So I bought a deuce

[CPike3]

And I don't know what to......haha I joined a couple of years ago and have been poking around a little bit and the opportunity finally presented itself to get one.

A couple buddies of mine went to pick up a truck from getting inspection and I saw a deuce in the guy's yard. We went and talked to the guy and long story short, we all now own a deuce.

1969 REO

Motor starts right up and sounds pretty good, most of the lights work. We've driven it around my parking lot in low range but it doesn't have brakes. Winch works well.

It has a bit of rust which is expected, front axle needs new seals and junk and it appears to be leaking some of everything everywhere. It also needs a new radiator.

Does the smoke look OK to you guys?

The plans are to murder it out, bob it, and 47" Michelin X tires on re-centered HEMTT wheels.
And a chrome stack pipe...


Most important issue is the brakes and we don't really know where or what to start. We kinda think it's out of fluid or something but the MC has all sorts of fun stuff coming out of it and we don't want to break off anything. We are all very mechanically inclined so we aren't afraid to get dirty. So yea. We love it and got it for a (what we think) a decent price.

 

[srodocker]

ahh nice!!! how much you get it for?

 

[velociT]

Nice.

 

[CPike3]

$2300 and he towed it to my office!

 

[fuzzytoaster]

Good deal, congrats!

 

[jdr2710]

Looks good!

On the brakes, you might get by with a flush & bleed (the manual calls for DOT 5) . That'd be worth a shot to start at any rate, depending on the symptoms. You access the filler via the hole in the floor pan between the driver's legs. Remove the vent line, then take off the cap. Lots of folks, myself included, have built pressure bleeders to make the bleeding easier. Basically hook into the vent line with a bug sprayer and open each bleeder in turn. I did mine as a permanent remote reservoir, so I don't need to mess with the vent line removal to check the level. Also you need air pressure for the power assist, or you're going to need both feet and a prayer to get it to stop.

Enjoy the busted knuckles working on your new beast!

 

[CPike3]

We pulled the old MC out and it was full of rusty goo, so we decided to err on the side of caution and bought a new one. It should be here tomorrow. It looks like it had been replaced before because it was painted red. I also got an airpack rebuild kit and 4 new cylinders. Once we get the thing to stop we will start working on cutting it up! How much are people usually cutting off of these things?

 

[CPike3]

We're thinking making the bed 8' (seen with the green tape measure). We will move the axle back maybe another foot or so. We will do a 4 link on some semi truck airbags using some Ballistic 3" joints probably. I have a buddy with a CNC plasma so we will be making all of our brackets and such.

 

[Bobbed4x4]

4 link and air bags eh? Ian from Xtreme 4X4 did that to his bobber... If you haven't seen that show, it may be worth checking out... The episode can be found on Spike TV's website. As far as how much to cut off, it really depends on what you'll be using for a bed. A lot of people use the bed off a m105 trailer which gives you a 9 foot bed. Just make sure you take lots of pics and post them

 

[pittdog]

Hey ! ...dont look that bad ! get er done !

 

[CPike3]

I heard they did that on Xtreme. Saw the episodes and they are just as uninformative as ever! It just seemed easier to link and bag as it seems to be a huge pain to source, locate and install a front spring pack. Besides I'm going to work the truck and perhaps do the beach cruiser/swimming pool in the bed kinda thing, so I'd like to be able to dial in the suspension some. Anyone have a good source for semi air bags?

Also, how do you all feel about plumbing them in to the on board air system?

 

[The G Man]

Congrats bro, the only bad thing is now your hooked on MV's. Wait thats not a bad thing so its all good.

I spend alot of time on these in the army...we had a running joke: If a deuce ain't leaking check it out cause all the oil has ran out already.

Good luck and believe me it will be alot of fun You did good on the price from what I can see.

 

[hemichallenger]

This is one i am working on. It will be hooked to the truck air with an auto leveling arm and will also be able to control the bags from inside the cab. It will not twist as good as a 4 linq but will be on 53s with front and rear lockers.

 

[CPike3]

We were rebuilding the airpack and then this wasn't anywhere when we were finished, and we can't find it in the manual. There's a good possibility that this was in the dumpster at my warehouse and one of my awesome friends thought it would be funny to dump some random pieces of junk amongst my parts. HELP!

 

[CPike3]

Nevermind, we figured it out. It goes on the long springs to the 1 1/2 in cap bolt side.

Rebuild the airpack and installed a new MC, invented our pressurized brake fluid pump, bled bled bled, then drove it around and NO brakes. It made noise this time, which is something it's never done (the sound of the airpack charging and stuff). When bleeding the fluid came out clear and ours is purple, so we are assuming we need to bleed more until it's all purple. We shall tackle that idea in the morning.

 

[CPike3]

Oh yea, and the pressure tank thing we made for under $20!

 

[CPike3]

Got the wheel cylinders installed and replaced a cracked brake fitting. Bled the system and took it out for a spin. Stops kinda all rig. Something is still a little messed up and we don't really know where or how. It seems like the brake pedal is hard as stone to press but then if you pump it enough you can kinda hear and feel something like a solenoid or something open up and then there is normal brake pedal feeling and it stops. Any ideas?

Next we learned that the clutch is dead. It worked all right for the first 5 minutes of driving and then it decided that it had had enough. We couldn't even drive over a curb in low range so we limped it back into place and called it a night. One theory is that the rear main seal is dead and is causing oil to soak the clutch rendering it useless.

One other bonus thing we did was the fuel pump apparently wasn't working so it wouldn't start. There is a fuse on the fuel pump housing that was broken. Replaced that and the truck starts up much faster than a modern car.

 

[AZDeuce]

When bleeding the brakes make sure you bleed the airpack FIRST before you start on the wheel cylinders, that's the only thing off the top of my head that might be causing your variable brake pressure problems.

 

[CPike3]

I said that wrong...


Yes we bled the airpack first. When we broke the airpack down and rebuilt it (following the directions very carefully) we noticed there was grease on the large piston, so we added some grease back on the seals and everything. was that a mistake?

 

[CPike3]

Anyone?