March 22nd, 2008.
Gentlemen:
Take a look at almost any civillian vehicle that has been in service a while, more particularly the trucks. You will notice that almost every one of them will have a set on the left side springs....No.... it's not due to the crown of the road. Which side of YOUR vehicle is most likely to have weight routinely placed in it??? The driver's weight does cause the springs on that side to generally take a lower set due to the normal weight of the driver. I suspect that a larger cargo truck like the duece would have a lesser set to the springs on the left, merely because a 250Lb driver would make less of an impression on a deuce's springs then on a 1/2 ton pickups.
In any case, from an engineering point of view the lift blocks in any size seems like a very bad idea, inasmuch as you are raising the center of gravity of an already tall vehicle, and you are throwing off the original geometry of the steering and suspension systems. Admittedly these are not overly sophisticated trucks and definitely don't have the geometry and handling of a Ferrari, but they are sensitive to changes that affect their stability. IF YOU CAN'T CLIMB OVER IT IN A DEUCE, YOU BETTER BUY A UNIMOG. The deuce is a well designed (for it's day) slow, off road cargo truck, nothing more, nothing less. To ask it to be and do something else is quite foolish, and while I've seen a bobbed deuce or two, I can't say that I would trust the stability much due to the loss of the third axle, as the vehicle wasn't designed to be bobbed. But then neither was the HMMWV designed to have a tare weight the same as a deuce, and the up-armored HMWWV's do, with a resultant loss of structural integrity and mechanical failures. This is why the gun trucks in Vietnam went quickly from deuces to 5 tons, to be able to better handle the armor and the armaments.
Just a thought, for what it may be worth.
I remain, Sirs,
Most Sincerely,
Kyle F. McGrogan
1971 Kaiser Jeep M35A2 Wo/W, 686A tan, "Saddam's Nightmare" Desert Storm and Vietnam Veteran Deuce
""??"" Johnson MFG Co. M105A2 Trailer, Cargo, MERDC or NATO 4 color woodland scheme
1963 Mercedes Benx Cargo Unimog, S404.114, Swiss Army (NATO) green.
NB; Freight Train or Ferro will tell you also, that when Diesel Locomotives or freight cars are overhauled, frequently the springs need to be replaced to take up the normal set that gravity, time and freight or useage exacts on the springs, which then causes the coupler height center line to drop below the 32-1/2 or 33-1/2" Federal standards. Springs are steel, they are malliable in some degree, and they do fatique out after time and use.