I put a few miles on a Mutt while in Vietnam, 1969. The anti theft device (no key required to start the vehicle) was a chain welded to the steering column. Loop the chain thru the steering wheel and secure with a padlock. Equipped with an electric fuel pump the engine would sometimes fail to start until the fuel tank, under the driver's seat, was beat upon with a solid object. Hammer, rock, etc. It was common to carry five passengers with their weapons, flack vests, steel pots, ammo, and a radio.
While I am (just) too young for Vietnam, I operated a number of these (A2's) and I found the biggest anti theft device was the kids trying to operate them couldnt find the starter button down on the floor. I remember freezing my left foot off in Germany because of all the rainwater channeled in through the drain hole by the drivers front tire which acted like a bilge pump in reverse. These were cool because they could fit on the tailgate (and still allow it to close) of a C-130. Try that with a HMMWV!
It is tiny. I'm 6'2" and I remember how cramped it was to drive or ride in. With my LBE set up with two canteens and a butt pack, my knees were up to my chin sitting in the front seat.
I loved the M151. We had 9 of them in a scout platoon that I was in. That was '79-'80 in Korea. We drove the hell out of those things and they just kept on running. The only jeep that needed any major work was the one we rolled down a hill. We flipped it right side up and completed the rest of the field problem with it, afterwards it went in for body work. The M-60 mounted on top didn't fair as well. Those things went places you would never get a hummer to go.
@@EnterpriseXI Make the Humvee narrower (which will never happen), because we took those things up trails that were WAY too narrow for a Humvee. In fact that's how we rolled the M151 that we rolled, the driver got it too close to the edge of a very narrow track that was on the edge of a steep hill (all the hills were steep it seemed) and the edge of the roadway, if you can call it that gave way, and down she went. The driver bailed, the team leader bailed and the gunner bailed. fortunately no one was injured beyond minor bumps and bruises.
1981 I was driving a M151A2 down range as part of a training mission. Our vehicle was last in line of our convoy and we lagged behind due to some rough terrain. My sargent instructed me to catch up, so as I increased speed I came to a bend in the road. As I turned the bend several large ruts in the road presented themselves with one getting acquainted with my left front tire. Deep rut plus tire equaled roll over. Jeep flipped forwards tossing me and both of my passengers out. I was knocked unconscious and when I came to, crawled out from under what was left of my jeep. The only thing that saved me from being crushed was the M60 mount that had been left in the vehicle from a previous training mission. The medic that attended to my head wound told me we were the first ones (at my post) in 22 years that had all passengers survive a jeep roll over. I loved my M151 but I loved that M60 mount more.
Their rollover reputation always scared me. I once road around Camp Bullis in one driven by a mad chaplain. Maybe he had nothing to fear from the Lord, but I sure did. I always preferred the Hummer, M38, and GPW.
The M151 arrived in American Army bases in Germany in the early 1960s and didn't take long before the young GIs managed to flip a bunch of them due to their imitating the little sports cars that were pretty common in Europe at the time. The Army's solution was to install steering stops that limited the range of steering wheel motion. My dad (and all the family) was stationed in Stuttgart, Germany in the early '60s and the M151 was issued there also. My dad had one issued to him and loved it. He and the Motor Pool Sargent were good friends so his never got the stops. He said the biggest problem relating to the roll-overs was that the young kids driving them just went too fast. If you insisted on driving it like a similarly sized MG, you were going to have a problem... and a head ache!
I also never knew them as "Mutt's" till I saw a plastic model of one in a hobby shop years after my army days were over. I drove one daily for over 3 years, lol
@@mitchellsmith4690 Yep, I didn't even realize until after I was out of the Army that they weren't the same one's that they had in WW2, for all I knew at the time they were. I have a friend whose brother was in an M151 that rolled over in the early 80's, at the hospital he got a blood transfusion that turned out to be tainted with AIDS, since it was before the virus that causes AIDS had been isolated no one could understand what was making him sick when he started getting ill all the time a few years down the road, by the time they figured it out it was too late because it had advanced into it's later stages, not that it made any difference, back then even after they figured out the whole AIDS thing there really wasn't much they could do about it, effective treatments were still years down the road.
@@artstmartin3186 No, his last name was Riley, I never met him, he died about the time I was in the Army, 83-86. I got to be friends with his sister and husband about 2 years after I got out and then heard about it.
Great video! Brought back many memories of the M151 (not A1 or A2, just M151) I bought from a surplus scrap dealer in 1966 or so. Got it running and loved it until I heard about the rollover issues. Sold it to a dealer who was positive it was a Willys Jeep, despite the registration clearly describing it as "Ford M151 MUTT." Oh well hope he enjoyed it too. I got a new El Camino out of the deal so there was that.
Thankyou. That video brought back some awesome memories for me, I drove those things for almost 10 years in the 1980's. The Chieftain touched on the subject but didn't go into detail but Ford designed the 7 slot pressed grill but didn't think to copyright it. After the war Willy's copyrighted the 5 slot vertical grill and now whenever you see it you KNOW its a Jeep. As for the hardtop, the only time I saw one of those was when we deployed to Alaska for a training exercise and we got issued them, which was okay but not nearly as important as the gasoline heaters they put between the front seats at the same time
Our 151's in Germany got heaters that were mounted on the front right fender, sure was toasty, but i loved the 4WD on the fly, and a little tuning would get it up to 70mph on the A-baun.
I was in the US Army in S. Korea 71-72. We had canvas tops but were not allowed to use them. The thinking was we were driving a tactical vehicle and would be more able to tell if we were under air attack while driving. :-O Couriers driving M151A1's were allowed tops as they were not considered "tactical'.
We still had the A2 in our unit in 1990 and was finally replaced the next year with the Hummer. HQ70 was its number. I loved that old Jeep. Was great in heavily wooded areas. It could go where the Hummer couldn’t.
I was in D Troop, the ground Troop, of 8/1 Air Cav Squadron at Ft Knox in '71. Each platoon had a bunch of these, most with a pintle mount for a M60, another with a recoilless recoilless rifle, and a 5/4 with a mortar. With a radio mounted, ammo, and gear for 3 guys they were really stuffef full. The good news, with the pintle mount sticking up above the seats they were much safer, and since they were much cheaper to operate we got to use them a lot more than the tracks in the unit I was stationed in Germany.
@@stevenpilling5318 Recon platoon, Combat Support Company, 3/35 Armored, Bamberg. There we had 9 M114A1E1 & 1 M113. Spent a lot more time in the motor pool looking busy than actually using them.
Back in the mid-'80s, a guy I knew who was in the National Guard was driving one of these M151 in convoy. The driveshaft broke at the transmission dropping the driveshaft into the road, which managed to catch and flipped the vehicle. He survived but was severely injured.
The Australian Army experienced a similar problem with roll overs when transferring from the Land Rover Series III with leaf springs to the Land Rover Defender (Perentie) with coil spring suspension in the late '80's and early 90's. The cause being the difference in behaviour between the leaf springs and the coils which would suddenly give way during hard cornering. The first solution to fit roll bars would choke occupants using their own seat belts in the event of a roll over as the bars bent backwards . The roll bars went through several different designs during the service life of the Defender.
I believe the British Army had issues with 110s rolling over too... the new comfortable suspension meant they could be driven faster without comfort issues... apparently they banned officers from driving them as too many were being injured lol
My second day out of basic/ ait back in 1981 I was taken down to my new battalions motor pool and given a license for about everything down there including the jeep, gama goat, m577, m548, 5 ton, k car sedan, and I believe one or two others I can't remember anymore. I was assigned to drive a pair of 2nd lieutenants around for a couple of days as part of a map reading course they were on. I drove that jeep up and down hills, valleys, gulleys, ditches, goat trails to the top of hills and back down again. That little jeep handled everything I put it through. After four days I was released back to my unit Headquarters Headquarters Battery 2 bn 36 FA fort sill Oklahoma. Sadly I believe they no longer exist anymore. I had three years of college so they made me a spec 4 as soon as I got out of AIT. We didn't have any NCOs at the moment so I became acting chief of fire direction. The Fire direction officer FDO had just graduated ROTC and knew nothing. I was shown how to drive the M577 and became driver/ chief there were only a couple pfcs and e2s so I had to train them how to run a FDC. They decided as I was wearing acting sgt stripes that I must know what I was doing. The battery commander became the acting FDO and we went to the field and live fired for three days. We hit everything the FOs called down to us and at the end the Battalion commander told us to never tell anyone what we had done lol then they gave me an Army Achievement medal and hurriedly found us an E6 and we were back to normal. That was the most fun first month I spent in the army. All the time I was driving the 577 and jeeps. Loved them.
I drove an M151 for the battalion S3, 1982-83. 2 men living for 3 to 4 weeks in it was rough. No top, completely exposed to Ft. Hood, Tx weather. The good old days.
In 1972 in 3 corps command zone these trucks were used by an MP unit that mounted a pitot mounted M2 HMG and carried 2 crew. I saw them working in groups of 5 as a fast reaction force. I always thought that unit commander watched too many episodes of Rat Patrol. It was fun to watch these guys blasting through the grass around the roads. We were all just kids learning our trade.
It's really fun to hear all these older vets talk about missing their old trucks. I can't blame them, I'd love to have a M1114 to toy around in and I've only been out 14 years
Whenever I "tune in to" a video made by The Chieftain, I immediately choose "like," because I have complete confidence it will be well done, meticulously informative, and just very entertaining for someone with an interest in military vehicles. Mr. Moran does a very fine job of this sort of thing.
My unit in Germany (86-89) had 6 Ford Mutts in the TO&E. Slow as hell, but you could drive them out of the Hohenfels mud like a champ. Oh, I should also mention that ours had the pheumatic windshield wipers that works about .01% of the time. It was common practice to tie string to the wipers and the co-driver would operate the wipers manually with the string.
I owned and happily drove my a2 for years.. Went hunting, rallying, beach days and was my daily driver.. Honestly the best most comfortable ride ever.. Off road capability was better than anything on four wheels.. The drive train however did break down at least once a year cause of the cross bearings failing
I learned to drive one in '71 in MP School. They WERE dangerous, though. As a CID Special Agent, I don't recall how many M151 rollover deaths I had to investigate. Don't know why, but typically the driver wound up with his head about 3" wide! Too many tried to drive them like race cars, even souping up the engines so that they could go "per" (when the speedometer needle was pointing to the "per" in "miles per hour" at the bottom of the dial). I currently own a M151A2 which I restored, and which is great for running around out in the desert.
I remember watching the training video in the army on the jeep. They showed in slow motion how the front wheels would toe-in if they both came off the ground at the same time as well as how easily they rolled over. I never really liked riding in them. I later owned a World War II Willys MB and actually found it a somewhat more stable vehicle although stable is a very relative term.
I was on TDY at Ft. McClellan, Alabama in October of 1969. The place where the WACS were exclusively trained in the time. I was a driver on the huge Caterpillar Swing Axle Forklift that required climbing two ladders to get to the operating cockpit. Don’t recall the model number of the lift though. Each morning I would take the lift into an Ammo Bunker and bring a pallet that contained 4 M-151’s on it. There would be 4 tires laid on the pallet; then one Jeep with windshield down on them. Then another 4 tires and another Jeep. The process went 4 high and then capped off with a special top pallet. A couple of men would begin disassembling the stack of jeeps placing tires into a large steel box like bin. I would take one Jeep off and set it by a guy in welding garb with a torch ready to go. He cut the engine mounts into and his crew lifted the engine out and placed it into another big steel bin separate from everything else. Then I would lift the Jeep and place it into the Crusher. Repeat cycle again and again. The finished product was turned into an approximate 5’X5’ bale ready for transport to a metal recycling plant. Now I was an 18 YO boy from Mississippi just about 10 Miles due South of Memphis, TN. Remember it was 1969. I was a PVT E2 making after taxes a whopping $98.97 each Month. I was married to my High School Sweetheart hoping Vietnam wasn’t going to get my Reserve Unit called up. With 250 men having an MOS 55B20, we walked the line every month for 5 out of 6 years I was in. Anyway as a young wet behind the ears boy, I just couldn’t understand the reasoning behind the destruction of a perfectly good vehicle. The safety aspect considered, it just seemed with Ford as the manufacturer, it seemed logical to supply a refit kit with axles, etc. being cost saving and getting new jeeps to troops in the field more practical than what we were doing. Obviously I was suffering from a lack of failure to understand Politics in its truest sense. I thought they were like me. You know, saving money during the year meant more gains at the year end. But hey, let me say in big caps, I WAS WRONG, I WAS WRONG!! Anyway, for every Soul that served in the Land of the Yellow Man, God Bless you for your sacrifice over there. The way our troops were not accepted upon their return was absolutely uncalled for. Where I lived in the South, returning troops were always welcomed home with a hardy handshake and pat on the back. I don’t know what happened to the rest of the Country. Now, 50 years later everything comes out. How Johnson ran the war literally from the Oval Office. Causing young men to die and others to leave limbs in Nam that they had intended to take back home with them. God Bless you all. Later I became a helicopter pilot and flew 24 years in retired US ARMY OH6 Loaches. That would be the infamous OH6 CAYUSE named for the CAYUSE INDIAN TRIBES as all ARMY helicopters are named after Indian Tribes. What an honor that was indeed. Lastly I learned the incredible utility of the LOACH in particular. If only I had become an ARMY AVIATOR! I would have done everything in my power to rescue troops in the field. Even to the extent of disobeying orders sometimes to save another life needing transport to the nearest hospital. It does make a difference as we know with operators who run medevac units today. Well that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! Thanks
Great video, very informative. I drove these when I first served in the Ohio Army National Guard. We switched out to Humvees after I'd been there about a year. We used M886's for our Ambulances ( a Dodge SUV ) and the M151 with an extensive roll cage and a soft top for a couple of gopher vehicles. We had 2 Deuce and a halfs with trailers to move our Battalion Aid Station. When we got our humvees they replaced the M151's and the M886 but we kept our trailers and 2 1/2 ton trucks. The M151's were scary on road at speed. Very twitchy. Off road they were quite capable.
I see old guys in green fatigues, driving these things around here in Hanoi. The irony, seeing an old NVA vet cruising around in an American vehicle with USMC patches on the shoulders.
My primary truck when assigned to TO&E units was usually a M35A2 with 5/4 ton trailer and a back up vehicle was a Gamma Goat which was backed up by the M151A1, 2 with trailer. Before I could get it on my Standard Form 348 I had to attend that class for it. In Korea my back up vehicle was a M880. My SF 348 was two pages and I wasn't even Transportation.
@@zidan1hao917 I drove UAZ during my service, such a neat little 4x4. You can fit entire squad with their gear in one and it will drive through any terrain. Somewhat maintenance heavy cars though (120 pages of work, in one '95 UAZ service manual).. it warmed my heart when mechanics always wished me luck when I took one out for a spin.
The most frightening vehicle I ever drove was an early swing axle M151 with bad bushings that developed a terrifying shimmy at any speed over 45 mph. We used to joke that the front suspension was independent and the rear suspension was downright defiant!
I was following behind a 151 in a convoy to 29 Stumps when the vehicle, on a flat dry road, started to shimmy left the road, and flipped. I had resigned myself to filling a body bag or two but both driver and a-driver were thrown clear with only mild concussions. At operation Bell Call we lost half of the 151's assigned to the tactical exercise control group in less than a week. Someone should have gone to jail for approving the bloody thing for service.
Looked in my 151s side mirror one day just in time to see the guy behind me roll. He got into the shoulder, over-corrected, and that's all it took. We used to have to watch a film annually about their tendency to roll.
Drove many miles in 151's, both the A1 and A2. The one hard top I ever saw was an ambulance. Midway through my deployment they started moving to Jeep CJs.
My godbrother owned a 1951 CJ5 Army Jeep- it came with canvas doors , side panels and roof system- it also had a mount for a gun of some sort- the motor was a 4cyc 150hp gas engine and a oil bath air filter and power assist steering- he put bigger rims and tires and suspension equipment to raise it up a bit- of corse this made it top heavy and could and did flip over on steep hills lol- thank god he installed roll-over cage
Many years driving them in the USAF, just called them the Jeep or 151. Was a bit confusing when we had CJ's too. Things were exciting going around corners with and 4 guys in it.
If I was to acquire a M151, I would definitely want the later model with improved suspension and with an installed roll bar. Otherwise the Ford MUT looks great.
The track tensioning system is pretty straightforward. You use the standard lever arm to assist with guiding the Extra Large Width rubber bands onto the back wheel, or 'rubber drive bogie', and then after slipping the slightly loose band onto the front wheel, also known as the 'sometimes idler, sometimes drive bogie depending on where the lever is' and then you adjust track tension by pneumatically adjusting air tension in the rubber bogies. There isn't a return roller, but the passengers could just smack it back into place while the vehicle is moving by just leaning over the side.
I have rode and driven thousands ( Yes.. really) of miles in 151s. They were a tuff and dependable vehicle . They could be used on small paths and amazingly steep terrain . But the truth was they were overloaded when the crew got in with their rucks. We always carried Camo nets and spreaders along with A or B bags plus ammo ,radios , MG, MRE cases and whatever mission essentials . .. SO they were really overloaded . We knew they were dangerous but I think only drivers really understood how dangerous they were. ..particularly on hardstand roads. The vehicle was used so long that almost all had been in accidents so they crabbed badly ...you could see all 4 tires from behind. ( This is really dangerous in a small vehicle with that suspension.) The wipers were useless..particularly on paved roads. The lights were weak.. A lot of the problem was they were used as an every day highway vehicle (They weren't stable or designed for that.) AND used in the field. I really had no experience with M38s and little with ww2 jeeps... but I cant see that the 151 was a real improvement..( development history might be interesting) incidentally.. I never heard a soldier call them Mutts.. always referred to as 151s or jeeps. (we all knew they weren't officially jeeps)
My husband drove one of these when he was in the cavalry, he said you used to have to drive in the opposite direction of the lifted side to recover from a rollover. That was back when they wore the black beret.
I loved mine. The C/O was a decent guy as well so things could have been much worse. LOL. Mine would go anywhere I wished to take Her. Growing up driving old Willys and tractors around the farm and Deer Camp came in handy as well. I thought they were solid little things for what we were doing. Would love to have one now.
When the 151s came out of service they could be bought in Property Disposal Office (now DRMO) auctions, modded to satisfy civilian standards, and registered at State DMVs. NTSB or some other Fed agency deemed them unsafe, and the PDO system was instructed to ‘quarter’ the bodies to prevent civilian use. So, folks would buy the four pieces, weld them back together, and drive on, so to speak. After a while, a new requirement was levied on the PDOs; quarter the body as before - and then run over the pieces w/a tracked vehicle. Local military museum near me has restored one of the ‘quartered’ vehicles, and the new welds make the thing look like a Frankenstein monster, which adds character.
I had the Tonka version with removable faux canvas top. It carried 3 GI Joes with equipment. The Tonka also had off road safety issues and crashed into Barbie's playhouse more than once.
During one exercise at Ft. Hunter Liggett we were supplying Fire Control for all sides in a three way battle. Basically a radio job handling calls for fire. We had two 577's parked on a hill top with a tarp between them (real homey). Through accidents in 151's were were reduced to myself an E6 and one other who was an E5. I became the FSO (A majors job) and the other guy became everything else. As a side note I have to mention, A Huey started circling us. I went out and looked at it and saw a plate with two stars on it. Oh great, 40th ID CG checking up on us. They landed on the hill top across the saddle from us. We hot footed it over there and greeted him. His comment was "What the hell is a staff sergeant and sergeant doing running my war game?" Being the consummate wise ass I replied "What we are doing sir is a damn fine job". He looked at me for a moment and said "I'll buy that. So me what you got son." Dodged another bullet of my own making.
As my second permanent party duty assignment I was assigned to Co. A, 709th M.P. Bn in late 1973, which was equipped with sedans, M151a1's and M2's. In my introduction to Usareuer briefing, I was told if I ever had an accident in my assigned M151, I would be offered an Article 15! I was then ordered to not "have an accident". This is how the Army in those days dealt with the potential safety issues of this vehicle, lol. From experience, I soon learned European roads have many cobblestones and when wet, they are as slick as ice, and between them and "strassenbahn" street car tracks, the driver of an M151 had to be very careful indeed.(In 3 years, I never had an accident myself, and have always felt the vehicle to be safe provided the driver just use a lot of common sense and remember the vehicle MUST move VERY slow when making turns! Observations: The center of the hub in the front wheel stuck out on both my units, (the A1 and the A2, and a whole was in the very center of that thing that stuck out. That whole was the same size as the circumference of the crowbar, and if the bar was put thru that hole, a rope could be tied to the crowbar, and by allowing the rope to coil around the bar, the vehicle had a means to winch itself out of deep holes, or deep mud. As the windshield wipers were hydraulic on the A1 especially, we G.I.'s used to unplug the air hoses on the dashboard and let them "smoke a cigarette" real fast as a joke. The large gas fill cap just under the drivers' door was convenient as we could open it, remove the filter cup within, and then dunk our Zippo lighters into the fuel, which would then be good for a long time. (Never bought lighter fluid the 3 years I was in that unit.) In my unit, those M151's were never camouflaged like the divisional units, but remained O.D. green, which we could paint by going to the motor pool and getting a can of green paint and mixing it with an exact amount of black paint, (which the motor pool guys had on a chart.) We had tactical radios mounted over the rear wheel well behind the radioman's seat. The long antenna for the radio was mounted on a bolt on assembly on the passenger rear corner of the unit, with a spring maybe 3 feet up so the antenna itself could be bent forward, at an angle in the direction of the drivers' front corner. A small pintle on the front fender held a length of paracord with a small aluminum clip which held the antenna in that position, freely. Chieftain and I must be about the same height, (I was 74"), which I detected when he entered the vehicle. In all the time I drove those wonderful machines, I never knew about those "fresh air" portals on the front of the dash, maybe because it was never warm enough in Europe to need them. Besides, we did not have "doors" whatsoever in the warmer months, only a web type strap on the passenger side which clipped on at the front of the "door opening". We always had a plastic/canvas roof on the unit, and plastic/canvas doors were fitted to the unit in inclement weather only. In the winter, we always had the option to put chains on the vehicle, and I used them in those German snows. Generally, every other M.P. had a vehicle assigned to them, the other half being the "radioman", but all of us performed "first echelon" maintenance on our vehicles monthly, (or whenever we wanted to. Most of us were proud of our units, and were very stingy about keeping others from using our units when not assigned to road duty ourselves. I drove unit A309 as my ast assigned unit for roughly the last 18 months of my tour. The "3" indicated the third platoon, ninth vehicle, and the "A" was of course, the unit. A unit A103 would be from "A" co, first platoon, third vehicle. Thank you for this wonderful report on an old friend...
I drove one in South Korea while in the 2ID in 1971-72. As is well known, it gets very cold in Korea but it was regulation that all M151A1s would not use the canvas tops in any season that were on hand. Something about it being a tactical vehicle and would interfere with sighting enemy aircraft. Right. I know couriers were allowed to have tops and there may have been other exceptions. I drove a jeep more than once a fair distance when it was below zero Fahrenheit. The speed limit even on paved highways for US Army vehicles was 25 kilometers/hr. The speedometer read mph on a M151A1, so your guess was as good as mine. ***Checking it equates to 15.5 mph.
I saw someone roll one on Umptanum Ridge at Yakima Training Center. He crawled out from under the upside down jeep with only scratches, the radio mast acted as his roll bar. I drove one for years, mostly without canvas so I could see traffic. With no heaters in Washington state, no one wanted to ride with me. Never came close to rolling mine in thousands of miles, but I learned to drive in a 1960 VW pickup, so swing axles were no problem for me.
That's because the Humvee (which is in the process of being replaced) was designed to drive in the tracks left by full sized tanks, which is why it's so wide. Its successor vehicles on the other hand are large, because they are heavily armored against roadside IEDs and RPGs.
I’ve heard that as well, but will have to look it up to be sure. The alternate explanation, into which I place more stock, is that it was the end result of the desire to increase ground clearance for off-road capability. By shoving the whole power train up into the body, it meant that the seats needed to be shoved outwards. Also increased lateral stability.
@@TheChieftainsHatch Could be, but I've also read that due to the enormous size and width of the vehicle (not to mention its enormous weight), its off-road capability is actually negatively impacted, at least compared to more compact rivals like the Mercedes G or Land Rover Defender.
I drove A2s for many years. Never had a rollover that wasn't assisted by external factors (one time, and that was due to the front passenger wheel dropping into a stream channel while driving under blackout conditions and after being night-blinded by oncoming trucks with their headlights on. We survived without injuries because it landed flat on the passenger side supported by the windshield and antenna mount.). Other people I served with weren't so lucky. We never called it a jeep. It was always called a quarter-ton. We usually had a trailer with our equipment in it, and I hated backing up with the trailer attached. I never got to drive a Humvee, and kind of wish I'd had the opportunity.
While in the Army Reserve I drove one on the New Jersey Turnpike. I had the speedometer in H on the bottom( maxed out). I started up an exit ramp and then it hit me I am taking a turn in a 151 at 55mph. I slowed down very quickly.
@@lucidnonsense942 The Irish forces did not use the British Austin Champ FV1801 that was only used by the the Brits and Australians, the Irish mainly used the Land-Rover in 1/4 ton and 1/2 ton rolls. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Champ
lot of white crosses in wiesbaden cause of these.....2nd vehicle i drove you have covered.......other on the go anywhere.....slowly gamma goat (withRATT RIG) THANKS for the berlin bde memory lane
Used to show an Army training film about these beasts that showed an M151 series towing an empty trailer,18MPH, making a fairly sharp left turn.Driver took his foot off the gas pedal M151 turned over on to if's right side.Also talked to a SGT from Tank automotive command that was involved in the testing of these beasts.The test consisted of servicing the unit put it on a test track driving until fuel was used up rinse and repeat.there were three units being tested at the same time.Units would travel clockwise for one tank of fuel,refuel drive counter clock wise for the next tank of fuel.Purpose was to find out if the test units would last the 20.000 miles the spec. called for.Ford always finished third if they finished at all.Units being tested were samples from GMC,Willis Overland,and Ford.Willis Overland always finished first Gmc Second Ford last if they finished.Remember That Robert McNamara was SECDEF at that time.
Good vid Nick and I'm wondering about when Ford or Willy's finally incorporated a collapsable steering column? Many people were badly injured or killed when the steering column impaled drivers in front end collisions. Thoughts.
I remember back in them80s or 90s at NAS Moffett Field the Navy was scrapping these jeeps, cutting them in half. they refused to sell them intact because they considered them unsafe for the general public.
All of our Canadian ones had the full roll cage and rubber canvas. On one large exercise, units across the country were tasked to supply vehicles, we went to start one that arrived on a railcar, would not start, hooked up slave cable (all Canadian vehicles had a slave cable receptacle) , still no start, open the hood to discover they shipped us a vehicle without an engine, mutter, mutter.........
God! I remember this death trap (it was anything but a Jeep). I was checked out on it at Fort Hood Texas B Co. 124th Maintenance Battalion, 2nd Armored Division in Feb, 1980 and damn near died in it at 30 M.P.H. on a level dry road, in June of that year. There were two major problems with the M151 series, 1). the independent suspension would deflect too far and the body roll would tend to flip the vehicle if turned to sharply. 2). being a unibody any twisting in the chassis/unibody frame would cause the vehicle to become misaligned and not track straight, it would actually crab (what happened to me). the Unibody could not handle the sever loading and unloading of its suspension in hard off-road use leading to the twisted unibodies. The M151A2-LC the Chieftain showed near the end was the AMC fix to a design problem Ford created in being too cheap to produce the original Jeep "body on ladder frame" with solid axles as per the original design.
@@JM-jv7ps Your right it was flogged like a rented mule and by the time I saw one about 20 plus years after the fact, they were well and truly worn out. In new condition there were good , but as you say needed to be treated with care. The problem is that the operator is often times the lowly private who simply could really care less. After my little moment of excitement our motor pool went through all our MUTTs and found almost half to have unserviceable bent frames.
@DitzyDoo I read your comments and want to add (as an A2 driver since 2 years): imho the Ford and Army test drivers did extensive tests of the MUTT. But because a) the focus was off-road, and b) the drivers were well trained, the vehicle was accepted by the military. As then in real life a) the M151 was driven on regular roads, and b) drivers handled it the same way like their sedans, the tragedy began. You mention the unibody twisting - that is new for me, thank you for this info! My A2 has quite big a dent what is only to be seen on the hydraulic ramp. But the German TÜV approved it, thus I think the body is still straight or it was fixed by a pre-owner. Nevertheless, I'm carefully when it comes to sharp turns or roundabouts...
@@BerniesBastelBude The one problem with a unibody is that all four tires will sit upon the ground evenly even if the body is not straight, were in a bent ladder frame the damaged part of the frame will show and the tire will sit and wear irregularly. One of the ways we quickly tested for straightness of or MUTT's was to take them behind our motor pool on a soft dirt tank trail and drive straight ahead for 50 yards then inspect the tire tracks alignment of the rear axel with the front. If the axels are out of alignment like the one I drove there were four distinct tire trace lines. Those that were less pronounced we took to the Depot support shop for testing.
I was told by my father the same thing about the U.S. m151a1c with a 106 recoiless rifle. He also said when you got them off the ground, the wheels tucked up under them like a corvair. He said they only ever called them 1/4 tons.
Got a chance to help restore one of these for a museum. Shame the museum closed down a few months later and the vehicle got shipped off to another base.
When I was in the Army, we never called them MUTTs. They were either jeeps or one-five-ones. At Ft Hood in the early 80s, 2nd Armored division didn't allow them to have the tops installed. So being a 151 driver or passenger (usually the CO and 1SG) could get pretty miserable in bad weather.
The solid axle M151 was actually a project for Canada, who wanted new vehicles but wanted parts compatibility with our M38A1’s. Project was a total failure. Canada ended up buying M151A2’s, and then tried to develop a conversion using the M151 engine in the M38A1. It was a failure as well.
When I was in high school in the late 80's, I had a girlfriend who's step dad was a ex quartermaster in Vietnam. He had 2 m151s in running condition that had never been "cut" They would go anywhere. He also had a halftrack and numerous "vehicle weapon systems" associated with these vehicles that were in working order. After they passed the "machine gun act" in the 1980's he was arrested and all that stuff was confiscated and never saw him or her a h again.
![ฮักเทื่อสุดท้าย - บอย ศิริชัย [OFFICIAL MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-1PoPoQ-B-k/mqdefault.jpg)
I put a few miles on a Mutt while in Vietnam, 1969. The anti theft device (no key required to start the vehicle) was a chain welded to the steering column. Loop the chain thru the steering wheel and secure with a padlock. Equipped with an electric fuel pump the engine would sometimes fail to start until the fuel tank, under the driver's seat, was beat upon with a solid object. Hammer, rock, etc. It was common to carry five passengers with their weapons, flack vests, steel pots, ammo, and a radio.
Later M151's did away with the electric pump and went with an engine driven one.
They did the same thing with the Humvee, except that instead of a chain they used a steel cable, but the same basic idea.
@@Riceball01 We would tell the me guys this cable was a pull starter.
I drove one in the early 80s, forgot all about the chain!
Thanks for the memory.
Happy Trails 🍀
While I am (just) too young for Vietnam, I operated a number of these (A2's) and I found the biggest anti theft device was the kids trying to operate them couldnt find the starter button down on the floor.
I remember freezing my left foot off in Germany because of all the rainwater channeled in through the drain hole by the drivers front tire which acted like a bilge pump in reverse.
These were cool because they could fit on the tailgate (and still allow it to close) of a C-130. Try that with a HMMWV!
I know Mr Moran is a tall chap, but that M151 looks *tiny*
Moron is anti German
tiger cat have you forgotten your medication, or something?
It is tiny.
I'm 6'2" and I remember how cramped it was to drive or ride in. With my LBE set up with two canteens and a butt pack, my knees were up to my chin sitting in the front seat.
John Smith and I thought landrovers were cramped. glad I’m only 5’6”!
Matt Hayward it is small and it looks like a clown car.
I loved the M151. We had 9 of them in a scout platoon that I was in. That was '79-'80 in Korea. We drove the hell out of those things and they just kept on running. The only jeep that needed any major work was the one we rolled down a hill. We flipped it right side up and completed the rest of the field problem with it, afterwards it went in for body work. The M-60 mounted on top didn't fair as well. Those things went places you would never get a hummer to go.
Grant I loved mine with the tow2 stationed in Hawaii at kbay 3rd marines
In your opinion what would need to be done to the Humvee to make it as good as the M151 off-road?
@@EnterpriseXI Make the Humvee narrower (which will never happen), because we took those things up trails that were WAY too narrow for a Humvee. In fact that's how we rolled the M151 that we rolled, the driver got it too close to the edge of a very narrow track that was on the edge of a steep hill (all the hills were steep it seemed) and the edge of the roadway, if you can call it that gave way, and down she went. The driver bailed, the team leader bailed and the gunner bailed. fortunately no one was injured beyond minor bumps and bruises.
1981 I was driving a M151A2 down range as part of a training mission. Our vehicle was last in line of our convoy and we lagged behind due to some rough terrain. My sargent instructed me to catch up, so as I increased speed I came to a bend in the road.
As I turned the bend several large ruts in the road presented themselves with one getting acquainted with my left front tire. Deep rut plus tire equaled roll over. Jeep flipped forwards tossing me and both of my passengers out.
I was knocked unconscious and when I came to, crawled out from under what was left of my jeep. The only thing that saved me from being crushed was the M60 mount that had been left in the vehicle from a previous training mission.
The medic that attended to my head wound told me we were the first ones (at my post) in 22 years that had all passengers survive a jeep roll over.
I loved my M151 but I loved that M60 mount more.
@@billob4285 Wow, I never managed to flip mine, came close, and mine didnt have mg pedestal.
Their rollover reputation always scared me. I once road around Camp Bullis in one driven by a mad chaplain. Maybe he had nothing to fear from the Lord, but I sure did. I always preferred the Hummer, M38, and GPW.
The M151 arrived in American Army bases in Germany in the early 1960s and didn't take long before the young GIs managed to flip a bunch of them due to their imitating the little sports cars that were pretty common in Europe at the time.
The Army's solution was to install steering stops that limited the range of steering wheel motion. My dad (and all the family) was stationed in Stuttgart, Germany in the early '60s and the M151 was issued there also. My dad had one issued to him and loved it. He and the Motor Pool Sargent were good friends so his never got the stops. He said the biggest problem relating to the roll-overs was that the young kids driving them just went too fast. If you insisted on driving it like a similarly sized MG, you were going to have a problem... and a head ache!
that's one fascinating looking warehouse, from motorcycles to migs, really nice video as always
I love 45 mins away from it and I thought the video said m1551 Sheridan not m151 smh
I assume a collector must of died or decided to clear out some inventory.
3 years in the Army driving these things around and I never once heard them called MUTT's, they were just referred to as Jeep's.
I also never knew them as "Mutt's" till I saw a plastic model of one in a hobby shop years after my army days were over.
I drove one daily for over 3 years, lol
We called 'em jeeps or 151s..
@@mitchellsmith4690
Yep, I didn't even realize until after I was out of the Army that they weren't the same one's that they had in WW2, for all I knew at the time they were.
I have a friend whose brother was in an M151 that rolled over in the early 80's, at the hospital he got a blood transfusion that turned out to be tainted with AIDS, since it was before the virus that causes AIDS had been isolated no one could understand what was making him sick when he started getting ill all the time a few years down the road, by the time they figured it out it was too late because it had advanced into it's later stages, not that it made any difference, back then even after they figured out the whole AIDS thing there really wasn't much they could do about it, effective treatments were still years down the road.
@@dukecraig2402 sgt holcum from colorado??????
@@artstmartin3186
No, his last name was Riley, I never met him, he died about the time I was in the Army, 83-86.
I got to be friends with his sister and husband about 2 years after I got out and then heard about it.
Great video! Brought back many memories of the M151 (not A1 or A2, just M151) I bought from a surplus scrap dealer in 1966 or so. Got it running and loved it until I heard about the rollover issues. Sold it to a dealer who was positive it was a Willys Jeep, despite the registration clearly describing it as "Ford M151 MUTT." Oh well hope he enjoyed it too. I got a new El Camino out of the deal so there was that.
Sliding system for regulating the door glass - Pure sales banter -well done!
Thankyou. That video brought back some awesome memories for me, I drove those things for almost 10 years in the 1980's. The Chieftain touched on the subject but didn't go into detail but Ford designed the 7 slot pressed grill but didn't think to copyright it. After the war Willy's copyrighted the 5 slot vertical grill and now whenever you see it you KNOW its a Jeep. As for the hardtop, the only time I saw one of those was when we deployed to Alaska for a training exercise and we got issued them, which was okay but not nearly as important as the gasoline heaters they put between the front seats at the same time
And don't use the heater to pre heat the engine if ya want the thing to start, ones we had pulled 13 amps and would kill a cold battery
Our 151's in Germany got heaters that were mounted on the front right fender, sure was toasty, but i loved the 4WD on the fly, and a little tuning would get it up to 70mph on the A-baun.
I was in the US Army in S. Korea 71-72. We had canvas tops but were not allowed to use them. The thinking was we were driving a tactical vehicle and would be more able to tell if we were under air attack while driving. :-O Couriers driving M151A1's were allowed tops as they were not considered "tactical'.
We still had the A2 in our unit in 1990 and was finally replaced the next year with the Hummer. HQ70 was its number. I loved that old Jeep. Was great in heavily wooded areas. It could go where the Hummer couldn’t.
I was in D Troop, the ground Troop, of 8/1 Air Cav Squadron at Ft Knox in '71. Each platoon had a bunch of these, most with a pintle mount for a M60, another with a recoilless recoilless rifle, and a 5/4 with a mortar.
With a radio mounted, ammo, and gear for 3 guys they were really stuffef full.
The good news, with the pintle mount sticking up above the seats they were much safer, and since they were much cheaper to operate we got to use them a lot more than the tracks in the unit I was stationed in Germany.
2nd ACR in Germany?
@@stevenpilling5318 Recon platoon, Combat Support Company, 3/35 Armored, Bamberg. There we had 9 M114A1E1 & 1 M113. Spent a lot more time in the motor pool looking busy than actually using them.
Back in the mid-'80s, a guy I knew who was in the National Guard was driving one of these M151 in convoy. The driveshaft broke at the transmission dropping the driveshaft into the road, which managed to catch and flipped the vehicle. He survived but was severely injured.
That can happen to any RWD vehicle, if no one pays attention to the noises it starts to make when the U-joint starts to go bad.
The Australian Army experienced a similar problem with roll overs when transferring from the Land Rover Series III with leaf springs to the Land Rover Defender (Perentie) with coil spring suspension in the late '80's and early 90's. The cause being the difference in behaviour between the leaf springs and the coils which would suddenly give way during hard cornering. The first solution to fit roll bars would choke occupants using their own seat belts in the event of a roll over as the bars bent backwards . The roll bars went through several different designs during the service life of the Defender.
Choking them to death is certainly preferable to crushing their necks from the weight, I guess?
@@Mr-Trox some people pay good money to get choked! I uhhh, I heard that from a friend who knows a guy
I believe the British Army had issues with 110s rolling over too... the new comfortable suspension meant they could be driven faster without comfort issues... apparently they banned officers from driving them as too many were being injured lol
Land Rovers is garbage
LoL...😂
My second day out of basic/ ait back in 1981 I was taken down to my new battalions motor pool and given a license for about everything down there including the jeep, gama goat, m577, m548, 5 ton, k car sedan, and I believe one or two others I can't remember anymore. I was assigned to drive a pair of 2nd lieutenants around for a couple of days as part of a map reading course they were on. I drove that jeep up and down hills, valleys, gulleys, ditches, goat trails to the top of hills and back down again. That little jeep handled everything I put it through. After four days I was released back to my unit Headquarters Headquarters Battery 2 bn 36 FA fort sill Oklahoma. Sadly I believe they no longer exist anymore. I had three years of college so they made me a spec 4 as soon as I got out of AIT. We didn't have any NCOs at the moment so I became acting chief of fire direction. The Fire direction officer FDO had just graduated ROTC and knew nothing. I was shown how to drive the M577 and became driver/ chief there were only a couple pfcs and e2s so I had to train them how to run a FDC. They decided as I was wearing acting sgt stripes that I must know what I was doing. The battery commander became the acting FDO and we went to the field and live fired for three days. We hit everything the FOs called down to us and at the end the Battalion commander told us to never tell anyone what we had done lol then they gave me an Army Achievement medal and hurriedly found us an E6 and we were back to normal. That was the most fun first month I spent in the army. All the time I was driving the 577 and jeeps. Loved them.
I drove an M151 for the battalion S3, 1982-83.
2 men living for 3 to 4 weeks in it was rough. No top, completely exposed to Ft. Hood, Tx weather.
The good old days.
1/21 FA.
Ft Hood weather is mild (LOL) compared to Ft Stewart weather and roads (on and off road). Allso for a Bn S3 of the 2/21I 79/81.
@@Ironmikeblood
I drove a Gama Goat for Division S3, 2/21 FA. Ft. Polk, LA. {1985}
In 1972 in 3 corps command zone these trucks were used by an MP unit that mounted a pitot mounted M2 HMG and carried 2 crew. I saw them working in groups of 5 as a fast reaction force. I always thought that unit commander watched too many episodes of Rat Patrol. It was fun to watch these guys blasting through the grass around the roads. We were all just kids learning our trade.
My M825 was a blast to own. Had a very hefty rollcage fitted. Not being in the US, it was road registered. Need to get another one day.
Every M151 I ever drove had the starter switch under the clutch. Went through M151 drivers school in 1986, last class for M151 first class for HMMWV.
It's really fun to hear all these older vets talk about missing their old trucks. I can't blame them, I'd love to have a M1114 to toy around in and I've only been out 14 years
Whenever I "tune in to" a video made by The Chieftain, I immediately choose "like," because I have complete confidence it will be well done, meticulously informative, and just very entertaining for someone with an interest in military vehicles. Mr. Moran does a very fine job of this sort of thing.
My unit in Germany (86-89) had 6 Ford Mutts in the TO&E. Slow as hell, but you could drive them out of the Hohenfels mud like a champ. Oh, I should also mention that ours had the pheumatic windshield wipers that works about .01% of the time. It was common practice to tie string to the wipers and the co-driver would operate the wipers manually with the string.
I owned and happily drove my a2 for years.. Went hunting, rallying, beach days and was my daily driver.. Honestly the best most comfortable ride ever.. Off road capability was better than anything on four wheels.. The drive train however did break down at least once a year cause of the cross bearings failing
I learned to drive one in '71 in MP School. They WERE dangerous, though. As a CID Special Agent, I don't recall how many M151 rollover deaths I had to investigate. Don't know why, but typically the driver wound up with his head about 3" wide! Too many tried to drive them like race cars, even souping up the engines so that they could go "per" (when the speedometer needle was pointing to the "per" in "miles per hour" at the bottom of the dial). I currently own a M151A2 which I restored, and which is great for running around out in the desert.
I remember watching the training video in the army on the jeep. They showed in slow motion how the front wheels would toe-in if they both came off the ground at the same time as well as how easily they rolled over. I never really liked riding in them. I later owned a World War II Willys MB and actually found it a somewhat more stable vehicle although stable is a very relative term.
I was on TDY at Ft. McClellan, Alabama in October of 1969. The place where the WACS were exclusively trained in the time. I was a driver on the huge Caterpillar Swing Axle Forklift that required climbing two ladders to get to the operating cockpit. Don’t recall the model number of the lift though.
Each morning I would take the lift into an Ammo Bunker and bring a pallet that contained 4 M-151’s on it. There would be 4 tires laid on the pallet; then one Jeep with windshield down on them. Then another 4 tires and another Jeep. The process went 4 high and then capped off with a special top pallet.
A couple of men would begin disassembling the stack of jeeps placing tires into a large steel box like bin. I would take one Jeep off and set it by a guy in welding garb with a torch ready to go. He cut the engine mounts into and his crew lifted the engine out and placed it into another big steel bin separate from everything else. Then I would lift the Jeep and place it into the Crusher. Repeat cycle again and again.
The finished product was turned into an approximate 5’X5’ bale ready for transport to a metal recycling plant.
Now I was an 18 YO boy from Mississippi just about 10 Miles due South of Memphis, TN. Remember it was 1969. I was a PVT E2 making after taxes a whopping $98.97 each Month. I was married to my High School Sweetheart hoping Vietnam wasn’t going to get my Reserve Unit called up. With 250 men having an MOS 55B20, we walked the line every month for 5 out of 6 years I was in.
Anyway as a young wet behind the ears boy, I just couldn’t understand the reasoning behind the destruction of a perfectly good vehicle. The safety aspect considered, it just seemed with Ford as the manufacturer, it seemed logical to supply a refit kit with axles, etc. being cost saving and getting new jeeps to troops in the field more practical than what we were doing.
Obviously I was suffering from a lack of failure to understand Politics in its truest sense. I thought they were like me. You know, saving money during the year meant more gains at the year end. But hey, let me say in big caps, I WAS WRONG, I WAS WRONG!!
Anyway, for every Soul that served in the Land of the Yellow Man, God Bless you for your sacrifice over there. The way our troops were not accepted upon their return was absolutely uncalled for. Where I lived in the South, returning troops were always welcomed home with a hardy handshake and pat on the back. I don’t know what happened to the rest of the Country.
Now, 50 years later everything comes out. How Johnson ran the war literally from the Oval Office. Causing young men to die and others to leave limbs in Nam that they had intended to take back home with them. God Bless you all.
Later I became a helicopter pilot and flew 24 years in retired US ARMY OH6 Loaches. That would be the infamous OH6 CAYUSE named for the CAYUSE INDIAN TRIBES as all ARMY helicopters are named after Indian Tribes. What an honor that was indeed.
Lastly I learned the incredible utility of the LOACH in particular. If only I had become an ARMY AVIATOR! I would have done everything in my power to rescue troops in the field. Even to the extent of disobeying orders sometimes to save another life needing transport to the nearest hospital. It does make a difference as we know with operators who run medevac units today.
Well that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! Thanks
Great video, very informative. I drove these when I first served in the Ohio Army National Guard. We switched out to Humvees after I'd been there about a year. We used M886's for our Ambulances ( a Dodge SUV ) and the M151 with an extensive roll cage and a soft top for a couple of gopher vehicles. We had 2 Deuce and a halfs with trailers to move our Battalion Aid Station. When we got our humvees they replaced the M151's and the M886 but we kept our trailers and 2 1/2 ton trucks. The M151's were scary on road at speed. Very twitchy. Off road they were quite capable.
I see old guys in green fatigues, driving these things around here in Hanoi. The irony, seeing an old NVA vet cruising around in an American vehicle with USMC patches on the shoulders.
My primary truck when assigned to TO&E units was usually a M35A2 with 5/4 ton trailer and a back up vehicle was a Gamma Goat which was backed up by the M151A1, 2 with trailer. Before I could get it on my Standard Form 348 I had to attend that class for it. In Korea my back up vehicle was a M880. My SF 348 was two pages and I wasn't even Transportation.
all hale the gamma goat lmao go anywhere ........slowly drove on in berlin with a RATT rig and a 5kw towed behind
"This lever hasn't changed, it's still in the use in HumVees."
It's also still never used - especially in civilian HumVees.
Also, please do a video on the UAZ 469 at some point as a contrast to this. "Meanwhile, in Soviet Russia..."
@@Finwolven the UAZ is still in service lol. When you see a convoy with Tigr, BTR82A, and.... a bloody UAZ???
@@zidan1hao917 I drove UAZ during my service, such a neat little 4x4. You can fit entire squad with their gear in one and it will drive through any terrain. Somewhat maintenance heavy cars though (120 pages of work, in one '95 UAZ service manual).. it warmed my heart when mechanics always wished me luck when I took one out for a spin.
@@Salesman9001 these old Russian cars just can't be kill by any terrain, and yes! They are quite a beauty!
@@zidan1hao917 if it ain't broke don't fix it. Lol.
The most frightening vehicle I ever drove was an early swing axle M151 with bad bushings that developed a terrifying shimmy at any speed over 45 mph. We used to joke that the front suspension was independent and the rear suspension was downright defiant!
I learned to drive stick on an M151 at my BN motor pool at Fort Polk in 87. Thanks Sergeant Techmer!
:-) I like the airconditioning!
Reminds me of the "air conditioning" the 1964 International Scout my dad had that I drove to college.
I was following behind a 151 in a convoy to 29 Stumps when the vehicle, on a flat dry road, started to shimmy left the road, and flipped. I had resigned myself to filling a body bag or two but both driver and a-driver were thrown clear with only mild concussions. At operation Bell Call we lost half of the 151's assigned to the tactical exercise control group in less than a week. Someone should have gone to jail for approving the bloody thing for service.
Looked in my 151s side mirror one day just in time to see the guy behind me roll. He got into the shoulder, over-corrected, and that's all it took. We used to have to watch a film annually about their tendency to roll.
Hi . Are you a MVPA member?
They host nice meetings
Drove many miles in 151's, both the A1 and A2. The one hard top I ever saw was an ambulance. Midway through my deployment they started moving to Jeep CJs.
My godbrother owned a 1951 CJ5 Army Jeep- it came with canvas doors , side panels and roof system- it also had a mount for a gun of some sort- the motor was a 4cyc 150hp gas engine and a oil bath air filter and power assist steering- he put bigger rims and tires and suspension equipment to raise it up a bit- of corse this made it top heavy and could and did flip over on steep hills lol- thank god he installed roll-over cage
Many years driving them in the USAF, just called them the Jeep or 151. Was a bit confusing when we had CJ's too. Things were exciting going around corners with and 4 guys in it.
If I was to acquire a M151, I would definitely want the later model with improved suspension and with an installed roll bar.
Otherwise the Ford MUT looks great.
How do you adjust track tension?
The track tensioning system is pretty straightforward. You use the standard lever arm to assist with guiding the Extra Large Width rubber bands onto the back wheel, or 'rubber drive bogie', and then after slipping the slightly loose band onto the front wheel, also known as the 'sometimes idler, sometimes drive bogie depending on where the lever is' and then you adjust track tension by pneumatically adjusting air tension in the rubber bogies. There isn't a return roller, but the passengers could just smack it back into place while the vehicle is moving by just leaning over the side.
Drove them in the SEABEES, loved it. Starter was under the clutch in the M-151A2 also.
I have rode and driven thousands ( Yes.. really) of miles in 151s. They were a tuff and dependable vehicle . They could be used on small paths and amazingly steep terrain . But the truth was they were overloaded when the crew got in with their rucks. We always carried Camo nets and spreaders along with A or B bags plus ammo ,radios , MG, MRE cases and whatever mission essentials . .. SO they were really overloaded . We knew they were dangerous but I think only drivers really understood how dangerous they were. ..particularly on hardstand roads. The vehicle was used so long that almost all had been in accidents so they crabbed badly ...you could see all 4 tires from behind. ( This is really dangerous in a small vehicle with that suspension.) The wipers were useless..particularly on paved roads. The lights were weak.. A lot of the problem was they were used as an every day highway vehicle (They weren't stable or designed for that.) AND used in the field. I really had no experience with M38s and little with ww2 jeeps... but I cant see that the 151 was a real improvement..( development history might be interesting) incidentally.. I never heard a soldier call them Mutts.. always referred to as 151s or jeeps. (we all knew they weren't officially jeeps)
8:50 OH BUGGER, the Jeep is on fire.
LOL yes that's what was missing from this video.
By Jove if it's a Ford MUTT "let it burn". >_< if it's a Willey's Jeep, by all means save it! 0_o
They were jeeps to us! I remember the safety lectures about slowing down at curves when driving the M-152A1. I can still drive one in my sleep.
I used to drive these on the Czech border on patrol in 2d Cav
So did I, I was in I Troop, 3/2 1974-77
Same, 2 How, 1SG and CO driver, tons of fun with that stupid death trap. 80-82, Bamburg, Hof.
So did I Dco 1/2 ACR 83-86
Ask me about the infamous Roll Over Tour of 1983, ya, thats a war story, replete with the recalcitrant opening of , "this is no shit"
A lot of Dragoons chiming in!
Had A1 1963 in Germany for two years.
Ran like a watch 😊
Accelerator pedals are always designed to be slippy, they are unlike Brake and Clutch pedals in that respect. Love these videos. Éireann go Brach!
These came with a copper mesh filter in the gas tank filler pipe, which in Germany quickly disappeared only to reappear in homemade hash pipes.
You mean like the sink filters in most faucets nowadays?
I really enjoy your talks.
Glad to have you here.
My husband drove one of these when he was in the cavalry, he said you used to have to drive in the opposite direction of the lifted side to recover from a rollover.
That was back when they wore the black beret.
The Chieftan is an even drier-deliveried Jeremy Clarkson! I like it!
I loved mine. The C/O was a decent guy as well so things could have been much worse. LOL. Mine would go anywhere I wished to take Her. Growing up driving old Willys and tractors around the farm and Deer Camp came in handy as well. I thought they were solid little things for what we were doing. Would love to have one now.
When the 151s came out of service they could be bought in Property Disposal Office (now DRMO) auctions, modded to satisfy civilian standards, and registered at State DMVs. NTSB or some other Fed agency deemed them unsafe, and the PDO system was instructed to ‘quarter’ the bodies to prevent civilian use. So, folks would buy the four pieces, weld them back together, and drive on, so to speak. After a while, a new requirement was levied on the PDOs; quarter the body as before - and then run over the pieces w/a tracked vehicle. Local military museum near me has restored one of the ‘quartered’ vehicles, and the new welds make the thing look like a Frankenstein monster, which adds character.
I had a M-151 I restored. I loved it !! Sold it when I moved.
I had the Tonka version with removable faux canvas top. It carried 3 GI Joes with equipment. The Tonka also had off road safety issues and crashed into Barbie's playhouse more than once.
@chris younts I would have enjoyed your comment more if not for that I was the little brother.
During one exercise at Ft. Hunter Liggett we were supplying Fire Control for all sides in a three way battle. Basically a radio job handling calls for fire. We had two 577's parked on a hill top with a tarp between them (real homey). Through accidents in 151's were were reduced to myself an E6 and one other who was an E5. I became the FSO (A majors job) and the other guy became everything else. As a side note I have to mention, A Huey started circling us. I went out and looked at it and saw a plate with two stars on it. Oh great, 40th ID CG checking up on us. They landed on the hill top across the saddle from us. We hot footed it over there and greeted him. His comment was "What the hell is a staff sergeant and sergeant doing running my war game?" Being the consummate wise ass I replied "What we are doing sir is a damn fine job". He looked at me for a moment and said "I'll buy that. So me what you got son." Dodged another bullet of my own making.
As my second permanent party duty assignment I was assigned to Co. A, 709th M.P. Bn in late 1973, which was equipped with sedans, M151a1's and M2's.
In my introduction to Usareuer briefing, I was told if I ever had an accident in my assigned M151, I would be offered an Article 15!
I was then ordered to not "have an accident".
This is how the Army in those days dealt with the potential safety issues of this vehicle, lol.
From experience, I soon learned European roads have many cobblestones and when wet, they are as slick as ice, and between them and "strassenbahn" street car tracks, the driver of an M151 had to be very careful indeed.(In 3 years, I never had an accident myself, and have always felt the vehicle to be safe provided the driver just use a lot of common sense and remember the vehicle MUST move VERY slow when making turns!
Observations: The center of the hub in the front wheel stuck out on both my units, (the A1 and the A2, and a whole was in the very center of that thing that stuck out.
That whole was the same size as the circumference of the crowbar, and if the bar was put thru that hole, a rope could be tied to the crowbar, and by allowing the rope to coil around the bar, the vehicle had a means to winch itself out of deep holes, or deep mud.
As the windshield wipers were hydraulic on the A1 especially, we G.I.'s used to unplug the air hoses on the dashboard and let them "smoke a cigarette" real fast as a joke.
The large gas fill cap just under the drivers' door was convenient as we could open it, remove the filter cup within, and then dunk our Zippo lighters into the fuel, which would then be good for a long time.
(Never bought lighter fluid the 3 years I was in that unit.)
In my unit, those M151's were never camouflaged like the divisional units, but remained O.D. green, which we could paint by going to the motor pool and getting a can of green paint and mixing it with an exact amount of black paint, (which the motor pool guys had on a chart.)
We had tactical radios mounted over the rear wheel well behind the radioman's seat.
The long antenna for the radio was mounted on a bolt on assembly on the passenger rear corner of the unit, with a spring maybe 3 feet up so the antenna itself could be bent forward, at an angle in the direction of the drivers' front corner.
A small pintle on the front fender held a length of paracord with a small aluminum clip which held the antenna in that position, freely.
Chieftain and I must be about the same height, (I was 74"), which I detected when he entered the vehicle.
In all the time I drove those wonderful machines, I never knew about those "fresh air" portals on the front of the dash, maybe because it was never warm enough in Europe to need them.
Besides, we did not have "doors" whatsoever in the warmer months, only a web type strap on the passenger side which clipped on at the front of the "door opening".
We always had a plastic/canvas roof on the unit, and plastic/canvas doors were fitted to the unit in inclement weather only.
In the winter, we always had the option to put chains on the vehicle, and I used them in those German snows.
Generally, every other M.P. had a vehicle assigned to them, the other half being the "radioman", but all of us performed "first echelon" maintenance on our vehicles monthly, (or whenever we wanted to.
Most of us were proud of our units, and were very stingy about keeping others from using our units when not assigned to road duty ourselves.
I drove unit A309 as my ast assigned unit for roughly the last 18 months of my tour.
The "3" indicated the third platoon, ninth vehicle, and the "A" was of course, the unit.
A unit A103 would be from "A" co, first platoon, third vehicle.
Thank you for this wonderful report on an old friend...
I drove one in South Korea while in the 2ID in 1971-72. As is well known, it gets very cold in Korea but it was regulation that all M151A1s would not use the canvas tops in any season that were on hand. Something about it being a tactical vehicle and would interfere with sighting enemy aircraft. Right. I know couriers were allowed to have tops and there may have been other exceptions. I drove a jeep more than once a fair distance when it was below zero Fahrenheit. The speed limit even on paved highways for US Army vehicles was 25 kilometers/hr. The speedometer read mph on a M151A1, so your guess was as good as mine. ***Checking it equates to 15.5 mph.
Man I miss those. I was in on the last of those and the Dodge 880,s. Not long after was the CUCV, then HMMWV
I worked on those when i was in 79-83 fun to drive,most roll overs due to drive error( hotrodding)
Keep up the good work Chieftain love the knowledge love the bloopers
I saw someone roll one on Umptanum Ridge at Yakima Training Center. He crawled out from under the upside down jeep with only scratches, the radio mast acted as his roll bar. I drove one for years, mostly without canvas so I could see traffic. With no heaters in Washington state, no one wanted to ride with me. Never came close to rolling mine in thousands of miles, but I learned to drive in a 1960 VW pickup, so swing axles were no problem for me.
This looks astonishingly small compared to modern day American military vehicles like the Humvee. It just looks so tiny next to a human
Well to be fair, he is a tall guy.
That's because the Humvee (which is in the process of being replaced) was designed to drive in the tracks left by full sized tanks, which is why it's so wide. Its successor vehicles on the other hand are large, because they are heavily armored against roadside IEDs and RPGs.
I’ve heard that as well, but will have to look it up to be sure. The alternate explanation, into which I place more stock, is that it was the end result of the desire to increase ground clearance for off-road capability. By shoving the whole power train up into the body, it meant that the seats needed to be shoved outwards. Also increased lateral stability.
@@TheChieftainsHatch Could be, but I've also read that due to the enormous size and width of the vehicle (not to mention its enormous weight), its off-road capability is actually negatively impacted, at least compared to more compact rivals like the Mercedes G or Land Rover Defender.
Look at the latest and greatest JLTV (Joint 'Light' Tactical Vehicle) The thing seems nearly comparable to a semi tractor in size!!
I drove A2s for many years. Never had a rollover that wasn't assisted by external factors (one time, and that was due to the front passenger wheel dropping into a stream channel while driving under blackout conditions and after being night-blinded by oncoming trucks with their headlights on. We survived without injuries because it landed flat on the passenger side supported by the windshield and antenna mount.). Other people I served with weren't so lucky.
We never called it a jeep. It was always called a quarter-ton. We usually had a trailer with our equipment in it, and I hated backing up with the trailer attached. I never got to drive a Humvee, and kind of wish I'd had the opportunity.
While in the Army Reserve I drove one on the New Jersey Turnpike. I had the speedometer in H on the bottom( maxed out). I started up an exit ramp and then it hit me I am taking a turn in a 151 at 55mph. I slowed down very quickly.
I never realised how tiny they are it makes an interesting to contrast to British Champ
Irish... not part of Britain, in fact would object strongly.
@@lucidnonsense942 The Irish forces did not use the British Austin Champ FV1801 that was only used by the the Brits and Australians, the Irish mainly used the Land-Rover in 1/4 ton and 1/2 ton rolls. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Champ
lot of white crosses in wiesbaden cause of these.....2nd vehicle i drove you have covered.......other on the go anywhere.....slowly gamma goat (withRATT RIG) THANKS for the berlin bde memory lane
Used to show an Army training film about these beasts that showed an M151 series towing an empty trailer,18MPH, making a fairly sharp left turn.Driver took his foot off the gas pedal M151 turned over on to if's right side.Also talked to a SGT from Tank automotive command that was involved in the testing of these beasts.The test consisted of servicing the unit put it on a test track driving until fuel was used up rinse and repeat.there were three units being tested at the same time.Units would travel clockwise for one tank of fuel,refuel drive counter clock wise for the next tank of fuel.Purpose was to find out if the test units would last the 20.000 miles the spec. called for.Ford always finished third if they finished at all.Units being tested were samples from GMC,Willis Overland,and Ford.Willis Overland always finished first Gmc Second Ford last if they finished.Remember That Robert McNamara was SECDEF at that time.
Good vid Nick and I'm wondering about when Ford or Willy's finally incorporated a collapsable steering column? Many people were badly injured or killed when the steering column impaled drivers in front end collisions. Thoughts.
Nice. My Dad drove a recoiless rifle version of this in the late 60s.
I knew a guy years back who had a MUTT as his farm runabout.
I remember back in them80s or 90s at NAS Moffett Field the Navy was scrapping these jeeps, cutting them in half. they refused to sell them intact because they considered them unsafe for the general public.
The truck version reminds me of the Postal trucks in the 60s and 70s.
Back in the 1960s, tried to get one of these at surplus that was not cut up. No luck bur did get a USMC GMC DUKW!!!
All of our Canadian ones had the full roll cage and rubber canvas. On one large exercise, units across the country were tasked to supply vehicles, we went to start one that arrived on a railcar, would not start, hooked up slave cable (all Canadian vehicles had a slave cable receptacle) , still no start, open the hood to discover they shipped us a vehicle without an engine, mutter, mutter.........
Driving one of these down the autobahn in any kind of wind was like driving a cardboard box in a wind tunnel.
The 151A2 is the first military vehicle I was licensed to to drive....we still called them Jeeps though!
When i was at Ft. Bragg the MP's had these. If you were speeding they couldn't persue because they were not allowed to go over 45
Oh my God that OD Green Bel-Aire in the background...
I was wondering what that vehicle was.
Early 70's drove the A2's alright on the hard bald but on a secondary road wet and muddy becausefull watch your speed especially around corners
I just rememberd that vid of a jeep bouncing on like 20 speedbumps
God! I remember this death trap (it was anything but a Jeep). I was checked out on it at Fort Hood Texas B Co. 124th Maintenance Battalion, 2nd Armored Division in Feb, 1980 and damn near died in it at 30 M.P.H. on a level dry road, in June of that year. There were two major problems with the M151 series, 1). the independent suspension would deflect too far and the body roll would tend to flip the vehicle if turned to sharply. 2). being a unibody any twisting in the chassis/unibody frame would cause the vehicle to become misaligned and not track straight, it would actually crab (what happened to me). the Unibody could not handle the sever loading and unloading of its suspension in hard off-road use leading to the twisted unibodies. The M151A2-LC the Chieftain showed near the end was the AMC fix to a design problem Ford created in being too cheap to produce the original Jeep "body on ladder frame" with solid axles as per the original design.
They fixed all of major issues with the A2, it was driven and treated poorly. It's an excellent truck, you just have to respect is quirks.
@@JM-jv7ps Your right it was flogged like a rented mule and by the time I saw one about 20 plus years after the fact, they were well and truly worn out. In new condition there were good , but as you say needed to be treated with care. The problem is that the operator is often times the lowly private who simply could really care less. After my little moment of excitement our motor pool went through all our MUTTs and found almost half to have unserviceable bent frames.
@DitzyDoo I read your comments and want to add (as an A2 driver since 2 years):
imho the Ford and Army test drivers did extensive tests of the MUTT. But because a) the focus was off-road, and b) the drivers were well trained, the vehicle was accepted by the military.
As then in real life a) the M151 was driven on regular roads, and b) drivers handled it the same way like their sedans, the tragedy began.
You mention the unibody twisting - that is new for me, thank you for this info!
My A2 has quite big a dent what is only to be seen on the hydraulic ramp. But the German TÜV approved it, thus I think the body is still straight or it was fixed by a pre-owner. Nevertheless, I'm carefully when it comes to sharp turns or roundabouts...
@@BerniesBastelBude The one problem with a unibody is that all four tires will sit upon the ground evenly even if the body is not straight, were in a bent ladder frame the damaged part of the frame will show and the tire will sit and wear irregularly. One of the ways we quickly tested for straightness of or MUTT's was to take them behind our motor pool on a soft dirt tank trail and drive straight ahead for 50 yards then inspect the tire tracks alignment of the rear axel with the front. If the axels are out of alignment like the one I drove there were four distinct tire trace lines. Those that were less pronounced we took to the Depot support shop for testing.
Another great video. Thanks for the info and sharing.
Canada had tons of these. Some equipped with TOW systems and were terrible for roll overs. Replaced by the Iltis but the roll overs didnt stoo
I was told by my father the same thing about the U.S. m151a1c with a 106 recoiless rifle. He also said when you got them off the ground, the wheels tucked up under them like a corvair. He said they only ever called them 1/4 tons.
Loved driving those.
A lot of fun.
Got a chance to help restore one of these for a museum. Shame the museum closed down a few months later and the vehicle got shipped off to another base.
When I was in the Army, we never called them MUTTs. They were either jeeps or one-five-ones. At Ft Hood in the early 80s, 2nd Armored division didn't allow them to have the tops installed. So being a 151 driver or passenger (usually the CO and 1SG) could get pretty miserable in bad weather.
My Dad used to talk about the rollover issue when they first came out.
The solid axle M151 was actually a project for Canada, who wanted new vehicles but wanted parts compatibility with our M38A1’s. Project was a total failure. Canada ended up buying M151A2’s, and then tried to develop a conversion using the M151 engine in the M38A1. It was a failure as well.
We had M-151A1C weapons carrier with M-40 106 mm RCR.
They used these when I was in the army. The M-151A1 Mutt.
Very interesting video.
15:06 The General Dynamics Land Systems Multi-Utility Tactical Thingy
Its a lean, mean, speeed thingy!
Endcard: "Saint Nicholas preaching to the Muttites"
Very nice >>>>> Thank you .
Worked on some in the 90s , aftermarket 6x6 bodies
good review i only miss the transfercase system
When I was in high school in the late 80's, I had a girlfriend who's step dad was a ex quartermaster in Vietnam. He had 2 m151s in running condition that had never been "cut" They would go anywhere. He also had a halftrack and numerous "vehicle weapon systems" associated with these vehicles that were in working order. After they passed the "machine gun act" in the 1980's he was arrested and all that stuff was confiscated and never saw him or her a h again.
Great the spare is the correct size.
That warehouse looks like any military man's wet dream.
My dad was noted for 3 wheel hard corners lol. Lots of guys died on the early models.