Anybody bought a retired 6x6 deuce and a half?

   / Anybody bought a retired 6x6 deuce and a half? #71  
Hello, I have just joined.
I was a government contractor for a number of years and worked building mostly medium to Heavy offroad trucks.
This said I currently work at Polaris in Roseau MN a couple years now and previously worked for Arctic Cat in Thief River Falls Mn for about 10.
So this is where my background is from in offroad, high speed and tracked as well as armoured vehicles (also did a stint for a company that armoured cars and trucks).

Uhm yes the government is building and buying 2.5 ton to 5 to 15 ton trucks,,, my primary experience was with OshKosh machines.
Mtvr, HETT, HEMT, and Sandcats, (also known as ?Light Armoured Patrol Vehicles,,, kinda like Mraps,,,)

The deuce and a halfs closest direct replacement to me,, is the Oshkosh MTVR,, highlights of which are,,, capable of central tire inflation, electronic pushbutton allison automatic tranny, kitted with either ,, 350 horse cummins (dogshit motor) or a 400 horse Caterpillar, traction control, uhm backwards compatible with most any US mil hardware from about 1953 (the truck beds use iso locks which conform to a very generic palletization standard,,, (a truck can be a missile launching platform or a shop truck or a communication truck or a troop transport or,,, (the government is terribly cheap)
our quality standards were,,,
basicly,, fully loaded survive a 3g drop from a airplane,,, then land in 30 feet of water,,, be able to start within 3 tries,, then a operating range upto -40 to 120, then people may be shot at while sleeping in them,,, chevy, ford and dodges,,would not be suitable for most of this,,(this is why these trucks are so expensive yet basic and primitive,, then add a 30 year corrosion guarantee (accomplished by zinc coating most to everything on these trucks,, (galvanized steel sucks to weld,,) )

I am amazed anyone here knew about tatra? and OshKosh was not mentioned?

Oshkosh MTVR - YouTube

Oshkosh TPV SWAT TRUCK - YouTube

Oshkosh HET - YouTube

Oshkosh HEMTT A3 - YouTube

Oshkosh HEMTT Heavy High Mobility Truck - YouTube

A lot of these trucks are sub contracted to other small US job shops,, (truck beds, grenade boxes, machine gun brackets, trailers, )
To my knowledge the majority of these trucks and components are US made, also,, (I am sure some small things are made elsewhere but I helped build much of this, (structure, armour, steering, suspension, and general integration).

Most of the time I am a Welder, and Robot programmer, but many types of welding,,mig tig, arc, resistance spot welding and seaming,,,
I loved the OshKosh rigs, and most were pretty cool.
I like the older trucks most, Lever operated, few to no computer controls, I like gear driven transfer cases and not the air actuated ones,, I like the older multi fuel I-five and 6 cylinder motors,,,
Older deuces are great but there is much known of brake issues (losing them at 45 mph in town is bad and nearly 50 percent of all accidents with trucks in the military at one time was directly related to a known condition,,

"Safety

The safety of the M939 series of trucks has been criticized, especially braking performance and stability when loaded. In 1999 the US Army began refitting anti-lock brake systems to the M939 trucks. Until the trucks were modified, they were limited to a 40 mph (65 km/h) top speed by an Army-wide safety order.

Prior to that improvement, 26% of all Army vehicle accidents and 53% of all Army vehicle accident fatalities were in M939 series trucks. From 1987 to 1998 the series made up 9% of the total US Army vehicle inventory, but accounted for 34% of all fatal accidents. [2]

The problem seemed to be that the torque converter would "lock up" in 2nd gear, and would not unlock easily. When the driver attempted to brake hard, often in a sudden or 'panic' stop, and accidentally locked the brakes (no wheel movement, tires skidding), this would kill the engine; this also killed the power steering, and the driver would suddenly be unable to steer. Too often, the truck would veer sideways and either hit something or roll over."


Taken from
M939 Truck - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But I think much of the troubles could be resolved and certain modifications can make these amazing work to daily drivers,, and yes I have heard of fuel mileage varying widely,,,

I think when people say a deuce and a half most mean a m939 or similar,,especially newer rigs,,

So I will add a link on more info below,,,

M-939 5-TON TRUCK

I also am a member of,

Steel Soldiers

Which holds rallys, and get togathers, from time to time,, (neat way to see these trucks irl, and ask the lil questions,,,mpg, insurance,, license,, cost to repair,,, what will this drive like and through?,,, etc,,, plus the manuals for operating and repair are awesome, almost all military devices have manuals and they are good to have,,

My last 2 cents, I love these trucks, all of them,, I detest all 1 ton or smaller made after 1995, too much electronics which is not rated to operate below 30 below zero, (the data sheets for most automobile ecm's,, the chips themselves are rarely if ever rated below 20 below which in northern minnesota is hmm yeah (the makers cheat and insulate the ecm casings to avoid this,,but then these vehicles should be garaged,,and run every day,, minium,,,(inspite of much that is written or said,,) so newer light duty trucks,, chevy dodge,, are not my thing,,, I make exception for fords as I kitted these for swat and military use,, personaly and know the 7.3 powerstroke was a million mile motor, but,,no not made by ford but actually international,,(a T44E,,,) so,, a medium duty motor in a light truck, (light truck is anything under 2 tons,, ),,,(and the newer electronic ford tranny I do not like,, only up to the C6,,,for myself,,) hahhaha


I love diesels,,, though,, most any and all,,, hahaha
 
   / Anybody bought a retired 6x6 deuce and a half? #73  
Question about the M939 series: are those the ones that crack the transfer case while in low reverse? I seem to remember reading that on SS years ago (I'm a member there too, just not active).

Thanks,
 
   / Anybody bought a retired 6x6 deuce and a half? #74  
Non active SS member too...I will read this in a few days...
 
   / Anybody bought a retired 6x6 deuce and a half? #75  
   / Anybody bought a retired 6x6 deuce and a half? #76  
I purchased a 66' M109A3 Shop Van and a couple trailers from Goverment liquidation, the truck appears to have been last overhauled in 1985. I'm a newbie at restoring vehicles, its been a lot of work fixing the deuce up but so far I've enjoyed the experience. Paid $1700 three years ago.

The work involved: I've replaced all the fluids, brake lines, batteries, radiator, starter, converted the filters to spin-ons, welded up a bunch of rust holes, and been re-greasing it as I go, including the wheel bearings. As far as paint and bodywork goes, removing the CARC paint sucks, I wish the military had never used it. You can sand it down and paint over but its prone to pealing up under your new paint. The wiring is a bit dry rotted, I've been patching it where I can but new wiring harnesses are available. Restoring the van body is a lot of work, I've gutted the interior and am in the process of replacing the floor.

Interesting tractor part note, I recently replaced the air horn solenoid. The part I ordered from a surplus shop arrived sealed in foil, manufactured by International Harvester Co in 1953! (see pic) The solenoid works great!

I did "learn" how to drive a standard transmission with it. I don't profess to be great at driving stick but I've never stalled it on a public road or broke anything (yet). I do make it a point not to ride the clutch and study the rpm and road speed shift points (see pic). Its pretty much impossible to stall it when starting out with the transfer case in low gear. The military says not start off in second gear, so I don't. The transmission weak points seem to be second and fifth gear, I think its because people start in second when they shouldn't, and maybe miss second by mistake and hit fifth. Note, on the Spicer overdrive transmission, fourth and fifth gears are switched like this:

R 2 5
1 3 4

As for the Op teaching his daughter to drive on one, well the biggest drawback would be the manual steering. Its fine when you're rolling but its a bear to park it. The turning radius may as well be measured in football field widths and the rear visibility, especially with the van body, is terrible.

I'm just starting to enjoy driving it this year, I've maybe put 1200 miles on it this summer. I installed a Reese hitch and 12 volt brake controller and trailer wiring just so I could use the deuce pickup my new Yanmar (200 miles round trip). Its a bit slow on hills, but it'll do 55mph on the flats. It gets about 8miles per gallon on a fuel blend of waste oils, gasoline, and diesel. Do I like driving it? Yes, but I also like getting back behind the wheel of my daily driver 2004 Jeep TJ with its automatic transmission!

Note, I chose to buy the Yanmar new because if I spent any more time fixing up another rusty project, like the deuce, I'm pretty sure my wife would divorce me...

deuce_tractor.jpg tractor_m101.jpg 1953_solenoid.jpg shifting.jpg
 
   / Anybody bought a retired 6x6 deuce and a half? #77  
removing the CARC paint sucks, I wish the military had never used it.

CARC (Chemical Agent Resistant Coating) might be a pain to remove, but it was applied to military vehicles for a good reason...
 
 
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