Looking to get a Deuce

[ATPTac]

Hey all, my wife and I are looking to get a M35A2 sometime in the near future. I've been lurking around the forum for a week or so now trying to read up as much as possible on Deuces. The one thing I've noticed from searching is there are TONS of threads on varying subjects, most of which (to no surprise) end up derailing from the initial subject and it just makes for pages upon pages of non-related info. So to summarize: I'm looking for general info on Deuces, common problems they have, cost/ease of maintenance as well as parts, what kind of tools am I going to need to work on one, etc... I am an auto technician at a Nissan dealership, so I am mechanically competent. I just have very little to no experience with large trucks and diesel. I've spent quite literally 2+ hours a day for the past week and a half reading up on them. So I know a good chunk of the basics... Still trying to get all the acronyms down though. I know this is very vague as far as what exactly I'm looking for, but every time I go to look up something on a deuce I end up on 10 different other threads that are completely unrelated to what I was initially looking for and I end up forgetting what I was looking up (granted I end up learning about other things I hadn't initially intended on).

I've always seen MV's cruising around and for the longest time assumed it was always Military personnel driving them. My wife and I somehow got on the subject of civilians owning them so she did a search and she instantly fell in love with the idea of owning one (or more). Me being the type of person who wants to know everything possible about any hobby or vehicle I'm interested in, I started searching around and quickly found this forum. I will say it is most definitely informative, and I think there is a good group of people here.

Thanks in advance for any info/insight!

And please, if you're going to come on here and say "do a search" don't waste yours or my time. Not trying to be rude, but I've been doing searches and weeding through 1-9 year old posts for a while and figured it was time to break the ice and start a discussion where I can ask questions and get them directly answered.

 

[porkysplace]

Some good information in these threads.

cost of ownership (the real cost of a deuce)
So you want to buy a Deuce (final).doc

Read the -10 tm and this components diagram will help you understand deuces and what to look for when shopping .
TM9-2320-209-10-1.pdf
GTA-9-1-1851-8.pdf

 

[ATPTac]

Some good information in these threads.

cost of ownership (the real cost of a deuce)
So you want to buy a Deuce (final).doc

I did come across the cost of ownership thread a while back, very informative for the initial start up cost. I am more than likely going to end up buying from a private seller who has already done a lot of the "lot rot" maintenance and was more so looking for whats going to be involved in the overall general maintenance. Do you need a ton of special tools/jacks to work on them due to the size and weight? As far as the second link... for some reason my computer decided to uninstall Microsoft Word on its own, and I still haven't figured out how to restore it. So I can't open that link until I figure that out.

 

[mattyboy]

what porky said. Also go test drive one many of your own Questions will be answered. These are big trucks require lots of special heavy trucks tools if your Nissan dealership has one inch impact gun than your problems should be small........laughing to myself right now. i have a 5 ton and also a duece that i am bobing right now. My wife says one has to go i will have to think hard about that. duece multi fuel, whistle turbo, and in general a bad arse truck . 5 ton quiet, power steering and full airbrakes . decisions decisions.

 

[ATPTac]

I'd love to test drive one, just don't know where I can. And no we don't have 1" impact guns, but there are 4 tool trucks that come by weekly. I looked into 5 tons, and do want one eventually. But for starting out with MV's I want a Deuce, plus we really want a multi fuel.

 

[Woodsplinter]

Welcome to the site!

I bought my M35A2 (deuce-and-a-half) in March, 2012. I have no background in auto mechanics and have only a couple of socket sets, open-end wrenches, and misc. hand tools. I have purchased a set of specialty wrenches for changing the alternator belt but that's about it.

Currently parts are plentiful through various sources on the Internet. Cost sometimes varies from dealer to dealer. (I just paid $48 for an oil pressure sending unit). Most of my work has been maintenance such as changing all the fluids and filters. The engine is simple and relatively easy to maintain. (I added a/c and power-assist steering by myself after reading how to do it).

The major parts such as the tires, axle, transmission, transfer case are heavier than on cars making them more difficult to repair/ replace. Because they are old (mine was built in 1983, so it's relatively new), they will require more routine maintenance than a modern vehicle.

This search tip may help you when doing searches:

Go to Google and type in "site:www.steelsoldiers.com (search term)" . If you put quotes around the words in your search term, it will search for those words together instead of the words separately. Searching for "deuce oil filter" will return posts with that phrase, not just those words separately.

Popular parts dealers are Erik's Military Surplus, TNJ Murray, Eastern Surplus, Boyce Equipment, eBay, and more. Many members sell parts here also.

Check out vehicles carefully before buying. Personally I would steer clear of trucks that have been used for mudding and those with no title. Hope this helps!

Mark

 

[Chief_919]

Go ahead and plan on coming down to the GA rally in a couple weeks. It is only 3.5 hours away, and you will get to see all kinds of them, lay hands on, go for rides, and talk to lots of knowledgeable people.

 

[wreckerman893]

Go ahead and plan on coming down to the GA rally in a couple weeks.

What Chief said. You can't have more good clean fun, eat better food and meet a bunch of better people than at the GA Rally. You will see trucks that will knock your socks off.

 

[iatractor]

No matter what the truck costs, it is still cheaper than a wife. Plus, even though it takes a fair amount of wrench turning, it still takes less maintenance than a female.

 

[ATPTac]

Mark, thanks for the info. From what I've been reading on here it seems like a lot of the maintenance and repairs are pretty simple, just different than what I'm used to working on, and clearly much larger scale. And I've seen enough YouTube videos of guys beating the crap out of their trucks in mud holes (plus previous experience with ragged out Jeeps) to know to stay away from those trucks. I'd honestly like to get a relatively clean mostly original truck from a GL auction, but it looks like these days they're becoming somewhat scarce unless you're willing to drive halfway across the country. I like the idea of getting one and doing all the work myself. But more than likely I'm going to be buying from a private seller just due to availability, and mostly my inpatient nature.

Go ahead and plan on coming down to the GA rally in a couple weeks. It is only 3.5 hours away, and you will get to see all kinds of them, lay hands on, go for rides, and talk to lots of knowledgeable people.

I'd love to go to the GA rally, I just don't know if I'm going to be able to this year on short notice. I'm going to see if I can work something out though...

There is a guy locally that buys MV's and goes through them and repaints every one of them, makes sure all the wear and tear items (tires, brakes, clutch, etc...) have at least 95% life or better, and changes all the fluids. It looks like he bobs most of his trucks before selling, but does sell them in factory configuration. I've thought about calling him up to see if he lets people test drive them or not. His prices seem reasonable from what I've seen as well. In you guys' experience, is it worth it to buy one that has been thoroughly gone through and pay a little more for it? Or buy one that needs some TLC and do the work yourself?

Thanks again for the insight guys.

Jeremy

EDIT: porkysplace, I tried to write a response to your post but for some reason it required moderator approval but none of my other ones have.

 

[187]

If you can find one that is in private hands that has been gone through, it might save you some time and money in the long run vs. buying from GL. If the seller is reputable and has knowledge of these trucks, chances are that anything that was wrong with it will have been fixed, or at least you will know up front what needs attention.

 

[Trailboss]

You don't NEED an impact gun to change tires. I'm 62 and changed all 10 tires on a 5-ton in one day with a geared lug wrench and 4' cheater bar. I did get a 3/4" impact gun from a pawn shop to speed things up though after that.

Good private trucks are going for around $3.5-6+K now, depending on condition and what comes with them. Really nice ones that are running have also gone recently for near $4K on GovLiq. because they are so rare. Commercial resellers trucks are often going much higher, but they often perform almost a complete overhaul before sale. Either private or commercial seller should provide some support, even if only to answer your questions, after the sale. Since the trucks are over 40 years old, you probably shouldn't expect much of a warranty, if any.

 

[Woodsplinter]

ATP, the price issue depends on what you want to do with the truck. If you want to spend your time driving it, pay more and get one that has been gone through. If you want to tinker with it, save some money and do the TLC yourself. The benefit of that is it allows(forces?) you to become familiar with the truck- sooner or later you will have to do some maintenance.

I must admit they are fun to drive (but slow) and its cool having the biggest, baddest truck on the block!

Mark

 

[Ford Mechanic]

Welcome to the forum from a fellow North Carolina reident and a fellow dealership mechanic! I work for a Ford dealer, well for another half a week when I start at the town shop. I've found that our experiance helps alot but still leaves us lacking in certin areas like trouble shooting the engine being it uses such a old out dated design, but you'll catch on very quickly.

There's another member in Winston Salem that is selling some trucks that is a top notch guy you might get up with him too http://www.steelsoldiers.com/member.php?51031-CBR-Metalworks Check the classifieds for some of his trucks.

A great place for parts is White Owl in Kinston, Great guys, most of the time I have my parts next day being I'm fairly close 252-522-2586 http://www.whiteowl.com/ They also sell trucks.

Things I've found I needed that I didn't have in my collection of tools
STANDARD sockets and wrenches (I had some but not to the extent that I had of metric stuff)
Geared lug wrench
1 in drive socket set and a large breaker bar
Standard wrenches over 1 in
Bottle jack
Lots of 2 ft pieces of 4x4's
Fuel filters
2x 1/2in ignition wrenches from Cornwell for adjusting the FDC

Get to know the brake system real well is probably the most important of all. It's a single cuircit system so you have no reserve if you spring a leak, and more than likely it takes DOT5 fluid. A good modification I did was install a remote master cyl. resoviour so it's easyier to check the level. I bought it from a member here everything was included http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showth...series-5-ton-Remote-Brake-Fluid-Reservoir-Kit

Good luck, and don't take offence to the guys saying to do a search. You'd be doing the same to a rookie or other tech that wouldn't use or didn't know how to use the books or other reasorces availible and was asking all sorts of simple questions taking up your commisioned time. I had that realization about a month into this green addiction here at this shop after getting into it here with another respected member and realized I just told a tech the same thing.

 

[ATPTac]

I think I'm going to start slowly picking up tools I'll need periodically so I'll have them on hand for when I end up buying one. Especially considering 90% of my tools are metric. As far as buying one, I'm still on the fence with getting one that's already been mostly rebuilt or getting one that needs work. Can't agree more with Mark on that one, the only way to truly learn something is to jump in with both feet and start tinkering.

Ford Mechanic, its good to see some more NC people on here as well as auto Tech's. I'll have to start looking into some of those tools. And yeah I understand the search thing using new techs as a comparison. I mostly wanted to reach out and start actually talking to people and being that I'm just now getting into MV's wasn't sure how to start interacting with people on here. I'm definitely no stranger to forums and general forum etiquette, as well as people tending to get frustrated with the new guy. I just have the opinion that if everyone did nothing but search old topics for info there would rarely be any actual discussion... which is the idea behind a forum right?

Thanks for all the help so far guys!

 

[Ford Mechanic]

Very true man. I also jumped in with both feet, bought mine from a car dealer that took it in on trade with no history on it, and I've been working on it fairly steadliy for a year repairing things to get it to what I would consider reliable. I've been driving it around town and to work on and off as I was bugeting cash for the next repairs, but just keeping it on local duty, hauling rock for my driveway, hay this year for the horse, ice cream with the little lady, that sort of thing. I hope to get mine to the point over the winter that I feel confident in the reliability of the truck to be able to take it to the beach next year! It's been interesting to work on and a blast to drive, you'll enjoy yours when you get it!

 

[wreckerman893]

But more than likely I'm going to be buying from a private seller just due to availability, and mostly my inpatient nature.

If you make it to the GA Rally look up brother Clinto. He refurbs deuces and his attention to detail is awesome. If you buy one from him it will be a quality truck.

 

[VPed]

I would add to the list of tools a budd socket for the lugs and the eight-point socket for the hubs.