Is it possible..

[jimmy_stikx]

That my 53 could have only 55,000 miles on it? Everything for the most part is original looking other than wiring and a couple switches and the marker lights (trailer type).
I just can't wrap my head around a 60y/o truck having that few miles on it.

[nhjohnny1]

they only go 45MPH, just sayin

[T. Highway]

There is no way to know if a previous owner ever swapped out the speedometer.

Bert

[PoW]

Easy. I've spent a lot of time with a Nation Guard mech and he related the average tactical goes to DRMO with less than 20K on it.

My M54A1 5-ton was bought at a sealed bid sale (remember those days) with 22K on it. It was in Viet Nam and Desert Storm and that plus being 1st Armored in Nurnburg only accrued that aggregate figure.

They would change oil on a yearly basis, no need to check the mileage.

I've seen many M-37's with less that 15K on them for sale back in the 70's.

They just don't go far in service.

Armor gets a lot less, BTW. I've seen M-60 tanks with less than 450 miles on them at the scrappers.

DG

[Paul in Kempner, TX]

My M37 had less than 5,000 miles on the odometer when I drove it into my driveway. I was the fourth owner. First was the Army at Fort Hood, Texas. It was transferred by the Army to a local volunteer fire department. They eventually sold it to a rancher. The rancher sold it to me.

I personally knew the person from the Briggs, Texas, VFD who drove it there from Fort Hood. He did a lot of the work converting it to a brush truck. The VFD sold it to a rancher in Burnet, Texas, who kept it briefly until he realized that the truck was not the best choice for driving on 75 mph highways betwween his and his father's ranches - about 80 miles apart. I drove it several years on my place and trailered it to several events close by my place. I sold it to my son's father-in-law. That M37 lives five miles from me.

Almost all of the miles were put on while the truck was in the Army. It still had very low mileage because it was a RATT rig (RAdioTeleType). RATT rigs were driven very little. It's likely that the engine had more hours sitting at idle during Motor Stables, than hours being driven. The fire department volunteers drove it in low/low at fires so it just never got any miles on it. The last time I looked that M37 still had less that 5,000 miles

[jimmy_stikx]

All very interesting.

As far as I know I'm either the third or fourth owner after it left the Air Force. At one point used as a plow truck in Big Bear. I bought it from a guy in Pendleton that had had here in 29 as an off roader.


Just seems odd to me, my Ranger is about a year and half old and has almost 40k on it

[nhjohnny1]

so my first post sounded funnier in my head, anyways.....at 45 mph the truck is screaming, 35 is the happy place for mine so even when these hit the surplus market they were slow, my totally uneducated guess would be that they just were not used mainly for daily driving but more as a work truck so even if they were used frequently they didnt go far.

disclaimer. This info is nothing more than uneducated opinion

[Cal_Gary]

Mine had no Speedo/Odo when I got it, and as beat as it was, I'd estimate 100K, all off road....
Gary