Another of my woefully ignorant threads - suspension upgrade

[montaillou]

Is there a way to increase the capacity of the deuce, say to 3 or 3.5 ton without spending a fortune? Would custom built springs make enough difference, for instance?

I'm pretty far along and committed to all the changes I've made in my deuce so moving to a 5 ton is not an option.

 

[Mullaney]

Is there a way to increase the capacity of the deuce, say to 3 or 3.5 ton without spending a fortune? Would custom built springs make enough difference, for instance?

I'm pretty far along and committed to all the changes I've made in my deuce so moving to a 5 ton is not an option.

.
The Deuce is capable of the 2.5 tons in the field.
On the road, 5 tons is acceptable if you are tagged for that much weight.
You absolutely DO NOT want an overweight ticket!
Axles and springs will support three tons with no problem.

Being nosy, what do you plan to haul?

 

[montaillou]

The Deuce is capable of the 2.5 tons in the field.
On the road, 5 tons is acceptable if you are tagged for that much weight.

Yes, I'm aware of this. What would it take to change that 2.5 into a 3 or a 3.5?

What am I carrying? I'm building a custom camper which I expect to come in around 1500 - 2000 lbs but then I have 4 fuel tanks with a combined 200 gallons and about 65 gallons of water tanks. Add various implements of destruction and it's really easy to get to, or surpass, that 2.5 mark. I'd like to have some breathing room.

 

[G744]

The front spindles are the weak point in the G742 series suspension.

I've seen 2 crack on different trucks over the years.

 

[Mullaney]

Yes, I'm aware of this. What would it take to change that 2.5 into a 3 or a 3.5?

What am I carrying? I'm building a custom camper which I expect to come in around 1500 - 2000 lbs but then I have 4 fuel tanks with a combined 200 gallons and about 65 gallons of water tanks. Add various implements of destruction and it's really easy to get to, or surpass, that 2.5 mark. I'd like to have some breathing room.

.
I am not the all knowing, but I believe that the suspension you have will do the job as it is. Fatter tires to "float" the truck in mud and slop, but you should be good with the truck you have. Thinking too that you aren't a 19 year old with both feet flat on the floor, so you won't beat up your truck like the military might...

 

[Guyfang]

For several years I drove a diesel fuel tanker, (M35A2) with 1200 gallons of diesel on the back of it. 7 Lb. X 1200 Gal.= 8400 Lb. Was it good for the truck? Was it safe? No. Did it steer like a pig? Yes. Did I mistreat the truck like Mullaney wrote? You bet. But then I was 19 years old.

 

[montaillou]

The truck is being worked on by a friend-mechanic on a part-time basis (I have a number of threads on here about my progress). I'm 1-2 years out. When it's done, I'm gonna park it in my driveway and try to live in it for a month with my cat & dog to see if they can acclimatize to the space. If they can, I'll wrap up some loose ends, rent my house out and start touring the world. If they can't, I've got a really good weekender.

I do have wider than stock tires, duallies. Don't plan on doing any rock crawling, but I do expect to hit lots of dirt & primitive roads and beaches & off-road, if the ground looks good. There's a couple rally courses I would like to follow (not compete) that are overland and a few other things I see on Top Gear I would like to try.

So, I could end up spending years doing this...or not, and since I'm gonna be near or over the stock weight limits, if there's a not-super-expensive upgrade I can make to improve the suspension, well, you get the idea.

 

[ToddJK]

Any thoughts on using a trailer to carry fuel instead? Couple hundred gallons of fuel is a lot of space, especially on an overlander/camper build.

 

[G744]

Big singles do much better in sand (read beach). Plus, they are easier to source today than 9.00-20's.

The right tires can carry any weight you might have.

Trust me, I live in sand.

 

[rustystud]

The front axle is the weak link here. I would "not" go with wide tires on the front axle. That just increases the load on the spindles. Go with a higher load range tire that is the same diameter as the rest.
There are options though. "Ouverson" makes a heavy duty spindle kit, but it is pricey.
Also you can increase the spring pack in the front and rear axles. Then there is "boxing" in your frame.
The frame on the deuce is not hardened, so boxing in the frame will help tremendously in increasing load capacity. I did that on the front of my Deuce when I went with the double bumper mounted winch assembly.
You would have to remove a bunch of stuff along the frame rail, then reinstall everything, but installing a 10ft section from the middle of the cab to the rear axles would really increase your capacity. The old timers used to call this "fish" plating the frame.
Then there is bracing your front and rear axles. There are several companies that make kits for this.
The "Red Barn" is the one I used for my front axle.

 

[montaillou]

Big singles do much better in sand (read beach). Plus, they are easier to source today than 9.00-20's.

I'm pretty committed to my tires. They're 11r24.5 and can be sourced far more easily than military tires. Plus duallies gives me some other options when traveling vs super singles. If you're interested, you can read about my journey to commercial tires at this link.

Any thoughts on using a trailer to carry fuel instead? Couple hundred gallons of fuel is a lot of space, especially on an overlander/camper build.

The extra fuel capacity is already a part of my build. I've hung a 70 gallon tank where the tool rack used to be and will have some custom tanks built to ride in the sub-floor of my camper. You can see some of my progress at this link. Here is a link to some of my early camper concept drawings. The left side of the image represents the sub-floor, the right has since been changed.

 

[davidb56]

just put some overload shocks, or dual shocks from a off road shop in the front. im sure the back can handle 500lbs more weight......mine does when my BIL is back there eating pizza and drinking beer.

 

[Jeepsinker]

If anything, just add a few more leaves to the spring pack. That's basically all they did on the tankers and M108 wreckers.

 

[rustystud]

If anything, just add a few more leaves to the spring pack. That's basically all they did on the tankers and M108 wreckers.

On the Wreckers I saw they doubled the frame. Basically, they just added another "C" channel frame inside the original one. Then bolted them together.
They did this to my Tanker truck I had too.

 

[Jeepsinker]

On the Wreckers I saw they doubled the frame. Basically, they just added another "C" channel frame inside the original one. Then bolted them together.
They did this to my Tanker truck I had too.

Yes you're right. I forgot about that. I don't see that being necessary for OP's intended application though. I have seen more than a couple deuces with bent rear spring packs, but only one with a frame bent from overload.

 

[jward1]

I had a 2 1/2 non turbo liked it. Slow, go anywhere within reason and not fat man approved. Then got me a 900 series a1 non turbo cargo truck. Dam thing would go 65 no problem and definitely FAT man approved. At, ps, air brakes really enjoyed it. People would ask where you park it and of course I would say any dam place it wants to.

 

[rustystud]

Yes you're right. I forgot about that. I don't see that being necessary for OP's intended application though. I have seen more than a couple deuces with bent rear spring packs, but only one with a frame bent from overload.

Actually that is what "Montaillou" needs for all the weight he plans on hauling. That plus the extra springs would be just the ticket for him. Remember he plans on a "world trip" bringing everything including the kitchen sink ! That's a lot of weight.

 

[V8srfun]

I have hauled 5tons of gravel in my bone stock deuce from the quarry many times and never felt like the truck was not well enough equipped for the task. Now I was not driving on off road trails but I never felt like the truck was stressed or near the limit of what could be safely hauled. If I was doing a build like this I may get the truck all finished and drive it before I started to add springs or modify the suspension/frame. You may find that you like the way it handles just as it is.

 

[rustystud]

I have hauled 5tons of gravel in my bone stock truck from the quarry many times and never felt like the truck was not well enough equipped for the task. Now I was not driving on off road trails but I never felt like the truck was stressed or near the limit of what could be safely hauled. If I was doing a build like this I may get the truck all finished and drive it before I started to add springs or modify the suspension/frame. You may find that you like the way it handles just as it is.

You must remember that the Deuce frame is mild steel and not hardened like the 5 ton is. They did that so they could weld it in the field.