Guys after these days I’ve met so many deuce and 5 ton owners and they are all such nice people! Makes me feel like what was I doing with my life all these years?
Yesterday I got to drive my first 5 ton and I can definitely see how the steering assist makes it much easier to drive and better for long trips. I also see how living on the road with sometimes no address to ship for parts, the 8.3 Cummins might be easier than the multifuel 465 to source things for, like at big stores.
This one I checked out however is almost 30ft long and would require many more two-point-turns on tight forest roads. I wanted a vehicle 22ft or less like a deuce. My current rig is 23ft and I need something shorter.
To bob is an option since I really only need 8ft ~ 10ft of a frame, but that would be at the expense of traction.
~
**Here’s a question, what do you guys think has more traction in mud/snow/sand:
A bobbed 939 5 ton or a 6x6 M35 2.5 ton?
If I use a composite box habitat and remove the steel cargo bed the weight will be so low that the bobbed 5 ton might benefit from the added traction of distributing the rear weight onto one axle rather than two, therefore increasing traction(?)**
~
The 5 ton I checked out 1992 M34A2 ($19000) belongs to a guy who has worked on trucks for years, he has owned 5 deuces and 2 5 tons this was his third. He drives it almost daily and takes really good care of the truck. all maintenance seems to be up to date and the rig looked very well kept. He sources most of his parts from Boyce and the engine looks spankin new and clean. He recently got 2 new front tires. The slide out habitat is completely useless for my build, he said he could take it off and reduce the price since he can find a buyer for it. I’d love to store something like that but my storage consists of my rv compartments
The only flaws I could find were a torn cab roof, and no rubber padding on the steering wheel. The oil pressure gauge also has a bad sending unit. There is also no spare but since the truck is so long I would need to bob it and that could be my spare.
View attachment 892911View attachment 892912View attachment 892913View attachment 892914View attachment 892915View attachment 892916View attachment 892917
After this one I drove another 100 miles to check out a beat up M35A2 ($8500) which has been almost sitting for 5 years. Owner says it drives fine but I made my way up to him and he had not charged the batteries or checked the tires.
Not much to say about it other than over priced, and a lot of rust and broken glass.
View attachment 892919View attachment 892920View attachment 892921