Making a Deuce a (better) highway vehicle?

[DanMartin]

I've never heard of a location with an abbreviation of "YT".

Yukon Territories (now just "Yukon" as of 2003). He's Canadian....

I had the privilege of driving down from Alaska through The Yukon...some of the most amazing scenery I've ever seen (and I've been places). Nice people too. I have in fact been to Whitehorse....after spending 2 days stuck in the snow at Haines Junction....with no power....or heat.

Anyways, back to the action....

 

[Unforgiven]

On a quick note, when I got my duece I aired the tires up to highway spec, and got a 5 mph increase over what the previous owner got. Makes sense...proper air pressure=less drag, which let's you go faster. That 5 mph increase was with a load of wood in the back, too.

That's funny. The same thing happened to me. I drove 600 miles back home with the truck. When I checked the tires a few days later I had ~20 psi in both fronts, ~25 psi in both sets of outer rears, & ~ 12-15 psi in both sets of inner rears, both sides. How I made it 600+ miles without a tire failure is beyond me.

Now, all 10 are at exactly 45 psi. It took me almost an hour to air them all up. There was so much crud on the valve stems for the inner-rears that I swear they haven't been checked since 1971. The truck handles & turns much better with properly inflated tires.

 

[toomanyhobbies]

This is a great thread. I am interested making a M109 a camper and doing some road trips with it. Keep the tips and ideas coming!

 

[DanMartin]

I think OPCOM has a great write-up somewhere on here about his choice of tires for his M109. He's running a highway rib tire up front...commercial truck tire. I guess it made the thing steer and handle great on the highway....take a look at his threads/write-ups. He's got a lot of good things to say....

 

[cranetruck]

FWIW, wrote articles about the deuce in MVM (5 or more years ago) with enhancements for highway driving, including higher tire pressure, more instrumentation, wheel alignment, freeing up the rear bogie , some electrical improvements, tire siping and even air pollution control...

Edit: December 2005 and earlier issues of the Military Vehicles Magazine.

 

[Beerslayer]

60 MPH is easy with 46" tires and turning up the fuel in the deuce as other have stated. You still have all the other issues that make long trips real tiring; heat, cold, noise, steering, brakes. I just came back from a 4 day trip in Esmerelda and am really beat.

If a person requires all the comforts and wants a big offroad capable truck, consider buying an Oshkosh concrete mixer truck, take off the mixer drum and put on a van body. I have seen a lot of them in the auctions in Florida recently. It wouldn't cost much more than all of the upgrades to a deuce.

 

[jesusgatos]

A project I've wanted to do...well, for **** near ever is to build a camper/expedition vehicle out of a M109. Something that could take me camping pretty much wherever I want to, tow my Jeep to and from some of the more famous trails, hit up paintball scenario games, things like that.

However, obviously, the Deuce isn't exactly known for speed on the highway. While I know they'll cruise quite happily at about 50-55 MPH, is there any way, short of swapping the entire drivetrain with that of a heavy truck designed for highway speed (Since I know that, if I swapped the engine, I'd probably have to swap in a new transmission, transfer case, maybe axels and so on...), of getting a Deuce to, at the very least, cruise safely at the average 60 MPH limit?

Any input would be much appreciated!

I'm building pretty much exactly what you're talking about. I've put about 4000 miles on it so far, and all I've done so far is add a muffler. I've been too busy with the motorhome conversion to do much more, but I'm planning to make Mah Deuce a lot more civilized. I just finished singling it out, and I'm going to mount a set of radial 11:00R20 tires (Firestone T831's) as soon as I figure out what wheels I'm going to use. I also found an LDS engine that I'm going to be picking up later this month, although my LDT runs real strong and I've had no problem maintaining 55+mph. AC is in-the-works (reddot) and I'm planning on insulating the cab with some type of sound-deadening material whenever I get around to it. Replacing the seats with some low-back baja-type suspension seats is a lot higher on my priority list though. Those stock seats are brutal! What else? Hmmm. Lockouts on as many axles as I can afford. That's about all I can think of right now.

EDIT: Forgot shocks! I'm going to add some nice 2.5" remote-reservoir derest racing shocks (at least 1 at each wheel), and maybe a set of hydraulic bumpstops (at least up front).

I only decided to build on the M35 chassis after I did a lot of research and looked at a lot of different types of vehicles. I think it's a FANTASTIC platform to build an off-road oriented motorhome out of, and I hope you don't let all these people discourage you from building an M109.

 

[FormerNewMVGuy]

i run mine at 65-69mph all day ......but i have 15.5s on mine if you turn the fuel up a little it doesnt seem to hurt to much with the bigger tires

After having 6 m35A2's and driving other peoples I've never driven one that liked over 53 mph, I'm not trying to start trouble.... But i just dont see 65-69 happening, You guys must really run the sh!t out of em to get over 55 ?

 

[emr]

Yeeesh, sorry but here i go again, as for doing over 55 it is up to the individual and the ability of the driver, These trucks were never made to go that fast, your tires will wear very very fast at those speeds, your brakes will not want to stop u, if they get hot they will be worse, all the nuts and bolts will be coming loose on everything, the jack shafts will loosen up first probably, these are tactical vehicles, As for what Tm Americas says and does, He has a TON of off road experience to go with what he is doing, the novice needs to keep it simple. He knows how to handle a truck going wild off road and knows what to expect when trouble hits on the road, most do not by a long shot, i have been there sliding around corners in a tandem dump loaded on wet roads young and stupid, I have been around equipment and big trucks for ever, and I do not chance it. ...But I say do it for sure just my advise is keep it as much like it was designed and built to be driven, it will last longer and be more reliable also..These are great trucks........

To answer your question keep it at 52 and it will go forever and then take U into the woods too, change to many things and other parts will fail do to over use, like all vehicles, once u change one part for performance U will lose another type of performance, no truck in the world can have it all. These are awesome though, they are still taking a beating from guys who push em, but it comes at a price u have to work on your truck, or U will lose a shaft or brakes or just skid off the road when U find out that these big tires are off" road tires. They will get you farther into trouble than any of the others if U are not careful...

 

[Beerslayer]

^^Good Points^^

I have a lot of years of on and off road experience with big trucks. I really like the International F1954 6x6. They already come ready with power steering, great brakes, transmission, powerful motor, and easy to air condition if you like.

If you look around you can find one for about the same money you would pay to tart up a deuce and you would still have a modern safe truck. Take this one for example. I bet it could be bought for $15k.

Search the internet and watch the govt auction sites for International F1954 6x6. I know the US Navy bought a lot of them and some are starting to show up in the surplus market. Here is a poopy pumper truck that is ex-Navy. The dealer wants an arm and a leg for it but it is a nice truck. He probably paid $5k for it at auction.

 

[Unforgiven]

ANY vehicle can be made extraordinarily safe or extraordinarily dangerous. It depends on the modification, the quality of the modification, and your budget. I agree this truck is a great platform to modify. That's why I decided to buy one.

I was under the impression that the big Michelin tires were rated for 70 mph. But I could be wrong. I think Singling-Out the truck makes sense. Why? Because in most of the pics I've viewed these trucks are still running on the original tires. What is that; 30 or even 40 + years? Rubber deteriorates even standing still. A 40 year old tire with 100% tread is far more dangerous than a 1 year old tire with 50% tread.

 

[panshark]

...in most of the pics I've viewed these trucks are still running on the original tires. What is that; 30 or even 40 + years? Rubber deteriorates even standing still. A 40 year old tire with 100% tread is far more dangerous than a 1 year old tire with 50% tread.

Would switching out the 30-40 year old innertubes make them any safer?

 

[NMC_EXP]

Would switching out the 30-40 year old innertubes make them any safer?

Probably not.

Tubes leak, tires blowout.

The previous poster is correct. Rubber is organic and it degrades/decays even when the vehicle is parked.

Keep your tires aired up to spec. Low tires have more rolling resistance. More rolling resistance means more heat buildup in the tire. Heat kills the types of rubber used for tires. If it gets hot enough the tire will blowout a sidewall or peel the tread.

I'm told a catastrophic steering axle tire failure without power steering can result in the need for new seat covers.

More rolling resistance means higher fuel consumption as well.

While I'm on a tire rant, use valve caps. If you run without them dirt, grit and crud ends up in the end of the valve stem. When you air the tire the crud is forced in. If some of the crud ends up in the valve core seat, you now have a slow leak.

Regards

Jim

 

[Floridianson]

Some kinda of camper is maybe what is in store for the AF truck.
Drives wells, air brakes and auto. with 4x4.

 

[SrIrie]

Sound deading is your friend
Get as much as you can afford (dynamat or one of the nock offs) because even with a muffler, exhaust ran out the back and 15.5s the mechanical noise is still loud for long sustained speeds.

For some strange reason there still the shiznits

 

[Unforgiven]

I think switching the inner tubes without installing new tires is inadvisable. Why dismount & possibly ruin/weaken the decades-old tires just to put in an inner tube? The bead separation process might further weaken an already over-the-hill tire. The truck I just bought has some seriously old tires. The tires, rims, wheel cylinders, brake pads, axle seals & ... are going to be replaced asap. That's not just because I think the singles look better. It is a matter of safety as well. Tires older than 5+ years on any car or truck should be seriously inspected. Out here in the desert where I live tires older than 10 yrs are a blowout waiting to happen. I had BRAND NEW BFG's on a Jeep that I never registered. After 10 years I put these tires on another vehicle. After about a month the tread separated on one of the fronts. Luckily it was at low speed. And when I say separated, I mean a huge chunk of rubber came flopping up through the fender well. The other tires didn't look so good either. And these were 100% tread tires. They looked fine when I put them on. I trashed them & will never run tires longer than 5-7 yrs max in the future. I don't care if I only drive the M35 ten miles a decade. I'll still spend the $3K for new tires every 5-7 yrs.

 

[tm america]

2550rpm = 69mph with the 15.5s 2300rpm=65 and 2100rpm=60mph .so if running the deuce at 23oorpm means beating it up to you then i guess i'm guilty as charged .one thing i want to point out is that running 69 with 15.5 is the same to the drivetrain as running 56 with 9.00s. the only difference is the brakes have more leverage working against them ,but the drive line rpms are the same .yes the 15.5s are only rated for 50 but they are rated for 50 at max load which is 14500lbs per tire. and take that times 6 - 87000lbs and since a deuce is only rated for 23000 there would only be a tire issue bue to heat if you were only running one tire on the whole truck. so you arent gonna have tire issues due to heat at high speeds. the brakes dont see any higher rpms than they do with stock tires . if you decide you dont want to go faster than 56 the bigger tires will give you less rpm and longer life of the engine also.you will get better mpg with bigger tires on the highway . i get 14mpg with my m35a2c pulling an m105 ..can you make these trucks feel like a caddy probably not can you make them more drivable on the highway yes.i drove mine 26hrs straight .i needed two days to recover .i would look into a air ride seat for the drive side.i also put a one piece heavy rubber floor mat in there to cut down the noise and heat. insulating the firewall would help out greatly to but dont use anything that holds water and leave a gap so it can dry out to.

 

[m16ty]

yes the 15.5s are only rated for 50 but they are rated for 50 at max load which is 14500lbs per tire.

Are you sure about that? While I have no first hand experience with 15.5s, that's a whole lot of weight per tire. If you're figures are right I could use a bunch of them in a civilain application (heavy haul trucks).

 

[tm america]

yes that is the rating on the side of the tire and in the specs to the 395s are rated at like 12000 per tire .these are the single rating for the tire

 

[tm america]

i dont know what they would be as duals since they dont have a dual rating as i dont think there is a truck out there that could run them as duals.the side walls are over an inch thick on these tire even when they are flat they only bow the sidewalls out about 1- 1.5 inches on the rear of a deuce