Better to wait, or just go for it

[Crawdaddy]

I found a deuce and bought it, though I have to wait 4-6 weeks for the seller to complete the paperwork to get a title before I can take possesion of it. The kicker is that at the moment, the seller and I don't know what year it is. I do have the vin for the truck. Is there any way to decode what year it is off the vin number? I did some googling, and I found a thread on SS talking about it, but it's now an article I can't find. Carnac said to make a info request in his thread, but I have no idea how to find out what the registration number is, and I have no idea what base the seller bought it from. Any ideas so I can get an insurance quote?

Thanks all

 

[Karl kostman]

Congrats on the Deuce you will love it! On theVIM number its usually the last two digits of the VIN that indicate the year of mfg of the truck! Hope this helps
KK

 

[Crawdaddy]

If the last 2 digits indicate the year, than it's an 80. It has something like 44k on the odometer, but something doesn't add up because I don't think the hourmeter showed a similar realistic number.

 

[Karl kostman]

Crawdaddy with 44K on thruck indicated I would(based on my Deuce) guess it would have around 1600 hrs or so, again that is based on the miles and hours my truck had when I bought it, it had 31K and 1200 hrs I am not sure wat to tell you if that does not come close to adding up??
KK

 

[wldrbob]

crawdaddy i love the winch ...my deuce hasent seen a paved road for 10 years im usualy in the bush on old logging roads after the cuts have been done getting firewood.and the roads and the chance of getting help are not the best. that winch has saved me from walking a quite a few times. if you drive in the back woods by yourself id get one for sure. and practice with it a lot winch in an old tire or something like that .

 

[Crawdaddy]

Unfortunately, it does not have a winch, nor does it have troop seats or a cargo cover. The only "special" thing about it is it's a hard top and the personell heater that usually goes along with a hard top.

As for the hourmeter having around 1600 hours, I think it only showed maybe 600 hours at the most, but I'm going off of memory here. I know when I looked at the gauges I knew there was no way they were right. The speedo or tach must have been swapped somewhere in its life. Hopefully with it being such a late model, I didn't make any bad descisions. It seemed to be in good condition with nothing glaringly wrong.

One thing that struck me as weird with this truck is the exhaust stack seemed kinda tall. Compared the the deuces it sat next to, I'd say the stack was 1-2 feet taller than the others. Was a taller stack part of some special kit/setup?

 

[Crawdaddy]

According to the title, it's a 1971 Kaiser M35A2. If all goes as planned, I will be picking it up this Saturday. I'm so stoked. The VIN has an 80 at the end, but there is a 71 as the 7th and 8th character of the VIN, so I guess that's the year spot on my VIN. I still haven't visited the truck since I bought it, so I still am not sure of the mileage and hours.

 

[panshark]

best of luck to you. how far away is it?

 

[Crawdaddy]

About 45 minutes away, right around the proverbial corner.

 

[DHennon]

I like you, wanted a w/w truck, but found a wo/w truck in great condition ans at an affordable price. I bought a winch complete, less PTO and Propeller shaft for $500.00 in CA and had it shipped here for another $324.00. The winch, associated parts and shipping came to around a grand. I got a good price on a great truck and got a winch reasonably priced too!

There are plenty of each out there, just do your homework, read the TMs and forums on this site, and either way, you will enjoy owning your deuce w/w or wo/w.

 

[O.D. Fever]

I have one W/W and one without. Have not needed the winch yet, sept fer the one cooking dinner rite now, good thing she a'int reeden my post. No realy hillbilly aside have not needed it but, it nice to know its there. The 10,000lbs winches on a Duece's are a bit lame. as far as a PTO winch is concerned, You must use a snach block or you will shear a pin. It also takes two guys(solder A and Solder B) or someone or something will die. Joe

 

[Crawdaddy]

Well after 6 long weeks waiting for the paperwork to get done, I finally got to pick up my 71 Kaiser M35A2. It shows 46,936 on the odometer and 197 hours on the hourmeter. Obviously this can't can't be right, as the truck would have to have gone 237mph for every hour it was run. I'm guessing the speedometer was changed since the rim is a different color on the speedomter gauge. The body's in good condition generally, but where there's rust, it's prett bad, but it's only surface rust. The exhaust stack had a field mod done by a soldier and is about twice the height of a normal stack.

I am very much enjoying the truck. It's a blast to drive.

 

[goodguyzy]

congrats, i have a truck with a long exhaust but that is really high

 

[gunboy1656]

Congrats. I would venture a guess your truck had a shelter variant in the bed, that stack looks taller then the extended height cargo bows.

Interesting how your truck has the IR light on the front, and I never saw the warning decal by the air intake like that.

 

[littlebob]

Glad you got started in the sickness. Now go find a winch model to pull it out. That's my plan anyway. Whats up with the reflections on the passenger side windshield, is it plastic?

 

[Crawdaddy]

Gunboy, I believe you are correct about it having a shelter in the bed at some point. The bed is rusted and you can see a grid pattern in the rust where the floor joists of the shelter were, along with a rust strip on the bed rails that is consistent with a shelter having been there. There's also a bunch of holes on the bed rails and the ends of some bolts sticking up in the bed.

The IR light does seem very out of place where it is, but I'm going to leave it there for now. It's tied into the blackout headlight circuit behind the headlight bucket.

The sticker next to the air cleaner is a NBC contamination warning sticker if I remember correctly.

One thing that I could really use some advice on... the rear hardtop cab window is stuck open, and I cannot get it to close. I have pulled on the handle for the window with all my weight and it will not budge. I took a putty knife and tried to clean out the tracks for the window, but they were pretty clean and it still didn't move. Any suggestions on how to get this window closed without breaking the glass?

There was some writing on the windshield, so I blurred it out a bit. I am hoping to be able to score a complete PTO winch setup, otherwise I might drop an 18K 24V winch on or a 12K 12v winch depending on what's most cost-effective.

Finally, I am fairly certain the truck's been to Kuwait and back. There's the remnants of a shipping sticker on the front bumper that has Kuwait as the shipping location. I'm trying to read it to find out what section of the military it was with, but that part of the tag is pretty messed up. I'll have to make a request to Carnac to find out where it's been, and what the most likely CORRECT mileage is.

 

[LongueCarabine]

Nice truck, Crawdaddy, looks good. I got mine with a winch because I am mostly going to use it on a couple pieces of property my family owns. One is a small piece of land with the only access via a pipeline right of way, and you probably know how bad those can get.

If I stick this thing, I need to be able to winch it out myself, can't afford a minimum of $500 to get a large wrecker to come get me.

The other piece of land I have access to is some family farmland that's become overgrown due to being idle. Hopefully the truck will help in clearing some of it off.

What part of LA are you in? I am in Evangeline Parish between Ville Platte and Mamou. From your name I kinda figger you must be in the "aquaculture" bidness. LOL

LC

 

[hof3414]

I' ve had a non winch and winch truck. I thought I definitely needed a winch so got this truck. However a winch can be nice but it can also get you in more trouble. I thought I could get my self out of any situation with a winch, not the case you just get more stuck with that extra cofidence you'll be able to get out of anything cause, "hey I got a winch" not true. Go for a good overall truck. Here's what happens when you have a winch but no place to winch to.

 

[Karl kostman]

Congrats on the Truck Crawdaddy NOW you can let the games begin you have what looks like a GOOD solid base to start on and YES that is a TALL Stack but easily fixed if you choose more or less like everything else on a M-35, I also have a 71 Kaiser M-35 A2 your going to like this truck a LOT I guarantee it! Have fun and dont get TO carried away with it!
KK

 

[cattlerepairman]

Crawdaddy, thank you for starting an interesting discussion.

Another thing to consider is that the "manly" image of the w/w trucks not only exists amongst us, but also existed when they were still in active service. The chances that a truck has seen severe offroad use (dare I say: abuse) in the military are definitely higher for a w/w.

The high stack definitely makes the cabin much more quiet than the stock setup.