Before the US entered the war, it began work on a fully-tracked artillery tractor. The initial design was the M-4, based on the running gear of the M-2 light tank. However, as that tank was obsolete and a new light tank (the M-3 Stuart, pW:DF78) was due to enter service, it was decided to design a new tractor using components from it. Starting in 1942, the M-4 was used to tow various artillery pieces, as well as carrying the gun crew and gun ammo. It was an open-top vehicle, with a canvas cover provided for protection from the weather.After the war, the US got rid of the M-5, sending it to several different countries.
The M-5 has a crew of one. The driver sits in the body. A passenger operates the .50-cal M-2HB. It uses 6.9 gallons per hour at routine usage.
Subassemblies: Medium Tank chassis +3, Medium Weapon open
mount #1 [Body:F] +1, full rotation Mini-Weapon open mount #2 [Body:T]
+0, tracks +3.
Powertrain: 154-kW gas engine w/154-kW tracked drive
train and 42 gallons fuel in standard fuel tank [body]; 8,000-kWs batteries.
Occupancy: 1 XCS Body, 11 XPS Cargo: 13
Body.
| Armor | F | RL | B | T | U |
| All | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Tracks | 4/40 | 4/40 | 4/40 | 4/40 | 4/40 |
Weaponry
Ground HMG/.50-cal M-2HB [OM#2:F] (400).
Equipment
Body: Medium radio transmitter and receiver. OM#1: 5-VSP
winch.
Statistics
| Size: 17’¥9’¥10’ | Payload: 4.9 tons | Lwt: 15.21 tons |
| Volume: 89 | Maint.: 99 hours | Price: $4,100 |
HT: 12.
HP: 1,500 Body, 540 each Track, 75 OM #1, 30 OM #2
| gSpeed: 30 | gAccel: 3 | gDecel: 20 | gMR: 0.25 | gSR: 4 | GP: Very Low (4/5) |
Design Notes
The M-3 Stuart used a Light Tank chassis. However, due to this design
being underweight (and to simplify the design), it was decided to use a
Medium Tank chassis with no superstructure rather than a Light Tank chassis
with a Medium AFV superstructure. This does, however, make the tracks slightly
more robust than they should be (GMs may optionally reduce the DR and HP
of the tracks to 35 and 400, the values for a Light Tank chassis). Design
weight was increased 15% to match historical weight. Design speed was 32
mph.
The open mount on the front of the body represents the frame holding
the winch. One unusual feature was a roller under the front edge of the
body, allowing the winch cable to be run under the vehicle and used to
winch objects behind it.
If towing a 155mm gun, it could carry 24 rounds of ammo for it.
Variants
The earlier M-4 tractor was quite similar. It carried one more passenger,
had a fixed roof, and could reach 33 mph.