Looking at buying my first deuce is this a good deal?

[gunboy1656]

I can't drive mine on the road for the season yet but if you want to crawl around on /in one. You are welcome to come on out. I live about 20 minutes South of New Castle in a town called Chippewa. Just off Route 376.

 

[11Echo]

I know of a stock truck out in Alliance Ohio (2 hours away from you) that is for sale for 6500. Tan, Soft top, winch, 900x20 tires, cargo cover.

There are some pics of it in some of the Alliance show thread from last year. 11Echo may have some more details of it.

I sent jbailly a pm.

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showth...l-Ohio-Military-Show-July-20-21-Alliance-Ohio

 

[jbailly]

Well now you guys have me a little spooked. I am starting to doubt my ability to own one of these behemoth's. Maybe I should look at CUCV's or something. I don't know seems like ALOT of work for a little fun.

 

[FloridaAKM]

The work is part of the fun. If you never had to work on it, it would be a Toyota or an Isuzu & made in some furrin land. American made in a time gone by with specs from the military makes it unique along with a few dozen other reasons.

 

[SteveKuhn]

No reason to be spooked but go in to it with your eyes open. If your plan is beating the be-whats-its out of it off roading and mudding, you probably should like wrenching heavy stuff, buying replacements, and doing lots of drive line PM.

So, what little fun were you looking to have?

Steve

 

[SteveKuhn]

Here's a suggestion: Keep your money in your pocket for a couple more weeks. Go to Rausch Creek on 3/28th - 30th. I suspect that's the fun you had in mind. Talk to guys with all kinds of rigs to make up your mind. Ride a bit and make some friends.

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?118846-PA-Spring-2014-Rausch-Creek-Steel-Soldiers-Rally

I'd be goin' but Maddawg and AntennaClimber say I'm just too old.

Steve

 

[gunboy1656]

Weather looks good this weekend if your not doing anything come on over for a couple hours or so and you can look over my truck. And see it is not as scary as you picture in your head.

When I first got my truck I was showing my wife the pictures of it constantly, when it showed up on the truck her first comment was "is that all the bigger it is". Yes it is a big truck, but not too big of a truck. I did a car show one year and a family pulled their full sized extended truck beside mine. The wife was just struck by my deuce, and asked how I could drive such a big truck. I asked her if she drove that truck and she said yeah. I had her husband line up the trucks and her jaw hit the ground when she realized that truck is not much smaller than mine.

Yeah there are some things you have to really keep up on, but they are not too extensive if they are kept up on. Just like anything else.

 

[jbailly]

Gunboy1656,
Are you available Sunday? Saturday we are slaughtering pigs in the morning and butchering a beef in the afternoon so my day is shot. Next weekend we will be butchering the pigs so no go next Saturday either. After that I should be good until planting time. 60 acres of corn takes a couple of days.

 

[gunboy1656]

As far as I know nothing going on after lunch time.

 

[dezert ratt]

I bought my deuce from a guy that won 2 bids and ended up with 2 trucks. He got them home and decided it was too much for him. I think I got a pretty fair deal $4500 for a USAF truck wo/w, hardtop/ heater, bows and cover.
This is In southern California, and I've seen pretty beat up trucks going for $6k and up!

 

[FloridaAKM]

I would have considered that a good deal here in Florida if the truck was in good sound shape.

 

[jbailly]

Would you guys recommend a newer truck like a M923a2 over a M35a2 for a newbie? Or are they just as much work to maintain. I'm not a stanger to big diesels we have a 180 hp 4wheel drive CaseIH 7130 and a 125 hp 4320 John Deere and a 100+hp 4400 John Deere combine. So big diesels and maintenance aren't "new" to me. MV's however are. Or should I look at a CUCV pickup a M1009?

 

[Sephirothq]

The newer trucks are more work to maintain then the older M35A2. The older truck is much simpler.
THe difference really comes down to what you plan to do with it. They all have differnet uses.

 

[jbailly]

The purpose of the truck would be general farm use primarily (hauling fertilizer, hay, fence posts) with parades, and MV gatherings as well and some light off roading.

 

[jbailly]

(Double post)

 

[Sephirothq]

Well the M923A2 has power steering, full air brake (which can be a bit touchy) A bigger cab and it is quiter inside. It also has super singles on which can be taken either way as an advantage or not. another big issue is the truck is heavy. i think around 23,000lbs or so empty weight and it is over 26,001 lbs GVW. Legally you can not drive one with a class C in PA no matter how it is registered. I know this is going to bring up a fight, but ask Penn Dot or a LEO. Parts might be a little bit of an issue right now, The M939 parts will become more availalbe as time goes on.


The m35a2 has manual steering ( which as long as you don't have to parrellel park it is ok), hydraulic brakes (which work pretty good if in good working condition, Wheel cylinders and master cylinders will leak if there are damaged seals.), the cab is smaller, not an issue on short hops and it is louder inside. The up parts in my mind is the manual transmission which if a gear starts to go bad you can get around it so it is harder to kill. and the ease of parts and knowledge on the trucks. I don't think you can stump this board on a M35a2 question. And there are alot of aftermarket parts to get as well. You have dual 9.00 - 20 tires which you always have 4 spares if needed. The truck is lighter at 13,000 lbs and a GVW of 23,000 on road. There is also a wieght tag for on and off road. the M939 does not have an on road rating, just off road.

The CUCV is just a diesel pickup truck. pretty standard, 14 bolt locker in the rear, 6.2 diesel, 400 th transmission. Alot of info is on the board about these as well.

So the M939 can haul 10,000 on road per the data tag, the M35a2 can haul 10,000 on road per the data tag and the M1008 can haul 3,000 or so. Not 100% sure about the data tags.

Bottom line is personnel preference. Take a look at all 3 and decide from there. If you are around central Pa I can help you with that.

 

[jbailly]

Not really central more like MidWestern PA. I am about 2 hours (by car) SW of State College and about 2 hours (by car) NE of Pittsburgh.

 

[Sephirothq]

ok then you are probably 3 hours from 17881

 

[jbailly]

Yeah I just googled Trevorton, PA it is about 3 hours away from me.

 

[SteveKuhn]

If it helps, and your primary hours on the truck will be on a farm, the M35a2 is the hands down favorite in the onion farms around Pine Island. They're light enough that they float on the soft black dirt. They'll crawl in low range alongside the onion harvesters. Often, their beds are removed or cut down to make them flat. For that work they carry a lot more than their rating.

Steve