Thread: Ex army Mack 6x6 trucks.

about 1/6th of the total fleet has a winch as standard, about the same fraction have a crane.

I dont recall ever seeing both the crane and the winch at the same time.

Of the dump trucks, about 1/3 have the winch

I did two different drivers courses on these things when they were first introduced.
They were new.
I was at one stage given a tanker and it was filled to 13tonnes and told to drive it from Sydney NSW to Horsham Vic via back roads.
They used tankers for drive training as it was easy to load them up with a test load.
They were not legal on road as a tanker to there max of 15 tonnes.
5 speed triple shaft main box constant mesh.
They were geared to do 93 kph max, but can do this all day.
Forget the 285 hp rating...........you put these things into top gear and no matter what the load the motor just pulls it as the tip turbine and turbo does it thing.( torque riser style motor)
I do not remember having to down gear change for hills unless I had to slow up for traffic and corners etc.
The gearbox /motor is excellent.
I never drove the things off road much.
When first taken into service issues were with everything being done by air.
Air throttle, air start etc.
Go though the bush a take out a small nylon air line and you will have a dead truck if you turn it off.
Air throttle required use of hand throttle off road as it was to sensitive.
The rear springs....camel back leafs were too stiff by a long way when first introduced, even when fully loaded.
troops were not allowed to be carried due to spinal complains.
The driver had a air seat.
Just as I was leaving the system the macks were getting air bag rear suspension conversion.
I do not know if all were converted or not.
The cabin was to small for two blokes. guns and personal gear.
I very much liked them.........big simple trucks.

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

about 1/6th of the total fleet has a winch as standard, about the same fraction have a crane.

I dont recall ever seeing both the crane and the winch at the same time.

Of the dump trucks, about 1/3 have the winch

Don't under stand. If 1/6th of fleet had them doesn't it mean they were optional. Standard fitment would mean 100% would be fitted.

Originally Posted by disco 3 door

Don't under stand. If 1/6th of fleet had them doesn't it mean they were optional. Standard fitment would mean 100% would be fitted.

Standard as opposed to retrofitted.

It's interesting the brown slip on these trucks says GVM 25.9 Tonne but max GVM under RMS heavy vehicle mass regs for a 6X4 (10 tyres) is 22.5 Tonnes leaving only 11.240 Tonne as payload almost instead of the manufacturers almost 15 Tonne payload.

You can do better payload with cheaper trucks and combinations.

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

youd only want one for farm work, they are over mass on the front axle when empty.

I've heard that rumour before, however when I asked AFM about it they claim they are legal under the 6 Tonne limit and the brownslip on the vehicle's makes the same claim when they answer Yes to the Vehicle Dimensional Requirements.

So I remain confused and unconvinced.

Originally Posted by 101 Ron

I did two different drivers courses on these things when they were first introduced.
They were new.
I was at one stage given a tanker and it was filled to 13tonnes and told to drive it from Sydney NSW to Horsham Vic via back roads.
They used tankers for drive training as it was easy to load them up with a test load.
They were not legal on road as a tanker to there max of 15 tonnes.
5 speed triple shaft main box constant mesh.
They were geared to do 93 kph max, but can do this all day.
Forget the 285 hp rating...........you put these things into top gear and no matter what the load the motor just pulls it as the tip turbine and turbo does it thing.( torque riser style motor)
I do not remember having to down gear change for hills unless I had to slow up for traffic and corners etc.
The gearbox /motor is excellent.
I never drove the things off road much.
When first taken into service issues were with everything being done by air.
Air throttle, air start etc.
Go though the bush a take out a small nylon air line and you will have a dead truck if you turn it off.
Air throttle required use of hand throttle off road as it was to sensitive.
The rear springs....camel back leafs were too stiff by a long way when first introduced, even when fully loaded.
troops were not allowed to be carried due to spinal complains.
The driver had a air seat.
Just as I was leaving the system the macks were getting air bag rear suspension conversion.
I do not know if all were converted or not.
The cabin was to small for two blokes. guns and personal gear.
I very much liked them.........big simple trucks.

Thanks for the info Ron, do you recall what the 6wd setup was? I am thinking that the front axle engages when you select low range, but the guy up at minto said that it was engaged via locking the power divider, but that doesn't make any sense as the power divider is for the rear axles, and you wouldnt always want to lock the front axle in as well as the power divider in at the same time..I don't think he knew what he was talking about..cheers for any info..

its a permanant 6wd

same concept as a landrover center diff

Originally Posted by disco 3 door

Don't under stand. If 1/6th of fleet had them doesn't it mean they were optional. Standard fitment would mean 100% would be fitted.

Standard as in came from the factory with it (these vehicles have a different NSN to a non wincher so are technically a standard) not something thats been retrofitted.

IF you were to buy a GS without a winch it would have an NSN of XX-XXX-XXXX

if you got the one with a winch it would be YY-YYY-YYYY.

fitting a winch to a GS still leaves that truck with the first NSN not the second.