I pulled the powerpack to replace the alternator on a AVLB (Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge) today that is  on a M48A5 tank chassis. The M48 went out of production in 1959!

And this was at an ACTIVE unit that just returned from Iraq. My class went over to help them repair a few to get ready for a trip to NTC.







edited to fix title

Those are cool as hell.  An insta-bridge!

So freakin cool!!!

If it ain't broke don't fix it.  How much solid state electronics in that?  other than the portable radio the driver brings along?  Bet it's all hydraulic???

I used to love those things as a kid.
I used to have one in the ol sand box when I was about 5.

That is a neat peice of equipment.

Things used to be built to last....before our time of planned obsolesence.

they probably upgraded the engine considerably. given only one person is probably needed to operate it..... they could make room for a bigger engine. Only thing extra I'd add would be the skirt for the tracks.

I know someone who has   an M48 tank.

Does anyone have a diagram of how the bridge actually deploys?  I could never figure that part out.

Kharn

The do use the same powerpack as the M-60 version, that was the upgrade tp the A5 version that was done in the 70's. Sit a M-60 AVLB next to a M-48 AVLB and they look almost identical. The M-48 hull is just a whole lot older.

Electronics?

My Wolverine, based on the M-1 chassis, was set to replace it. But funding has come through for a total of 39 only so these 50 year old hulls will continue to serve for quite a while longer!

It does need a more powerfull engine, no need to make it larger they have shown they can add 300-400 horsepower with an electronic fuel injection system. It is underpowered as is, average life of an engine/powerpack is 150-175 hours of operation.

Remember: If it's stupid and it works, it ain't stupid.

I remember watching Aliens back in 1986 and laughing my ass off when I saw the drop ship. Marines get rid of NOTHING, dude! The built it out of a Harrier and a CH-53!

Quoted: Does anyone have a diagram of how the bridge actually deploys?  I could never figure that part out. Kharn

check here there is a series of photos that show it

www.combatindex.com/store/Photo_CD/Land_Vehicles/m60_avlb/m60-avlb_photo_index.html

click on page 2 also, the damm text is the same color as the background but the link is there next to the 1.

When I did my '4187 (Inter-Brigade transfer) early last year to deploy with the Combat Engineer unit I belong to from my Cav' unit I was originally slotted on an AVLB( I guess they figured it was "Almost" a tank lol).  We had 8 in the Batt' and two of those were on '48 hulls.

Coolest thing I found about the AVLB was that after you got that bridge deployed the hull turned into a "Hot-Rod".

Kharn, I don't have a diagram guy but the bridge has hydraulic lines running through it and it "Clam shells" open.  I gained ALOT of respect for AVLB guys after deploying the bridge a couple of times (With the dash 10 sitting in my lap).  It's one of those "Pat your head and rub your belly at the same time" exercises because you've got a bunch of levers to your right and you have to operate them together with SOME kind of coordination or you can really look like an idiot (plowing the front of the bridge into the dirt ect)

Garand_Shooter, one of the things I thought when I saw one of the '48's we had was "Damn! ELVIS could've been here!" lol (For those of you who don't know THE KING crewed '48's)

""If anyone thinks the Army doesn't hold on to equipment for a long time""

back around 1965 there was a place that was selling Civil War Cannons that were discovered in a warehouse at an Army base in Ky.  

that's a long time !!

Earlier this year I was issued a M1911A1 built by Remington-Rand in 1944.  My M14 National Match that I use as a MBR here with an EOTech is made in Mar 66.  The M2 HB that I'll use tomorrow was made during WWII also.

CD

Quoted: Remember: If it's stupid and it works, it ain't stupid. I remember watching Aliens back in 1986 and laughing my ass off when I saw the drop ship. Marines get rid of NOTHING, dude! The built it out of a Harrier and a CH-53!

Yep, and the flight helmets were old SPH-4's.

That's nothing unusual, if you order parts for a reel of commo wire or the crank the manual is from 1944.  And the NSN's are still good.  I've blown demo shaped charges from 1945, most of the army's M2 .50's are from WWII, the army hangs on to everything.  If you look hard at the newsreels from WWII, it's downright amazing how much gear from that era we still use.  

Quoted: If you look hard at the newsreels from WWII, it's downright amazing how much gear from that era we still use.

A metric shit ton. Hell we're jsut now getting away from the WWII H harness.

Quoted: I pulled the powerpack to replace the alternator on a AVLB (Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge) today that is  on a M48A5 tank chassis. The M48 went out of production in 1959! And this was at an ACTIVE unit that just returned from Iraq. My class went over to help them repair a few to get ready for a trip to NTC. www.adi-aero.com/mls/images/mlsproducts/product2.jpg edited to fix title

I owned one of those once.....my GIJoe's loved it.  Crossed many a stream in my backyard.