CCKW Transmission

[TJ Wheelman]

Have to pull the tranny in my 41 CCKW, I think that the input shaft bearing is gone, is it a Clark or a Warner transmission? I believe both boxes were used during production. How can I tell one from another? I checked and it IS the same box as my Studebaker US-6s , does that help any one identify it? Thanks! TJ

[joel gopan]

All are the same, late cases had the filler plug raised a little higher to increase lube capacity.
Joel

[joel gopan]

The M.D. Bearing is pricy, but worth it.

[armydriver]

Man it is good to have all of Joel's expertise back on this site. Thanks.

[joel gopan]

This is just a short guest appearance, I may seek an honorarium. A.D., you have to realize that I am the medium representing 60 years of association with many long departed CCKW drivers and mechanics with the present . I didn't earn Honor Grad in the Army school by myself, the Ordnance types worked hard on me. I even learned about CCKWs from one of the drivers of those Post Taxicabs, those guys that drove the noisey Checker Cabs, he was my instructor, and did not limit instruction to the classrom. He went out of his way to drive me by an abandoned CCKW that was a vehicle recovery training aid from a long discontinued class.

[joel gopan]

Gotta remember,with a few hundred thousand CCKWs in the military, a lot of us grew up with mechanics in our family automotive businesses that were WWII Army types, and they never missed a chance to talk about their experience. The collectors tend to embellish a little by adorning their trucks with trinkets and accessories, some of which never existed. They do serve a purpose tho, as it is possible to hang enough junk on to save money on a paint job.

[armydriver]

Even with a good paint job some glitter, or as my students call it bling bling excites the eye of the unknowing when they see the trucks decorated with what they perceive as war material. Remember the publics view of old military vehicles comes from movies. It has gotten to the point that practically every jeep has a fifty caliber machine gun on it .

[joel gopan]

Do not park in front of your local Federal Building with a mounted weapon. All Dewat and replica MGs in the US have to have orange paint on them. They are illegal if not marked in that manner You could lose your pride and joy for a while. That is whyI sold my NOS M-36 Assy and removed the M-31C with .50 from my MB. The M-31C was a pain anyways, you could hit your funny bone on it. I removed it for Chuck Yeager a while back, to prevent the same from happening to him. A P-51 pilot needs two good arms.

[armydriver]

I have no machine gun mounts or machine guns, replica or otherwise. Not all military vehicles were meant to be offensive or defensive weapons carriers.
Funy you should mention Chuck Yeager, I met him nearly 20 years ago at CAF headquarters in Harlingen , Texas. He was a nice guy. He was there with a lot of other high profile WWII fighter pilots, like "Tex" Hill, Archie Donahue, Joe Foss and Marion Carl for the annual Airshow the CAF put on.

[joel gopan]

I have not washed my brake pedals since he used my Jeep. Took one nice B&W of him in my Jeep. The Mustang (Ed Shipleys) he flew did an "aerial ballet" the day before the big show, it floated like a falling leaf. Not many can do that. I waited 45 years to meet him and spent over 2 hours with him. I will be going up in a P-51 in the Spring. I got an extra NOS M-1 Bomb Cart that says "Ride" all over it. A few Mustang owners would love to have it. The USAAF had a few thousand, they are rare today. We have 2 NOS. Got cute little aircraft tires on them. Look real good with a P-51 Drop Tank on them. The ultimate B-17, P-51 Accessory.

[armydriver]

I was surprised how small he is. " Tex" is well over 6' tall. Joe Foss was not a large man, but Archie Donahue is pretty good sized, but then Naval aircraft had a lot of cockpit room as they tended to be bigger aircraft than the Army pursuit aircraft.
Time is passing them and us by Joel. We are like the old geezers that used to sit on the front of the general store in rockers and tell their stories of the Great War or in my grandfathers case the Indian wars. Just no general stores or rockers so we use the internet.

[joel gopan]

I intend to sit on a park bench and feed the Pigeons, while keeping my CCKW or MB out of range.
I am the same height as General Yeager, and by coincidence we dress the same, I wish I had bought one of those Promo Belt Buckles he wears back when "Right Stuff" was "in".
He is a bundle of energy and just captivates modern Jet Fighter Pilots at the Air Shows. He is down to earth, but can rub noses with the big shots too. I did not ask him any stupid aircraft questions. I was just thrilled to meet and sit next to the guy that test flew all of the early jets that were my favorites at Dow.
I did not have a digital camera at the time, but got some good Color and B&W pictures. He commented on my working Gas Gauge and that he used WWII Jeeps to hunt with at Edwards. I should have had him autograph the MB, but the pictures are just fine.

[armydriver]

I had Tex Hill autograph the 43 GPW I had done in 23rd Fighter Group markings when he was at the Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg, Texas at the Cactus Airforce Symposium. I also had his crew chief, Joe Mitchell autograph it under Tex's autograph a couple of years later. I eventually sold the jeep to a doctor here in San Antonio who is a big Tex fan.

[Fernando Mendes]

All of them have the magnetic drain plug?