- 307
- 2
- 18
- Location
- York, PA
Try this again. I wrote this book then it timed out! Lost everything. Hours and hours of work gone. Anyway.
FINALLY! I got access and my account works. I’ve been trying since April. Today was the lucky day. I’ve been only able to read since then and not comment or ask questions. How frustrating.
Let me first say thanks to all who provide insight, help, pictures, and general advice. This is a great site with great people who are generally not into flaming like so many other forums out there. You have provided me with great knowledge and advice even though I haven’t been able to ask questions directly.
Ok, so now my deuce acquisition(s). Yes, plural and no, I’m not a collector, or at least wasn’t until I acquired two at one time. Although I did have a few M105A1 ¾ ton trailers that a bought through GL a few years ago.
In April I started planning for the startup of my own company. The company, Ecostruction, LLC., is a design/build ecological restoration and environmental consulting company based in south-central PA. Initially I thought my immediate projects would be construction, but I didn’t have a heavy duty truck with which to pull a trailer with a piece of equipment. So I started doing research. I’ve always liked the deuces, but am not military and know nothing about them. Just remember seeing them in convoy when traveling down I-95 on the way to vacation or when I picked up my trailers I looked them over in the yard. I remember thinking how cool they were but how dead I’d be if I brought one home to the wife. I also had no idea where I would use it or where I would keep one.
But upon further research (this site, talking to Memphis Equip in Chambersburg, etc. ) I thought a deuce might be a good cost effective truck. I not only need to haul equipment (mini excavators, skid steers, etc.) but I need to get materials and supplies to out of the way places through the bush where roads don’t exist. I work at a local ski area and they use deuces for their maintenance crews so I talked with the mountain manager about them. Explained what I was thinking and he thought a deuce would work great. He said they are really tough.
Knowing of GL from the trailer purchases, I started looking at what was coming up at Mechanicsburg, Letterkenny, and Aberdeen. I talked to my financial planner (aka: dad) about the trucks, how cheap they can be compared to Memphis (I know Memphis all but completely rebuilds them) and useful they could be, but how fierce bidding can be. He thought for the prices, might as well bid. He then asked that if I was worried about not getting one, why not bid on more than one. If the prices are that good, sell the one(s) you don’t need. But, I don’t have thousands laying around especially after starting my own company without loans. So he said he has my back. ALRIGHTY THEN!!
There were a bunch coming up at Letterkenny (Chambersburg) and Mechanicsburg (NAVSUP) in early May ’07. So I checked them out on-line. There were I think two at Chambersburg that caught me eye. Considering they will represent my business, I wanted something in good condition both mechanically and cosmetically. Initially I thought that meant that one color would be better than camo. So I informed my financial planner and together we made an appointment to preview. At the preview I recognized several other people looking at the same trucks. One was from Memphis I believe and others looked to be dealers as well. Nice enough guys and the GL rep seemed to know them. Once on-site my opinion changed a bit. The one I thought was better turned out to be not as nice, though still pretty decent. The camo one to me looked to have been completely rebuilt. Brand new CARC paint. Both were otherwise the same with dead batteries, no back canvas, canvas top as opposed to hard, and both without winch. I then looked around a bit more and found others in that sales event. I found a third that I was interested in which was desert tan. Took a bunch of photos (see below) and decided that the camo was no.1, grey was no.2, and desert tan was no. 3. I really like the desert tan, but this particular truck seemed to need a bit of TLC the others wouldn’t immediately need, but would serve my initial purpose and immediate need. I was willing to pay more in accordance with choice.
I had pretty high max amounts, but was unsure what others would bid. I also noticed that other previewing that day were impressed by no. 1 (camo) and no. 2 (grey). There were locks on the tool boxes and I managed to find keys inside the cab to both. I just quickly opened the doors and noticed there were things inside, but a quick glance told me nothing all that worthwhile (I would later find out I was wrong).
Home we went and said financial planner almost single handedly convinced me to bid on three to ensure I would end up with one. Risky move looking back, but something I’m sure I would do again.
I took off early the day of so I wouldn’t have distractions as I know how fierce the bidding could get. In the end I could see that neither was going to approach my max, so I slammed it shut with a high max and let auto bid take care of the rest. I could see that I was going to end up with either No. 1 or 2 so let 3 go and stopped bidding early.
I ended up with both No. 1 and no. 2. What have I just done? Yes, I did get the wife’s permission ahead of time, but still. Now it’s time to submit the EUC for both and wait. We had a family vacation scheduled for late May but not to worry, EUC was guaranteed to take at least 45 days (first one). However, a day before we leave for vacation, which is ten days after submitting EUC, It’s cleared and GL wants their money. So I give my CC number. No go. Check account, more than enough money. Apparently my credit union only allows 1k per day to go through card. So I set up a wire transfer to take place the following Monday (it’s now Friday the day before we leave for vacation). I checked account Monday afternoon and notice that the wire transfer went through, but then an hour later was reversed by GL’s bank in Arizona. Great, now what? So I start calling. GL indicated that the wire transfer came from a third party and as per their home page, they don’t allow third party wire transfers. Woman at GL was kind of nasty. So I called the credit union and sure enough, it’s third party. All their transfers go through a corporate credit union. So I call GL back and explain that I’m now on vacation and can’t do anything until I get back which is a day after payment is due. She didn’t care. They wanted their money and if I couldn’t work something out while on vacation, I would loose the trucks and still have to pay 25% of the cost as a “fee”. So I called the credit union back and got them to redo the transfer to make it look like it’s not a third party. It worked finally.
So now I have to figure out how to retrieve. A local equipment dealer in York (where I live and about 40 miles from Chambersburg) wanted about 350 bucks per trip. I was initially assuming it would be two trips, but may have been possible with one. I print off the manual form this website, arm myself with the tips for picking up your deuce, etc. and decide my dad a friend and I would drive out and try to start them and drive home. So one Thursday afternoon after having read the manuals we loaded up the supplies as per the checklist and headed out.
We got to the yard around 9 am met the GL site rep and quickly made it to the trucks. Keys to locks on toolboxes are now gone. No doubt someone that was planning on bidding took them so items wouldn’t disappear. Should have thought of that. But everything else looked to be the same as it was during preview. After the aw of staring at my new purchases, we got down to checking things out. We knew the batteries were dead so we brought two battery packs and I think two extra batteries. I could only figure out how to get commercial insurance on these things before the attempt to drive home. At this point I had no idea how to get a title, etc. GL method seemed to be a pain in the rump.
Although handy through ancestry, my father and I are by no means mechanics. I was totally unfamiliar with something of this nature, size, and fuel type. After checking all fluids it was time to try to start. No. 2 was first. We hooked the batter packs up. Turned the ignition and heard an awful load buzzer. What the #Y&(%#&%#%# is that??? Oh wait, I read about that. Ok, good. Not to worry. Hit the starter with the engine stop out. Turned over a little. Let site a little bit, hit starter again. This time much stronger. Pushed the engine stop in. Pushed starter again and we heard the most beautiful growl come to life!!! WAHOO!!! Totally awesome. Repeated with the next truck and it too came to life in minutes. What a rush. We did bring fresh diesel as well.
We let them idle for a while as we continued to go over the remainder of the trucks. We learned where almost everything was located and practiced the gear box in the yard going back and forth. Then it was finally time to at least get them out of GL’s hands. So we packed everything up and I let my buddy and father drive first. Least I could do. We went about a mile down the road and pulled over to check on everyone and everything. Everything was fine so far. Brakes were good. It was 11:30.
We found a gas station and put about 25 gallons of fresh diesel in each and headed home hoping to avoid cops. After a brief stint on main roads through Chambersburg, we got off the main roads and zig-zagged our way back to York. We switched driving every once and a while and kept checking on the trucks. No. 2’s turn signals didn’t work right as they didn’t blink. They just came on and stayed on. Still are that way. Everything else went fine and we were home by 1 pm. Then spent the rest of the day tinkering with my new huge toys. Cut the locks off the tool boxes and found lots of goodies in both. Air hoses, flares, wheel chocks, trangles, brand new wrenches and screw driver sets, jacks, first aid kits, manuals, etc. How cool.
Now it’s time to get at least one legalized as soon as possible so I can use. I chose no. 1 because although no.2’s motor seemed a little stronger, no. 1 was overall in better shape. Getting a title in PA was a pain and not cheap. I had to get a cop to sign on a made up form that I created that the data on the plates was correct, then submit to GL. Got a SF-97 from Florida and took to a tag/title company in York. They first looked at me cross-eyed and had no idea what to do. But after a while we figured everything out. Then it was on to inspection. Passed with flying colors. I had the checklist prior so I went over the truck with exception of brakes. Inspector said thing looked to have been rebuilt recently or replaced with new parts. What a deal. I was legal for 38 bucks.
No. 2 has been sitting since it came home in May. Same spot. So on Sunday I finally decided to get two new batteries and try to start it. To my surprise it came to life with only a few hits of the starter and didn’t need cold start at all even though it was only 32 out. What a joy! Took for a quick spin and moved from the woods to clear the leaves. I keep moth balls scattered in both trucks to keep critters out. I put them everywhere, even the engine bay. Seem to work.
Today it’s snowing and I drove good ‘ol no. 1 to work. This thing stinks in the snow!!! What’s up with that? Goes pretty good, but I guess all those funky tires with no weight makes for a large sled that likes to go sideways. I had to engage front axle in like 2 inches of snow. I think surface was very slippery, but still. Is this common? Are these things really bad in snow? I would have though opposite.
So that’s my shortened version of the story of how an unlikely environmental consultant ended up with two deuces and drove them home. They have been running like champs ever since with little to no maintenance. Great beasts.
Enjoy the pics. I’m glad I’m finally able to correspond. I was at Aberdeen this year drooling over all the trucks. I had won mine, but not yet picked them up. Was waiting for EUC’s to clear. I’ll be there next year though.
Jake
FINALLY! I got access and my account works. I’ve been trying since April. Today was the lucky day. I’ve been only able to read since then and not comment or ask questions. How frustrating.
Let me first say thanks to all who provide insight, help, pictures, and general advice. This is a great site with great people who are generally not into flaming like so many other forums out there. You have provided me with great knowledge and advice even though I haven’t been able to ask questions directly.
Ok, so now my deuce acquisition(s). Yes, plural and no, I’m not a collector, or at least wasn’t until I acquired two at one time. Although I did have a few M105A1 ¾ ton trailers that a bought through GL a few years ago.
In April I started planning for the startup of my own company. The company, Ecostruction, LLC., is a design/build ecological restoration and environmental consulting company based in south-central PA. Initially I thought my immediate projects would be construction, but I didn’t have a heavy duty truck with which to pull a trailer with a piece of equipment. So I started doing research. I’ve always liked the deuces, but am not military and know nothing about them. Just remember seeing them in convoy when traveling down I-95 on the way to vacation or when I picked up my trailers I looked them over in the yard. I remember thinking how cool they were but how dead I’d be if I brought one home to the wife. I also had no idea where I would use it or where I would keep one.
But upon further research (this site, talking to Memphis Equip in Chambersburg, etc. ) I thought a deuce might be a good cost effective truck. I not only need to haul equipment (mini excavators, skid steers, etc.) but I need to get materials and supplies to out of the way places through the bush where roads don’t exist. I work at a local ski area and they use deuces for their maintenance crews so I talked with the mountain manager about them. Explained what I was thinking and he thought a deuce would work great. He said they are really tough.
Knowing of GL from the trailer purchases, I started looking at what was coming up at Mechanicsburg, Letterkenny, and Aberdeen. I talked to my financial planner (aka: dad) about the trucks, how cheap they can be compared to Memphis (I know Memphis all but completely rebuilds them) and useful they could be, but how fierce bidding can be. He thought for the prices, might as well bid. He then asked that if I was worried about not getting one, why not bid on more than one. If the prices are that good, sell the one(s) you don’t need. But, I don’t have thousands laying around especially after starting my own company without loans. So he said he has my back. ALRIGHTY THEN!!
There were a bunch coming up at Letterkenny (Chambersburg) and Mechanicsburg (NAVSUP) in early May ’07. So I checked them out on-line. There were I think two at Chambersburg that caught me eye. Considering they will represent my business, I wanted something in good condition both mechanically and cosmetically. Initially I thought that meant that one color would be better than camo. So I informed my financial planner and together we made an appointment to preview. At the preview I recognized several other people looking at the same trucks. One was from Memphis I believe and others looked to be dealers as well. Nice enough guys and the GL rep seemed to know them. Once on-site my opinion changed a bit. The one I thought was better turned out to be not as nice, though still pretty decent. The camo one to me looked to have been completely rebuilt. Brand new CARC paint. Both were otherwise the same with dead batteries, no back canvas, canvas top as opposed to hard, and both without winch. I then looked around a bit more and found others in that sales event. I found a third that I was interested in which was desert tan. Took a bunch of photos (see below) and decided that the camo was no.1, grey was no.2, and desert tan was no. 3. I really like the desert tan, but this particular truck seemed to need a bit of TLC the others wouldn’t immediately need, but would serve my initial purpose and immediate need. I was willing to pay more in accordance with choice.
I had pretty high max amounts, but was unsure what others would bid. I also noticed that other previewing that day were impressed by no. 1 (camo) and no. 2 (grey). There were locks on the tool boxes and I managed to find keys inside the cab to both. I just quickly opened the doors and noticed there were things inside, but a quick glance told me nothing all that worthwhile (I would later find out I was wrong).
Home we went and said financial planner almost single handedly convinced me to bid on three to ensure I would end up with one. Risky move looking back, but something I’m sure I would do again.
I took off early the day of so I wouldn’t have distractions as I know how fierce the bidding could get. In the end I could see that neither was going to approach my max, so I slammed it shut with a high max and let auto bid take care of the rest. I could see that I was going to end up with either No. 1 or 2 so let 3 go and stopped bidding early.
I ended up with both No. 1 and no. 2. What have I just done? Yes, I did get the wife’s permission ahead of time, but still. Now it’s time to submit the EUC for both and wait. We had a family vacation scheduled for late May but not to worry, EUC was guaranteed to take at least 45 days (first one). However, a day before we leave for vacation, which is ten days after submitting EUC, It’s cleared and GL wants their money. So I give my CC number. No go. Check account, more than enough money. Apparently my credit union only allows 1k per day to go through card. So I set up a wire transfer to take place the following Monday (it’s now Friday the day before we leave for vacation). I checked account Monday afternoon and notice that the wire transfer went through, but then an hour later was reversed by GL’s bank in Arizona. Great, now what? So I start calling. GL indicated that the wire transfer came from a third party and as per their home page, they don’t allow third party wire transfers. Woman at GL was kind of nasty. So I called the credit union and sure enough, it’s third party. All their transfers go through a corporate credit union. So I call GL back and explain that I’m now on vacation and can’t do anything until I get back which is a day after payment is due. She didn’t care. They wanted their money and if I couldn’t work something out while on vacation, I would loose the trucks and still have to pay 25% of the cost as a “fee”. So I called the credit union back and got them to redo the transfer to make it look like it’s not a third party. It worked finally.
So now I have to figure out how to retrieve. A local equipment dealer in York (where I live and about 40 miles from Chambersburg) wanted about 350 bucks per trip. I was initially assuming it would be two trips, but may have been possible with one. I print off the manual form this website, arm myself with the tips for picking up your deuce, etc. and decide my dad a friend and I would drive out and try to start them and drive home. So one Thursday afternoon after having read the manuals we loaded up the supplies as per the checklist and headed out.
We got to the yard around 9 am met the GL site rep and quickly made it to the trucks. Keys to locks on toolboxes are now gone. No doubt someone that was planning on bidding took them so items wouldn’t disappear. Should have thought of that. But everything else looked to be the same as it was during preview. After the aw of staring at my new purchases, we got down to checking things out. We knew the batteries were dead so we brought two battery packs and I think two extra batteries. I could only figure out how to get commercial insurance on these things before the attempt to drive home. At this point I had no idea how to get a title, etc. GL method seemed to be a pain in the rump.
Although handy through ancestry, my father and I are by no means mechanics. I was totally unfamiliar with something of this nature, size, and fuel type. After checking all fluids it was time to try to start. No. 2 was first. We hooked the batter packs up. Turned the ignition and heard an awful load buzzer. What the #Y&(%#&%#%# is that??? Oh wait, I read about that. Ok, good. Not to worry. Hit the starter with the engine stop out. Turned over a little. Let site a little bit, hit starter again. This time much stronger. Pushed the engine stop in. Pushed starter again and we heard the most beautiful growl come to life!!! WAHOO!!! Totally awesome. Repeated with the next truck and it too came to life in minutes. What a rush. We did bring fresh diesel as well.
We let them idle for a while as we continued to go over the remainder of the trucks. We learned where almost everything was located and practiced the gear box in the yard going back and forth. Then it was finally time to at least get them out of GL’s hands. So we packed everything up and I let my buddy and father drive first. Least I could do. We went about a mile down the road and pulled over to check on everyone and everything. Everything was fine so far. Brakes were good. It was 11:30.
We found a gas station and put about 25 gallons of fresh diesel in each and headed home hoping to avoid cops. After a brief stint on main roads through Chambersburg, we got off the main roads and zig-zagged our way back to York. We switched driving every once and a while and kept checking on the trucks. No. 2’s turn signals didn’t work right as they didn’t blink. They just came on and stayed on. Still are that way. Everything else went fine and we were home by 1 pm. Then spent the rest of the day tinkering with my new huge toys. Cut the locks off the tool boxes and found lots of goodies in both. Air hoses, flares, wheel chocks, trangles, brand new wrenches and screw driver sets, jacks, first aid kits, manuals, etc. How cool.
Now it’s time to get at least one legalized as soon as possible so I can use. I chose no. 1 because although no.2’s motor seemed a little stronger, no. 1 was overall in better shape. Getting a title in PA was a pain and not cheap. I had to get a cop to sign on a made up form that I created that the data on the plates was correct, then submit to GL. Got a SF-97 from Florida and took to a tag/title company in York. They first looked at me cross-eyed and had no idea what to do. But after a while we figured everything out. Then it was on to inspection. Passed with flying colors. I had the checklist prior so I went over the truck with exception of brakes. Inspector said thing looked to have been rebuilt recently or replaced with new parts. What a deal. I was legal for 38 bucks.
No. 2 has been sitting since it came home in May. Same spot. So on Sunday I finally decided to get two new batteries and try to start it. To my surprise it came to life with only a few hits of the starter and didn’t need cold start at all even though it was only 32 out. What a joy! Took for a quick spin and moved from the woods to clear the leaves. I keep moth balls scattered in both trucks to keep critters out. I put them everywhere, even the engine bay. Seem to work.
Today it’s snowing and I drove good ‘ol no. 1 to work. This thing stinks in the snow!!! What’s up with that? Goes pretty good, but I guess all those funky tires with no weight makes for a large sled that likes to go sideways. I had to engage front axle in like 2 inches of snow. I think surface was very slippery, but still. Is this common? Are these things really bad in snow? I would have though opposite.
So that’s my shortened version of the story of how an unlikely environmental consultant ended up with two deuces and drove them home. They have been running like champs ever since with little to no maintenance. Great beasts.
Enjoy the pics. I’m glad I’m finally able to correspond. I was at Aberdeen this year drooling over all the trucks. I had won mine, but not yet picked them up. Was waiting for EUC’s to clear. I’ll be there next year though.
Jake
![[thumbzup]](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/images/smilies/icon_smile_thumzup.gif "Thumbs Up [thumbzup]"){kind=icon}
