<VV> Re: heavy motors

[Tony Underwood]

At 04:52 hours 11/14/2005, UltraMonzaWest at aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 11/14/05 2:33:00 PM Pacific Standard Time, tonyu at roava.net
>writes:
> > By the way, the M-60A1 main battle tank that the Army used for so
> > long also has an air cooled engine, and a boxer at that, built by
> > Continental, has 12 cylinders and 750 hp.   When was the last time
> > anybody saw an air cooled 12 cylinder diesel?
> >
>That was a V-12..

?   The M-60 engine was a boxer, not a V engine.


>1720ci  Turbocharged..750 hp @  2400rpm....tweak the
>governor to 3300rpm and add a larger "pill" [jet]  and you could go 
>over 50mph...and
>centrifugal force would throw the tracks if not super tight!  I held the
>record uphill and DOWN  on "DeadmanHill" in Hoenfels [sp?]  ATTC in 
>West Germany.

I never went to Hohenfels unless it was winter and there was snow 
everywhere, in quantity.    Nobody went anywhere quickly in Hohenfels 
in wintertime in an M-60 or anything else with tracks.   I recall one 
morning after the evening before when we'd pulled into the mudhole 
they called a motor pool, and the tank guys were out in the lot with 
axes trying to chop their vehicles out of the frozen mud.   I'd 
parked the commo shop M113 on the high side of the lot on some iced 
up gravel, avoiding the muddy motor pool lot.   (I'd been there 
before)   The next morning I could start up and move out, and many of 
the tankers couldn't without some axe work.   No axe swinging for me.


That was the same Hohenfels where I saw one of the M-60s slide off 
the road sideways (on the refrigerator-white snow packed so hard it 
was like white ice) and into a ditch where it just sat there spinning 
its tracks and an M-88 (diesel, not gas) plucked it out of the 
ditch.    I mean plucked.    The M-88 pulled up, rotated around 
(blocking the entire road) so as to swing the boom over the M-60 and 
hooked up with two pairs of tow cables looped together on each end of 
the tank and they *hoisted* the M-60 up high enough to enable the 
M-88 to back up and drag the M-60 up onto the road...  cables 
stretched like banjo strings; I was cringing waiting for one to break 
and decapitate somebody.   At one time the tank was *Dangling* with 
daylight under it.    That's 57 tons.   If memory serves, I think 
that's about twice the rated lift capacity of an M-88.    Any of you 
VTR guys out there feel free to chime in with more details.

M-88 crew said they did that sort of thing all the time...

I talked to a motor pool guy, SFC with 20 years in,  and he said that 
an M-88 can't lift that much weight.   I hinted that I'd seen an M-60 
dangling from an M-88 boom and he said it was impossible.    I didn't 
question him; I just later mentioned his comments to the other three 
guys who watched the M-88 pick up an M-60 tank.   They found it hard 
to believe too.

I kinda suspect that if anyone in higher authority had seen the M-88 
crew doing this sort of thing, someone would have had their 
asses.   It could NOT have been anything but plain dangerous to pull 
such a stunt.

Then again, I saw a lot of "interesting" things in my time in Uniform.


>An  although a tank commander..I replaced many blown pistons / cylinders
>[jugs].
>
>The real powerhouse was the same engine on gasoline..SUPERCHARGED!!!  1000
>hp!   M-88 Tank Retreiver....

Only ones I ever saw were diesels.   Then  again, this was in Germany 
where all the gasoline fueled tracked vehicles were being phased out 
by 1970... except for the M-114 scout/recon infantry vehicle which 
was powered by a smallblock Chevy V8.    They soldiered on for 
several more years before being replaced with  M-2 Bradleys.   Even 
in 1971, years before they were even constructed, our bunch were 
getting familiarization paperwork on the M-114 "replacement vehicle" 
(not as yet named) which was to be larger, stronger, carry more 
people, and be more heavily armed.   The infantry guys said what they 
were being promised "sounded like an M-113"... which was kinda 
popular with the grunts.    Interesting that after all that time has 
passed, the venerable old 1950s vintage design M-113 is still around 
and still in service.   Kinda like the ancient M-88 which is also a 
1950s artifact that somehow has never been improved upon by anything 
else sufficiently to replace it.

Oh well... the B-52 still flies and is expected to be in service for 
another decade at least, likely two, possibly three.   Kinda like the 
DC-3 by which time will become the first commercial aircraft to still 
be flying at the ripe old age of 100.    Douglas built 'em good.


I wonder if there will be many Corvairs still running in 2036.   My 
4-door has lasted 45 years already; another 30 shouldn't be impossible.


It's gonna be getting pretty thin by then though...   for that 
matter, so will I should I somehow last that long.    I tend to 
ponder whether or not gasoline will still be available.   Or, if it 
is, whether I could afford to buy any.


tony..