It's a Jeep !

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/03/1231.jpg

I'm guessing you could call it a '60's version of a WWII Power Wagon

[rick130]

I was thinking a military Kaiser was a proper truck like a GMC two and a half, not a Jeep. I refuse to call LR's, Jeeps, LC's etc, "trucks". A proper truck has at least one dual wheeled axle and requires a truck licence to drive.

[snip]


I used the word 'truck' to differentiate it from a CJ.

It used 9.00x16 tyres and a Dana 60 front and Dana 70 rear diffs, so wasn't light duty like a 110/130 or TLC 74/78/79 Series.

IIRC the Hurricane was either OHV or an F head, the OHC engine was the Tornado.
I still have a head, pistons, rods and rocker cover here somewhere from one.

Kaiser Jeep M715 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Bigbjorn]

I used the word 'truck' to differentiate it from a CJ.

It used 9.00x16 tyres and a Dana 60 front and Dana 70 rear diffs, so wasn't light duty like a 110/130 or TLC 74/78/79 Series.

IIRC the Hurricane was either OHV or an F head, the OHC engine was the Tornado.
I still have a head, pistons, rods and rocker cover here somewhere from one.

Kaiser Jeep M715 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Jeep_M715)

Hurricane, Tornado, I knew it was a wind.

[rick130]

Hurricane, Tornado, I knew it was a wind.

Hahaha, you could have called it a 'Fart' :D

I'm just up on my Jeeps as I grew up with them, Dad had a Wagoneer with the Tornado in it when I was little and my first car was a CJ-6.

I forget to say your memory is pretty good too, not bad to remember an obscure series of engines like that ;)

[Bigbjorn]

Hahaha, you could have called it a 'Fart' :D

I'm just up on my Jeeps as I grew up with them, Dad had a Wagoneer with the Tornado in it when I was little and my first car was a CJ-6.

I forget to say your memory is pretty good too, not bad to remember an obscure series of engines like that ;)

Knew a few guys from Jeep Australia. Some of them went there from White Motor Corp when it closed. I went to Tutts Machinery with the Euclid product. All lost causes. We used to drink together at the Salisbury. This was well after the windy engines. I had a sideline doing repowers for a while and did a few OHC Jeep to Hemi 6. Repower was miles cheaper than a rebuild of the OHC engine. More compact and lighter also. Pity, as the OHC was a lovely engine.

[101 Ron]

The M715 was very different to the civie versions sold both here and in America.
Miltiary versions had heavier dana 70 rear diffs and much extra good stuff fitted.
They were a replacement for the Dodge M37
Australian sold civie gladiator was very basic, had the OHC motor , light , but very slow steering.

[rick130]

The steering was fixed in later models Ron.

Instead of having the steering box set back near the firewall and a relay linkage and bellcrank going forward to the drag link, they went to a Saginaw pattern Gemmer steering box mounted at the front of the chassis which eliminated a lot of play and was a world better in steering 'precision'. (yes I know, a very loose term in a Jeep :D)

I had a '70 model J3000 with the T98a gearbox and a D60 rear end and when the Gemmer 'box died I bolted in an HQ steering box.
It slipped straight in, no adjustments required and IIRC I was even able to use the Holden pitman arm.

[MartinSmith]

Got the Kaiser home today, here's a picture of it with my Defender to keep all you Land Rover buffs interested...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/03/1007.jpg

[MartinSmith]

Thought I'd do you an update on this, I've had a nightmare finding parts and the postage from the States is a real issue!

I had to remove the cab section, windscreen, tailgate and some other bits to get the weight down for the lift - which still isn't that happy!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/04/734.jpg (http://s199.photobucket.com/user/lightweight0_3/media/IMG_0464_zps46d36bd0.jpg.html)

We've now replaced all the brake lines (they were all missing), and all the wheel cylinders which were rotten, we've now moved on to rewiring the lights as the loom had been stripped out. I'm having a nightmare finding rear shocks - the shackles have been flipped, giving it a 4" lift...

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/04/735.jpg (http://s199.photobucket.com/user/lightweight0_3/media/IMG_0476_zps6a3a690d.jpg.html)

I'm hoping to get to painting next week.

[rick130]

I'm having a nightmare finding rear shocks - the shackles have been flipped, giving it a 4" lift...





Have a look through the Koni truck catalogue and you should be able to match up some lengths and the Koni blokes should be able to get close with the valving.

Not cheap but you'll have shocks forever.

[MartinSmith]

Finally got some paint on her

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/05/998.jpg (http://s199.photobucket.com/user/lightweight0_3/media/IMG_0484_zpsacfbadb4.jpg.html)

This is an undercoat - the final coat will be darker

[MartinSmith]

Getting back to the original point, I've found a reference to an Australian Underwater Demolition Team in Vietnam, presumably Navy men, having both an M715 and a Gamma Goat.
Anyone know anything about them?

[MartinSmith]

They were based at Vung Tan and Cam Rahn Bay if that helps?

[2 rocks]

I have a Vietnam Vet neighbour who was in Vung Tau - I can ask him, dunno if he'll recall the vehicles though...
Cheers
Mike

[MartinSmith]

I have a Vietnam Vet neighbour who was in Vung Tau - I can ask him, dunno if he'll recall the vehicles though...
Cheers
Mike

If you and him wouldn't mind - that'd be great Mike.

[UncleHo]

Following this thread with interest,nice little jigger!

[zulu Delta 534]

In answer to the original question, Did the Australian Army ever own said vehicle; the answer is No.
Did Australians ever operate said vehicles; Yes. They operated a lot of different types of US vehicles which were drawn from various US Army motor pools to satisfy the needs of smaller detachments such as Navy clearance teams, Advisors, and almost anywhere where an Aussie was singularly, or at least a small number of "outside troops", were detached/attached to an American or ARVN Unit and required transport.
When our Unit's advance party first landed in country, no Australian vehicles were yet in country so approaches were made to the US and a couple of light and medium trucks were placed at our disposal. This was a temporary arrangement in this particular case as our own Unit transport was still en route via the Sydney.
In cases similar to this the vehicle in question would still have retained it's American Parent Unit's ID stencilled on the front and rear bumpers, may have been adorned with an Aussie Tac sign temporarily and more than likely gained the obligatory red Kangaroo stencil as well.
This following shot shows a couple of 87 bods (Wally E , Rob H and Maurie T) clearing rocks from between the rear duals of a US Deucenhalf dump truck that was on loan to us to replace a temporarily unserviceable tipping teaspoon tipper.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/06/1079.jpg
Liken the whole operation to a civvy company, who owns its own Company fleet, but flies a rep intercity. That Rep would hire a vehicle from a rental company for the duration of his interstate stay and hand it back before he leaves to return to the parent Company. Same thing happens in Armies!
When the RAAF units were detached overseas they often didn't have their own transport supplied in the early days, hence the RAAF later on purchased a number of vehicle from the Army to fill this void. Until this purchase went through it was common to see RAAF personnel driving US vehicles, Mutts, Broncos and the likes of such.
Regards
Glen

[MartinSmith]

Thanks Glen, that's useful.
I'm thinking of just leaving the US unit markings off but retaining the stars and vehicle numbers, and adding a red 'roo, possibly naming it and maybe adding an 'A' before the 'US'....

[wrinklearthur]

Is this it? looks sort of .... American ?

Nice !

http://www.davidallenracing.com/m715-3.jpg
:p
.

[Tassie]

Getting back to the original point, I've found a reference to an Australian Underwater Demolition Team in Vietnam, presumably Navy men, having both an M715 and a Gamma Goat.
Anyone know anything about them?


try asking over at AUSJEEPOFFROAD.COM - AJOR - Powered by vBulletin (http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/) there is a couple of people that have them in Aus on that forum

nice find too ;-)

[MartinSmith]

Naming done, will be writing to the Queen to see if she'll smash a bottle of Champers on the wing when we set out on our maiden voyage....
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/06/334.jpg (http://s199.photobucket.com/user/lightweight0_3/media/IMG_0507_zpsf669814c.jpg.html)

[MartinSmith]

Not finished but good enough for the minute - out in the sunshine and ready for the War and Peace show next week!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/07/1263.jpg (http://s199.photobucket.com/user/lightweight0_3/media/IMG_0512_zps11c67a8a.jpg.html)

[Bigbjorn]

When your first post mentioned Kaiser truck, this is what I thought you meant. A real truck.

[Bigbjorn]

Photo was taken at Long Beach. That is the battleship USS Iowa in the background. Name ship of the four Iowa Class battleships, Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, Wisconsin.

The Japanese surrender was signed on the Missouri. A bit of brown nosing by the Navy. President Truman was from Missouri.