1952 gmc m211

[Baradium]

Here's my recently acquired M211 project. It's fully unrestored and still has the paint from the last time the Army refurbished it back in 1962.


It's a rather interesting truck, from the automatic transmission to screw on spark plug wires (for waterproofing).


Everything seems to be incredibly well thought out. One of my biggest problems is that a previous owner welded brackets on it for the massive snowplow, which I'm going to have to remove.

I do have a problem with the forward tandem as well and might need a carrier, but we won't know until we get the cover off.

[solidaxel]

...........................what is all that white stuff !

[Baradium]

Originally Posted by solidaxel

...........................what is all that white stuff !

Ash from a local volcano.


Those pictures are actually from a few weeks ago too. I have about a foot of snow on the ground now. Might actually be more at this point.

[PAWS 72]

BARADIUM keep all that white stuff up there.I like playing in it when i used to go to indiana but down here people get more stupid than normal when they see it.i've got to old to bounce anymore like i used too.nice looking truck.theres a army surplus guy here that has about 7-8 of those trucks here some run some dont.

[mr48chev]

With that white stuff on the ground that plow might just come in handy. That truck looks like it could pay for it's self and a restoration by clearing snow off parking lots.

But at scrap price the plow and brackets will probably bring enough to pay for the truck.

[sgtusmc]

I love it! I'd drive that m211 all day,everyday. I'd keep the plow on to help with rush hour traffic. Very nice find.

[Baradium]

The plow looks cool, but the plow setup was excessed by the state and mounted on that 6x6 truck in the 70s, and it was probably old then. If the brackets weren't welded on we'd probably try to remove it and keep the plow so we could use it later. Unfortunately the brackets hang down a solid 2 ft or more below the frame and severely limit ground clearance, so they have to go.

Paws, is that an army navy store or a private collector? I'd like to find an original bumper to mount on it, the plow was mounted so long ago who knows where the bumper for the truck went, I'm almost surprised that they kept track of the winch itself to send with the truck.

If you look on the bottom most picture, the shifter on the truck is rather interesting. The slot is an upside down U. The top center is neutral, left is high range and right is low range. From top to bottom it goes "hilly" "level" and "reverse." It has 4 forward gears in each range for 8 forward gears total, and it's a hydromatic. The army converted it to a manual valve body when they refurbished the truck in 1962, since it doesn't have enough positions for the number of gears, they just put an extra level on the left there. It's like driving a manual transmission with an automatic clutch. To the point that it won't unlock the torque converter unless you either manually shift all the way down to first gear or put the transmission in nuetral. First gear low is in the mid 7:1 range IIRC. There is a metal tab that flips up and over the shaft from the lever so you can hold it in nuetral without a risk of it slipping into gear (that's why you can't see the full U in the picture as well).

[Daze57]

now that would make an awsome car-truck hauler !

[Baradium]

Originally Posted by Daze57

now that would make an awsome car-truck hauler !

The nice thing about a duece and a half is that they are still non CDL trucks. The published empty weight is around 11,000-13,000 lbs (depending on the model of the truck) with a published onroad GVWR of 23,000 lbs.

The military cuts payload by half for off road and uses that for their nomenclature, so a 2.5 ton is really a 5 ton truck and a 5 ton truck is capable of hauling 10 tons loaded on the chassis.

This truck already has a quick disconnect located under the dash even for use with an air hose for air tools or flling tires.

We are going to try to get the weight of the truck down to 10,000 lbs or less and get it to a scale. If we can get an empty weight of 10,000 lbs or below it cuts registration fees for us by more than half. Running is single wheel instead of duals will save a solid 500lbs plus, so we might be able to pull it off. Weight with the plow attached is apparently in the 12,000 or 13,000 lb range, but that plow looks like it's extremely heavy.