coleman 4WD KB-8 military?

if your interested I just bought some parts off a guy in Scranton PA. he has 3 fenders for a d40. two of them are ok with the third really beat up. he told me it was a package deal for the three, no rust just dented from what I saw. I don't remember the price. let me know if you want his number.

Ran across a collector who owns what looks like a sister to your truck/chassis.

The tag in the cab said 'K6 250', so I assume that makes it a K6 with a Blue Diamond 250 motor. It is definitely ex-military. Speed limits are stenciled on the roof above the windshield.

Dean

I wish I could make a mold of those Coleman plates, mine are long gone! I went up with my dad and did some measuring on the Coleman today. We found the wheelbase to be within 1 1/2 inches of the D30 I have, I have been kicking the idea around of putting the Coleman conversion under that truck since it has a title. I can't get one for the Coleman chassis it has no visible VIN on anything. The frames look very close to the same.

I did find some numbers on the pinion when I pulled the front driveshaft today 43 89096 H A8 FW, I know 89096H is the IHC part number, 43 might be the year? I need to get that translated into a ratio, my D30 had the tooth counts stamped in it. The wheels are marked with dates of 1951 and 1953 so I'm sure they were swapped at some point.

In the first photo, the K/KB in the background looks to be in pretty nice shape. Certainly has a decent looking grill and headlights.

Today I recovered the original cab despite all the rain we've been having. I'm planning on salvaging the coleman 4x4 levers, doors, windshield frame, rear glass frame, adjustable seat tracks, dual wipers and a few minor parts before it's off for scrap. both front fenders and headlight buckets were there and one fender is really good. The cab laid on it's back for years in the mud. It's so rotten the back collapsed when we used a ratchet strap to hold the doors closed for the ride home on the trailer.

I don't know what year this cab is yet BUT, I will say this... a D series cab and this K6 up cab have some differences. The windshield crank is on top of the dash on a K cab, a D series is in the front of the dash. The passengers door lock is in the door on a K, it's in the handle on a D. The sides of the firewall under the hood are formed differently. The covers over the windshield wiper mechanisms are bulged outward on the K and flat on a D. The defrost ducts are formed in the dash sheet metal on this K cab, early D's don't have anything, later D's had optional bolt in pot metal ducts that fit an oval hole in the dash. It is possible that early K6 up cabs were leftovers from the D line and exactly the same, but this appears to be a later example.

Also, discovered the axles are 7.16 ratio!

I started picking off the salvageable parts from the coleman cab before it's off to become something else. I found stencils on the dash for tire pressure and anti freeze installed. The script looks just like the stencils on my 86 chevy K30 crew cab air force truck. There appears to be an odd shade of OD green under the orange paint. I did keep the doors since they are fairly decent, all I see are really faded black numbers on the passengers side, I'll sand the paint down to see what shows up. Interestingly, the truck has brackets to drop down the front fenders 3-4" rather than skirts in the wheel well, obviously coleman pieces. I also got the coleman four wheel drive shift mechanism out of the cab. The very faded odometer only has 4 digits up. I found where the International VIN tag should be on the drivers kick panel but it has been gone forever, I did not find any military data plates for the vehicle either.

Here are the new questions. The truck has an interesting apparatus on back of the speedometer with a pull cable coming out of it going back to the firewall...governor maybe? or does it correct the speedometer for low range in the transfer case? There is a strange cast iron block front and center on the face of the dash what might that be?

Does the gizmo on the speedo look like this?


The above is a 2 speed rear axle ratio "adapter",never heard of them being used for anything else and are only listed as such in the manuals.

Does the "block" on the dash have any provision that may be for a lever? Are there any fittings on the backside? I have a hunch what it might be but a pic would be helpful.

Personally I seriously doubt it was military,they had a glut of trucks from the war and it's more logical one would have been used instead. There were ca. 230K CCKW's (deuce n' a half) built alone and nearly as many of the 4x4 version. With the huge spending cuts and surplus of vehicles after the war,I just can't see them spending the money for a "custom built" truck.

What seems more likely is a Bell Telephone truck,remember their trucks were an OD green for many,many years. That would also account for the lack of military ID plates. My guess is it had a pole setter or auger on it.

Does the gizmo on the speedo look like this?


The above is a 2 speed rear axle ratio "adapter",never heard of them being used for anything else and are only listed as such in the manuals.

Does the "block" on the dash have any provision that may be for a lever? Are there any fittings on the backside? I have a hunch what it might be but a pic would be helpful.

Personally I seriously doubt it was military,they had a glut of trucks from the war and it's more logical one would have been used instead. There were ca. 230K CCKW's (deuce n' a half) built alone and nearly as many of the 4x4 version. With the huge spending cuts and surplus of vehicles after the war,I just can't see them spending the money for a "custom built" truck.

What seems more likely is a Bell Telephone truck,remember their trucks were an OD green for many,many years. That would also account for the lack of military ID plates. My guess is it had a pole setter or auger on it.

The gizmachi is different, has sort of a reverse reciprocating dingle arm on it. Seriously it's way bigger and totally mechanical. I'm pretty sure it was a snowblower truck but, maybe it's a telephone truck. Supposedly, the US Army Air Corps bought a bunch K6 Coleman snOgo trucks for clearing runways. I'm not positive but, besides the IH part number, the number 43 appears on the pinion, maybe that is the year of manufacture? In the cab the floorboard has 6 levers besides the shifter (2 are for 4 wheel drive) and there are cut outs for supports in the front fenders. There are steel brackets bolted to the roof for the headlights it seems. The more I look at the truck the rear hubs may have been changed, they are showing red paint underneath and the rest of the truck is a weird green under the orange. Further weirdness is the piece of stainless steel dash trim between the glove box door and the instrument cluster, looks sort of fancy, it has both green and orange paint layers over it. I'll see if I can post some more pics.

I can't offer any help but I'm interested in what you learn. Solving these little mysteries is part of the fun.

Here are those pictures. Just a note, the iron block on the dash has no fittings on the back of any kind, it just holds something on the face, and the speedometer cable device is made by stewart warner