Noob, bought an M35, pto/singles question

[pwerwagn]

Hey guys! My name is Jeff, I just bought an M35. The truck will be used strictly off road at the lake in the sand. Those of you that might be on the “elephant butte 5 tons” Facebook page, I’m at the same lake.

Anyways, long story short, I recently bought an M35. No winch, still on duals. I’ve done some searching on PTO info, and haven’t really found what I’m looking for. I have a Koenig pto winch, and 2 different pto boxes. One is off either a no435 or a 205/203, and the other is off a GM 4 speed from a 70’s dump truck.

I think ive found enough info to believe neither pto box will interface with the 3053, but what about the tcase? Are the pto boxes for the Tcase the same as the 3053, or different? Any advice anyone can lend for either a cheap pto box (seems every box I find comes with the winch or something else), or a tip on using one of the boxes I have would be much appreciated.

Second question, beating a dead horse into oblivion, singles. This thing will be 99.9% sand and off-road use. It won’t see 20 miles of pavement use for the next decade. I’m fine running half tread blemished tires or similar, but most places I find have like 85%+ tires or new. I don’t need either, not picky. What would be the cheapest route to get some 395’s or similar on this thing? I’m in New Mexico.

You probscly noticed from my questions, cheap is my biggest concern here. I need this thing like I need a hole in the head, and cost is my main concern. It will sit outside in a storage lot 90% of the year and only get used 1-2 weekends a month.

Thanks for the info. Sorry for the redundant noob questions, I have spent the last few weeks searching and these are the 2 questions I haven’t been able to answer.

Jeff

 

[cattlerepairman]

I bite on the tire question. You anticipate low mileage use on sand. That means the tires will run at low psi most of the time. That's hard on the sidewalls. The truck will then sit outside for long periods (and you will air up and down six tires each time?). More bulging sidewalls.

If you buy already old tires, already weatherchecked or cracked, they will get worse soon. Blow one tire on a short weekend trip and you might swear about having to swap out the heavy 395 sucker for the spare. Blow two...well, not much weekend left. On the other hand, a well known auction site has ho-hum ones for 150 dollars or so...not sure how much cheaper you were thinking....

Methinks, young but legally worn might be another option. The type of tire you get from that won't be a super off road tire... but someone on this site re-centered 22.5 inch wheels with Deuce centres and can run standard transportation tires.

Maybe 11.00R20 can still be had from school buses but the size is becoming rare.

So, maybe sticking with the original military bias plys in 9.00-20 or 11.00-20 that you can air down even as duals, are cheap and somewhat plentiful as takeoffs on rims, could be your best bet. Keep a set on rims around, no tire remounting needed, easier to manhandle alone than the 395 monsters. They can still be found in decent condition.

I gave 9.00-20 tires on rims away to a member in need because I didn't think I'd use them. I would not have run some of them on the street, but off road...they would have had a bit of life left for that!

My five cents.

 

[pwerwagn]

Thanks cattlerepairman. All great points. I guess your comment of “worn but young” is kind of what I was implying, I wasn’t too clear. It will be stored about 1/4 mile from where it will be used occasionally. So VERY minimal pavement use.

All good points to consider for sure. I hadn’t thought about 22.5’s. I will have to look into that.

Thank you for the info info and not flaming me for the noob questions.

Jeff

 

[fsearls92]

The duals on the truck will do just fine at elephant butte. You just have to make sure to air down a lot. When I had duals on my truck I would run 10-15psi up front and 5-10 psi in the rears. The singles are nice but then you have the cost of wheels too. I ran singles on the stock wheels for a summer at the lake and the main problem is spinning the tubes and causing the tube to tear. Changing tires there is a pain. I have a lot of wheels in las cruces that can be recentered. I did this with a few trucks. If you need wheels or a lead on tires, shoot me a pm

 

[pwerwagn]

I hadn’t thought about the tires spinning on the rims and tearing the tubes. If I go singles, I don’t want to deal with split rims anyways. Maybe I’ll just use it as is this summer and see if it does what I want it to do. I like the idea of it working fine as-is. I have other lake trucks down there that will get used the majority of the time.

I like your avatar.

 

[pwerwagn]

Aired down that low, did you have issues with tubes in the duals?

It wont be used to cruise the beach. If I get it out it will be because our other trucks can’t get something off the beach.

 

[gringeltaube]

............I think ive found enough info to believe neither pto box will interface with the 3053, but what about the tcase? Are the pto boxes for the Tcase the same as the 3053, or different? Any advice anyone can lend for either a cheap pto box (seems every box I find comes with the winch or something else), or a tip on using one of the boxes I have would be much appreciated. .............

Transmission- and T-case PTOs are two completely different parts. (you may study their descriptions and repair in TM9-2520-246-34, chapter 5).

And no, the PTOs you already have won't help you in any way - except maybe trading them for the correct one (either WN-7-28 or WND-7-28 ).

I'd post a want ad in our classifieds; someone may have a (winch) PTO laying around. Try to get the shifter and linkage, too.

 

[fsearls92]

Never had an issue with the duals aired down that low spinning tubes. My one buddy has multiple flat tires on his truck at elephants butte and pulls his 41ft RV in and out off lions beach and long point with no problem. I went to singles just cause I wanted them but in all honesty the duals were nicer all around. When I volunteered for the state parks there I would cruise the beach every evening and made a good amount of cash pulling people out. So never say never to just cruising around, plus it’s a good time.

 

[montaillou]

If you're not in a hurry to get your tires, and there's a military base near you, keep checking the gov surplus auctions. I usually see 395's come up 1-2 times a year. However, they often come up in lots of 12-20, usually mounted on a wheel already (but not always). The tires can be super cheap this way (~$30/each).

Keep in mind, the standard NDT tires on the deuce aren't radial and the 395's are. So, a flat is more likely on the NDT, but more manageable when you're running duals, while the 395's are very unlikely but a pain in the ass if you get one.

Your cheapest route would be to stick with what's already on the truck unless it just won't work for you. Even if you pick up tires from a military auction keep in mind you'll need to mount to a wheel that works on your deuce and that means more $, usually a lot more. I got 12 395's mounted on 10 hole wheels for $300 from the military and they were the cheapest part of the project. Finding wheels or going with adapters will cost hundreds more $.

 

[pwerwagn]

Thank you guys for all of the info! I think I got all my questions answered.