Will it START & DRIVE out of the BUSH? 60yr OLD 6X6 International Army Truck!

Comments · 409

• RF

  @rfriday2651 · 8 months ago

  Just a couple of notes I can recall from a decade of working on these as a soldier/tradesman throughout the decade of the 1980’s. <br> <br>We never called them ACCO’s in the Australian army. They were either Mk3, Mk4, Mk5 (or F1). Interestingly my dad ran two civilian dump trucks during the 70’s and they were referred to as ACCO’s. The lineage was unmistakeable. Major civilian differences were spider hubs and two speed rear axle and diesel of course. <br> <br>Gearbox on the 6x6 was crash on all gears. 1st is way over on the passenger’s side forwards, then you come back to your side forwards for 2nd. 1st was a crawler gear, so you drove it like a 4 speed, but with accurate double declutching. Stuff a downshift going up a long steep incline and you were back to first, all the way to the top of the hill if you were loaded. These as a water tanker or a tipper full of wet sand taught you all about gear changing. The mk3/4 (4x4) had a synchro box. <br> <br>Brakes were air over hydraulic. Two master cylinders, one on each side. One side serviced front axle and one intermediate, while the other serviced the rear axle and the remaining intermediate, so some level of redundancy. Still, no air = no brakes. Note the telltale rod poking out of the brake booster. During 1st parade (pre start up) you pushed that rod all the way in, then with full air pressure you pushed the brake pedal all the way to the floor and then checked the telltale. The scalloped out section was painted red (for danger). It literally measured master cylinder stroke, which in turn gave a vague indication of brake wear. i.e. Fluid displacement down to the wheels to push the shoes out. Manual brake adjustment of course. <br> <br>Winch overload protection on Mk3/4 was by shear pin, while the 6x6 used a micro switch configured to open circuit the low voltage side of the ignition coil due to chassis twist under load. Gap adjustment was critical. Too fine and you’d get intermittent cut out under load, too wide and you wouldn’t have overload protection. I once spent hours chasing what I thought was a fuel vapour lock when an old hand came over and asked if I’d checked the winch microswitch gap. Winch control lever is DOWN for disengaged because soldiers throw their kit into truck cabs without looking. Nothing worse than driving down the road while the winch tries to turn the truck inside out. Chasing out a jammed winch rope eye is not much fun either. <br> <br>I’d forgotten about the throttle pedal ball joint. The little hole in the pedal is actually a lube point for that ball connector. <br> <br>PTO controls. From memory the locked out lever is for the tipper ram PTO, while the “stiff” lever controls the hydraulic spool valve for raise/lower so you can modulate it manually. The lockout was a formal military mod I’m pretty sure. You actually showed a mod plate on the first video. Black ally plate with silver numbers on it. Any defaced numbers correspond to an EMEI (Electrical &amp; Mechanical Engineering Instruction) which described in painstaking detail what the mod entailed. Done in the field, hence its agricultural appearance. The lockout was an attempt to make something soldier proof. A challenge at the best of times. <br> <br>When we were out in the scrub we would have just pushed all those saplings down to get where we needed to be, taking care not to stake a tyre in the process. I have many fond stories about these trucks and series 2a and 3 Land Rovers, 816 wreckers, APC’s, Mack dumps, Scammels etc. Great vid! Boring as batshit for many, but awesome for a few.

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• EW

  @ewanstewart8011 · 1 year ago

  Thanks for doing a second video on the truck Bruce 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👍🏻

  68

• MI

  @mikek5298 · 1 year ago

  I always appreciate the brief history lesson you provide on these rigs.👍

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• PE

  @PeterWilliams-pi9oi · 1 year ago

  Hi my name is Peter Williams, &nbsp;I joined the CMF In 1969 prior to being called up for Vietnam got balloted out but I stayed in &nbsp;the CMF at 1RVR in Moonee Ponds . We had series 2 Landrovers and Mark 1 to 3 International Trucks &nbsp;Mark 1 only had a 4speed gearbox &nbsp;Mark 2 had a winch fitted Mark 3 had a 5 speed gearbox as well as a winch, these all had a 286ci engine with a single carburettor running on petrol, the next model was the Mark 5 which was a 6 wheel drive version it had engine upgrades to having twin carbs headers and extractors and was primarily used by the Engineer battalions mostly as tippers the same as you recovered from the bush. When I transferred from Infantry to a transport unit,then to an Artillery unit in Frankston, we were still using the ACCOs to tow Artillery pieces to Puckapunyal it usually took about 4 to 5 hours &nbsp;then the Unimogs came in and the time difference dropped dramatically to about 2 and half hours as the Mogs could tow the guns at 100kph &nbsp;good times thanks Peter W &nbsp;374294

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• NO

  @nolanthompson2701 · 1 year ago

  Those fuel strainers for the tanks are such a thoughtful touch. Everything seems well made on this old rig. I chuckled at your comment of the battery terminals seemingly ALWAYS being different size bolts! That’s relatable in my case too. Cheers, Bruce. Keep up the good work!

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• JO

  @johnvosh1986 · 1 year ago

  A new Bruce video! Hurray!

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• TR

  @TruthInFlying · 1 year ago

  That truck is in incredibly great shape. I have had daily drivers that were harder to start. Top up fluids, air up a tire, mess with batteries, start it up.

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• SI

  @sickofit9247 · 1 year ago

  Cheers Bruce! Good to hear the Aussie word &quot;Bodgy&quot; too.

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• SE

  @selfservingsolutions9177 · 1 year ago

  Worked on one of these as a young mechanic in Townsville, an Australian Army wrecker. They were still using it in the 1990’s. It had a six cylinder petrol engine with two single throat Stromberg carburettors. 80kmh flat out. Had to remove the wheels to adjust rocker type adjusters in the brakes. Cool old truck. Thanks for the video!

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• BI

  @bigsuperpower · 1 year ago (edited)

  Love all your videos Bruce in AUS ! The smile on your face driving that unit out of there says it all! keep up the great work ! Thank for making these videos !

  2

• JC

  @jcbro86 · 1 year ago

  Thank you for taking us along again. This has been a favorite truck of mine so far. I really appreciate all the work you and the camera man put into these projects.

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• BR

  @brianross4057 · 1 year ago

  It was 45 years ago when I was 21 and based at 5 Squadron Enoggera Brisbane, I drove these all the way out west of Burke in New South Wales for exercise Droughtmaster and many times up the Bruce Highway to Shoalwater bay and Tin can bay playing cowboys and indians, it was a great life and I urge any single young fella to join up and go do a stint, you will love the life. That is after you get through Kapooka and your Corps training it is plain sailing after that, I was lucky in my time Australia wasn&apos;t in any conflicts. ( well none I knew about)

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