M275A2 in the Driveway Today

[Desert Deuce]

Used my Hi-Lift jack to straighten the porch on the tractor. Driver side was bent down pretty good when I bought it. Passenger side just needed a little lift. Now I need to finish straightening the 1/4 round fenders. Hope to install new engine in Nov. Would like to do an air-shift at the same time. It's going to get a winch sometime in the future too.

 

[L7]

nice tractor!

 

[clinto]

How much difference do you think the balancing makes on the wheels?

 

[Recovry4x4]

Beautiful truck Kevin but I just noticed somethinig. Your 5th wheel plate is much farther back than mine. Mine is practically right up against the pinoeer tool rack.

 

[73m819]

ya,looks about 9"back, the ramps extend way past the frame

 

[Desert Deuce]

Clinto, Well without the weights it's not nearly as smooth. It makes a huge difference on the front tires, I'm running 11x20's. Without the weights, get a little shimmy & bounce. This shimmy & bounce is tire generated, not road, can't fix that. With weights, front end is smooth and seems to turn better as well. I will say that balancing all 10 smoothed the ride on the entire truck significantly. Hoping for better tire wear, easier on bearings and such.

And, I need to paint those big weights GREEN

 

[Desert Deuce]

Hey Ken, yes correct, it's one set of holes back. In the picture on your tractor I can see the hole my rear bolt is in. It was there when I bought it, I will probably move it forward to center the king pin weight over axles. before I do that, I need to make sure my M128A2C has the required clearance for turns. Good eye!

Hey Ron, the ramps at the rear are bolted to the frame and are in the correct (and only available) position for an M275A2, I believe these are unique to the M275.

 

[Desert Deuce]

Hey Ken, Oops, I don't see another hole on your frame. Do you have another set of holes to move the 5th wheel back?

 

[Recovry4x4]

Mine has no other holes. Hmmm!

 

[FSBruva]

Desert Deuce-

Nice tractor!!! I love tractors, as it was Kenny's M275A2 that was the first deuce I drove!!!

No offense, but your neighborhood doesn't look like the type to embrace pieces of big green iron. Are you going to catch hell from your neighbors?

Matt

 

[rmgill]

Howd you balance them? I've got some hop in my 900x20 inch tires.

 

[Desert Deuce]

Matt, no problem, my neighbors are allways wondering what's next (in a good way), I've lived here for 10 years so it's really no problem. My neighborhood is more less "live and let live". Sometimes I'll leave one of the trucks in the driveway for a few days. My M35A2 was in the driveway for 3 weeks a couple months ago. Never had a single complaint. I try not to push my luck, I've got great neighbors. They are registered as histroric vehicles anyway not commercial, so there's no law or CC&R against it. I do have space on the side of the house for about 5 vehicles.

I keep the big green (& 4 color Desert MERDC) iron in covered storage a couple miles away.

 

[Desert Deuce]

Hey Ryan, I take it to a big truck, Semi - tractor trailer tire shop (Goodyear) in Phoenix. They have balancers that make easy work of it.

 

[houdel]

Nice looking truck. A set of 11:00-20s would really make it look studly though!

Ryan - I had the same problem. Go through the yellow pages under auto/truck repair and tire dealers. Explain to them you have BIG TRUCK tires, 9:00-20 on six hole Budd rims, same type of wheel as on a UPS delivery van. Expect to make a lot of calls and a grt lot of "no can do's", unless you are in a large metropolitan area with a lot of HD truck dealers/repair shops. Also try asking your UPS driver who does thier tire work. I must have made 20+ calls, went to three "I think maybe I can do it's" who couldn't do it. Finally a truck tire dealer gave me the name of a guy who COULD do it. Cost was $25 PER TIRE, $250 total. Truck rides much better now, though not perfect. A few of my tires were out of round - the rim was spinning concentrically, but the tires were not. Oh well, what do you expect from the lowest bidder?

 

[ken]

DD man that's a thing of beauty! I allways loved the 275's, but could never find one i could afford. So i setteled for a M52A2. Does it run as good as it looks? What year/turbo is it? Air shift?

 

[Desert Deuce]

Ken, Thanks, I like it too. I like the M52's as well. I'm about to replace the engine. It sat for about 7 years before I bought it last May. It has alot of blow-by and is very low on power. I believe the previous owner, who obtained it from the Cherokee Nation, shot way to much ether into it and cracked some rings.

The tractor is a 67, the engine was overhauled at TEAD in 92. It's a Continental LDT-465-1C w/C Turbo. It only shows about 130 hrs on the meter.

The engine that's going in is a Hercules LDT-465-1C w/D Turbo. It has just less than 100 hrs on it. It has a sprag transfercase, will get an air-shift when engine is replaced.

It needed quit abit of work when I bought it to make it road worthy, New brakes, master cyl, wheel cyl's, fuel pump, axle seals, front boots, front grill, 1 new windshield, 1 new brake line to pogo, headlights, headlight switch, hard top & 10 new 11x20 Titan 373's.

I paid $2500 for the truck, and have much more than that into it now. But this truck is worthy of the effort. It also has zero rust. Pics below are the day I picked it up and pulled it 250 miles with my F350 to Tucson.

 

[jh1990]

Great looking tractor. Good looking fleet you got there.

 

[rchalmers3]

Warning: Thread resurrection in progress!

I was doing a search and found this thread almost answered my questions. I acknowledge I could wait for the TM pages to become available and look this up myself, but..... well, you know

* What is the standard distance (with the 5th wheel plate mounted between the rear axles) from the center of the pin to the first object behind the cab?

* Does the standard M275 have the cab clearance for some, many or all trailers?

Bonus question:

* Is the M275 a versatile tractor for all trailers (civi and mil) 20k and under?? (I am assuming it is rated for 20k because 25% of 20k is 5k)

Thanks,

Rick

 

[NDT]

I've pulled 53' dry vans, 28' reefers, M172 lowboys, pup vans, 6 ton expandovans, none of which ever came close to hitting anything. The gasser M275 was rated to pull 36,000 lb trailers. The only issue with the M275 is power. Brakes are compensated for by the trailer brakes being available.

 

[rchalmers3]

The gasser M275 was rated to pull 36,000 lb trailers. The only issue with the M275 is power. Brakes are compensated for by the trailer brakes being available.

Thanks NT. Would you happen to know the MF tow rating?

Rick