Badfish740
Member
- 34
- 1
- 6
- Location
- New Jersey
Hi all-I'm from Northwest NJ and am trying to plan long term for purchasing a 2.5 ton (I think?) truck for a very specific purpose. My wife and I are hoping to, within 10 years, purchase a remote property in Maine (about 550 miles away) to build a camp that the whole family will use for fall hunting, and summer/winter recreation for generations to come. We're looking up in the area between Eustis and Greenville, which is roughly between Moosehead Lake and the Canadian border. The camp will be off grid and likely off of a seasonally maintained road, and we want to be able to get to the property in deep winter snow as well as soft spring mud. Additionally, getting materials and supplies delivered to remote areas can be expensive, so I'd also like to be able to haul building materials and other supplies to the camp myself. That being said, just browsing the forums here I have learned a little about what it takes to get these trucks going initially and to keep them running, as well as their limitations on the highway. I'm trying to determine whether or not this is ultimately the right way to go. I will admit that part of the appeal for me is the enthusiast/hobbyist angle as well, because, let's face it, these trucks are AWESOME 
, but at least on the face of it, they seem they might be a good fit for what I want to use them for.
I envision using the truck first to travel to the property to haul much of the material, furnishings, tools, supplies, etc...up to the site. I will be having a 40' container dropped somewhere on the property where I can lock everything up when we're not there. For a while now I've been accumulating materials cheap on Craigslist and from other places (everything from lumber to plumbing pieces to a wood fired furnace) and storing them at my house. Once we purchase the property I'll begin moving things up north and we'll camp up there on long weekends while we construct the cabin. Since my wife and the kids (at least for now) will only be coming up during the summer when the weather and the roads are good, I would have her leading in her vehicle, so they'd be riding in comfort while I drove the truck. I would imagine that eventually some of the kids will want to ride with me, at least until they get tired of the rough ride and the noise So basically I'd go back and forth like that for a while until the place was finished (I figure we can do it all in one summer/fall) and then leave the truck up there since I could also use it for land clearing, and general off roading. There's not many places to drive a truck like that off road in NJ. My dream would be to eventually fit it with a camper and REALLY explore the backcountry, using the camp as a jumping off point and heading north the Allagash Wilderness for days at a time.
Anyway, as I said, there is a lot to take in here and I will be using the search function, but I'd like some thoughts from seasoned owners of these trucks about my ideas. I should add that I have a fair amount of experience with light duty diesels as well as alternative fuels. For six years I ran my 2003 (7.3L Powerstroke) F-350 on straight vegetable oil using a heated two tank fuel system built by Biofuels Technologies. I collected and filtered all of the oil myself via a custom built filtration rig. I sold the truck and all of the equipment when my daughter was born to finance some other things, but could easily put together another filtration system based on my old design. I never had a single issue running on filtered (to less than 1 micron using a centrifuge) and dewatered SVO. The truck now has nearly 300K miles on it and is working on a farm in Missouri. The multifuel engines seem perfect for SVO use, so I'll be looking for information on that here as well-I understand that folks are using waste motor oil and transmission fluid as well. Since the truck will really only be used for trips to Maine and back it won't be hard to find enough waste oil to run it.
To this?
I've read about the super single conversion and would definitely like to go that route (or buy a truck already converted), but the truck in the lower picture is apparently running 395/85/R20 tires, which translate to about 46" tall That should be more than adequate for mud or deep snow in the Maine woods, but does a tire that tall require a lift of some kind? I would imagine that lifting a truck like this is no easy task and frankly not something I'd want to do. Thanks in advance for putting up with my noob questions-I like to jump into things with both eyes open, so I try to gather as much information as I can ahead of time. Buying land in a remote area requires a similar attention to detail, so I'm trying to make sure I put all of the pieces together. Looking forward to learning from the members here.
, but at least on the face of it, they seem they might be a good fit for what I want to use them for. I envision using the truck first to travel to the property to haul much of the material, furnishings, tools, supplies, etc...up to the site. I will be having a 40' container dropped somewhere on the property where I can lock everything up when we're not there. For a while now I've been accumulating materials cheap on Craigslist and from other places (everything from lumber to plumbing pieces to a wood fired furnace) and storing them at my house. Once we purchase the property I'll begin moving things up north and we'll camp up there on long weekends while we construct the cabin. Since my wife and the kids (at least for now) will only be coming up during the summer when the weather and the roads are good, I would have her leading in her vehicle, so they'd be riding in comfort while I drove the truck. I would imagine that eventually some of the kids will want to ride with me, at least until they get tired of the rough ride and the noise
So basically I'd go back and forth like that for a while until the place was finished (I figure we can do it all in one summer/fall) and then leave the truck up there since I could also use it for land clearing, and general off roading. There's not many places to drive a truck like that off road in NJ. My dream would be to eventually fit it with a camper and REALLY explore the backcountry, using the camp as a jumping off point and heading north the Allagash Wilderness for days at a time. Anyway, as I said, there is a lot to take in here and I will be using the search function, but I'd like some thoughts from seasoned owners of these trucks about my ideas. I should add that I have a fair amount of experience with light duty diesels as well as alternative fuels. For six years I ran my 2003 (7.3L Powerstroke) F-350 on straight vegetable oil using a heated two tank fuel system built by Biofuels Technologies. I collected and filtered all of the oil myself via a custom built filtration rig. I sold the truck and all of the equipment when my daughter was born to finance some other things, but could easily put together another filtration system based on my old design. I never had a single issue running on filtered (to less than 1 micron using a centrifuge) and dewatered SVO. The truck now has nearly 300K miles on it and is working on a farm in Missouri. The multifuel engines seem perfect for SVO use, so I'll be looking for information on that here as well-I understand that folks are using waste motor oil and transmission fluid as well. Since the truck will really only be used for trips to Maine and back it won't be hard to find enough waste oil to run it.
- First things first, as far as I know I will not need a CDL to drive the truck in NJ. It seems that I will have to take it for inspection, however, the DMV website says that ALL (I take this to mean commercial and non-commercial) diesel vehicles over 18,000 lbs GVWR must have a smoke opacity test. When I had my F-350 Powerstroke since I was under 10,000 I didn't have to go to inspection at all. I'd love to hear from other NJ residents who have taken their trucks for the opacity test as well as if it has given them any trouble? I've read a little on this board about insurance and it seems to vary quite a bit so I'll just talk to my carrier.
- Cost-as I understand it, the only way to buy these trucks is through a company that reconditions them, because the trucks that are sold at auction rarely run and the ones that do need A LOT of work. That said, the price still seems to vary quite a bit for a reconditioned truck. I've seem them as low as $3500 and as high as $6500 without a lot of explanation for the differences?
- The Wikipedia page for the M35 has answered most of my basic questions (GVWR, cargo bed size, etc...), but I have a few others. How many seats are in the cab? I did manage to find one straight on shot from the passenger side and it looks like there's enough room for three people to fit comfortably. Has anyone successfully mounted other types of seats? The Deuce that I saw had seats that were mounted on simple angle iron frames that looked like they could be easily taken out and replaced. I was thinking along the lines of mounting three buckets (maybe even captain's chairs if I could find them) side by side.
- How about cab noise? Can two people carry on a conversation at highway speeds without shouting? If not, what is the source of most of the noise? Gear train? Exhaust? I would imagine that the kind of sound deadening material that car audio enthusiasts use could work well on the firewall/transmission tunnel/floorboards.
- Heaters seem to be hit or miss, but I'll certainly need one where this truck is going. The Wikipedia page mentions engine coolant or multifuel fired heaters. Which are more common? I would think that coolant heaters would be a lot more maintenance free and easier to deal with in general.
- Finally, tires and lifts? I see a lot of variation in M35s. Some look like run-of-the-mill military trucks and some look like Bigfoot on steroids. For example, how does one go from this:
To this?
I've read about the super single conversion and would definitely like to go that route (or buy a truck already converted), but the truck in the lower picture is apparently running 395/85/R20 tires, which translate to about 46" tall
That should be more than adequate for mud or deep snow in the Maine woods, but does a tire that tall require a lift of some kind? I would imagine that lifting a truck like this is no easy task and frankly not something I'd want to do. Thanks in advance for putting up with my noob questions-I like to jump into things with both eyes open, so I try to gather as much information as I can ahead of time. Buying land in a remote area requires a similar attention to detail, so I'm trying to make sure I put all of the pieces together. Looking forward to learning from the members here.