sustained top speed

[mastergunner53]

Hi all,
Regarding top speed on a M109a3, would it be too hard on the engine to travel a 250 mi. trip at 55 m.p.h.? I saw somewhere on this site an sustained speed of 45? I will be picking up my newly acquired M109a3 from Govtliquidation as soon as my EUC is approved. New to this site, received very good info from the resources tab, Great amout of information here. Thank you for any help
Richard
Rancho Cucamonga, Ca.
M109a3
M37

 

[ohnuts]

I need to hear this answer myself. There was a post on here of a guy and his wife who drove thier truck for twenty years as a live in camper as ecoguardians on and off the roads every where at 55mph.

 

[scooter01922]

55 is fine, it is however about the fastest i would go for any length of time. Keep in mind that 55 mph should yield about 2500 RPM, red line is 2600.

 

[mastergunner53]

thanks scooter01922,
I am looking forward to picking the truck up, I'll watch the tach!!
Richard

 

[Westech]

The multi fuel was made to run at WOT and full power forever. It was a "constant rated engine" Red line for hours and hours is fine. Really a 109 wont do 55 all day.. its kinda heavy. I would bet on the average speed of 45-50 to judge your travel times on.

I ran my deuce at 2800 for 900 miles only stopping for fuel and I never shut it off. I had a 5 ton pump cranked to snot in there. Lot of you remember that East coast convoy run i did.

 

[kc5mzd]

I try not to run my 2.5 tons at over 45-50. Everyone says its ok but I just don't like the sound of running WOT near max RPM. I would suggest keeping it at or under 45 for the first hour or so. Sometimes the trucks sit for a while and things can get sticky. After you have had it for a while and gone through a couple of oil changes and grease jobs then you could run it harder with greater confidence.

 

[Green_gator]

I brought my M109 home from Indianapolis to Tampa last year. It had a hard time at speeds over about 50. It can get to 55 but any kind of incline much less hill and down it went. My M35 will hold 55 fine but I try to keep it at 50. If you look at the specs the M109 is about a ton heavier then the standard deuce and the wind resistance from the box is amazing. Good news is that unless you are going cross country the 5 MPH or so will not make much of a time difference. I find that the difference in comfort level for me is much better in the 45 - 50 MPH range then at 55 MPH.

 

[area52]

I bought a deuce in Victorville California and drove it home to New Mexico almost 800 miles. I could only do 55 on flat straight land. One thing I did notice was that it ran much better after about 2 hours of constant use, seemed to have more power. Maybe I just burned all the old junk out of it?

 

[maddawg308]

Top speed for me is told by the rpms, not the speed. Most figure top speed is around 2500 rpm, just below redline, about 55-57 mph. I keep mine around 2300 rpm, around 52 mph, just for the sake of keeping the stress on the engine a little lower. I'm only going to lose a few minutes on a trip, so I don't see that as too much of a problem.

 

[MWMULES]

I and 3 of my buddies all have 109A3's , none of them will do 55 on flat ground without getting into the red. The drag of the box and extra weight just won't let them preform at the super sonic rocket fast speed of a M35. Remember military convoys travel at 45mph with a catch-up speed of 50.

 

[bgekky3]

I drove from El Paso, TX to Mantua, OH about 1800 miles in an M35a2 and 105 with all my household goods, my wife, and the cat in it. It was very heavy. I had trouble on the hills running 2nd and 3rd gear on a lot of them. When I could, I ran 2550 on the flats which was around 64 mph with my tires. I ended up getting 8.8 miles per gallon.

 

[usmc deuce cpl]

I just recovered my m35a2 from redstone arsenal in Alabama. And drove it to Seattle, Wa. 2500mi. I kept it to around 2200 to 2300 the whole trip with no problems. Anything higher than that and the engine didn't sound happy. I agree that 50 to 52 is probably good.

 

[ohnuts]

I just purchased an M185A3 at Dodge. The only thing I've read is that a front hoist was never meant to go on this truck. Is it the same specs for red line as a 109?

 

[BKubu]

I am with MADDAWG on this. Contrary to what most people say and think, a deuce is a 50 mph truck +/- 2 MPH. Yeah, guys like to push their trucks...but to what end? So, they end up getting somewhere about 10 minutes quicker than they would have (over the span of driving an hour or more). These trucks are, on average, 30 years old. Even those trucks with motors that have been more recently rebuilt are 15-20 years or so old. Take your time and your motor may last. There is no need to drive one of these trucks faster than 50 mph. My M44A2 series and M809 series don't really go above 52 MPH...but no more than 50 MPH for extended long trips. Putting larger tires on the trucks would give you a higher road speed and while you lose torque, this is the only easy way to gain speed without really pushing your truck. By the way, by "easy" I mean easy on the truck.

 

[mastergunner53]

Thanks guys for all your feedback! I appreciate it. Still waiting for the EUC to clear. I stated on the EUC it was for personal use under the (intentional use space) and it was sent back for me to specify its use.
Richard

 

[OPCOM]

Camping odffroad is always good. I run 55 all day with the 11.00x20's. To the truck that's 50.

 

[Bill W]

52mph /2200-2300rpm going from Tactical trucks place in Virginia to So.Fla ( 995miles) with a 8000lb purification body mounted, got 10mpg. To me that seemed to be the sweet spot with the engine/drivetrain. The great part about going 52mph down the highway is you don't have to worry about traffic jams simply because YOU are the traffic jam

 

[rockman]

I run around 45 or so remembering that the truck is 43 years old and not designed for speed. I guess if it was a 66 chevelle instead, might be different. You find a comfortable speed when you know it with the shakes, vibrations, and sounds...

 

[Lifer]

In my own experience, each truck is different, but all of them should be able to run 55 mph for extended periods of time if everything is in good shape and if your butt and back can withstand the pounding they're going to take.

 

[tvoss]

I agree with Bill 100%. I just drove a M35a2 from Tennessee to Orlando, FL this weekend, about 700 miles. I was pushing 55 mph for the first 200 miles, but settled into about 52 mph at 2200 rpm at the sweet spot for sustained cruising.