

New on the site is this page dedicated to Marmon Harrington four wheel drive conversion trucks. M/H has been around for a long time, starting to build 4x4 conversions in 1931. Below are a few of my photos of converted trucks. Please feel free to add any pictures you have to the collection!
New-Check the buy/sell /trade page for some M-H parts available!!


Before I bought my first truck, I was out collecting photos. The truck above was a working unit at the time, inspected and well serviced. I spotted it off I-90 in Erie County. It would have made a nice restoration project, but I have since lost track of it.
This one is from Warren County, Pa. Without many details, it is an older Autocar with the MH conversion.
This one is from Union Township in Erie County, Pa. It has an Allison automatic transmission and is reported a dream to plow with!
The next photos are of a Dodge truck with a Marmon-Herrington conversion sitting in a salvage yard near
Edinboro, Pa


Check out Albrecht's MH Ford, former snow blower chassisThere are several nice photos of MH's on this website
http://www.specialtycontrolpanels.com/picturepage.htmlHere is a link to the factory website
http://www.marmon-herrington.com/Here's a link to some great pics of a nice, low mileage Marmon-Harrington, I'm guessing out in Colorado.
Thanks to chtucker!
http://www.letstalksnow.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20042PennDoT got to be a fair customer of Howe-Coleman conversions toward the end of their purchasing four wheel drive units (late sixties and early seventies). Prior to this it was predominantly Walters early on and later FWD's and some Oshkosh. The Howe-Colemans came in all truck varieties- Ford, I-H and Chevy/GMC to be sure. My memories of their reliability and performance are not that complimentary. It seems like they were down for a time every winter season for some driveline problem. Following are a few photos of Howe-Coleman conversions, generally recognizable by the stepped front frame to allow for the transfer case and front drive.


This truck is located north of I-80 at Clearfield, Pa.

This truck was wing-equipped, many were not.

Stepped frame is evident by the front fender/tire clearance in the above photos.
Here are a couple pictures of the Howe-Coleman facility located in Troy NY


Some additional information about the Howe-Coleman conversions.

As stated in the ad, the conversion uses standard manufacturers differentials front and rear. The front cases are cut and H-C weldments put on to accomodate the steering knuckle assemblies.

This part of the ad mentions the use of more standard Ford parts in the conversion. The same would be true for other makes (Dodge, I-H, GMC and Mack). It also mentions the Rockwell transfer case. All the ones I have ever seen have the frame cut off and the front stepped up to provide clearance for all this hardware.

This shows the steering knuckle, with only four wear points (that wear out real fast). In all fairness the trucks we had we geared to run 60-65 MPH and were used all summer hauling gravel or other maintenance stuff. They did not sit in reserve waiting for snow so I quess they might wear out sooner. In 1972 I was part of an Mobile Emergency Team sent to Renova, Pa to help with the cleanup after Hurricane Agnes. We ran that truck down I-79 and over I-80 wide open (flats and downhills) at 65mph to keep up with the caravan. Uphill grades were quite another story however. Plowing contractor Albert Conn had a Marmon Harrington Ford conversion that he plowed for PennDoT with. That truck was geared very low (unlike the PennDoT trucks) and he wouldn't go much faster than 35 mph when in transit. A whole lot slower when plowing but he sure got a lot of work done with that truck. This page notes that two-speed
rear differentials available. That leads me to suspect that the Rockwell transfer cases T226 and T228D had 2WD and 4WD in high range and 4WD in low with the two-speed available for the 2WD high range. I found a few notes about the transfer cases and it sounds like a number of low range ratios were available, 2.25 to 2.55 being mentioned.

The sales brochure above is a recent purchase from Walter Miller and I'd like to add a little note about the vast amount of material he has and the nice service he provides.
The bottom corner here notes that this ad is from1977. That is very close to the time we had this exact truck brand new fighting snow in Edinboro, Pa.

This picture of John Doyle's Coleman shows the "full moon" cover on the front hub. This is much the same as the Howe-Coleman conversions and made me wonder if they weren't related somehow, which is why I asked the question in the first place. The I-H conversion shown above would make for a nice save if someone wanted to include a Howe-Coleman conversion in their collection.
So much for any questions about Howe-Coleman longevity! The following photos are from a 1970 Chevy conversion still earning it's keep at a marina along the Alleghany River near Pittsburgh. Enjoy!

This Chevy ia a 1970 model, 478 V-6, air brakes, 2 speed transfer, Howe-Coleman conversion

This truck was a former PDT truck they purchased from Herb Hovis in Emlenton, Pa. Herb had quite a collection of PennDoT relics available until a few years ago when they cleaned house. The photo at the top of this page is one of Herb's trucks, much poorer condition than this one.

In service at RiverForest Yacht Club since 1986, depending on all that ballast to set and pull boats from the river.

Nice truck! David tells me they have done some creative machine work to keep this one running but well worth the effort. Thanks to new member white4406 for these pics and a few more yet to be posted.
Daryl Gushee Howe Coleman Fire Truck
Here is a sweet old truck that needs absolutely nothing. 6900 original, gentle, miles. First a photo of the truck when new. Original owner: Crystal Falls Michigan fire dept. Second owner: Alpha Mastodon fire dept.

!955 International Harvester RD 200
Coleman conversion all wheel drive
John Bean fire equipment
Owned by
Daryl Gushee
New Gloucester Maine

Here is what she looks like today
I do have the battery box cover.

Still straight and clean, just a light rub on the right front fender.

Coleman 4 wheel drive conversion

Coleman built them good and rugged.
PLOWMAN