Must Have's for New Deuce?

[Mullaney]

The weld-on-a- "bar" modification is a good solution if you do not care about the longevity of the dog bone bushings. Welding around the rubber deteriorates the bushings quite quickly. However, due to the welded on bar, they can't fall apart. A #1 horse shoe is essentially 1/4in stock. People have used bolts to weld across and also drilled the centre of the dog bone mount and threaded in a bolt with a plate to achieve the same thing.

I went with replacing the stock bushings with Heim joints from Erik's military surplus. Yes, expensive, but that was the last time I needed to touch the dog bones. They will outlast me by a wide margin.

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Company that I worked for back in the 80's welded a flat plate on pallets of new Dog Bones. Deuce and 5-Tons got the same treatment. The metal was "Plug Welded" in a 3/4 inch hole, then quenched in water with the idea that the quench helped keep the rubber from separating from the steel. It worked really well for us. We also had hundreds of trucks and drivers didn't do much more than an oil and tire check at startup.

The Heim Joints weren't available back then. AND a pallet of Dog Bones was a cheap purchase back then too...

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[cattlerepairman]

What is the consensus on 900 vs 1100 vs 395 tires? Some say the larger units eat bearings and brakes. If you stay with 900s or 1100's is power steering really necessary. Waterloo doesn't sell their kit anymore so it looks like Boyce is the only source these days.

I switched (way back) from 9.00-20 NDT to 11.00R20 Michelin military radials on Canadian (essentially M35A3) rims. IMHO, these tires are the best compromise:

• They can be mounted on stock Deuce rims without issues.
• They are tall enough to lower rpms/help with top speed when on the road, are narrow enough to allow running duals and turning the steering wheel without excessive force.
• They are light enough to continue to allow wheel changes by one single person. I can stand up one of my wheels from laying flat on the ground all by myself. Although not fun, I can wrestle the wheel up onto the bed with the help of a cargo strap. I do not think I could stand up or manipulate a 395 in quite the same manner.
• The 11.00R20 make the truck handle better, provide good weight support and grip (something the NDTs were lacking in all situations other than soft ground).

 

[tjonesdfw]

I switched (way back) from 9.00-20 NDT to 11.00R20 Michelin military radials on Canadian (essentially M35A3) rims. IMHO, these tires are the best compromise:

• They can be mounted on stock Deuce rims without issues.
• They are tall enough to lower rpms/help with top speed when on the road, are narrow enough to allow running duals and turning the steering wheel without excessive force.
• They are light enough to continue to allow wheel changes by one single person. I can stand up one of my wheels from laying flat on the ground all by myself. Although not fun, I can wrestle the wheel up onto the bed with the help of a cargo strap. I do not think I could stand up or manipulate a 395 in quite the same manner.
• The 11.00R20 make the truck handle better, provide good weight support and grip (something the NDTs were lacking in all situations other than soft ground).

Great info. Thank you. The 11.00R20 was our original preference, but when we found the Waterloo power steering kit discontinued, Boyce appears to be the only option, and they claim to require their custom wheel for clearance. Not sure we have an option, IF we want power steering. Trying to figure out if its really necessary for this application or not and whether Boyce's kit has any downsides.

 

[cattlerepairman]

Great info. Thank you. The 11.00R20 was our original preference, but when we found the Waterloo power steering kit discontinued, Boyce appears to be the only option, and they claim to require their custom wheel for clearance. Not sure we have an option, IF we want power steering. Trying to figure out if its really necessary for this application or not and whether Boyce's kit has any downsides.

There is another elegant way that some member have done, provided you can find or make the right rims, and that is to switch to more current 22.5 commercial tire sizes. Even 11.00R20 or 12.00R20 seem to be hard to come by in some places.

22.5 Rims on deuce

I've been searching and reading all day. So far I've surmised that 22.5" rims work just fine on a deuce. You can run tubeless tires on 22.5" rims. There are lots of 22.5" options for tires, and much better prices than tubed 20" tires. The deuce has a 6 lug bolt pattern as opposed to the much...

www.steelsoldiers.com

11r22.5

Has anybody put modern 11r22.5 dual tires on an m35 ? I know one would have to have rims made I have that part figured out. This is more of a will they fit question. I have a friend who has a truck tire shop so I have an unlimited supply of free used tires that come off of semis

www.steelsoldiers.com

 

[williamh]

tjonesdfw, also consider the 5-Ton LDS Multi-Fuel engine, it has more horsepower & torque than the LDT, and it's easier to install than other engines. Also visit with Steel Soldiers member JATONKAM35s HOME ON THE WEB John Tennis has done some really nice mods on 2-1/2 ton & 5-ton trucks. Great guy to do business with. Also, the M35A3 has dual system brakes, this may be easier to adapt to the M35A2 than other systems. Lastly, the M35A3 also has electric wipers.

I thought the only difference from the 5 ton and 2.5 ton motors were the intake manifold and air inlet ( air filter etc). I got a m109 that has the bigger intake and a turned up ip and that thing flys uphill way better than my M35a2

 

[Murphranch]

The weld-on-a- "bar" modification is a good solution if you do not care about the longevity of the dog bone bushings. Welding around the rubber deteriorates the bushings quite quickly. However, due to the welded on bar, they can't fall apart. A #1 horse shoe is essentially 1/4in stock. People have used bolts to weld across and also drilled the centre of the dog bone mount and threaded in a bolt with a plate to achieve the same thing.

I went with replacing the stock bushings with Heim joints from Erik's military surplus. Yes, expensive, but that was the last time I needed to touch the dog bones. They will outlast me by a wide margin.

You are correct. I don't/won't do this on any of our newer and better trucks only the "end of the line back up" trucks that get used for 1 to 2 weeks a year.

Sent from my LG-H700 using Tapatalk

 

[ToddJK]

Is this the consensus on how to test your bushings for excessive play?

Yes, that's what I was shown and told by numerous deuce owners. Even though mine all passed that test, I still had one that popped off but luckily it came off towards the mount. While I was able to get away driving back home with it like that, I needed a puller to get it back on and it was not as easy as I thought it was going to be.