M35A2C build questions

[mattgunguy]

Wouldn't be difficult to do a gooseneck. My concern would be the height of the ball from the ground. My truck is singled out, rolling on 395's. The deck of the bed is better than 4' off the gruond. Bed sides add about another 2 feet to that. I can't recall having ever seen a gooseneck with ffront would clear that. A removable fifth wheel setup might be a better option. Something like a travel trailer is what I'm picturing in my head. Could run into the same issues though.

 

[gimpyrobb]

No the axles aren't locked, open diff. If your planning on using the truck at all, a drop side bed is way more useful.

 

[Str8Jacket]

Do you guys think there's enough room under the bed to mount a hitch? If so, I could build a 4 corner chain lift in the hay barn to lift the bed up when i need to pull the goose neck. Then drop the trailer, back into the barn and lower the bed back down.

A drop side would be great. Have a flat-bed when i need it and a normal walled bed too.

How tall are the 395's?

 

[gimpyrobb]

No, another member put a hitch on his truck and had to create a new bed facing the trailer to get it to work. 395s are 46"

 

[mattgunguy]

Listen to gimpy. He's like a walking talking MV encyclopedia. Helped me out a butt ton when I first got into this madness.

 

[gimpyrobb]

I'm not saying it can't be done, it will just take some work.

 

[camoyj7]

Never trust a potato counter!

 

[Str8Jacket]

Thanks guys. Pulling a goose neck is important just because that's what I have now. I can look into it once I have the deuce. I can always figure out a new trailer situation. My dad has a receiver that he mounted between the frame rails under his bed in his Chevy 3500 HD. There's a square cut in his bed that allows him to remove the ball for the goose neck and have unimpeded access to his bed. B&W makes the receiver. Thoughts?

 

[gimpyrobb]

Thoughts?

Use his truck for the gooseneck.

 

[gimpyrobb]

If it HAS to have a crew cab and HAS to pull a gooseneck, buy a crew cab, flat bed, diesel 3500 drw truck.

Right now your building a custom truck thats going to be slow on the road and tough to make it do what you want it to do. and have about the same amount of money in it, with no re-sale value.

 

[mattgunguy]

Could get a bolster trailer & a 109 box. Combine the two, & poof! Custom horsey trailer. Look pretty cool.

This does get pricey quickly if you're not able or inclined to do most if not all the work yourself.

 

[Str8Jacket]

If it HAS to have a crew cab and HAS to pull a gooseneck, buy a crew cab, flat bed, diesel 3500 drw truck.

Right now your building a custom truck thats going to be slow on the road and tough to make it do what you want it to do. and have about the same amount of money in it, with no re-sale value.

I appreciate you being straight forward. And I realise the questions and expectations are high. What is comes down to is I don't like new vehicles. I prefer carbureted mechanical injection. My 72 Torino, 78 f150, previously owned 94 12v Cummins. I like the Vintage era vehicles so if I can make a Deuce work for what i need, then that's the way I want to go. I have my 2011 Ram for cruise control and power windows blah blah blah.

The crew cab is because i want room in the cab and not very many people have one. Same reason I have a 72 Torino. Like i said, thank you for your input. I know everyone here defers to your knowledge, as do i.

 

[Str8Jacket]

Could get a bolster trailer & a 109 box. Combine the two, & poof! Custom horsey trailer. Look pretty cool.

This does get pricey quickly if you're not able or inclined to do most if not all the work yourself.

I like the idea, not sure about the wifey. Would have to do some serious sales pitching to pull that one off. I'd have to build in a tack room, slant dividers, gated windows that open, etc. Not saying it can't be done. Would definitely stand out at a show. Especially behind a CC M35!

 

[camoyj7]

One thing I can say is the deuce will be under powered. I had the M109 box on the back of mine for about 3 weeks before I went back to a regular 12' bed. I hated driving it with the M109. 50 mph down hill with the wind behind you. I had mine turned up as high as you could go without meltdown. Last problem is the trans, pulling extra weight with a crew cab 6x6 I don't see it lasting that long.

 

[DavidB]

I have a nice M36a2 and extra cab here in south east Wisconsin. PM a phone number and we can talk.
DavidB

 

[Str8Jacket]

One thing I can say is the deuce will be under powered. I had the M109 box on the back of mine for about 3 weeks before I went back to a regular 12' bed. I hated driving it with the M109. 50 mph down hill with the wind behind you. I had mine turned up as high as you could go without meltdown. Last problem is the trans, pulling extra weight with a crew cab 6x6 I don't see it lasting that long.

I have a few questions so bare with me.

First, you mean it was under powered just having the 109 on the back right? Not that it was under powered with the 109 and pulling a load?

Second, with the CC set up with the 12' bed, how was her performance? Good acceleration with no load? With load?

Third, are you basing your results off the factory multi-fuel and 3053a?

Sorry for so many questions. But I'm putting together a 12v Cummins with a compound turbo setup to power this thing. Similar to HanksDeuce but I'm going to beef up the Cummins more than he did. He also used an Allison trans from a school bus that isnt rated for much torque. I want to keep the 3053a with a different housing to bolt to the Cummins. With that in mind, what kind of hp/Torque can the Spicer handle? And are there performance upgrades for it or will i be looking at a new trans soon?

 

[gimpyrobb]

If building a "warmed over" Cummins, you might look into a 5ton trans. Might even look into an OTR cabin instead of a crew cab mod. It takes a lot to join 2 cabs and have it turn out nice(we even did one "back to back"). Not everyone defers to me, I've just had a hand in a lot of different builds, and offer the experience I've gained to try and help others. Thats why this site is great, many talented folks give their real world experience to help others.

 

[Str8Jacket]

If building a "warmed over" Cummins, you might look into a 5ton trans. Might even look into an OTR cabin instead of a crew cab mod. It takes a lot to join 2 cabs and have it turn out nice(we even did one "back to back"). Not everyone defers to me, I've just had a hand in a lot of different builds, and offer the experience I've gained to try and help others. Thats why this site is great, many talented folks give their real world experience to help others.

Thanks again gimpy. I was looking on Boyce at their rebuilt trans and the 3053a says it's "fully synchroed and will hold up to high horsepower gas and diesel engines." Taken with a grain of salt, what kind of HP/Torque can a 3053a handle vs a 6453?

And about the OTR cabin, i know it is definitely the more logical choice to achieve my goal but it won't look like an MV anymore. Doing a CC like camoyj7 still looks like it was made that way. And no, I'm not using it in a military application but the decisions for the route less taken are to satisfy my "my way or no way" ego. As my wife puts it. She still has a hard time understanding why I'd rather suffer with noise, heat and all the struggle that will come with a CC converted Deuce vs something else but she's accepted it's just the way I am.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Tom builds the 3053 transmissions and knows them inside out, up side down, and backward. I'll default to he knowledge in this thread(sounds like you'll be ok):

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?128990-Real-world-SPICER-limitations

 

[Str8Jacket]

Tom builds the 3053 transmissions and knows them inside out, up side down, and backward. I'll default to he knowledge in this thread(sounds like you'll be ok):

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?128990-Real-world-SPICER-limitations

I'm glad to know of someone on here that builds them instead of going through Boyce or similar. It sounds like it will be fine. My Cummins will be a little more than "warmed over" though but that is just to make it easier to get this thing moving. I'll be looking at ~650HP but that's all in the skinny pedal. I don't plan on pushing this thing faster than 60mph. The way I see it, it's better to use 75% of available power and run less risk of damage than push 100% of a cheaper build and run a much larger risk of damage.