Humvees, MRAPs, 5-tons, oh my!…
The Military Vehicle Collectors Club of Michigan, (MVCCMI) was invited to take part in a Cummins Employee Family Day & Car Show at their former Meritor location in Troy, Mich. last August.
The ATLAS LT (Light) Cargo vehicle is part of a scalable, modular family of vehicles designed to fill any logistical role. Seen with the changeable, armored cab module,
the LT platform also offers a 6x6 configuration. Rick Forys
The Military Vehicle Collectors Club of Michigan, (MVCCMI) was invited to take part in a Cummins Employee Family Day & Car Show at their former Meritor location in Troy, Mich. last August. They were especially interested to see any of our MVs with Rockwell axles and suspension springs (M-series deuces, 5-tons & HMMWVs) and / or Cummins engines (M-series 5-tons). Beside the family open-house aspect of the event, there was also an employee car show, which was impressively large. Unless you are in the business, the connection between Cummins, Rockwell and Meritor may not be apparent. A quick bit of research confirms all the details.
Cummins Inc. is an American multinational corporation that originated in Columbus, Ind., in 1919, and currently has over 69,000 employees world wide. It is a leading producer of diesel engines and other vehicle components. Well known for its diesel engines in Dodge Ram Pickups, Cummins has also supplied engines serving military applications for many years. In a move to improve its market position for commercial vehicle electric powertrains, Cummins acquired Meritor in August 2022 for $3.7 billion. Going back further, Meritor Automotive was created when Rockwell International spun it off in 1997. Three years later, it merged with Arvin Industries to form ArvinMeritor, but by 2011, ArvinMeritor changed its name back to Meritor.
The MVCCMI managed to gather five vehicles for the Thursday event, which started out brisk, but warmed up as day unfolded. One was a 1990 M998 HMMWV brought by Jim Tweedie. MVCCMI CO Terry Shelswell informed me that while working as a process engineer, he developed the program for a CNC bar turning machine that was used to machine the suspension coil springs in the very early HMMWVs, at Rockwell International Suspension Systems Co., in Milton, Ontario. Indeed, parts manuals confirm that initial production Humvees contained Rockwell produced steering arms, and possibly other content. However, over time, those items became sourced elsewhere. Meritor Defense is known to make parts for the U-joints in the steering column, and it also produced a High Mobility Independent Suspension Series called ProTec 30 for use on HMMWVs.
Terry Shelswell attended with his 1980 M816 Wrecker powered by a Cummins NHC-250 diesel, which was the standard engine for all 800 series (M809), and early 900 series (M939) 5-ton trucks. It was an 855-cubic inch (14.0L) naturally aspirated inline six-cylinder diesel engine that produced 240 horsepower. The 800 series trucks also used Rockwell-Standard double-reduction axles with a 6.44:1 ratio.
When AM General rebuilt more than 24,000 M809 series trucks at its South Bend, Ind., facility into early 1900 series vehicles, the engine and axle spec remained the same, therefore Bill Nutting’s M934 also employs the Cummins NHC-250 engine and Rockwell axles. Not related to Cummins, Inc., all M939 series trucks were produced with an Allison MT654CR 5-speed automatic transmission.
M939A2 series 5-tons like the two 1990 M923A2s displayed by Tom Roberts, were produced by Bowen-McLaughlin-York/BMY in Marysville, Ohio. These trucks feature the newer and smaller Cummins 6CTA8.3 504-cubic inch (8.3L) turbocharged inline six-cylinder diesel engine delivering the same 240 hp. M939A2 series 5-tons also use a similar Meritor branded axle with the same ratio.
Cummins also arranged for ND Defense, formally Navistar Defense, to bring a few vehicles to the event. The three included a MXT-MV all-terrain armored MV, M1235A2 MaxxPro Dash MRAP, and an ATLAS LT Cargo vehicle.
The MXT-MV is a six-person light armored all-terrain prototype vehicle employed by the British as the Husky (TSV) Tactical Support Vehicle. It was a candidate for the JLTV (Joint Light Tactical Vehicle), but lost out to the Oshkosh L-ATV.
The M1235A2 MaxxPro Dash MRAP (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicle was developed in response to the casualties in Iraq from Improvised Explosive Devices (IED). The platform was implemented and used successfully in Iraq, and later in Afghanistan. Production of the smaller and lighter, MaxxPro Dash began in October 2008 with delivery of 822 units completed by February 2009.
The ATLAS LT Cargo vehicle is part of a scalable, modular family of vehicles designed to fill any logistical role from long-range highway to off-road trails. The “LT” designates a light vehicle which is available in 4x4 and 6x6 configurations. The “HD” or heavy duty range comes in 6x4, 6x6, and 8x8 configurations. Currently, ND Defense has submitted offerings for the Army’s Common Tactical Truck and Marine Corps’ Medium Tactical Truck programs with vehicles based on the ATLAS platform. These include Line Haul Tractors, Off-Road Tractors, and Load Handling Systems.
It turned out to be a very pleasant and interesting day, and our host Cummins, was extremely accommodating. The MVCCMI was happy to attend, and enjoyed the opportunity to show our vehicles. The car show grew to be larger than expected, with a wide variety of make, model, year, and category. Employees took great pride displaying their vehicles, and everything from classic stock to customs, to a rock-climber to a show car could be seen. They were also very happy to see our vehicles, with some even getting visibly excited. I’ve never seen so many people point at axles and smile! It was a pretty good day.
Thanks goes out to Terry Shelswell, David Doyle, and David Oberer, “the Hummer Parts Guy” for their assistance with this article.