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Dodge D15's in Service


M.Rimmer

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dunno mate...grand ol' photos though! thanks !:laugh:

PS: Gonna stick my neck out a little now..:undecided:

..on all the vehicles, the front tyres are on 'backwards' except for the vehicle on the left in the second photo.which does have one tyre on the 'right' way....

.Now... I don't suppose Army vehicle maintenance chaps were shoddy in their tyre fitting so..is it a possibilty that the tyres were deliberately fitted 'backwards'?....perhaps an agressive mud type pattern like that maybe works better in sand (cos it does look more like a desert in the background, certainly more than 'jungly' anyways!) when ran 'backwards'????...

..only speculating ...hazarding a wild guess..etc...!

or...

...... it could be of course that maybe the tyre fitters really didn't give a monkies and stuck them on any old how & willynilly! :D

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..on all the vehicles, the front tyres are on 'backwards' except for the vehicle on the left in the second photo.which does have one tyre on the 'right' way....

 

or more to the point, one tyre is the wrong way around and the rest are correct :-D. Somewhere, I have seen an instruction for directional treads on front wheels to be fitted in reverse, to save tyre wear apparantly.

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It is recommended practice for directional treads to be reversed when majority of work is non-driven - but surprising how often this is ignored. The result is excessive wear. Many examples in agriculture.

 

fairplay boys !I admit to never having heard of that reasoning before!......

...must admit I've always fitted them the 'right' way..or as I know now:undecided:...(if the axle is non driven)...then I've been fitting them the 'wrong' way all this time!..

..but........... seeing as I've only ever fitted them to Landrovers that do a lot of off roading in 4x4 mode ...I guess I've been fitting them the 'right' way after all !

(I'll go and have a rest now :D)

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D15 T222 Engineering code only came as cargo or water tank, a few of the survivors have been tankers at one time ( that cab plate will say WATR - bit of a giveaway ) but converted to cargo by addition of a CMP back body. Apart from the cab plate the other identifier is the chequer plate covers over the fuel tanks on the water tankers ( ordinary cargo truck didn't need them ) There are a couple of images of the water tanker on those thumbnails above.

 

The flat front CMP Dodge is interesting, though Colin McGregor-Stevens only had that one image of it. To start with, the image shows a non-driven front axle, so it too is a 'D15' ( Dodge, 15 cwt, 4 x 2 ) it is just forward control rather than conventional. If you think about it, it is a 13 cab, which rather suggests that Dodge was prototyping CMP trucks for the 11 and 12 cabs too. If it follows standard CMP rules it will have a standard body, Dodge chassis, engine, transmission and CMP style cab, but I'm not sure if Dodge would have bothered to construct a cab for it or just borrowed one from Chev or Ford. I'd expect the engine, transmission, axles, and wheels to be exactly the same as the conventional D15 except for small modifications to things like carb, aircleaner, and starter to suit the cabover configuration.

 

In the end, CMP production stayed Chev and Ford, and Dodge got on with producing conventional cab D15 and D60 in huge quantities.

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If you think about it, it is a 13 cab, which rather suggests that Dodge was prototyping CMP trucks for the 11 and 12 cabs too.

 

Enlighten me on your thinking, if you please.

 

Can't see Colin's Dodge CMP picture right now, IIRC this prototype sported a Ford Cab 13.

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Enlighten me on your thinking, if you please.

 

 

Afternoon Hanno, how's things?

 

As I understand it Dodge must have been in the CMP production trials, but the powers-that-be decided that while Ford and Chev had the production capacity for CMP trucks, Dodge's capacity would be better used on the conventional cab type.

 

If Dodge had not been involved in cab 11 and cab 12 prototyping I can't see them getting on board for a cab 13 prototype, as by the time the cab 13 came out they were surely already tooling up for conventional cab production - maybe even already started.

 

No evidence, of course, just thinking. Unfortunately Colin's image isn't really good enough for detailed examination which might tell us a bit more. Vaguely possible it isn't a Dodge at all but a Ford or Chev that has had a Dodge badge stuck on it, but that is idle speculation.

 

Back to the grindstone here.

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Evening, Gordon. I'm fine thanks, how are you?

 

As far as I can see it must have been the other way around: Ford and Chevrolet developed the CMP range of vehicles, while Dodge focussed on MCP pattern trucks.

 

Possibly the Cab 13 Dodge 15-cwt prototype was built to see how difficult it was to produce. As you say, it must have been basically a Dodge D15 with Ford Cab 13. Easy peasy.

 

I reckon it was not taken in production because orders for 4x2 trucks declined, and Dodge did not have a suitable 4x4 chassis and/or Ford and Chevrolet could supply the numbers required.

 

Regards,

Hanno

Edited by mcspool
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No evidence, of course, just thinking. Unfortunately Colin's image isn't really good enough for detailed examination which might tell us a bit more. Vaguely possible it isn't a Dodge at all but a Ford or Chev that has had a Dodge badge stuck on it, but that is idle speculation.

 

Back to the grindstone here.

 

Gordon,

 

Just ground to a halt behind the grindstone. Did Dodge have a 101" wheelbase chassis? I just realised the T222 D15 has a longer wheelbase than the Ford and Chevrolet 15-cwt CMP trucks. So, the Dodge 15-cwt CMP prototype was not a T222 D15 with a Ford CMP Cab 13 stuck on, the chassis was shorter than on the T222 D15. Could it indeed be a Ford 15-cwt with a Dodge badge stuck on it, possibly a Dodge engine stuck in as well?

 

What are your thoughts on this?

 

Hanno

 

 

D15_wb.jpg

dcmp.jpg

Edited by mcspool
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I'm sure the heavier construction of a CMP chassis would have required a special, but this would have been no problem, remember Dodge were producing chassis on both sides of the border so a chassis plant would have knocked one out in a day. At this time they were prototyping half a dozen chassis length variations for the T214 series in the US. Since the back springs, axle, suspension, and body mounts could be the same as the ordinary D15 it probably involved no more than shortening a T222 D15 chassis.

 

Front axle, wheels, and brakes same as conventional, steering column angle changed, engine accessories and controls altered for cab over configuration, but probably borrowed a cab as that would involve a lot more cost / time to make up.

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