Re: [MV] M561 Gama Goat questions

From: Charlie (SeacoastSurplus@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Tue Dec 07 1999 - 04:17:42 PST


What I want to know is why the seller already left you feedback???, HMMMMM

At 01:07 AM 6/6/01, you wrote:

>I just discovered, to my surprise, that I expect to take delivery of
>an M561 Gama Goat soon. (What a coincidence! :-) I've only been near
>one once, and I don't have any operator's or service manuals for one
>yet. The truck might arrive before I can get my hands on a set of
>manuals, so I have a few questions for my esteemed fellow list
>members.
>
>First, is there anything special that I need to know about starting,
>driving and stopping one of these beasts, or will that all be readily
>apparent to any 2.5-ton owner who sits down in the driver's seat?
>
>Second, I'll need to deal with getting the truck off a plain flatbed
>semi-trailer without access to a loading ramp. Some of you may have
>seen the recent pictures of my 5-ton wrecker being unloaded:
>
> http://www.qsl.net/ke6myk/greentruck/truck3/pics.html
>
>I imagine that a similar technique might be necessary to unload the
>Goat, and I'm wondering if my M543A2 5-ton wrecker might be up to the
>task. Some quick guesstimates, based on weights and dimensions from
>the M561's transport guidelines (the only M561 TM I have) make me
>think that it might be able to unload the Goat with a bit of care...
>at least as long as the truss is installed to keep the Goat from
>bending in the middle (which would make a much higher lift necessary,
>I would guess), and assuming that I locate the wrecker to lift at the
>shortest possible lift radius (i.e., locating the wrecker alongside
>the semitrailer and doing a side lift at the shortest practical lift
>radius). What do y'all think about this? The Goat is supposed to
>include the truss, but I should be prepared to unload it without the
>truss if necessary. For instance, it might not work properly, or I
>might not know how to install the thing.
>
>That brings me to the third question. You probably saw this one
>coming: How do I install and remove the truss?
>
>If anybody could provide an electronic (or even FAXed) copy of any
>picture(s) showing the driver's controls/dashboard, or even
>identifying the controls, that would be really great, and would help
>me know what to expect if I can't get an operator's manual before I
>need to drive the Goat into its parking space.
>
>Some of you might be wondering why I bought this thing, since I
>obviously know so little about it:
>
>* It's a very unusual vehicle.
>
>* It's butt-ugly.
>
>* It looks needlessly complicated.
>
>* It looks difficult to maintain.
>
>* It has far more wheels and driven axles than I really need.
>
>In other words, it has all of the features I look for in a green
>truck! :-)
>
>Thanks in advance for any information, advice, interesting Goat
>stories, outbursts of jealousy, raucous laughter at my obvious mental
>defect that makes me blow money on things like Gama Goats located 2/3
>of a continent away from my home, offers to send me free beer and/or
>cute 18-year-old cheerleaders, best wishes for my dog Lugnut, etc.
>
>--
>Mark J. Blair, KE6MYK <mblair1@home.net>
>PGP 2.6.2 public key available from http://www.keyserver.net/
>Web page: http://www.qsl.net/ke6myk/
>DO NOT SEND ANY UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL EMAIL TO THIS SITE
>PLEASE SEND PLAIN ASCII TEXT ONLY -- NO HTML OR QUOTED-PRINTABLE
>
>===Mil-Veh is a member-supported mailing list===
>To unsubscribe, send e-mail to: <mil-veh-off@mil-veh.org>
>To switch to the DIGEST mode, send e-mail to <mil-veh-digest@mil-veh.org>
>To reach a human, contact <ack@mil-veh.org>



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 05 2001 - 00:40:34 PDT