coleman 4WD KB-8 military?

Looking for some information on an obscure buy I got today.

Today I went to an advertised by word of mouth clearing of an estate the town over. Strangely, I took a little cash, I was looking for machine tools since the guy was big in metal fabrication.

Behind one of the buildings off in the distance was a bigger truck running gear. As we got closer we noticed the weird discs in the front wheels. Then we saw it was four wheel drive... I was joking with my friend we could put the D30 body on it. I noticed the triple diamond caps on the rear axle and we gave it a good looking over.

It's the whole running gear from a big KB with 9.00x20 rubber, the body is gone. The transfer case tag is marked Coleman, 95% or more of everything to convert another truck was there. I bought it. Has a modified rear axle in the front with a 1/4" steel guard over the ring gear just in case!

The truck was yellow, but it's OD green underneath. The owner showed me pics of the cab and fenders which appear to be civilian KB-8 ish. We found out who bought the cab and went and looked at it it also has OD green under the yellow.

So, the question is did the military buy KB-8 Coleman 4X4 conversions? Anybody have any pictures or information?

I was looking forward to more input , sounds like a pretty interesting truck . do you have any pictures ?

I will take some decent pics when I get the chassis pulled out from where it is setting I did find out Coleman had set up shop in Omaha at about that time, Omaha is 30 miles down the road from here.

I think this frame is pretty hashed so I'm going to remove the conversion parts and put them on the D30 frame, the 9.00x20's should look cool.

Here's an old thread over a BinderPlanet that shows what looks like a K-7 with both a Coleman and SnoGo conversion: http://www.binderplanet.com/FORUMS/show ... p?t=114753

Here's an old thread over a BinderPlanet that shows what looks like a K-7 with both a Coleman and SnoGo conversion: http://www.binderplanet.com/FORUMS/show ... p?t=114753

I have been kicking the idea around that it might have been a SnoGo truck... but typically the headlights were moved to the roof of the cab. A local rat rod guy got the cab and fenders from this truck (all that was left) in the pictures he sent me the lights are on the fenders in the stock location. Also, this truck has dual rear wheels, all the SnoGo trucks appear to have singles. However, the color of yellow and fade are identical to that truck you linked to. US Army, Air Force (at that time if I'm correct) is a possibility.

There is a slim possibility that this is a D40 or larger as well I suppose. The front fenders and cabs between the bigger D-K were the same I believe. The tag is gone from the side of the cab as well. There was no title and the son of the late owner has no idea how or why it was there...or that it was behind all the junk in front of it in the first place.

It's too bad they plated the frame and riveted the plates on. The rust is growing badly in there after 70 years. The right front frame rail has been mangled, sort of repaired, and mangled again... it's toast in my book. But the Coleman parts all appear intact...those fender emblems would be nice to have though. we turned the input on the transfer case by hand and the truck started to back out of where it had been sitting!

Just as a point of reference since you mentioned U.S. Air Force. If I remember my Air Force history, the Air Force was created as a separate branch of service in Sept. 1947. It previously had been, officially, the U.S. Army Air Corp. Naturally all of the hardware, equipment, etc. that had been assigned to the Army Air Corp became the equipment of the U.S. Air Force. I'm sure it took some amount of time to transition the equipment to the official colors of the Air Force. It wasn't an over night transition, I'm certain. The gov't. doesn't work that fast! Numerous divisions of the Army were transferred to the Air Force and even in the early '70's there were traces of Army I was encountering while serving in the Air Force. My duty station in Fairbanks, AK. started out on Ft. Wainwright (Army; in town) and while I was there, our duty station was transferred to Eilson AFB, 22 miles outside of town. That's a full 25 years after the Air Force was created!

what a great find. ex military would be my guess. I myself have what can tell from the best of my ability a military M5H6 with what I believe is a KB10 cab nose and rd450 engine. it to has the OD green with yellow and now white paint layers. Good luck with you conversion. cant wait to see pics.

That thing is outrageous , and those front springs , don't see too many of them either . I really hope that every thing falls into place for a restoration , thanks for the pic's . Keep us posted .

That thing is outrageous , and those front springs , don't see too many of them either . I really hope that every thing falls into place for a restoration , thanks for the pic's . Keep us posted .

They didn't call them the "land locomotive" for nothing.

It's a beast, a once in a lifetime buy, that is for sure. The front overloads are unique, as are the solid bump stops . I'll change those since they have actually bent the frame where they contact, the front overloads probably won't be needed any longer as well. Some minor engineering changes will improve the durability and safety of the truck. Bent frame rails aren't cool and the passengers side rail is just bent and cobbled together again and again.

I did get the original cab and fenders bought back from the rat rod guy for parts. The cab is shot. The fenders are bigger than K7, they have a bead rolled in the edge and look like what a K12 would have. They're just huge compared to my 1 1/2 or 2 ton D's. If I could find an affordable correct sized K or D series equivalent with a solid body and title I'd just slap it together to get it going again. But identifying this thing gets stranger by the minute, it shouldn't have duals and the fenders are big K truck pieces.

Whatever happens... I thought the old distressed advertising of the Burlington Route "way of the zephyrs" would look good on the doors. The front of the truck would look great with a giant 20 ton PTO Tulsa winch with dual capstan spools I just pulled off the D35 last night.