Gamma Goat

[m3a1]

Before we go into some more of this, now is a good time to make something perfectly clear to everybody because we have been talking about the potential for a lot of wrenching on this rig.

So, I'm going to state this plainly. I am completely and wholly satisfied with the deal I made with 12Bravo and I am just as satisfied with the Goat in its present condition. I love every square inch of her. She's a beastly thing and that's part of the allure. In some ways, far less user friendly than our little MUTTs . In other ways, far more user friendly. Life is a matter of compromise.

Before 12Bravo and I shook hands, we drove the Gama Goat around Mt. Vernon, Illinois, just like we were fleeing from a bank heist and the the truck performed admirably. 12Bravo has done a LOT of work to this (if you only knew) and while much of it is hidden from view there are a lot of NEW goodies in there, right where it counts. Like me, he enjoys his vehicles and loves the original patina. We are both big fans of the authenticity of these trucks and neither of us has any plans to 'restore' them. Sure, there will be a little housekeeping here and there but only to the point that it looks like some trooper just parked it and walked away. Exciting stuff, if you ask me and, I know the public loves seeing these vehicles presented in that way. I'm very excited about having the opportunity to show this truck in the future.

As to the matter of the clutch, something developed with it after I left Mt. Vernon. The responsibility for whatever happens after that time is entirely my own but 12Bravo continues to be there for me, happily answering questions, giving advice and very graciously providing me with direction. I don't know about you guys, but I put that 10 out of 10 on the 'satisfaction scale'.

IMHO, having to get in there and turn a wrench from time to time is part of pleasure of ownership and actually putting one's hands on the working bits does a LOT to familiarize one with a vehicle. You begin to see what the manufacturers and the designers were thinking. What little I've done so far has done a lot for me in that regard and there's still a lot to learn, of course. But, being able to speak intelligently about one's vehicle when displaying it goes a long way.

There has been some mention made of what the Goat might have become with a more mainstream engine. Well, actually, Detroit Diesels are mainstream engines. Naturally, most of us don't find ourselves face to face with diesels because they are largely commercial engines. But the truth is, so is the Continental motor in your MUTT! Diesels are 'working class Joes'.

As a result of our unfamiliarity with these sorts of engines they are generally a mystery to us but diesels are out there doing their work every day in commercial service because they are an extraordinarily dependable engine with a long service life. Yes, they breathe differently and they sip their fuel differently and there are all sorts of little gizmos hard at work that may seem mysterious to the casual observer but when you sit down with a manual and figure out what all those little gizmos are, things quickly begin to make sense. I admit I still have a lot more to learn about them but that's really just part of the fun.

I will take a little time to elaborate on what Rick has just mentioned and you will begin to see some of the genius that was part of the Gama Goat design. The pictures that follow are shots taken of both engines so don't get hung up on the paint colors changing between photos. The two engines are both 353s.

So, if I were to find myself in a position where I had to work on the clutch in this rig, how would I go about it? Well, first, think about how YOU would go about it if you were going to do it in your MUTT. You would be plucking the whole power pack out, right? We know that's not all that bad of a job in the MUTT but this is a different sort of vehicle. It's a boat, with wheels. What to do...what to do?

Well, first, this is an M-series vehicle and we all know that M-series vehicles had a lot of input from the people who were tasked with maintaining them. Ease of maintenance means having less down time which means being able to get by with fewer vehicles and so on.. Thus, their designs are sensible while centered around maintenance. The M151 is a classic example of that. But, the Gama Goat is a notable departure from other, more mainstream M-series vehicles. Some things must give way to certain design characteristics (in this case, particularly being compact and light weight with watertight integrity). So, when you consider what things are going on inside a Goat, you must also consider what it is designed to do, before condemning it as a poor design.

If you think about it, tracked vehicles are the same way...but nobody really complains about them because they are so gloriously different from our wheeled vehicles and do an entirely different job. The Gama Goat doesn't necessarily do a different job than other trucks but is may be called upon to do that job in a far different way. That's a hard concept for some people to get their heads wrapped around. As the old saying goes, "it is neither fish, nor fowl, nor good, red meat". Of course it is different.

Okay. Let's do a theoretical clutch replacement on a Gama Goat. Ready?

Step one - remove the transmission. This trans has got some weight to it but it is lighter than your MUTT's transmission/transfer case combo and far easier to manage. If you go back and study one of my earlier photos you will see a lot of linkages and cables and rods but it's surprisingly straightforward.

Step two - (and here's the genius part) The bell housing (constructed entirely of aluminum) has a removable top cover and extra access ports in the casting. The bell housing's casting also does duty as the rear motor mounts. But before we can get inside, this linkage has to be removed. This is the throttle linkage.

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Step three - Remove the cover plate. This is where some of us feel there might have been an improvement made. This cover plate has a flange across the top. See the lip? It rests below the arc of the top of the bell housing. Before it can be lifted up, it must be slid back to allow the flange to clear the casting which necessitates the transmission having to be slid back a little bit to make the space for it (if not removed entirely). By removing the cover plate, this allows full access to the rear of the engine.

I feel it would be an improvement if the flange were absent because that would make a visual inspection of the clutch far easier but I suppose in the military, if there was a clutch issue of any sort they would just go 'whole hog' and just do a replacement rather than tip-toeing around the problem, (which is one of the benefits of having almost unlimited resources in terms of money and manpower, right?)

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Step four - Retract the ball and remove the clutch release arm; the throwout bearing comes out the back of the bell housing. All the clutch and pressure plate bits come straight up and out! How cool is that?

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Cheers,
TJ
"This is my Gama Goat. There are many like it, but this one is mine."

[m3a1]

Here's a nice pic of 12Bravo's clutch & pressure plate installation on my Goat. No question about it. New, new, NEW!

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[Redlight]

Do you have all of the Manuals for the goat? I have some that I have not post for Sale yet.
I should have
TM 9-2320-242-10,10-1,10-3.
TM 9-2320-242-10-4
TM 9-2320-242-34 and Troubleshooting guide
deep discount to "G838" members

[m3a1]

Yup, I have a complete set of manuals for the Goat and the civilian Detroit-Allison operator's manual for the series 53 engine.

[m3a1]

It's been a long day and I'm beat. I feel like I've been forced to play on a jungle gym with 6 year olds all day long with brief rest periods spent on the Stair Master from Hell.

The cab has been vacuumed, the guts of the cab are back in, my winch PTO shaft is reconnected and I re-routed and re-connected the throttle cable and lubed it up. It works sweetly now. Kick panels back in. It's all starting to look like home to me. I never did get the power washing done but we have a heat wave that is supposed to be starting tomorrow. What better time to play in the water! (If I can stand up tomorrow, that is.)

Did I mention that I'm beat?

Cheers,
TJ
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz...

[1SGCAV77]

I understand your passion for the goat. My career started when the M37 and M38A1 were still a main stay. I loved both. They were simple and easy to work on. Like the popping johnie John Deere and M Farmals back on the farm. Simple. As time passed so did the vehicles. My motor pool experience working with diesels of all the flavors big and little helped with civilian employment in the trucking business. Same diesel experience allowed me to own a service business for refrigerated over the road trailers. Like you and your goat, I love my A1. I enjoy tinkering with it. My problem is Jeep doesn’t need much tinkering.
One last thing....Texas is better Goat country.

[m3a1]

Texas is GREAT Goat country! Presently, I know of only two prior Goat owners in my area and those guys had them many years ago. Now those Goats are long gone and their owners, almost so.

I'm keeping a little PM-ing going on with 12Bravo and we were discussing the matter of my reconnecting the winch PTO which is something I thought some of you might find interesting. Since I got my work done yesterday, I thought today might be a good day to rest and post some goodness for everyone to enjoy. Lucky you.

To set this up so that you have some appreciation for the job of reconnecting the drive shaft for the winch to the power take off unit, I'm going to take a moment to give you directions so that you can have the virtual experience of the work space (and then doing the job itself, for which there is no reasonable simulation). DO try this at home (I triple-dog-dare-you)...if you think have the huevos for it... but first, make sure everyone else is out of the house because to the casual observer, this is going to look a little strange and brother, no Henweigh in the world is going to make this any better....

First, call a friend. Tell him to come check on you if he doesn't hear from you in about an hour...or two. Don't tell him what you're doing but remind him where the key for the back door is. You'll want to be locking those doors because you don't want anyone walking in on you while you're in flagrante delicto. So, with that advice given, here we go!

Turn your oven on to 250 degrees and turn the heater in your home on to...oh, about 100 degrees. That's about right for Texas at the moment. While all this is warming up, put two kitchen chairs together, back-to-back. Climb up on one, step over the backs of the chairs (mind that ceiling fan!) onto the other one and then down. Do this 37 times. This will simulate getting into and out of the crew compartment of the tractor all...day...long. This is what I refer to as 'The Stair Master From Hell Routine'. How do those old knees feel?

Get some blue painters tape, take a knee and apply it to the face of the oven door so as to make a vertical line at about 1/5th of the width of the oven door, thus establishing a no-go line. You remember when you could actually take a knee and not wince, right? The remaining 4/5th of the space to the right of the line on the oven door represents the total width of the area where your body is allowed to be. Only your head is permitted to cross that no-go line and then, only as required.

Stand back up. (grunting is permitted) Yes, you may use the stove to help yourself up. Then, down again. By this time, your household pets should be taking a rather keen interest in all these goings-on. Yes, they ARE laughing at you, but ignore them utterly. Taking any notice of their presence will only encourage them. They are not part of the simulation and this is strictly a one-man show.

Remove the drawer from the bottom of your stove and put it aside. The area under the stove is where the work simulation is to be performed. This area is a Black Hole. No light and no stray objects ever return from this area. Do NOT attempt to clean the area under the stove. Lost kitty toys, pet hair, breakfast serial, more pet hair, a fossilized Pink Pearl eraser, two stray rubber bands, mouse droppings, dog kibble, 12 cents, some random marbles (and you have lost your marbles or you wouldn't be doing this) and all the sorts of things that find their way under a kitchen stove will do nicely to represent the general filth that accumulates in an inaccessible space of a military vehicle that is 50 years old.

Place a shoebox on its side between you and any work to be performed. This will serve to simulate the ever-present power take-off gearbox. When performing any task beneath the stove, your hands and arms must remain separated by the shoebox at all times.

Now, in recognition that your home is probably kept, not only immaculately spic but also immaculately span, the next thing you have to do is spray it all down with PB blaster to get the full affect. This is critical to the simulation because the real job being performed and the parts to be handled need to be completely and utterly grease free, while the work is being performed in an utterly greasy area. More about that, later. (and you think I'm kidding? No. No, I'm not. )

Tape eight .177 caliber pellet gun pellets to your forehead with duct tape. Yes, I know it sounds strange but this is going to be necessary to the effectiveness of our simulation.

If you have vinyl flooring or anything soft on your kitchen floor, replace it with something unnaturally hard and extremely unyielding. If you have ceramic tile, that will do nicely. Kneel in front of the stove and bring your knees as far forward as humanly possible. Remember the old 'Duck-And-Cover Routine' from grade school? That's you....in this space....doing something that will yield similar results to the nonsense that was supposed to preserve our country's youth from the Atomic Bomb.

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This is your workspace. There are few like it and this one is yours. The major difference is, these kids are smiling. You won't be.

Stay that in this position for 20 minutes or until you can no longer feel your lower extremities, except for your hips, which should be screaming, "STAND THE HELL UP!"....and, is that a cramp coming on? Why, YES, I believe it is. Oh, GOODY! I believe it's going to be one of those mind-bending grand mal hamstring cramps that leave you feeling like you may never walk again. I want you to have the full effect!

Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me? The dog isn't panting.... yet.

Now we are going to simulate doing the actual work. Reach under the oven and attempt to adjust the left rear leg of the thing, using only what you can feel with your 10 little porkies (and don't forget the shoebox). Our goal here is to make the stove level, while working from below without any ability to actually measure what level is and do it without any device (because you couldn't see it anyway). The purpose of this is to simulate, in some small way, part of the hardship of blindly getting the winch drive shaft correctly in phase with the PTO output shaft.

Oh, by the way...do NOT actually touch your work, because you'll get it greasy. But you must touch it to DO the work. You choose.

And did I forget to mention that you are not permitted to actually look at the work to be performed because in the real task, you cannot actually get in a position to see it. You are permitted to reach in and, using your smart phone to take pictures, get a sense of what needs to be done but you must remain wholly within the allowable space while doing that.

To achieve any of this, you will find that your body's center of gravity will shift forward and a bit off to the side as you reach in below the stove. the dash panel of the Gama Goat has screw heads and toggle switches and all sorts sticking out of it. That's why you have pellet gun pellets taped to your forehead. This shift in your balance will make it necessary to place your forehead or maybe even your cheek against the oven door to keep your balance (hot, ain't it?) while you almost, but only ALMOST get that rear leg adjusted. You can always spot a Gama Goat mechanic. He's the guy with all the mysterious little dents in his face.

Because of the increased temperature, you will be sweating bullets and it will be necessary to take regular breaks. Utter oaths while you're there. work on your 'blue language' and say things that would make a sailor blush. Get up and wipe the sweat away (only to have it return to your kneeling position a moment later but seriously, have something to drink while you're up. Is that another cramp coming on? Stomp around until your feet stop tingling and your knees start hurting....

I estimate this simulation to be about 86.384 % effective as compared to the real task. Next up - a serious description of the work to be performed..

[m3a1]

The power take off is pretty normal in all respects. Its output shaft is fair in size; and is just a simple round slug of metal with a hole through it for a shear pin. There are no splines. How do I know? I've never actually had a view of that end of one. I've only seen a digital rendering of it on my cel phone. Without splines, the strength of the connection is based solely upon the strength of the shear pin. The last guy tried to use a brass shear pin, with predictable results. (author's note: After stumbling upon the information in the TM, it appears that a brass shear pin is actually correct for this application!) The simplicity of the connection and the amount of labor to replace a two-cent part drives home the importance of using a snatch block to minimize the stresses placed upon all parts of your machine when winching. Straight pulls are for amateurs and I believe pulling the front end entirely off of an irretrievably stuck Gama Goat would be generally considered 'a bad thing'. I'm sure of it.

The connection at the PTO end of the winch drive shaft is a universal joint with a cup at its end and it has two sets of holes, 12-6 o'clock and 3-9 o'clock. It is your choice to use one set of holes; that set being whichever is most advantageous for lining everything up.

By the way, those two sets of holes do not intersect. One set is deeper in the socket than the other set which means not only do you have to get the holes in phase with the output shaft (which has only one hole through it) but you also have to have the correct depth set for the pin to go through.

The manual calls for a shear pin that is held in place with (get this!) .....tape . Yeah, that's right. Tape. I know it sounds crazy but I'm guessing the difficulty in getting to this junction was so great that the job to replace a sheared pin would likely have resulted in (at worst) mutiny, and (at best) straws being drawn by the motor pool guys. Ever wonder why they call it a motor 'pool'? I submit to you that it is because there's always a pool for which mechanic will blow his brains out, next.

Well, the short straw always gets the job of replacing the shear pin, which is a booger of a job. I know, because I have just done it. And, the difficulty of actually getting to the work is such that having to perform the simplest task, like removing a broken and distorted pin, would most likely mean employing a pin punch and a hammer...which is pretty much impossible unless you have a couple of tiny little motor pool guys who are 'unusually friendly' with one another and who enjoy playing Twister in their free time, just to stay in practice for Gama Goats. 'Nuff said!

Yes, there is another way to get to all those things that live beneath the cowling of a Gama Goat and that entails unbolting the cowl from the tub. Not too bad of a job, but terribly, terribly time consuming and sort of a no-go when you want to keep the original livery "original" which left me with one option...The Duck And Cover Method. The things some soldiers have to do for their country! The things some former MV owners have to do for their craft! I would have been far better off collecting stamps.

So, it appears that the military solution for the difficulties involved in this fix became to employ a shear pin that was a tiny bit undersized and allow it to sort of slop-around in there and then ensure that it didn't fall out by wrapping the whole thing with tape. That's from the TM. Wow. Weird, but it must actually work and by the way, there is NO way to put a more permanent wrapping around this thing because it is irregular in shape so, tape it is! Then, if it shears, it's a simple matter to get the broken bits out.

Tape. All this technology and we're down to using tape to hold things together. Wuff. That's the sort of thing that keeps me awake at night.

Which brings us straight back to the matter of certain things remaining grease free...because even the best tape won't stick to grease. So, I had to remove the end of the winch drive shaft (it is extendable so it slid right out), take it over to the wire-wheel and clean it up, then degrease it in preparation for receiving a secure wrapping of tape. By the way, this is part of a universal joint coupling where, you guessed it, grease abounds.

If you want to get some idea of how hard it is to keep a component grease-free while installing it in an area that is generally greasy all over, try to imagine assisting in a difficult calving without getting yourself wet. And that's all I have to say about that.

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So the next little task is a real humdinger. Not only do you have to get the socket of the winch drive shaft onto the output shaft of the PTO but you also have to get the hole for the shear pin lined up and do all of that while trying to keep that socket as grease-free as possible...like THAT's gonna happen! With 360 degrees in a circle and only one degree that will allow the pin to go in, that equals 359 chances for failure. Multiply that with the possibility of getting the depth of the pin hole set incorrectly (that becomes basically 359 chances for failure multiplied by infinity).

So, I eyeballed the socket and determined that the holes I would use would be the ones that most closely matched the depth of full insertion of the socket onto the PTO output shaft. Yes. Yes, I know...using common sense is considered cheating when there is a perfectly good TM at my disposal. I suppose that makes me a cheat but, doggone it...you have to start SOMEWHERE!

Then I put the pin in the output shaft and rotated it to where it felt the most level and remember, I can't actually see the darned thing! It being sort of level meant that if I had some luck with it at least the pin wouldn't fall out while I struggled to apply the tape.

I got it on the second try and I almost wept. Eyes skyward...

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I got a rag and some naptha and wiped her down really, REALLY well, then cleaned myself up and took a much needed break and tried to massage the dimples out of my forehead.

Grabbed some military grade 100mph tape and tore off about 14 inches and then tore that straight down the middle creating half-width strips. Getting that tape in there and around the end of that winch drive shaft entirely by feel and doing it in such a way that the tape didn't stick to itself of get greasy along the way was a real undertaking because there is other stuff in there...wiring, cables, rods and all sorts...but it got done and according to a final inspection by using a mirror and a flashlight, it looked pretty darned good even if I must say so, myself.

I finished the Goat up by putting the kick panels back in (a nasty job in itself) and putting the cockpit back together and then had dinner and went to bed. Dirty Gertie is looking and feeling better now. Next, she gets some teeth. This particular USMC Gama Goat did have a gun mount at one time and replacement parts for that are on the way!

Cheers,
TJ
"This is my Gama Goat. There are many like it, but this one is mine!"

[rickf]

Come on up to NJ where I have your Tx. heat and NJ humidity and on top of all that I have a massive pine tree that broke off 20 feet up and is just trying to finish falling right on my container with all of my M-37 parts in it and on the collection of M-37 beds and body parts. You can barely see the container in the pics and I don't think you can even see the body parts to the left of it. I really did not want to deal with this tree since it is extremely dangerous the way it is broken and hanging by a thread but there are no tree services available at this time and probably will not be for some time after the storms we had last week. The pics don't show the size of the tree well but the base of the tree is almost 36" across. Spent the entire day cutting the top out of it so I could get an idea of what is holding it up. Trimmed all of the non load bearing branches out of the way. I will get some pics in the morning, I was simply to sweaty and beat to get them today. The leaves and trees you see on the ground are the three sassafrass trees it brought down with it, They are actually all still in one piece and I am hoping to save them.

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[m3a1]

And you're saying it's better up there?...or worse? We don't allow that sort of thing in Texas.

And for more reading pleasure about the Gama Goat development, go to -
http://www.vought.org/special/html/sgamaa.html

Cheers,
TJ

[Mark]

Well Rickf, if I was there I'd put my hooks on, climb up, cut the broke tree part off, leaving the tree trunk free to cut down.Aw, probably could do the same with a ladder though.I wonder if throwing a rope around the broke trunk, pulling on it would break it free?Aw, I better keep quiet as I ain't there to see it good, not tree man anyway. Thinking out loud again.

[m3a1]

Personally, I'd be considering felling that trunk and allowing it to take the upper bit with it. Is that an option?

[12Bravo]

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My first Goat back in 1981. Came out of Ft Meade. It was a training aid, cost more to get it home than I paid for it. 13 original miles. 2nd Goat( bottom pic.) had about 7500 miles on it, Back in the day DRMO only blacked out part of the number and left U'S. Army .On the carrier they left it alone.

[Mark]

Some of M3a1's dialect/words sounds like he's lived/been in South Dakota, which is an interesting thought as like where?

[rickf]

Personally, I'd be considering felling that trunk and allowing it to take the upper bit with it. Is that an option?

Not really an option since the way the upper part is attached it is most likely going to go in the direction of all the stuff I am trying to protect. And even if I could pull it the other way I have to move more stuff and that means spending a lot of time running a loader around the base of that tree. Not real comfortable spending any time around the base of that tree but especially on something making noise where I can't hear a crack. On top of that there is a LOT of pressure from the broken section on it so when you cut the bottom there is a chance it could blow out.

Mark, I sold all my climbing gear many years ago and even if I had it there is no way I could do it anymore. Plus, there is no way you would want to be on that tree. Many tons of lateral pressure from the top part. I will just keep working from the top end until I find the trigger than lets it slide out and straight down. I actually hooked on to the top of the tree and pulled it away from the bottom but nothing happened besides it pulled the top 16" section off of the tree. It is wedged between two trees and that is where the pressure is.

I already had a guy come over and said "well you just need to cut the section that is laying down between the trunk and the trees that are holding it. If you cut from the bottom it will drop straight down."
I asked this guy how much experience he had cutting trees down, "Well, I have cut down a few". And how many storm damage trees have you dealt with? "it is all the same thing". Yea, Ok. End of discussion.
If you have a tree down and it is wedged at both ends there is substantial force on that section and if you cut into the section there is a very good chance it is going to blow out, and not always in the direction you expect. So you work from the end that is already on the ground. I could do this quit easily by cutting down one of the trees that this one is wedged on but I am trying to save the trees, so slow and methodically I will chip away at it and tug on it with the tractor and it will drop straight down eventually. Hopefully missing everything in the process.