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Back in the 70's burb did come from the factory with a D60, but they were special order military ONLY rigs. Was never even an option for the general public.
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I call BS too. No GM trucks got a Dana 60 front before they offered it in '77. Of course, anything can be modified after it leaves the assembly line - perhaps even at the dealer's garage /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
My buddy has a '76 "5/4-ton" (ex-Canadian military). Its a strange truck. He has Collector's plates on it too, so it is authentic.
- 9400lbs GVW
- 350/TH350/NP203 combo
- D44 front with bolt-on truss
- 14FF rear with 13x3.5" drums
- Hydroboost
- 4.56 ratio
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Does anyone know why they call military trucks 1 and 1/4 ton?
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The military takes the rated GVW, and subtracts the "outfitted" net weight. What's left is ~2500lbs available for payload.
The best explanation I've heard for the 1/2, 3/4, and 1-ton designations is that this is the amount of weight the truck can withstand to carry for the intended service life of the vehicle.
For example, a 1-ton dually is rated at 10,000lbs, and only weighs say 5000lbs, so you can really carry 2.5 tons - but the truck would wear out prematurely if loaded to that level continuously.
What makes a 1-ton?
I built a 3/4-ton 14FF up with 1-ton drums and put that in my Burb last year. Just this month I put in the 1-ton front brakes, spindles, and coils (thanks Rene /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif ) Now its a 1-ton... according to me!