Twin Hydramatic Model 301MG, 4 speeds forward, 1 reverse
Steering
Controlled differential, steering levers
M59: Suspension
Type
Road wheels
Track return rollers
Torsion bar
5 individually sprung dual/track
3 dual/track
Drive sprockets
Idlers
Shock absorbers
12-tooth front drive
Dual compensating at rear of track
On first and last road wheels/track
M59: Track
T91E3
Center guide, single pin, steel with detachable rubber pad
Width
21"53cm
Pitch
6"15cm
Shoes/track
72
Ground contact length
121.25"307.98cm
M59: Performance
Max level road speed
32mph51kph
Max water speed
4.3mph6.9kph
Max trench
66"170cm
Max grade
60%
Max vertical obstacle
18"46cm
Min turning diameter
30'9.1m
Max fording depth
Floats
Cruising range
~120mi, roads~190km, roads
The M59 was designed as a lower-cost alternative to the M75 armored infantry vehicle. The engines and transmissions of the M59 were in either sponson with the front of the engine facing to the rear of the vehicle, leaving the cargo and personnel area free. Troop access to the vehicle was through a large rear ramp which was fitted with an escape hatch, and through roof hatches over the passenger compartment. The escape hatch in vehicles F7 to F31 and F41 and after was a large door, while vehicles F32 through F40 had a smaller hatch installed in the rear ramp. Early vehicles with the large door had a vision port in the ramp offset to the vehicle's left, while those few with the small hatch had the vision port above the hatch in the middle of the ramp. Eventually, the vision port was deleted. M59s were amphibious, and a trim vane was located on the hull front slope. Vehicles F7 through F590 were fitted with Model 300MG Hydramatic transmissions. M59s F7 through F2941 also featured an M2HB .50cal machine gun in mount 7046650 that rotated around the commander's vision cupola. The commander's cupola on vehicles F1313 through F2941 sported periscopes instead of the earlier vision blocks. Late-production M59s were fitted with the M13 cupola, which was armed with an internally-mounted .50cal machine gun. The early cupolas produced a height of 102.6" (260.6cm), and the mid-production cupolas were 112.5" (285.8cm) tall. Vehicles lacking the M13 cupola could only stow 1,470 rounds of .50cal ammunition.
TM 9-7002 Full-track Armored Infantry Vehicle T59. Washington, DC: Department of the Army, 19 March 1954.
TM 9-2300-203-12 Operation and Organizational Maintenance: Full Tracked Armored Personnel Carrier M59 (T59) and 4.2-inch Full Tracked Self-propelled Mortar M84. Washington, DC: Headquarters, Department of the Army, 25 October 1958.
ORD 9 SNL G-280 List of All Service Parts of Infantry Vehicle, Armored, Tracked, M59 (T59). Washington, DC: Department of the Army, 28 September 1954.
Sola, Samuel, Vincent Bobkowski, and Kara Crocker. Weapon Mounts for Secondary Armament. Santa Monica, CA: G. O. Noville & Associates, Inc., April 1957.
Crismon, Fred W. U.S. Military Tracked Vehicles. Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International, 1992.
