Anybody bought a retired 6x6 deuce and a half?

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Yes, some are very old, but many are '80s or even early '90s models. Many times, there are stacks of new tires being auctioned too. A couple of trucks I really liked are set up to be small machine shop repair trucks. They have generators, welding, and a 8 or 12" capacity lathe and drill press.

 

[RoyJackson]

Yes, some are very old, but many are '80s or even early '90s models. Many times, there are stacks of new tires being auctioned too. A couple of trucks I really liked are set up to be small machine shop repair trucks. They have generators, welding, and a 8 or 12" capacity lathe and drill press.

I'm not sure the newer trucks would be available for civilian sales...due to emissions and crash requirements. This is one reason you never see HUMMVs on the market.

BTW, I was at the American General plant a few years back (company I worked for made aluminum armor castings for them). These vehicles are not even close to the vehicle sold as the Hummer.
After the brouhaha about lack of armor or the HUMMV, they added a lot! The doors alone weighed in the neighborhood of 600 lbs!

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Roy, if you look at the link in the 1st thread, you will see that it is a '93 model. Really looks good.

I'm guessing it will go for $5-8K. Looks like 45mph is about what they like to do down the highway. Seems like it would make an excellent welding truck except for the bed being too high.

How about fabricating a scissor lift bed for a 6x6 deerblind?

 

[RoyJackson]

Roy, if you look at the link in the 1st thread, you will see that it is a '93 model. Really looks good.

I'm guessing it will go for $5-8K. Looks like 45mph is about what they like to do down the highway. Seems like it would make an excellent welding truck except for the bed being too high.

How about fabricating a scissor lift bed for a 6x6 deerblind?

Yeah, went back and noticed that. I wonder how they can sell that...and, is it street legal as sold?
I did look up info about the HUMMV. The HUMMV is not sold to the public due to safety concerns...and the military doesn't sell any off road vehicles to the general public.
I guess these trucks are built primarily for "on road" use...and being diesels of that weight, exempt from emissions requirements for those years of manufacture...that's a semi educated guess on my part, BTW. Newer road trucks are being hit by emissions, I believe...so this type of market may dry up in a few years.
Still, if buying one...know what you're getting into!

 

[bubbacuse77]

I have driven one a time or two of the exact models you are refering to. The military is getting rid of the 6x6 model 2.5 tons because they are being replaced. realize they where not built in the 90s just reworked in the 90s. they took off the dual tires and put the high flotation singles on. They also replaced the engine with new caterpiller engines and put automatic transmissions in them. The tires have a traction control system from the cab that airs up and down as you want depending on ground conditions. Many times these are broke......but not that big of a deal. The engine is a solid runner.

I would buy one if you needed to do alot of off road material hauling and look for one with one of the hydraulic winches. If you don't need to log swamps or carry 2 tons of ammo over sand dunes you might want to steer clear for all the other reasons already mentioned. If you work on a volunteer fire department you might want to suggest they get one or two (parts vehicle) for a brush fire truck.

 

[BigBoyinMS]

A few years ago they were selling a large number of them at an auction near here. My brother wanted to buy a couple for two front axle assembly's to put on a mud racing truck he was building. After the first few the auction company decided to speed things up and sell them in lots. My brother ended up buying a lot of 9 for $900 total! He started selling the running gear to other racers for more than he paid for all 9 trucks. I know he sold the engine and trans from one to a fellow to power a sawmill. Not sure about all the rest of it but he did pretty well with them.

 

[aczlan]

An EXCELLENT resource for anyone looking at buying one is steelsoldiers.com They have quite a few people who have purchased a lot of retired military vehicles and their stickies have most of the pitfalls listed. They also have some checklists of what to mlook at, what to do before and after buying it and a place to request that someone scope out a particular machine for you.
A few of them seem to get a little touchy about repeat questions though... Be sure to search the forum first before asking questions.

Aaron Z

 

[Redneck in training]

Back a few weeks or months they sold some unimogs with backhoes on the rear and FELs on the front. Rebadged I believe as Freightliners or something. went for about $8000 on average.

The FEL with BH on the back were made for Case.

 

[JB4310]

Roy, if you look at the link in the 1st thread, you will see that it is a '93 model. Really looks good.

I'm guessing it will go for $5-8K. Looks like 45mph is about what they like to do down the highway. Seems like it would make an excellent welding truck except for the bed being too high.

How about fabricating a scissor lift bed for a 6x6 deerblind?

The truck has 2000 miles on and 50 hours, basically brand new old surplus.

I think it will sell for more than that, it's certainly worth much more these days.

I have not been following prices, but back around 85 I bought one from our town's highway dept. it was a mix up but I ended up with a low mileage M-135 for $650. these were the 1950'gmc's but talk about slow :confused2:
I actually thought I was bidding on a salvage truck that my brother just wanted for parts, when they told me I won the bid, I said I would make arrangements to get it towed out of their yard. They told me just come down and drive it home. New batteries, all fueled up, and running perfectly with a winch that the cable had never been unwound yet.

US Military M135 Series 1/2-ton, 6x6 Trucks

Fun conversation piece, but hard to find a practical application for them.

Folded the windshield down and went for a ride it felt like a ww2 D-day landing craft

JB

 

[rtimgray]

Aczlan has the best suggestion on this thread, and that is to visit Steelsoldiers.com - it is to M35's what Tractorbynet is to compact tractors. There is a ton of incorrect or misinformation about the deuces that has been posted on this thread (along with some good information). The best way to get it straight would be go to SS and start reading.

My personal opinion: GL Deuces are great for certain applications for the amount of money you have to spend. I would equate owning one to (roughly) owning a grey market tractor - that is, you will probably be better off if you can do most of your repair & maintenance work yourself. There are dozens of parts/materials suppliers for the trucks as well as many shops that specialize in these units.

My experience is good - I purchased one for farm use to turn it into a dump truck. I picked one up from a guy who had bought three from a GL auction and had done nothing to it. He sold it to me for a little profit and I drove it an hour and half home with no problems. I was able to pick up a universal dump kit for and have been happy ever since. Caveat: I pretty much just use it around the farm and short on-road hauls.

Pros: Cheap, easy to work on, uses pretty much any type of fuel, large aftermarket following and support

Cons: Noisy, no power steering (on mine), limited support from local mechanics (unless you're located near one of the resellers), slow on road speed.

Here's a pic of mine after I got the dump installed.

BTW - I named it "Deuce Bigalow", but the wife and kids refer to it as "Shrek".