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Hi everyone,
I made these in response to Kurt's question in the "Serials and stuff from this weekend" thread. Bob was kind enough to link my previous hull and turret pictures there too.

First is of the Air cleaner housings. There were four types. with the exception of the M60A3 you could find any of these on the other models. Side loader's being found mostly on M60A0's, M60A2's and pre RISE M60A1, AVLB and M728's (CEV). If a tank does not have armored top loaders it is a safe bet it did not get upgraded to RISE standards, but having them does not indicate it has.



Here are the driver's hatches. The M24 IR Hatch can be found on all versions of the M60 series with the exception of the A3. When a tank was upgraded to RISE/Passive standards a VVS-2 passive viewer would replace the M24 and the hatch either converted or on rare occasion replaced with the newer style hatch. A good indicator that a tank was originally made as an A1/Passive or A3 is it being equipped with the new style hatch, though some Anniston A3 rebuilds and A1 Passive conversions did get a new hatch installed instead of conversion.



Below are the differences between bustle racks on A1/A3's. If a tank has a one piece model it is either a very late production A1 RISE/Passive or a New Detroit produced A3. Anniston and Mainz rebuilds utilized older M60A1's to make A3's which would have the two piece bustle rack.



M60A3 features are the small door on the Laser Range Finder (LRF) armored cover below the TC's cupola. TTS models have a rounded top of the Gunner's Sight Housing whereas Passive models would be shorter and flat on top. Also a TTS model would have a mirrored and clear glass while a passive would only have a single clear piece. All M60A3 Passives where supposed to have been converted to TTS standards. (I am tracking a possible exception though and waiting verification).


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Another trait of M60A3's is the welded over searchlight cable receptacle, if it's capped it's an A3 TTS, but not being capped is not a definitave sign the tank is not a TTS model. SN 229 at Aberdeen is one of those exceptions.

Wind sensor mast and hardware. Early new Detroit A3's along with very early Anniston rebuilds had a stowage bracket "J Hook" welded on top of the turret along with an interupter to prevent the TC from shooting it. Later models dropped the "J Hook" and then eventually the interupter. M60A1 turrets initially did not have an opening where the wind sensor mast is mounted but A1 RISE/Passives did. A wind sensor base would have three bolt holes tapped where as an A1 RISE/Passive Antenna would have four.


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This picture shows two cupolas of M60A3 rebuilds, the bottom cupola came from an old M60A0. Inside both were identicle having being upgraded with Passive sights and the "Last Round Overide" system.



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Here are the two types of escape hatches, the smaller is found on M60A0's and early GEN Two A1 hulls.


Hope these pictures help clear up some questions.

Joe D

Thanks, Joe! Great post. I'd like to add something to the part on the air filter housings. The armored air filter boxes were modified in the mid 80's. There was a modification called "VEDES" or 'Vehicle Exhaust Dust Ejector System'. The blower motors were removed from the air filter housings and replaced by a tube (on both sides) connected to the exhaust pipe. The exhaust created a vacuum and sucked dust out and ejected it. The 'captive bolts' that kept the air filter doors closed was replaced by a standard type bolt. The air restriction indicators were also replaced. The old indicators were either 'good' or 'bad'. No in between. The new indicators were graduated in steps so you could see the condition of the filter. Although you couldn't see it they also put extra bolts inside the housing in case you lost one. (Great Idea!) Another part of this modification, although not on the air filter housing, was the 'dust detector' warning light in the driver's compartment. This light worked off of switches mounted in the turbochargers. The point is (is there one?) that there is two types of armored top loaders.

..and just because:

Here's a two piece bustle rack application on an A1 with only one piece installed and the reason why...the searchlight stowage mount over/aft of the turret ventilator fan (since white or pink light illumination may be unfamiliar to those not of "a certain age" ). Turret ventilator relocated from the "A0" views in Joe's air cleaner shots above.

'Weed,
Yep, We got a rebuilt A1 RISE/Passive in for a tank that burnt up when I was in Riley that had that system. No one at the time had a clue how to use it let alone service/ pull pack. All our other A1's were IR AOS or old Passives without many upgrades. This was in '86 when the Army was starting to replace M1's with M1A1's. I later got the full education on the system at Irwin with the 5 M60A3's we had. They also had a little paper strip on the turbo housing you would pull to check for dirt when the clogged filter light came on. externally other than the filter gauge and the cover bolts the housings are the same. A lot of display tanks have the gauges removed and plugged or just broke off. That's why I just list them both as armored air filter boxes.

(since white or pink light illumination may be unfamiliar to those not of "a certain age" )

I probably was one of the last Active duty tankers to experience that, mostly because of Riley and also because of Irwin and the T-72/M551 VISMOD's we had used the searchlight. Some TC's would forget to move the toggle all the way to off after using the white light, leaving the pink dot displayed for everyone to see .

Joe D

Joe,

When I was a tank mech (civilian) at Fort Irwin General Dynamics came out to modify our fleet of M60s. I attended a one week class on the upgrade so I got into it pretty deep. The little roll of tape in the turbos was pretty clever. The best part is I never had to replace a precleaner motor again.

That or pull one from one side to put on the other so you would at least have one per side and not be deadlined . Did you ever get desperate enough to bust open a BA-30 and use the carbon rod inside for a motor brush??? Had a TC in Germany do that once. BDAR at it's best .
That whole VDES system was a very smart system.

Joe D

Thanks for the breakdown Joe, very good presentation.

So, would you consider these as a "standard" set of M60 photos sufficient to ID the vehicle?

4x overall views (0-90-180-270).
1x Suspension Close up (C/U) showing shock and side lug arrangement
1x Tow lug S/N C/U
1x Engine deck S/Ns C/U
1x Glacis R/N C/U
1x Driver's hatch C/U
1x Turret C/U, showing T/C rangefinder head and gunner's sight
1x Air cleaner C/U, slightly high and looking rearward
1x Turret top view, looking forward from rear deck to show wind sensor
1x Bustle rack C/U from right side

Will that show everything of interest?

KL

Maybe get the gun's thermal shroud in the picture on the A3's. That's a good ID point. If the wind sensor is not mounted that's how I ID them.

'Weed,
Yes, thermal shroud will be nice too.

Kurt,
Other areas I like to get a shot of are the left side of the cupola and the escape hatch. Cupola because you will find one from an old M60A0 upgraded and mounted on an A3. The mounting plinth for the M2 is a dead give away. Escape hatch because there are two types, small round and large oval. The latter being newer. Still looking for a GEN 2 hull tank with a large hatch. Found an original (Non-conversion) AVLB but no tanks. Many ID features between A1's and A3's are not fixed, in other words, easily removed. I have seen old A3's and A1's with no wind sensor, Range finder cover, Gunners sight housing, thermal shroud etc. There are actually very few things that aren't removable that help ID an A3 from an A1. Then there are some items that some well intentioned but uninformed person adds to a tank. The M60A0 with a thermal shroud in Lawrenceburg NJ is one example. Another problem is even after an A3 was made it most likely in it's life would have been rebuilt at least one time by Anniston, local GS or MATES/CSMS facility. Near the end of the M60's life in the Army many parts were cannibalized. That's why you can find many with the old style shocks from M60's (Friction Snubbers) and M1 thermal shrouds and gun tubes. Some one once on this thread mentioned the M60 was the Army's modern day Sherman with all the upgrades and variations that were made. Considering it was in service over 35 years in the US alone makes everyone to me interesting and a challenge to discover what mods and components it has. Give me a few days I can post more guides and variations to look for if you like. Right now I can't even view the new M60 posts Bob put up. Who knows, maybe I can start getting a little more respect for the old girl. One good thing is there are many out there to compare notes with.

Joe D

Recently, someone on Armorama posted photos of Austrian M60A3 tanks. These had been upgraded locally and did not have the rounded uparmored sight housing. The poster of the photo did not know if Austrian A3s had TTS though. From the look of the photos, I would assume not.

Rob,
You are correct, The Austrians puchased new M60A3 Passives and then upgraded their M60A1's to A3 standards. They never went to thermals with their fleet. They are known as M60A3 O's , the "O" having an umlaut over it and meaning Osteriech. They were one of the first purchasers of the M60 outside of the US. Buying their A1's in the '60's. Last I heard other than a few static displays and a "Runner" they maintain they were trying to sell them to the Morroccans or some other North African country. I also heard Egypt or Jordan was interested, but this was years ago when they switched to LEO II's.

Joe D

I seem to remember differences in the cooling grill at the rear of the tank. The second picture in this posting shows one variation. The difference is in the grill on the right side. some seem to have an access panel and others dont. Even with the access panel there seems to be at least two versions. One has a rectangular opening with fixed grills all around and others have a 5 sided (If I remember correctly) panel that extends the rectangular opening to the upper left corner. Do these differences have any significance?

www.com-central.net/in...hlight=M60

- bsmart

I seem to remember differences in the cooling grill at the rear of the tank. The second picture in this posting shows one variation. The difference is in the grill on the right side. some seem to have an access panel and others dont. Even with the access panel there seems to be at least two versions. One has a rectangular opening with fixed grills all around and others have a 5 sided (If I remember correctly) panel that extends the rectangular opening to the upper left corner. Do these differences have any significance?

www.com-central.net/in...hlight=M60

Bob,
I think that's a deep water fording kit attachment point , IIRC.

Hi Bob! Hi Folks!

This photo, right?


That thing in the right grill door is a panel that can be removed so the two exhaust piples (which are under the armor) can be vented out through a single stack for deep water fording.

As for different types of removable panels, that question I leave to Mr. M60, Joe D.
Sgt, Scouts Out!

- Roy_A_Lingle

As for different types of removable panels, that question I leave to Mr. M60, Joe D.

I think Joe needs a new nickname... I propose 'Doc 60'