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Hi Everyone! Been studying this site for a while now, reading up on "How To" articles and tons of other information. This is our first MV's and could really use some input and help. We need to get these trucks back up to full condition as we are going to need them soon when we are moving to the north west US. And they'll be pulling trailers. So All help and input is Much Appreciated!
What we purchased:
We had been looking for a Deuce for a while now, so finally I posted a WTB Ad a month or so ago. Well I had a guy contact me about a deuce he had, but it was just outside of Albuquerque NM. But the truck was supposed to be in really nice shape.
He was a welder for a movie studio and had the chance to acquire an 68' M35A2 Deuce that had been used on "Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom". It was also more recently going to be George Clooney's truck in "Men who stare at goats"... or something like that... That was until they couldn't hear Clooney's lines over the cab noise
So the director ended up cutting the deuce and used a pickup truck. Later the studio decided they no longer needed the Deuce, and the guy who we bought it from had first dibs.
To long story short, I talked to the guy on the phone and email, and we came to a deal. So I started making plans to go to albuquerque New Mexico and decided going by train would be the best way to go. Which by the way, if you have to do a long distance trip, and you have a day or so to do it in, I highly recommend going by train if you bump up to a sleeper room. Made the 1300+ miles a Very Nice comfortable relaxing trip.
Anyway, since I was going to be in the NM area, I decided to also look and see if I could find a pick up out that way. As I sold my 08' honda element last spring to free up some cash for these trucks, as we needed a good pick up truck too.
Well after some looking, I come across an 86' M1008 with just over 10k original documented miles (on ebay of all place) that was in phoenix arizona. About 400 miles from albuquerque. I contacted the seller, seemed like a great truck with some recent updates. So in the last 12 minuets of the auction, we placed a bid, became high bidder and no one bid against us. So we won the auction and had a 2nd MV to pick up, so I had to enlist the help of my brother to go with me to drive the deuce, while I drove the CUCV.
Ok, we went out, picked up the trucks, only had a couple small problems, but All Thanks be given to the Heavenly Father Yahuah (which is the Heavenly Fathers original Hebrew Name written in the ancient Scrolls), we drove about 2100 total miles on our trip and made it back safely here at home last tues night.
Now that I have the trucks back here, further inspection, maintenance, and updates are now required.
First off, the Parking/E-Brake stopped working on the deuce on our way back. When we parked, my brother always parked it downhill against a curb, and then he found a large rock and used it as a make shift wheel stop. Always making sure that it could not roll.
Yesterday, we began to look and see what the problem was. It looks like there is only about 1/8" of pad left of the shoes, and the don't seem to be sitting on the drum correctly. Also not sure how much movement that the cable should have, but when you pull and release the parking brake, the cable moves very little, even when I turned the adjustment on the brake handle. We're thinking about replacing the cable, shoes, and springs. I have found a couple site that carry them, looks like Saturn Surplus has the best price on a set of shoes for $72.50. Eriks Surplus has the best price on a cable at $62.00 and around $7-$8 each for the Parking Brake Return Spring, Stabilizer "Mustache" Spring, and Outer Shoe Spring. Looking at the TM, I think this is all the parts I will need to rebuild the Parking Brake, but not 100% sure.
I will also be inspecting the regular brakes all the way around as well, and have been looking up prices for all involved components. Also was thinking about turning it into a two circuit brake system that I have read about, but not sure what all that involves yet at this time. Seems like it would be a good upgrade for safety reasons.
We're also going to be needing tires. We had two tires that were flat when we picked up the truck (although you couldn't tell it by looking at them). Just after we picked it up, we drove to a store and bought an air gauge. Using it and "kicking the tires" we found two were flat. So we went to a fuel station that had air, and filled both of them. Later one tire kept going flat, so bad at one point it actually broke free of the bead. I Thank Yahuah that it didn't come off the rim while we were driving. However after the last re-fill, we drove the last 150 miles home, at which point it was flat again. Today we were looking at that tire and found that the tire had spun around on the rim sometime after that last refill, and that either the valve stem has been sheered off or is now inside the rim.
So now we are re-searching on what kind of tires to get. We may just buy 2 new front tires and rotate the best tires to the rear. Or we may go with new tires all the way around. We really would like brand new tires, and I've been searching here on SS on what others are using. But it seems most people are using NOS or similar. I also haven't really seen a brand or type specific, or what companies or places someone might be able to find new tires. I've tried several tire sites, but they don't seem to list anything like these sizes. If anyone has some input, please make a post as we could really use some guidance here.
After all the tires and brakes are taken care of, we'll be going through the engine, Changing all fluids and filters. The oil filter gaskets are leaking, but I'm hoping that new filters and gaskets will take care of that. There is also a couple other leaks under the bottom of the truck, still have to take a closer look at those.
I've also got a heater and related components with the truck, but it's not installed. Been looking here on SS and seen a lot of people are putting the heater box inside the Cab under the dash. I was already thinking about doing this and have found some interesting posts, just need to figure out some of the details.
Exhaust noise is going to be an issue, as we will be using this truck on the highway. And to make it worse the J Pipe in the Exhaust is also rusted through, and it has been covered with a piece of metal and clamps. At first we were just thinking about replacing it, however we would still have the noise. Thought about also putting on a muffler, that would take care of some of the noise. But I have also seen some members have re-routed their exhaust out the back of the truck and then turned out behind the mudflap, with the opening pointed down toward the ground. That would remove the noise and place it at a good distance away from the cab.
For engine and other noises, we are also considering some type of noise damping materials inside the cab. What I am currently thinking is first to seal up all the holes and boots that are no longer there. Then coat the floor and firewall in bedliner to seal up all the tiny cracks and such, plus it will protect the floor from rust. Then lay down some type of sound deadening material like dynamat/dynapad, but it's pretty expensive. Then over top of that some type of rubber mat material.
The bed cover/tarp that came with the truck was supposed to be new, and it looks to be new with only a few tiny pin holes mostly in the seams, which I would guess can be taken care of with some type of seam sealer.
But the worst thing is the cover is the wrong size. I think it is actually for a 5-ton but I'm not certain, as it is way to long. We folded it down and tied it with rope so it couldn't flap in the wind on the drive home. I don't know if they have an actual NSN number somewhere printed on the tarp itself, but I haven't found one so far. I pulled the tarp out yesterday and tried to see exactly how much to long it is, as you can see in the pics. Thought about seeing if I could find someone to section the tarp, and bring it down to the correct size. Might also post an ad here on SS and see if I can either sell or trade it to someone with a new 2 1/2 ton correct size camo tarp.
We'll that's the where we're at so far. I've posted a few pics below. The first couple pics I took in a hotel parking lot on our way back home. The other one's showing was taken yesterday & today, but it was kinda of cloudy.
Thanks Everyone for Any Input you Have! I'm sure I'll add to this post later.
Looking forward to getting everything done and get these truck ready to drive!
What we purchased:
We had been looking for a Deuce for a while now, so finally I posted a WTB Ad a month or so ago. Well I had a guy contact me about a deuce he had, but it was just outside of Albuquerque NM. But the truck was supposed to be in really nice shape.
He was a welder for a movie studio and had the chance to acquire an 68' M35A2 Deuce that had been used on "Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom". It was also more recently going to be George Clooney's truck in "Men who stare at goats"... or something like that... That was until they couldn't hear Clooney's lines over the cab noise
So the director ended up cutting the deuce and used a pickup truck. Later the studio decided they no longer needed the Deuce, and the guy who we bought it from had first dibs.To long story short, I talked to the guy on the phone and email, and we came to a deal. So I started making plans to go to albuquerque New Mexico and decided going by train would be the best way to go. Which by the way, if you have to do a long distance trip, and you have a day or so to do it in, I highly recommend going by train if you bump up to a sleeper room. Made the 1300+ miles a Very Nice comfortable relaxing trip.
Anyway, since I was going to be in the NM area, I decided to also look and see if I could find a pick up out that way. As I sold my 08' honda element last spring to free up some cash for these trucks, as we needed a good pick up truck too.
Well after some looking, I come across an 86' M1008 with just over 10k original documented miles (on ebay of all place) that was in phoenix arizona. About 400 miles from albuquerque. I contacted the seller, seemed like a great truck with some recent updates. So in the last 12 minuets of the auction, we placed a bid, became high bidder and no one bid against us. So we won the auction and had a 2nd MV to pick up, so I had to enlist the help of my brother to go with me to drive the deuce, while I drove the CUCV.
Ok, we went out, picked up the trucks, only had a couple small problems, but All Thanks be given to the Heavenly Father Yahuah (which is the Heavenly Fathers original Hebrew Name written in the ancient Scrolls), we drove about 2100 total miles on our trip and made it back safely here at home last tues night.
Now that I have the trucks back here, further inspection, maintenance, and updates are now required.
First off, the Parking/E-Brake stopped working on the deuce on our way back. When we parked, my brother always parked it downhill against a curb, and then he found a large rock and used it as a make shift wheel stop. Always making sure that it could not roll.
Yesterday, we began to look and see what the problem was. It looks like there is only about 1/8" of pad left of the shoes, and the don't seem to be sitting on the drum correctly. Also not sure how much movement that the cable should have, but when you pull and release the parking brake, the cable moves very little, even when I turned the adjustment on the brake handle. We're thinking about replacing the cable, shoes, and springs. I have found a couple site that carry them, looks like Saturn Surplus has the best price on a set of shoes for $72.50. Eriks Surplus has the best price on a cable at $62.00 and around $7-$8 each for the Parking Brake Return Spring, Stabilizer "Mustache" Spring, and Outer Shoe Spring. Looking at the TM, I think this is all the parts I will need to rebuild the Parking Brake, but not 100% sure.
I will also be inspecting the regular brakes all the way around as well, and have been looking up prices for all involved components. Also was thinking about turning it into a two circuit brake system that I have read about, but not sure what all that involves yet at this time. Seems like it would be a good upgrade for safety reasons.
We're also going to be needing tires. We had two tires that were flat when we picked up the truck (although you couldn't tell it by looking at them). Just after we picked it up, we drove to a store and bought an air gauge. Using it and "kicking the tires" we found two were flat. So we went to a fuel station that had air, and filled both of them. Later one tire kept going flat, so bad at one point it actually broke free of the bead. I Thank Yahuah that it didn't come off the rim while we were driving. However after the last re-fill, we drove the last 150 miles home, at which point it was flat again. Today we were looking at that tire and found that the tire had spun around on the rim sometime after that last refill, and that either the valve stem has been sheered off or is now inside the rim.
So now we are re-searching on what kind of tires to get. We may just buy 2 new front tires and rotate the best tires to the rear. Or we may go with new tires all the way around. We really would like brand new tires, and I've been searching here on SS on what others are using. But it seems most people are using NOS or similar. I also haven't really seen a brand or type specific, or what companies or places someone might be able to find new tires. I've tried several tire sites, but they don't seem to list anything like these sizes. If anyone has some input, please make a post as we could really use some guidance here.
After all the tires and brakes are taken care of, we'll be going through the engine, Changing all fluids and filters. The oil filter gaskets are leaking, but I'm hoping that new filters and gaskets will take care of that. There is also a couple other leaks under the bottom of the truck, still have to take a closer look at those.
I've also got a heater and related components with the truck, but it's not installed. Been looking here on SS and seen a lot of people are putting the heater box inside the Cab under the dash. I was already thinking about doing this and have found some interesting posts, just need to figure out some of the details.
Exhaust noise is going to be an issue, as we will be using this truck on the highway. And to make it worse the J Pipe in the Exhaust is also rusted through, and it has been covered with a piece of metal and clamps. At first we were just thinking about replacing it, however we would still have the noise. Thought about also putting on a muffler, that would take care of some of the noise. But I have also seen some members have re-routed their exhaust out the back of the truck and then turned out behind the mudflap, with the opening pointed down toward the ground. That would remove the noise and place it at a good distance away from the cab.
For engine and other noises, we are also considering some type of noise damping materials inside the cab. What I am currently thinking is first to seal up all the holes and boots that are no longer there. Then coat the floor and firewall in bedliner to seal up all the tiny cracks and such, plus it will protect the floor from rust. Then lay down some type of sound deadening material like dynamat/dynapad, but it's pretty expensive. Then over top of that some type of rubber mat material.
The bed cover/tarp that came with the truck was supposed to be new, and it looks to be new with only a few tiny pin holes mostly in the seams, which I would guess can be taken care of with some type of seam sealer.
But the worst thing is the cover is the wrong size. I think it is actually for a 5-ton but I'm not certain, as it is way to long. We folded it down and tied it with rope so it couldn't flap in the wind on the drive home. I don't know if they have an actual NSN number somewhere printed on the tarp itself, but I haven't found one so far. I pulled the tarp out yesterday and tried to see exactly how much to long it is, as you can see in the pics. Thought about seeing if I could find someone to section the tarp, and bring it down to the correct size. Might also post an ad here on SS and see if I can either sell or trade it to someone with a new 2 1/2 ton correct size camo tarp.
We'll that's the where we're at so far. I've posted a few pics below. The first couple pics I took in a hotel parking lot on our way back home. The other one's showing was taken yesterday & today, but it was kinda of cloudy.
Thanks Everyone for Any Input you Have! I'm sure I'll add to this post later.
Looking forward to getting everything done and get these truck ready to drive!
and.................
opcorn:
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