1944 Ford Dump (military?)

[greenemachine09]

Here are some pictures and i was wondering where is the serial number on this truck? it was rescued out of a local junk yard and the women that let the yard haul it off her property said that it was a 44. it looked civilian but the markings inside, and the steering wheel are what made me think otherwise.




thanks,
Alan Greene

[FrankUSMC]

Ford made alot of the 1 1/2 ton trucks for the military. they were used mainly here in the states. I would say that one is military. Lightly start sanding the hood to see if you find the vehicle number.
A find of mine found one back in the 90s that was from the mid west. It was on a ranch and had never been repainted after the farmer got it at the end of WWII. The truck was a very faded WWII od, you could still read all the markings on it. It was a Ford 1/2 ton pick up, but I have seen more of the 1 1/2 tons made by Ford for the Army.
One of the few, Frank

[greenemachine09]

thanks for the info and i will try the hood.
thanks,
Alan Greene

[68427vette]

should have normenclature plates on it some where, , or holes for some on the glove box, dash,
check under the hood, for od on the firewall, etc,, if there is NONE, its a civi, although in 41 the army bought a lot of trucks off lots and painted them,, and put them into service, asap. etc

[FrankUSMC]

68427vette
That looks like the normenclature plate in the middle of the dash. Look at the 3rd photo down he posted. On most off the self trucks like this one, and other equipment that is all there is most of the time ....just one lonely data plate.
War story for you..
Last year I was at the bombing range here and there was this tractor waiting to become a target. I think it was a Case tractor. On it was one big BEAUTIFUL brass data plate. Took out the old trusted screw driver and started removing the plate it was mounted to. Almost done getting the last screws out and I hear some thing. I pry up the plate just a little and stare at a HUGE wasp nest under the plate......never got the data plate
One of the few, Frank

[Ugg]

Franky:

A tough old "Jarhead" like you bein scared of ity bity wasps. 2 summers ago, we were in the backyard, clearin some old trees to burn. Had a BIG bonfire goin too. I was usin my back hoe to lift and haul some old tree trunks. One had been layin there for several years. I dropped the bucket, dug in and lifted it. Guess what I discovered? WASPS!

They had been nesting there all those years, with the hive getting bigger and bigger. I was immediately swarmed by AT LEAST 50,000 VERY angry wasps. Maynard was shocked to see his OLD Dad move so fast. The swarm completely obscured sight of the back hoe. To escape, I jumped THRU the bonfire. Got a little singed in the process. I was wearin shorts too, so you can imagine WHERE I got stung, and stung I got too. AT LEAST 100 stings, and some in VERY sensitive areas.

It took us 2 days and about 20 cans of WASP killer to get the hoe back. I also had to refuel it as it ran out. Damned wasps couldn't shut it off for me. Oh, were they mad too. You could see em attackin the hoe, and there were thousands of wasp bodies all over it when we did get it back.

Being that crazy is different than stupid, I waited until we were well into winter until I went back there again. REVENGE WAS MINE! I dug up the nest. It was OVER 10' long and 4' wide. I don't know how deep it went, but my hoe can dig down 9', and that's how far I went. I dug it all up, spread it out and stired it up, to make sure they all got nice and cold.

I found out that day that I"m NOT allergic to stings, but about 4 days later, I DID start to swell up. I've always been a bit slow on some things. Unlike bee's, wasp's keep their stingers and re-use em, over and over again. Generally, I don't get stung. I even drank a wasp once, as it got into my soda can. Frank, why'd ya have to mention wasps? Now I got the snakes.

Later

[greenemachine09]

Ugg, Frank and Vette thanks for the repiles but the ford has not seen much action lately. b/c i have been workin on the duck's engine, anyway ... i have a hornet/wasp story but its not as good as Ugg's so ill tell war storys about snakes ...

there is a junkyard behind my house, which me and dad occasionaly go to into just to look around. so we were back there looking at an old wrecker for its winch. dad went around to the back of the truck to get a closer look and i stayed to the dirvers front side (it was tight in there at the time). i was smaller then and whenever we went back to the yard my mind was easily sidetracked IE: stuff in dirt. so i was lookin at the stuff in the dirt and look up to not see dad anymore so i walk to the side of the truck where dad is standing to see that he is getting closed in on by a big (6 ft at least) black snake, i stood there for a while in fear and finally he looked at me and saw the snake and quickly fled the area we never got the winch off the truck.

story 2 ... i was trying to look at the engine and transmission of the 1941 wc dodge. to do this i slid under the truck on a pool float looked up at the transmission and clutch to see that there was a snake right above my face. needless to say i said a few chioce words and almost knocked my head off trying to get out from underneath the truck. later i looked in a hole in the bellhousing to see the still alive body of a snake.

thanks for reading, and rember i am always looking for duck/dukw parts!
Alan G

[Ugg]

Hi Alan:

Is that truck a 4X2?

Later

[greenemachine09]

i think that it is a 4x2 but im not 100% sure.

thanks,
Alan G

[Ken Blythen]

Alan

I'm no expert on military Fords, but I've read that the genuine military G8T's had several distinguishing features over the civilian model -

- six wheel studs instead of five
- bumper tow hooks
- the 'Ford' stamping deleted from the rear of the hood
- blanked off park light holes
- headlight guards (one vertical bar over each sealed beam)
- higher volume, chassis-mounted tanks (instead of underseat)

If you mean the chassis no. , my 1941 has it stamped on the front left corner of the chassis, on the top flange - I guess the Jailbar's were the same.

[greenemachine09]

thanks ken for the info