Making a Deuce a (better) highway vehicle?

[JasonS]

Something to think about for you folks paranoid about tire speed. I interviewed for an engineering job at Michelin about 10 years ago. The interviewer said that NO over the road truck tires were rated for greater than 65mph. Interstate speeds are 75mph in SD.

 

[panshark]

one thing i want to point out is that running 69 with 15.5 is the same to the drivetrain as running 56 with 9.00s. the only difference is the brakes have more leverage working against them ,but the drive line rpms are the same .yes the 15.5s are only rated for 50 but they are rated for 50 at max load which is 14500lbs per tire.

I know that running stock 9's on mine, there's a noticeable gearing ratio gap between 3rd and 4th gear. Is the gap more pronounced on 15.5's? Does it lug down pretty bad when you throw it up into 4th?

 

[tm america]

the gaps between the gears are the same the only thing you notice is that if you are on a hill or loaded you have to start off in first instead of second.other than that the drop in rpm is the same between the gears tires dont change that .my truck doesnt notice a difference till you get in the hills or have a 20000lb trailer behind it.even loading it heavily it pulls good but my truck is different since i have the fuel turned up and am running around 27-28psi of boost

 

[Marauder_Pilot]

Out of curiosity, are bobbed Deuces any better on the highway? Given that they're usually equipped with bigger tires and have less rolling resistance, not to mention lighter.

 

[cyberspace_7]

 

[tm america]

a shorter wheel base will ride worse on the highway .but i have never seen anyone bob a m109 and make a camper out of it.sounds like a great idea maybe if you make it shorter you can just sleep standing up rather than sleeping in the beds that would fit in the bed of the m109.not

 

[cyberspace_7]

Ahhh...If one can sleep in a scamp or teardrop...one could surely sleep in a bobbed m109.

 

[wldrbob]

my buddy has a 396 in a gravel truck it weighs almost the same as the deuce and he gets 14 mpg empty... will this engine bolt onto the deuce transmision? ..it has a torque rating of 460 at 3000rpm it has no trouble pulling 5 yards of gravel

 

[Bob H]

wldrbob,
yes with an SAE bellhousing out of something like a C70 chevy.
the deuce gearing will not allow good fuel mileage with a BBC, but could handle 3000 RPM all day, unlike the LDT.

I put 1100R20 Michelin XL's on my M36A2, while the larger diameter gives me an extra 5 mph or so, the ride quality/ control difference is nothing short of amazing compared to the original NDCC's.
Most of my road driving is on 55mph 2 lane blacktop. (I'm about 50 miles from an interstate hwy).
The biggest issue with those tires is the ease of maintaining a straight line, luring one into a 1 handed / finger & thumb, light grip on the wheel, until a curve in the road comes up requiring the usual strong arm steering forces.

For the OP,
I know several people with camperized M109's. some with stock tires and some with 395's.
One with the 395's still likes to drive a little slower keeping the RPM's around 1800-1900.

My camping / towing rig is a heavy duty ex Air Force Ambulance, with as big of tires as I could fit with the duals.
Due to it's gearing it is a good thing that it is a gasser V8 as 60mph is about 2900 RPM.

Tire speed ratings are more about centrifigul force than heat, the heavier it is with the bigger chunks of rubber on the outside diameter (tread) means more centrifigul forces trying to rip the tire apart.

 

[emr]

Something to think about for you folks paranoid about tire speed. I interviewed for an engineering job at Michelin about 10 years ago. The interviewer said that NO over the road truck tires were rated for greater than 65mph. Interstate speeds are 75mph in SD.

Not sure what this means, if I go on an interview i will have the truth about road speed , does it mean U should brake the tire rule because the state would not have a speed limit that high ? Our tires are mostly a 50 mph rating, and no matter what anyones opinion is how much past that they can drive them and they can, it is not a good idea. I reread the con posts of highway speed and over doing it and there was no paranoia in what i read only concern and facts. and all said it is up to the individual just be ready if U do not have the kind of experience some have here, it can and will be a rude awakening when one of these trucks driving way faster than they were ever meant to lets go, and we will see the Post....my Truck and tires are the cause of this accident, well we all just need to be man enough when a steel truck with rubber tires has any problem if stuck or sliding off the road it is the drivers fault only, no paranoia just the facts ....I will take it one step further and say when i read a post like" these tires got me stuck, I crack up, The driver drove past there ability and the tires ability and the trucks ability , and to be honest that is easy to do, i have done it many times...I just do not blame the equipment , So to drag on these tires are being driven way over there use. And as for the wear factor , yeesh, they are being waseted for sure...

 

[wldrbob]

bob h thanks. my gas engine deuce gets real good milage at 40 to45 so maybe a newer 350 might be the way to go .nothing gets good milage when loaded and drove to the limit.i checked around with some of the farmers and lots of them have an older gas truck for a spare in the field when combining. these trucks are way bigger than my deuce .but almost all of them have 2 speed rearends. guess ill have to find a 3 speed transfer case and buy those 4.9 gears . man it would have been nice if the army would have done some of these things for us . lockers, air brakes, air ride seats, 250 hp motor ,power assist stearing.insulated cab.my wishlist goes on .course then the price of a deuce would triple

 

[jesusgatos]

I know several people with camperized M109's. some with stock tires and some with 395's.
One with the 395's still likes to drive a little slower keeping the RPM's around 1800-1900.

I'd really like to know how well an M109 pulls 395's. I've got an M109 that I'm turning into a motorhome, and I'll be towing an enclosed trailer. Total combined weight when loaded will probably be somewhere between 22,000-23,000 lbs. I was really tempted to go with 395's, but I was afraid that I wouldn't have enough power. So I bought a set of 11.00 radials. But I did just find an LDS engine that I'm planning to swap into Mah Deuce...

 

[tm america]

ya one could sleep in the back of a bobbed m109 but 10 can sleep in a regular one.try telling your wife and family they have to sleep outside on the ground cuz you couldnt handle driving a real truck .if you want a 4x4 camper just buy a ford chevy or dodge and get a slide in camper

 

[jesusgatos]

Wha-wha-what?

 

[tm america]

post# 53 was a response to posts #44 and #45 . which had nothing to useful to add to this thread.since it is about how to make a m109 better on the highway not whether a bobbed truck is better than a 6x6thats a totally different topic

 

[jesusgatos]

Well, except that post #44 was made by the OP, and it sounds like a perfectly reasonable (and related) question to me. I was asking all the same questions when I was researching my project, and I don't see any reason why you couldn't drop the mid-axle to make a LWB bobbed deuce. Would actually make a pretty cool 4x4 M109 camper. But I decided to keep mine 6x6 for now...

 

[tm america]

i guess i just consider bobbed to mean cut down and one less axle.the problem with just putting one axle in the back would be a great loose of stablity.running a air suspension for the rear axle and an air lift axle for the front rear axle that way when offroad you could still have the stabilty of 6x6 and then lessen drag on the highwayplus air ride would be a nice improvement

 

[jesusgatos]

Yeah, I was only thinking about dropping the middle axle and keeping the frame/box full-length. 395's would easily handle the load and that would be one way to drop a ton of weight. Plus it would make a bunch more room for water/fuel tanks, etc. It's something that I might reconsider somewhere down the line, but I'm pretty happy with Mah Deuce as-is and I've got way too much other stuff to work on and worry about before I'd get into anything like that.

 

[tm america]

loosing the middle axle would make it easier to get high centered and would make your turn radious worse to.the tires wouldnt be the issue as far as stablity.two axles distribute the weight to the ground diffently and are less suscepible to soft spots for instance like cross rutting .if driving across ruts sideways with two rears the load still is sitting half on hard ground when one axle is going over the rut. with a single axle when one tire hits the rut it can cause you to flip on your side

 

[jesusgatos]

Yeah, I'm aware of the trade-offs. I was just saying that it wasn't exactly a stupid question.