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Deuce Rough Terrain Limitations

rustystud

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I taught classes in the base library at the YPG back in the 70's.

Access to many reports on tactical vehicle testing was available, and I was really into army trucks. I couldn't take any of the material out of the facility, unfortunately.

Another thing I remembered was one report said tire diameter was more important than width in off-road operations. It was likened to casters on shop equipment, smaller ones get caught in floor cracks more often.

I'll check with a friend that worked there as well and see if any of those docs are available online now.
What classes did you teach ?
Also any kind of "documentation" from any of the proving grounds would be Fantastic ! There is so little known about that.
I also agree with you about the total lack of field testing on any of the newer vehicles. That whole MRAP debacle comes to mind immediately. The fact that it would roll ever in the field just boggles the mind !
I heard about tire diameter when I was in Tank school. The taller tires would be able to reach down through heavy mud and get to firmer soil easier than wider tires which tended to "float" on the mud.
Thanks in advance.
 

therealquaid

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Looking at the picture, the Boyce kit uses a bolt-on, belt-driven hydraulic pump.
Considering off-road use, a belt-driven hydraulic pump sounds easier to repair compared to the pump used in Waterloo’s kit, seeing that you would have less things to fail and replacing the belt would be easier to source, is my thinking correct?
 

therealquaid

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Thanks
your mods listed above will help you the bobbed is situational might help might hurt
The power steering is the most helpful mod off-road


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About power steering, the only guys I know of supplying wheels with a negative offset that fits a PS kit on a Deuce is Boyce, and their wheels don’t have beadlocks. This limits airing down the tires to about 40psi vs 10~15psi with a beadlock wheel without power-steering (or at least with a smaller turning radius due to 395s rubbing on the pitman arm).

Unless you can weld and fab your own wheel it seems like for anyone looking into buying parts for these modifications you are limited to hydraulic assist power steering with a 40psi minimum tire pressure. For the terrain shown in the video this would be more than enough but then the truck would lose versatility on sand…
95F777D9-FFA8-488D-943F-35FE1FAC9C82.jpeg
 

swbradley1

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Thanks, I appreciate your picture! I haven’t had the chance to see ANYONE put their trucks at angles like this until yours 👍🏽
Then you need to come to rally where frame twisting is the natural way of things. I have seen the front of an M818 with the frame twisted so bad while crossing deep ruts that the hood had a gap of at least 6 inches on one side. It straightened right out after he got it out and drive it several hundred miles home.

I have drive up sharper inclines than the picture and it is cool to see 8 rear wheels on the ground and the two front going up until they break over. It is amazing what they will do just the way they are. But that's just me.
 

porkysplace

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Then you need to come to rally where frame twisting is the natural way of things. I have seen the front of an M818 with the frame twisted so bad while crossing deep ruts that the hood had a gap of at least 6 inches on one side. It straightened right out after he got it out and drive it several hundred miles home.

I have drive up sharper inclines than the picture and it is cool to see 8 rear wheels on the ground and the two front going up until they break over. It is amazing what they will do just the way they are. But that's just me.
They even been known to take a nap
 

Watsonpreston

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About power steering, the only guys I know of supplying wheels with a negative offset that fits a PS kit on a Deuce is Boyce, and their wheels don’t have beadlocks. This limits airing down the tires to about 40psi vs 10~15psi with a beadlock wheel without power-steering (or at least with a smaller turning radius due to 395s rubbing on the pitman arm).

Unless you can weld and fab your own wheel it seems like for anyone looking into buying parts for these modifications you are limited to hydraulic assist power steering with a 40psi minimum tire pressure. For the terrain shown in the video this would be more than enough but then the truck would lose versatility on sand…
View attachment 896739
On 46 inch tires with stock suspension when off-roading the tires have the ability to rub on
fender’s
exhaust
Leaf springs ect
My vote for all out off road is lift kit for the front black rock fabrication kit is almost a bolt on kit pretty simple then you have plenty of space for the gear box with any rim and tire setup
I now have custom wheels I built and running around a 53 inch tire only rub on the leaf spring’s slightly at full lock


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therealquaid

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On 46 inch tires with stock suspension when off-roading the tires have the ability to rub on
fender’s
exhaust
Leaf springs ect
My vote for all out off road is lift kit for the front black rock fabrication kit is almost a bolt on kit pretty simple then you have plenty of space for the gear box with any rim and tire setup
I now have custom wheels I built and running around a 53 inch tire only rub on the leaf spring’s slightly at full lock


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How do you feel about how important it would be to air down? Do you change your PSI every now and then when you use it like in your videos?
My thinking is that maybe <40psi is only useful for sand.
 

Watsonpreston

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How do you feel about how important it would be to air down? Do you change your PSI every now and then when you use it like in your videos?
My thinking is that maybe
I have air down before did not really seem to make much of a difference on the 46 inch tires
Have never played in anything like dune or beach sand
Have not played with air pressure on the tractor tires

These trucks are so heavy if what your driving on is a hard surface these trucks will make tremendous amount of traction specially with lockers and if the surface is dry
Here’s is 2 videos on the same rock
2022 Rzr 1000 turbo 4 seater ultimate $$40,000$$
One of the best sxs Polaris has to offer
Extremely fancy sxs he’s running 14 psi strictly off road tires and he is unable to make his buggy crawl the rock
He could of made it with more commitment and speed but his buggy was not going to crawl the rock is polished and slick
Had tried for 15 min back and fourth


My truck running 50-60 psi and rock hard military tires
 
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Watsonpreston

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Wow great job filming! It’s awesome to watch closely with all that detail.

Those two videos are a great comparison. Do you remember what axles you had lockers engaged in that video?

Wow great job filming! It’s awesome to watch closely with all that detail.

Those two videos are a great comparison. Do you remember what axles you had lockers engaged in that video?
Thanks spools in the rear so there always locked Detroit in the front it does pretty good at staying locked if the front is engaged


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Watsonpreston

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I think on that hill it helps it’s smooth steep hill and your tires can roll up it
Weight is not bad as long as you keeps the center of gravity low

On climbs when you have a straight vertical step up I think the weight can really start hurting you and putting a ton of stress on drivetrain

Asking the truck to take that weight and not go forward but straight up
I think its all situational


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G744

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I taught GED courses to military dependents.

Having the entire library with hundreds of TM's and white papers available before and after class was really enlightening in the MV data section.
 

G744

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No, I'm not an accredited teacher per se.

Doing GED courses under military auspices was outside the Arizona regulations, but the curriculum wasn't difficult for me to grasp. My two classes were 100% successful.

Plus, having a wife with a PhD in English literature was a real benefit as she was a high school teacher for years. On occasion, she taught the teacher...
 

rustystud

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No, I'm not an accredited teacher per se.

Doing GED courses under military auspices was outside the Arizona regulations, but the curriculum wasn't difficult for me to grasp. My two classes were 100% successful.

Plus, having a wife with a PhD in English literature was a real benefit as she was a high school teacher for years. On occasion, she taught the teacher...
That's interesting your wife was a teacher also. Though it is not always funny having them around, especially when they start correcting your speech when your visiting friends ! "No sweetheart you cannot use that word in that context" . Really ? Well I just did and nobody died.

By the way. Did you ever get any of that documentation about the single wheel versus the dual wheel ?
 

Mullaney

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I was not allowed to remove or copy any info from the library, unfortunately.
.
And all of us were in service back in the BCp days.
Before Cell Phone

Talking to son these days, it is pretty amazing how the "honor system" works with cell phones in the military. Ya ain't supposed to take pictures of anything - but with all things - there are those who can't follow the d@$# rules.

I would imagine that ship deployments would have all phones stored in a Faraday bag. But since the boats aren't being shot at, those rules get ignored. And all these younguns today can't get along without their phones.

And I wonder how the F35 that ran into the back of the USS Carl Vinson back in February 2023 was photographed... Yeah, I think somebody had their camera out and the file was uploaded onto somebody's social media site... And somebody was dismissed "for the good of the service"...

Wouldn't want to hurt anybody's feelings...

.
 
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ToddJK

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Then you need to come to rally where frame twisting is the natural way of things. I have seen the front of an M818 with the frame twisted so bad while crossing deep ruts that the hood had a gap of at least 6 inches on one side. It straightened right out after he got it out and drive it several hundred miles home.

I have drive up sharper inclines than the picture and it is cool to see 8 rear wheels on the ground and the two front going up until they break over. It is amazing what they will do just the way they are. But that's just me.
Haha, yeah, I remember that rocky hill Gimpy had me go up at Haspin. With the trans in 2nd and t-case in low, the pedal was to the floor and I just held on for dear life, lol, but the deuce climbed up over those rocks and up that steep hill, right on Gimpy's tail in the side by side he was driving. I'm actually surprised it climbed it, especially with tires at 90 psi and not aired down like they should have been.
 
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