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A few Deuce Pics to share...

mrsuperstition

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Gold Canyon Arizona
Hi all,
My name is Chris and although I am not new to military vehicles, I am fairly new to SS and wanted to share a few more pictures of my trucks with you.


I have had two m35a2 trucks before these. I mainly acquired my first truck to give me a restoration "Project" to keep me busy. It arrived in pretty much excellent condition so there wasn't much for me to do, aside from a little interior work. I ended up passing it on to Gila Bend Air and Military vehicle Museum here in Arizona.
Recently I met a great guy that had more of what I was looking for; solid mechanically and were maintained regularly by off duty army motorpool, but in need of being restored cosmetically to get them back to original.
First up:
The Green M109 has a handy rear "Deck" that lowers with a boat winch when parked! I love it. When I take it camping we all sit on the back Porch, 5' off the ground. In the Box I added a new queen size bed, shelving, a 32 TV with DVD, xbox360 game console ( for the kids and grandkids in the family ) This particular truck has a slider style window on one side that opens to about 4 feet wide, 3 feet tall, along with the other regular glass windows. The ceiling is about 6 inches taller than the regular m109 shopvan box, which is nice for someone my hieght :p. The rear door also slides into a pocket instead having the two swinging doors. Things on the "to do list" are ; prepping for and painting the entire exterior, updating the electrical system to the box, and painting the box interior. The goal of this truck is for personal use.
:driver: The kids in the family call it the Extreme 4x4 RV.

Next:
The solid tan color troop truck is basically stock. The paint is new, but needing lots of interior refurbishing; gauges, paint, upholstery etc..

And finally:
The desert camoflauge m109 shopvan with matching 105 trailer, although mechanically sound, is in need of the most TLC cosmetically. There are a couple bullet holes in the rear door, a couple windows and their screens in the box need to be replaced, a few hinges need replaced and other misc stuff.
I will be replacing the currently installed NDT tires with 43" michelin XLs. The green truck also gets a set of new shoes ( michelin XL also ). Once all twenty, 90% tread, NDT's are off I will have no use for them.
I have the twenty two new michelins on rims already so that will save some work and time. I haven't changed out the tires as of yet since I will be changing the seals on the axles as I gain access to them. I have not done this before so I am waiting on a motorpool friend to help me with this process.
The plan for this truck is to restore it to original, markings and all, with the trailer to display them locally. I thought it would be more realistic looking for people if I set up the trucks for display with props so I have acquired things like ammo cans, weapon crates ( even a rocket launcher crate lol ) communication crates, and a 40 foot desert camo shade/tent to put along side the truck.

Here are some pictures showing them before I get my hands on them...

Question - Is this the correct thread to show the projects here, as they unfold ?
p.s. If any of you are in Arizona, feel free to come by and visit =)

Chris
----------------------------MORE PICS are in my Profile Album too ------------------
 

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mrsuperstition

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Gold Canyon Arizona
Sweet trucks! Pics on the interior of the green M109! .. please :jumpin:
Ok
Here are more pics of the green 109.

You can see the dash here about half way through the process of being prepped for paint minus the dash plates; taped, primered etc..
The twenty two 43" Michelins in the back of the desert tan color 109 waiting to be installed. That is about 5,000lbs of tire lol
The new taillight and "service" glad hand assembly - this is an early pic - the axles seen beyond the light are now past the primer stage and are painted.
There is the passenger seat upholstered in snow camo - you can see the chrome grenade on the shifter if you look close too. I took out both front seats completely so I could get to the cab floor. While the seats were out I took them apart, scraped, sanded, primed and painted them. Next I removed the old seat cushioning, what was left, and replaced it with new firm padding and topped it off with some heavy duty snow-camo upholstery...
and the last, sideways, picture is of one of the box windows being primered for paint. The screens in all windows are new condition thank goodness!

I will post more when I get back up to my house this week...:)
Chris
 

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Danger Ranger

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Very cool....I'm lovin the deck on the m109. Also, is it really an M109 with a bed swap, or an M35 with a shelter? I bet you had fun loading all 22 tires/rims into the back of the camo M109 :wink:
 

mrsuperstition

New member
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Location
Gold Canyon Arizona
Very cool....I'm lovin the deck on the m109. Also, is it really an M109 with a bed swap, or an M35 with a shelter? I bet you had fun loading all 22 tires/rims into the back of the camo M109 :wink:
Thanks -
I agree, the deck is a very nice feature. It is 7' wide x 5.5'.
Luckily they loaded the palleted tires with a forklift for me into the back of the 109. I just need to lower the 250 LB tires when the time comes - which should be interesting :grd:
The box of the green Army deuce was fabricated onto the regular bed., along with the outer deck being added. One nice thing about the green box, in comparison to the Marines 109 ( desert tan color deuce ) is that it is about a half foot wider inside, 5 inches deeper inside and 6 inches taller. It has the usual ceiling lighting and electrical outlets around the interior. Since it is not a true 109 - I chose this one for my personal use deuce so I am not restoring this particular one to original -

chris
 

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