K5Cruz
New member
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- Location
- Earlsboro, Oklahoma
I've been wanting to chronicle my M35 adventures for awhile, and I couldnt think of a better place than here. Beware, I'm a little long winded.
First and foremost I have to thank Warthog. Without his help, knowledge, and generosity this truck would have been parted out. He's a stand up guy that I cant say enough good things about.
Edited to add the trucks information: The truck is a 1967 Kaiser M35a2 with winch. It's got a sprag transfer case (that works well, amazingly) and no heater. The odometer read 9500 miles, and the hour meter 380 hours. Carnac says it belonged to the 133rd Field Artillery Battery C in El Paso. I believe it was overhauled in 1989.
I was bored one night, browsing GSA. Noticed some local auctions. An M52 caught my eye, and I decided to go check it out. I ended up looking over several trucks, 5 tons and deuces. I glanced at the one I ended up buying, but didnt look over it like I should have. Long story short, the trucks I wanted went cheap, but more than I had budgeted. The truck I won was next to last, tired of being outbid I threw in $100 over my budgeted max, and a few minutes later I was the proud owner of a beat up m35a2. The first picture is from the auction listing.
![IMG_1310.jpg IMG_1310.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/285/285468-8742cbbf21470042533189e8c2ffef6f.jpg)
After payment went through I hooked up the gooseneck and went after it. The truck had previous forklift damage, so I saw no harm in letting them load it like they normally do.
![IMG_1313.jpg IMG_1313.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/285/285469-ed406a51d2251306c640e1871c356cc8.jpg)
After getting it home we discovered some missing parts. The FDC was gone. After some quick searching I found nothing, so I made a post. Warthog to the rescue. He had one, and the hardware to go with it, and I could come pull it that day. Turns out he pulled it for me, and had it waiting when I arrived at his house. Thanks again!
We pushed it in the shop and got to work.
![IMG_1318.jpg IMG_1318.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/285/285470-eaf69d8621880bfb52c1f251ac82e89d.jpg)
I've always been mechanically inclined, but knowing nothing about the Deuce really made for a steep learning curve. After about 20 hours of trial and error, with lots of help from the forum, she started and ran. We chased leaks for the next few days and decided to try bleeding the brakes. I wanted to build a power bleeder, but being short on cash I called a friend to run the pedal. After about 30 minutes all 6 brakes were bled, no leaks, all operational. All fluids were good. We moved on to the winch. It was rolled up so far the chain was into the drum and the eye that mounts the chain was stuck in the bottom cross tie bolt. The PTO worked and we powered the winch out. We took it for a drive. Drove good, not nearly as slow as I had imagined. But still plenty slow. Here's a shot from its first outing.
![IMG_1327.jpg IMG_1327.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/285/285471-5664b9e0eb7d88c4aed63e449cdb15a9.jpg)
It was still missing a wheel, headlights/headlight rings, tail lights, mirrors, and some other things I'm surely forgetting. Warthog to the rescue again. He had everything but the mirrors and made me an awesome deal on them. Even took time out of his busy day to meet with me and exchange parts.
Here's what it looked like, running, but very, very ugly.
![IMG_1325.jpg IMG_1325.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/285/285472-68d312c7bbb7dfe6a685624bd8c5f826.jpg)
I'm assuming 5 pictures is the limit, so I'm going to continue this in the next post.
First and foremost I have to thank Warthog. Without his help, knowledge, and generosity this truck would have been parted out. He's a stand up guy that I cant say enough good things about.
Edited to add the trucks information: The truck is a 1967 Kaiser M35a2 with winch. It's got a sprag transfer case (that works well, amazingly) and no heater. The odometer read 9500 miles, and the hour meter 380 hours. Carnac says it belonged to the 133rd Field Artillery Battery C in El Paso. I believe it was overhauled in 1989.
I was bored one night, browsing GSA. Noticed some local auctions. An M52 caught my eye, and I decided to go check it out. I ended up looking over several trucks, 5 tons and deuces. I glanced at the one I ended up buying, but didnt look over it like I should have. Long story short, the trucks I wanted went cheap, but more than I had budgeted. The truck I won was next to last, tired of being outbid I threw in $100 over my budgeted max, and a few minutes later I was the proud owner of a beat up m35a2. The first picture is from the auction listing.
![IMG_1310.jpg IMG_1310.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/285/285468-8742cbbf21470042533189e8c2ffef6f.jpg)
After payment went through I hooked up the gooseneck and went after it. The truck had previous forklift damage, so I saw no harm in letting them load it like they normally do.
![IMG_1313.jpg IMG_1313.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/285/285469-ed406a51d2251306c640e1871c356cc8.jpg)
After getting it home we discovered some missing parts. The FDC was gone. After some quick searching I found nothing, so I made a post. Warthog to the rescue. He had one, and the hardware to go with it, and I could come pull it that day. Turns out he pulled it for me, and had it waiting when I arrived at his house. Thanks again!
We pushed it in the shop and got to work.
![IMG_1318.jpg IMG_1318.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/285/285470-eaf69d8621880bfb52c1f251ac82e89d.jpg)
I've always been mechanically inclined, but knowing nothing about the Deuce really made for a steep learning curve. After about 20 hours of trial and error, with lots of help from the forum, she started and ran. We chased leaks for the next few days and decided to try bleeding the brakes. I wanted to build a power bleeder, but being short on cash I called a friend to run the pedal. After about 30 minutes all 6 brakes were bled, no leaks, all operational. All fluids were good. We moved on to the winch. It was rolled up so far the chain was into the drum and the eye that mounts the chain was stuck in the bottom cross tie bolt. The PTO worked and we powered the winch out. We took it for a drive. Drove good, not nearly as slow as I had imagined. But still plenty slow. Here's a shot from its first outing.
![IMG_1327.jpg IMG_1327.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/285/285471-5664b9e0eb7d88c4aed63e449cdb15a9.jpg)
It was still missing a wheel, headlights/headlight rings, tail lights, mirrors, and some other things I'm surely forgetting. Warthog to the rescue again. He had everything but the mirrors and made me an awesome deal on them. Even took time out of his busy day to meet with me and exchange parts.
Here's what it looked like, running, but very, very ugly.
![IMG_1325.jpg IMG_1325.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/285/285472-68d312c7bbb7dfe6a685624bd8c5f826.jpg)
I'm assuming 5 pictures is the limit, so I'm going to continue this in the next post.
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