Where to buy a Deuce

[Mike929]

I am located in Dallas, TX, and was thinking of entering the hobby. I know this has been discussed, but wanted to know if the "fully serviced" version from Boyce is the best starting point for a new purchase? Obviously if a long time trusted member of SS was offering his like new Deuce for a good price that would also be great.

I have also heard of Memphis trucks and a few others. I have seen some members trucks that are in the same price range or even cheaper but are located considerable distance from DFW area.

Although I fully expect to be maintaining, rebuilding, replacing parts as part of my deuce learning experience, I would like to start with a good mechanically sound example that I can drive and play with on day one and know that it is trust worthy.

If anyone has experience buying a “fully serviced” deuce from Boyce or another seller, please give me some feed back on your experience.

As a second desire, I have also noticed some M35A2s with an LDS motor. Boyce does not sell them in this configuration, and I was curious if that is something I wanted, what would be the best way to obtain. (i.e., buy a deuce and buy a LDS engine to replace the LDT at some future date or should I wait to find a deuce with an LDS motor already in it.)

I’m fairly busy now, so probably wouldn’t be ready to buy for at least 3-6 months unless I found a great deal or the “perfect” deuce for what I want.


Thanks,
Mike

 

[mightymanx]

Have you thought of buying one through Gov liquidation.

FT Bliss is a major player in the duce realm lately.

Depending on how much you want to spend you can find manny directly through the government that are turn key.

Here is a link to show you what is already listed in the entire state of Texas.

Government Liquidation

That is how I have done it.

 

[Mike929]

I have thought about GL, but still researching. A lot of responses in my searches have suggested buying a titled deuce from members or one of the resellers was a better way to go if I only wanted to buy one truck.

Ft Bliss is in El Paso, that is very far from DFW (across most of Texas.) On the good side, there are a lot of trucks on those roads, it might be fairly reasonable to ship from Bliss to DFW. If I want to inspect the truck before bidding, I would probalby look at Ft Sills, OK which is much closer. They just had their auction, so I will have to wait until the next lot of trucks.

 

[M1075]

Come on up to Oklahoma City and one of us can hook you up!

 

[maddawg308]

Where to buy a deuce?

My front yard.

 

[Warthog]

I've sent over a half dozen trucks south of the border. (since Texas is a Whole other Country.....LOL)

All buyers have seemed to be happy. Only none runner was a M37 that was not up to the trip.

 

[Flyingvan911]

Deuces are for sale everywhere! I just got one from Gov. Liquidation. I am waiting for the EUC to go through. Look for one that starts and runs. I got a pretty good one for $1,860 after fees and sales tax. The only limit is you budget. GL can get you a title for the truck. It just cost a little extra.

 

[Haggar]

You kinda have 3 options, and you need to be realistic on your time and money availalbe, and your expectations.

1) Buying through GL. Probably the cheapest possible way to get one. Maybe a crapshoot on what you get, and how long it takes to get it. There's a good chance this will cost you more in the ned, in maintenence items.

2) Buying from a dealer, like Boyce. Likely the most expensive, initially, but maybe in the best shape. They need to make a profit on what they sell, so you pay a premium here.

3) Buying from a classified ad. Often, this is the best option. Might already be titled, which is easier to deal with. No registering and waitng for GL, no paying a premium for a company. If you find one that someone has does some decent maintenece, might be a good deal. Often, a private seller is just looking to break even, or even loses money on a sale.


I've bought so many 4x4s, Jeeps, etc, over the years, that I know those $500 beaters cost more than the $2000 Jeeps in the end, with all the time and money you put into fixing up something, you often could have bought the nicer one to start...

 

[wreckerman893]

I think SS member Wering (sp) is in Houston. He does a lot of custom work but may have some stock deuces.

 

[deuceman51]

I also rebuild deuces for commercial use and private use (on a part time basis) and offer a one year warrenty on my trucks excluding the drivetrain(because U-tube is full of car crushing, tree smashing, extreme mudding of deuces that abuses them beyond what they are designed for). SD is aways away from you, but I do a few different grades of truck rebuild depending on what you would like. I also am a full time NG mechanic and working on military equipment is all I do for a living.

 

[m16ty]

If you want a truck "ready to go" I wouldn't go the GL route. I've never seen a truck from GL that didn't need some attention. I'm not saying there aren't some but I haven't seen them. I have seen some with some fairly major hidden problems though.

 

[sti-nkr]

If you haven't driven one yet, you should come on down to Tyler, I'll let you drive mine around a bit, some off roadin'!

 

[Mike929]

oops double post (Please remove)

 

[Mike929]

Wow, I really appreciate the responses I have received on my question and especially the offer to drive one from Sti-nkr. Looks like I may need to do a little more research or at least build bigger fences at my house. I pulled out my HOA restrictions (which I forgot to bring with me) and it has one that says no truck “over 1.5 ton” and something about commercial trucks with signs. Now it uses “and” but in a way that isn’t obvious if they mean commercial trucks over 1.5 tons or any truck over 1.5 tons. I need to get a lawyer to tell me the legal meaning of the wording and if I would be able to fight an action from the HOA.

I have storage an hour away, but that would defeat a lot of the fun of owning one. Unfortunately my HOA have been radical in nature these last few years and I have fought with them about parking my boat in the back yard because they could see the top one foot of the tower over the privacy fence, while standing on a 3 ft section of sidewalk on the street behind my street. (i.e., no one cares about this, but the board of the HOA hates boats. If they hate my Mastercraft wakeboard boat (which they can’t even really see), they are not going to like deuces.)

I’m in the process of putting up 8ft fences and strategic shrubberies to ‘hide’ the boat and could probably hide the truck as well. The only downside is that per the rules I am allowed to park a boat that is properly concealed, but I am NOT allowed to park the 1.5 Commercial truck anywhere on the property.

Looks like my next task will be to get a legal opinion in writing that I can use to defend my position to some degree. Sounds like I also need to see if I can get on the board to get these people to lighten up. J

 

[Haggar]

Being honest, I'd be really careful before buying, then, if you've got that find of home owners association. A Deuce is a bit over 9ft tall, when the bows are on the back. And being honest, they are LOUD. I drove mine to my bowling league yesterday, because I bowl with some Vietnam vets who wanted to see it. Coming back into my street, I practically idled the last mile, because I didn't want to wake people up.

 

[gtsig]

if you think they bitch about the boat you have not seen nothing yet. It would be fun to see if you could get away with that but I am sure they will not let you and find ways to make you move or sell it. If you want to just get on their nerves have some friends come over with some deuces for a BBQ and bring your deuce to pull your boat around the block each weekend lol
I have lived in places that made so many rules that I said I will live out in the woods and guess what I am! Love it here and can run around naked or have 50 deuces and no one will wake up LOL

 

[cattlerepairman]

I need to get a lawyer to tell me the legal meaning of the wording and if I would be able to fight an action from the HOA.

I have storage an hour away, but that would defeat a lot of the fun of owning one. Unfortunately my HOA have been radical in nature these last few years and I have fought with them about parking my boat in the back yard

I, for my part, would much rather spend the money on my MV - not for a lawyer. I would enjoy sitting there with a (beverage) and marvelling at the looks of my truck, rather than worrying about whether or not it has been parking on my property longer than the HOA or whoever allows.

Planning to fight this particular fight may be a good move for pressing principles of demoracy, but it sure is a lousy way to enjoy a hobby.

 

[Mike929]

Being honest, I'd be really careful before buying, then, if you've got that find of home owners association. A Deuce is a bit over 9ft tall, when the bows are on the back. And being honest, they are LOUD. I drove mine to my bowling league yesterday, because I bowl with some Vietnam vets who wanted to see it. Coming back into my street, I practically idled the last mile, because I didn't want to wake people up.

It is basically one lady causing the problem, the HOA management company never had an issue until she started complaining. Funny thing is that i pointed out that I could see her Sat. dish from the street to counter her issue with my boat, so she moved her dish. Then she found out that Federal law forbids HOAs from outlawing the location of Sat. dishes. She was a little miffed. I probably didn't help future harmany with that move.

I like my neighbors and they have no issue with the boat and probably no issue with the deuce if I parked it in the back and used common sense when using it (noise wise), mainly just the 1-2 people that don't even live near me that cause 99% of the trouble.

The thought with the letter from a lawyer is to shut down a case before it gets to court. My company provides free consults with a lawyer (enough to draft a letter anyway), but I'm not going to waste money with a court case and I think the HOA plays off that fear/cost sometimes.

With a 8' fence, I can hide a 12' tall boat (tower), due to the view point being below 5-6 feet from the side walk or view from car. A 9' deuce would be easy to hide visually, but I could see sound being an issue. Hard to sneak out with a deuce.

Anyway, a second solution may be to bob a deuce and declair it a 5/4 ton truck that is allowed by the HOA. I prefer the 6x6 config, but the bobbed deuces are cool too.

Sounds like I have a lot of work before I can buy.

 

[Mike929]

I think I am out of luck (HOA):
6.6 Uses Specifically Prohibited
(c) Trucks with tonnage in excess of one and one-half (1.5) tons and any commercial vehicle with painted advertisement shall not be permitted to park overnight on the Property except those used by a builder during the construction of Improvements.

I was thinking I might be able to Bob a deuce and call it a 1.5 ton truck, any one know how that works in Texas?

I guess I could ask for written permission to park it in the back yard if I improve landscaping to block view of it. I doubt this would work, but nothing lost by trying. It doesn't sound like you can sneak a Deuce in and out of a neighborhood.

 

[yetti96]

During the construction of improvements, easy...keep a sheet of plywood and some 2by4s in the bed. Done.