M44-Series 2.5-Ton 6×6 Trucks

This page contains pictures of various M44-series 2.5-ton 6×6 trucks. This is one of the families of trucks commonly called “deuce-and-a-half” trucks, due to the 2.5-ton off-road cargo capacity of the basic cargo configuration. They are also commonly called “multifuel” trucks, because all but the earliest versions were made with multifuel diesel engines. The M44 series includes the following trucks (most of these trucks were made in several versions; for example, the M35 was also made in later versions called M35A1 and M35A2):

Here are the pictures. You can click on the small thumbnail pictures to see larger versions, and then use your browser’s “back” button to return to this page.

	Here’s a picture of an M35A2, taken by my friend Dan on his honeymoon in Hawaii. The blue-gray object in the background is the U.S.S. Missouri.
	Here’s my first M109A3 shop van. You can see more pictures of my truck here.
	Here’s my second M109A3 shop van. You can see more pictures of my truck here.
	Here’s another M109A3 shop van at the DRMO in Yermo, CA. This picture was taken on 11/19/1999.
	This picture shows a workbench mounted on the right side of the van body in the truck pictured above.
	Here’s another view of the same workbench.
	Here’s a scrapped body from an M764 earth boring/polesetting truck, which I found in a scrap yard just outside the Yermo Marine Corps base in November, 1999. There’s a lot of junk piled in the body, but the boring/crane assembly is clearly visible.
	This M185A3 belongs to another MIL-VEH list member. We’ll call him Jack.
	Here’s a workbench in the back of Jack’s truck.
	Jack’s truck has a pretty clean dashboard.
	Here are the AC power input connectors on the front of Jack’s truck’s van body. They are a bit different from the connector on my truck.
	Here’s another truck in Yermo that I looked at in and bid on in September, 1999, at the same time I bid on my first truck. I didn’t get this one. Its dataplate said it was an M35A2, but a customized van body was installed on the back. Note the platform on top the truck. There was a rectangular opening in the front right corner of the van roof leading up to the platform, and another rectangular opening in the rear right corner. The front opening was wide open, and I think the rear one was covered somehow. Note that the tool box under the driver’s side of the cab has been replaced with a second fuel tank, probably for the Onan 12 kVA diesel generator installed in the van body. The large doors at the front of the left side of the van box open into the inside of the van. The smaller doors at the lower rear of the left side appear to give access to a storage compartment, but the doors were locked.
	Here’s the right side of the above truck. There’s an Onan 12 kVA diesel generator installed behind the doors in the front right corner of the van body. The door in the center of the side appears to give access to another storage compartment, but the latch was broken, so I couldn’t look inside. The box mounted under the van body at the rear edge, just behind the mud flap, is a second battery box, probably for the generator’s starter. I think there was just one battery in it. Since the generator does not appear to be military, it may have a 12V starter.
	Here’s the generator.
	Here’s the right interior of the customized van body. The rear hatch added into the roof is just visible at the upper right corner of the picture.
	Here’s the left interior of the customized van body.
	Here’s the front right corner of the van body interior. The brown box is the enclosure containing the generator. The usual electrical boxes are obscured by the hanging piece of sheet metal. The top of the enclosure was littered with sheet metal screws, something was obviously removed from near the opening in the roof, and there appears to be a rectangular duct along the top edge of the front wall. Maybe there was an air conditioner on the roof in that rectangular opening? The run/stop buttons for the generator are visible at the edge of the enclosure near the front wall. It looks like the front window of the truck has louvered glass, rather than the usual flat, non-openable plate.
	Here’s another view of the front right corner of the van body interior.
	Here’s the generator’s control and status panel, mounted on the partition wall at the rear end of the generator enclosure, facing forward. The switch at the lower right corner has positions labeled “ONAN POWER – OFF – OFF – SHORE POWER”. The gauges show running time, voltage, current, frequency, fuel supply, etc. The whole van interior appears to have been custom-modified for some special application using off-the-shelf materials.
	This is a freshly-painted M275A2 tractor owned by Lou Bircheff. Photo taken in October, 2000, courtesy of Matt Tait.
	Here is a photo of a nice long wheelbase M36A2 (not a M36A2C, no drop sides). The owner is unknown. The photo was taken at the Big Bear event in Waterford, CA in April 2000. Photo courtesy of Matt Tait.