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So, looking to buy a Deuce.

DrakeZ07

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2011
Messages
1,080
Location
Lexington, Ky
No, not a 'Ma Deuce', a Deuce and a half! Being the social lounge, and that I'm bored, kinda wondering if any of you guys have owned, or still own, an old 'Deuce and a half'! I'm currently looking into a couple that are for sale in my area, and I've been wanting one as a recreational vehicle, since I was a kid. My Jeep is fine and dandy, but there is something about an old military truck, with 6x6 drive, and sounds like an angry warthog, that appeals to my inner masculinity that my Jeep hasn't been able to appeal to the last couple of years. One of the Deuces is an M35A2, for about 5500$ and is in pretty good shape, has the troop carrier bed, and is an open bed, and a hard-top, painted jungle camo. The other is an M35A3, soft top, painted desert tan, good shape, has the troop carrier bed, and the soft tarp cover for the bed, but the exhaust pipe goes into the chasis and out onto the road, has a one-axle trailer that goes with it, and some rust on the floor, for 4800$.

There is another, it looks like both of the M35s, but it has a steel-like box on the back, the owner said it was a enclosed ambulance, but he didnt say much about it on the phone, cept that it runs good, looks good,a nd wants 6 grand for it.

I've done some looking online about all three, and came upon some different forums that required me to pay to view the contents of, which I'm not inclined to do, and read the wikipedia articles, but nothing comes close to what you'd get from someone actually engaging you about it and sharing their experiances and knowledge, for your benefit.

I do know that the owner of the A3 said his truck is a AM General, the owner of the A2 said he got it when his brother passed, and thinks its a Kaiser. the third owner didn't know who made his truck. I dunno if AM General is better than Kaiser, or the other way around, or if it doesn't matter at all, and I'm gonna go look at the first two in person next week, and would love some input from you guys on what to look for, what to check out, what I should pay the most attention to, ya know, the things they'd look and feel and listen for themselves if they was buying a Deuce. Also, any tips and info on anything else related to the deuces! Any and all info is appreciated! owning a Deuce is one of my childhood dreams, second only to my dream of owning a AMC Gremlin [Hey! the gremmies are awesome, and you don't see them often even at car shows].

I think all three are manual transmissions, I'd have to get with each owner and make sure; So, the prices that they are going for, is that a fair price for a Deuce? too high, or too low? I've never owned a diesel cargo truck myself, the only diesel I owned was an old first gen cummins that I had to sell off, but I never got to do anything mechanical with it.

Thanks guys!
 
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Fallschirjmäger

Active member
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
Messages
3,823
Location
Cumming, Georgia, USA
There is another, it looks like both of the M35s, but it has a steel-like box on the back, the owner said it was a enclosed ambulance, but he didnt say much about it on the phone, cept that it runs good, looks good,a nd wants 6 grand for it.
That sounds like the M109 "Shop Van" which as you can guess is a M35 with a shack on the back. I drove one all up and down Germany and Italy for awhile, it would make a great outdoors camper.
m109a3.jpg


Do you want to haul cargo, or people?
 

DrakeZ07

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2011
Messages
1,080
Location
Lexington, Ky
that video is pretty cool, and I'm making my way through them, but all they're doing is making me want to buy one of the Deuces even more! Though as of the second video in the play list, the guy hasn't made mention of any of the other models, so I dunno which one is 'best', ya know? He did mention that a Deuce would run from 6 to 11 grand, is that a typical price, and does that mean the deuces for 5500 and under aren't legit?

As far as what I'd want to do with them, cargo or personal transport, I'm just more into the recreational thing, something I can stick a plow on and clear the road because the county road department forgets about us peeps in the boonies. Something I can load some camping and other gear in. Something I and some friends can jump in and take for a ride to town, and squeeze into a drive-thru for sh*ts and giggles. And something I can use to haul materials around that won't fit in my Grand Cherokee.

The box truck looks pretty cool, I bet I could fabricate a bunk-type bed, put in some odds and ends, and have a lil RV camper that I could also use to get around in heavy snow, and to do some insane mud and rock crawling with.

You guys have any preferences, or input on which model is your perceived 'better', or anything?
 

Firearms Iinstuctor

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Messages
3,428
Location
northern wis
Make sure they can be registered for road use in your state some state don't allow certain military vehicles to be registered.

Might not be a problem but it could be just something to check on.
 

slowfiveoh

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2009
Messages
1,415
Location
Richmond, VA
No, not a 'Ma Deuce', a Deuce and a half!...

There's a few up here in Virginialand for sale.

I can't quite remember where I saw them, although I'm sure it was off of the 15 (Haymarket to Chantilly), or one of the back roads out that way.

A marine buddy and I saw it and went "Sweet. That'd be nice to own!".

If I see it again I'll give you a heads up.
 

markand

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2006
Messages
512
Location
VA
The M-35 A2 will be a manual transmission truck with dually rear axels (two tires at each end of each axel). The M35 A3 will be an automatic transmission truck with "super singles" on all axels (single tire at each end of all 3 axels). The A3 was made by taking 2 or 3 A2's and assembling the best parts of each while installing a new Catapillar engine and the auto transmission, nicer seats in the cab, better seat belts, etc. The truck with the ambulance body is probably kind of rare and might be very interesting if you're looking to do a camper build or something similar. Although the A2 and A3 trucks are outwardly very similar, be aware that they are quite different in many respects.

The best truck for you kind of depends upon what you want to do with the truck. Some people want to restore these trucks as close as possible to their "as new" configuration. Drive them in parades, enter them in shows and such things as that. Others want to use them for business purposes, installing hoists, lifts, dump beds, water tanks, etc. Others want to do camper builds. Still others "bob" their truck, removing the rearmost axel and shortening the frame, making the trucks easier to handle, drive and park on more crowded, suburban roads.

Check out www.steelsoldiers.com for much more information including technical manuals, photos, for sale items, including complete trucks, detailed discussions of issues, maintenance, rebuilds and restorations and much more.

Hope this helps.
 
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Grim_Night

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2012
Messages
776
Location
Pierce County, Washington
that video is pretty cool, and I'm making my way through them, but all they're doing is making me want to buy one of the Deuces even more! Though as of the second video in the play list, the guy hasn't made mention of any of the other models, so I dunno which one is 'best', ya know? He did mention that a Deuce would run from 6 to 11 grand, is that a typical price, and does that mean the deuces for 5500 and under aren't legit?

As far as what I'd want to do with them, cargo or personal transport, I'm just more into the recreational thing, something I can stick a plow on and clear the road because the county road department forgets about us peeps in the boonies. Something I can load some camping and other gear in. Something I and some friends can jump in and take for a ride to town, and squeeze into a drive-thru for sh*ts and giggles. And something I can use to haul materials around that won't fit in my Grand Cherokee.

The box truck looks pretty cool, I bet I could fabricate a bunk-type bed, put in some odds and ends, and have a lil RV camper that I could also use to get around in heavy snow, and to do some insane mud and rock crawling with.

You guys have any preferences, or input on which model is your perceived 'better', or anything?

My personal recommendation, get one of the M35A2's. These are the ones with the multi-fuel diesel engines. The multi-fuel engines can run practically anything that will burn and keep chugging along, from used motor oil, fuel oil, jet fuel, whatever you can think of (as long as you take some proper precautions). The M35A2D is the last in the line of that series with the quietest turbo charger. Those videos that were posted above should give you the entire rundown of all of this information.

Check Ebay, craig's list and whatever else you can for availability. The price range based on condition seems to be anywhere from $4-15k with the high end being a fully restored version. Also, do some research as to repair parts. If you do purchase one, make sure to get a supply of hard to find yet commonly replaced parts so that when/if you need to replace said part, you don't have to go hunting around for it. If you are mechanically inclined, you can also find repair manuals for these things and do the work yourself.
 

Firearms Iinstuctor

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Messages
3,428
Location
northern wis
When I worked for the county highway dept. during my collage summers they had one with flat deck on and mounted a boom and clam bucket.

I drove it around picking up various heavy objects and transporting them where they needed to go it was fun to drive back then as a collage kid and it got the job done.
 

Grapeshot

Legendary Warrior
Joined
May 21, 2006
Messages
35,317
Location
Valhalla
When I worked for the county highway dept. during my collage summers they had one with flat deck on and mounted a boom and clam bucket.

I drove it around picking up various heavy objects and transporting them where they needed to go it was fun to drive back then as a collage kid and it got the job done.
I'm sure that there were many put to similar uses.

Do you have a link to your "collage?" :p
 
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DrakeZ07

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2011
Messages
1,080
Location
Lexington, Ky
Decided to go for the M35A2, but I wanna thhank you guys for the info and linkage! :D

Now, I just have to decide if I wanna get painted pink, pink camo, or keep it the way it is. Gonna pick it up next month, and made a down-payment on it to hold on to it.
 

Grapeshot

Legendary Warrior
Joined
May 21, 2006
Messages
35,317
Location
Valhalla
Decided to go for the M35A2, but I wanna thhank you guys for the info and linkage! :D

Now, I just have to decide if I wanna get painted pink, pink camo, or keep it the way it is. Gonna pick it up next month, and made a down-payment on it to hold on to it.
Got pictures of THE one?
 

HPmatt

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2013
Messages
1,467
Location
Dallas
Here are pictures of camo trunks we sent with girls to summer camp a few years ago...
2def765b300fc30fb79e39869bb1b867.jpg

blended right into piney woods of East Texas..



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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DrakeZ07

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2011
Messages
1,080
Location
Lexington, Ky
No pictures yet, but I promise I'll have some this, or next, week. The M35 has a whistler turbo, but I'm not sure what the overall varient would be for the letter classification; the person I'm buying off of, is working on actually FINDING the title from within his home-office, and has yet to get back with me on when we can do the final dealings.
 

Grim_Night

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2012
Messages
776
Location
Pierce County, Washington
No pictures yet, but I promise I'll have some this, or next, week. The M35 has a whistler turbo, but I'm not sure what the overall varient would be for the letter classification; the person I'm buying off of, is working on actually FINDING the title from within his home-office, and has yet to get back with me on when we can do the final dealings.

The whistler turbo is the M35A2C. You will definitely be noticed while driving. Your neighbors will probably have a few things to say too.
 
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