Bobbed Deuce as a Possible Expedition Platform? $7500

[mrwizard]

Just read through this posting over on Pirate4x4.com and was intrigued by the concept:

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r307/russellclum/100_1001.jpg

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=719365

and here's the site of they guy in Cali selling them:

http://www.100dollarman.com/trucks.html

i don't think the 55" tires would be ideal, but the smaller tires with only one rear axle could be a starting point...thoughts?

[jcbrandon]

Pros:
Lots of capability for not a lot of money.
Simple as dirt.
Tough as rocks.
Kids will love you.

Cons:
Too big for most trails.
Need ear protection.
Primitive.

All told, one heck of a lot of fun for just a few grand.

[mrwizard]

i've hear they are loud as all get out...is it just exhaust noise or are the engines that loud? could you muffle the intake and exhaust better?

[ntsqd]

Local guy did something similar with a radio (ambulance?) truck, only he went to air springs in the rear.

[adventureduo]

Man i want that rig.

[PelleJeep]

That's rad. Add a Unimog box from Germany and booom, you got yourself the perfect rig!

[adrenaline503]

Damn, thats very cool.

[crazyjane]

The noise pretty much comes from everywhere. There is no muffler for the exhaust and the firewall is straight sheetmetal. I'm sure with some time and energy you can quiet them down to a more manageable level.
As for anyone possible buying one, the ARMY did a modification to the IP and took away the multi-fuel aspect on the later ones to only burn JP-8(diesel) since there isn't anything that really burns MOGAS in the inventory any longer. Going to one common fuel. There is a sticker on the IP that states so.

[btggraphix]

How long from cab to end of frame I wonder? Would they allow a custom choice of length? I also wonder what sort of fuel mileage and top speed they have. Those are awfully cool...and for $7500 amazingly cheap. Seems like another 5-10K of customizing the cab with sound proofing etc. you could have a serious beast of a platform for a camper on the cheap.

[mrwizard]

How long from cab to end of frame I wonder? Would they allow a custom choice of length? I also wonder what sort of fuel mileage and top speed they have. Those are awfully cool...and for $7500 amazingly cheap. Seems like another 5-10K of customizing the cab with sound proofing etc. you could have a serious beast of a platform for a camper on the cheap.

if you read through the posting on pirate4x4.com someone says they averaged 10-12 mpg with stock tires and anticipated better mpg with larger tires (which this has) and the elimination of the second rear axle...so conservatively a gain of 1-2 mpg?

i think if i was going to do it, i'd buy an un-bobbed one and bob it myself. shouldn't be too tough. the axles are easily removed, the box might take some assistance (some sort of lift?) and you would end up with a ton more metal, tires and rims that could be used for spares...not to mention the price is a ton better. that would be my thought anyway.

[mrwizard]

oh, and stock top speed is 50 mph, but would be faster with one less axle and larger tires.

[bahndo]

oh, and stock top speed is 50 mph, but would be faster with one less axle and larger tires.

Is that governed speed by gearing/rpm's (like mogs) or is it out of power at 50 mph?

[j_nigrelli]

when i read the title of this thread, i was thinking "'32 Ford".


what a bitchen' ride that would make!

[btggraphix]

if you read through the posting on pirate4x4.com someone says they averaged 10-12 mpg with stock tires and anticipated better mpg with larger tires (which this has) and the elimination of the second rear axle...so conservatively a gain of 1-2 mpg?

i think if i was going to do it, i'd buy an un-bobbed one and bob it myself. shouldn't be too tough. the axles are easily removed, the box might take some assistance (some sort of lift?) and you would end up with a ton more metal, tires and rims that could be used for spares...not to mention the price is a ton better. that would be my thought anyway.

That's a good point....you'd get a spare axle right? And who cares about the box anyway, if you are making it for a camper. Pretty good MPG too. I think my wife would have me bobbed if I bought one though..... Man are those cool.....

[mrwizard]

Is that governed speed by gearing/rpm's (like mogs) or is it out of power at 50 mph?

i think you're out of rpm/gearing.



That's a good point....you'd get a spare axle right? And who cares about the box anyway, if you are making it for a camper. Pretty good MPG too. I think my wife would have me bobbed if I bought one though..... Man are those cool.....

pretty sure my wife would too! she might even be thinking about it just cause i'm lookin' at the fool thing... :bike_rider:

[crazyjane]

The top speed according to TM 9-2320-209-10 is 56 MPH. When I drove mine I could cruise about 59 flat out. Each one is different. Some came with a 1:1 top gear ratio and some came with an overdrive transmission. All 5 speeds.

[mrwizard]

thats helpful too!

[Octamog]

Some of the later trucks had Cat's (3116 IIRC) and Allison automatics. I have even seen one with a Cat, Allison & CTIS up for auction, but it sold for quite a bit -- I think it sold for $26,000 (again IIRC).

[crazyjane]

Those are the A3 models and I'm pretty sure that the Reserves and Nat'l Guard still have those in the inventory. Those are the only people I see around here(Ft Bragg NC) driving them. Eventually to be replaced by the FMTV series of trucks. They also have powersteering.

[West Coast Mags]

Just FYI the best mpg one could hope for out of one of these is 8mpg. You can find anything you ever want to know about dueces at www.steelsoldiers.com Some of the concerns voiced about these are the Noise, The ancientness in technology (can be good or bad), and if you are planning to travel internationally the military looks make border crossings extremely difficult. If you browse www.govliquidation.com you can find surplus ones direct from the govt (still dual axle) but they already have box shelters on the back the size of a small house. They generally contained field machine shop set ups but are aluminum construted, some have heating units and windows already installed. About $3500 would fetch one from the govt site.

[1937Scott]

You might use a little caution when shopping for a Bobbed Deuce, specifically to legality of registration and street driving. Many are 'off road use only,' and have no way to register them.

Those that have gone to the trouble to get title and registration usually mention it in the advertisement.

Have fun, they look very cool, but are really SLOW, especially in the mountains.

[dwh]

I think I read somewhere that there are some sort of restrictions on taking ex US military vehicles out of the country. Anyone know?

[alaskaboy]

It may somewhat telling that the owner actually trailers the rig when he wants to "play" and he is probably only using it for the day. It might be a little uncomfortable for all the aforementioned reasons for extended travel.

[tamangel]

I think I read somewhere that there are some sort of restrictions on taking ex US military vehicles out of the country. Anyone know?

DWH..its not that there is a problem taking them out of the country, its that you may not be able to bring them back in..

here's a thread from steel soldiers..

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/euc-help/13702-euc-needed-travel-restrictions-north-central-america.html

Mike

[flighht2k5]

That's rad. Add a Unimog box from Germany and booom, you got yourself the perfect rig!

Just keep the Unimog :)

[Magneto]

Deuce with a box = M109A3 Here is an example of a conversion...

[Ozarker]

WOW, nice! There isa guy at Ft. Rucker, a instructor pilot who took a duce and a half, shortened the bed, but tood another cab and added to the existing cab, making it a four door, it looked very cool and he did very good work. His is a multi fuel and runs cooking oil with diesel and doing so gives him the cost effectivness of 22/24 mpg.

I use to drive these on the autobahn and got just over 60 mph and they were governed by the ignation, you could tell you still had more power to get down the road but they just hit a point and would flutuate like towing an anchor.

I drove them through some pretty narrow roads in Germany and the Black Forest.

Another guy on YouTube has one with a snorkel and exhaust higher and drove across a river, fully submerged the truck and drove under water for a short time and back out.....seeing is believing! Check Youtube with duce and a half maybe river crossing...whatever, don't remember how I got there.

If I were going for a large expedition vehicle, I'd probably go that route. There are several in my area used by construction companies so they can be tagged.

[haven]

"...so they can be tagged."

At least in Arkansas. Each state will be different.

[goldenbeagle]

I was in the military and had the pleasure of riding shotgun/and in the back of one of those numerous times (not bobbed of course). I actually road in one of those at Ft. Erwin on an 8 hour trip to a rail head to load it up. I can tell you that they beat your kidneys to death on uneven roads and they will give you a headache within an hour.

With that said…I have looked into buying one as a toy numerous times. And still think I will own one in the next few years.

Who cares about a headache or a body-ache when you a bobbing down the road in one of those. Just plain silly cool in my book!

[chp-sk8]

Once you have to drive these every day, it takes all of the fun out of them, same as the mogs. If you are going to puts around or use it a trail rig...G2G!. Long roads are not were you want to be, your body and ears will be taxed to say the least. They are bare bones purpose built rigs.

[jesusgatos]

Just read through this posting over on Pirate4x4.com and was intrigued by the concept:

i don't think the 55" tires would be ideal, but the smaller tires with only one rear axle could be a starting point...thoughts?
I'm turning a deuce into a motorhome (http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=955676) right now. Lots of info here (http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?p=12508124#post12508124). Let me know if you have any more specific questions.



Cons:
Too big for most trails.
Need ear protection.
Really not all that much bigger than a fullsize pickup truck.


i've hear they are loud as all get out...is it just exhaust noise or are the engines that loud? could you muffle the intake and exhaust better?


The noise pretty much comes from everywhere. There is no muffler for the exhaust and the firewall is straight sheetmetal. I'm sure with some time and energy you can quiet them down to a more manageable level.
Yes, they're noisy. Deuces were not originally equipped with any sort of mufflers. Adding a muffler (http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?p=12517900#post12517900) is pretty easy though, and that alone makes a pretty big difference. Lots of other things you can do to decrease the noise in the cab even more.


As for anyone possible buying one, the ARMY did a modification to the IP and took away the multi-fuel aspect on the later ones to only burn JP-8(diesel) since there isn't anything that really burns MOGAS in the inventory any longer. Going to one common fuel. There is a sticker on the IP that states so.
That's not exactly right. What they have done on a lot of vehicles is to bypass the fuel density compensator, which injects more/less fuel depending on how combustible it is. The fuel-density compensator has been bypassed on mah deuce, and I can tell you from first-hand experience that it still runs just fine on everything from diesel to gasoline to used motor oil. Click here (http://www.steelsoldiers.com/deuce/44802-how-does-multifuel-engine-actually-work.html) if you want to read more about how the multifuel engines actually work.


How long from cab to end of frame I wonder? Would they allow a custom choice of length?
A standard-length deuce (without a winch) is about 26ft long. Most of the bobbed deuces are custom-built, so I'm sure you can have one made to whatever length you want. There's even a LWB version of the deuce called the M36 that had something like a 16ft bed on it. You could also bob a deuce and leave it full-length, but it's going to have a ****ty breakover angle unless you get some 46"+ tires and/or move/get rid of all the under-cab storage, spare tire, fuel tanks, etc.


if you read through the posting on pirate4x4.com someone says they averaged 10-12 mpg with stock tires and anticipated better mpg with larger tires (which this has) and the elimination of the second rear axle...so conservatively a gain of 1-2 mpg?
Probably not ever going to get much better than 12mpg in a multifuel deuce.


oh, and stock top speed is 50 mph, but would be faster with one less axle...
Not really, top-speed is limited by RPM's more than anything else.


Some of the later trucks had Cat's (3116 IIRC) and Allison automatics. I have even seen one with a Cat, Allison & CTIS up for auction, but it sold for quite a bit -- I think it sold for $26,000 (again IIRC).
The M35A3 trucks all have cat engines, allison transmissions, and CTIS. You can pick one of those up for $8000-15,000. Got mixed feelings about those though. No multifuel, lower top-speed than the M35A2's, the CTIS is notoriously unreliable, and well, they're ***-ugly.


Just FYI the best mpg one could hope for out of one of these is 8mpg.
I was routinely getting close to 10mpg in my (empty) M109. Expect to get somewhere around 6mpg when it's finished, and that will be with a 5-ton LDS multifuel engine, pulling about 22,000-24,000lbs. That's on par with motorhomes of similar size/weight and remember, with these vehicles it's more about the miles-per-dollar than the miles-per-gallon.


You might use a little caution when shopping for a Bobbed Deuce, specifically to legality of registration and street driving. Many are 'off road use only,' and have no way to register them.

Those that have gone to the trouble to get title and registration usually mention it in the advertisement.
That's just to limit the builder's liability. Has nothing to do with being able to register them.

[LowTech]

We have a 109, like Mr Gato, as well as a basic cargo bedded M35. In the last year we've put over 2K worth of miles on just one of them (the M109) and right now have both of them, plus a M105, in motion.
Photo Blog here (http://www.pbase.com/lowtech9/tucson)

The one thing that I don't understand is why I would want to lose the ability of having that walking rear axle set up. Singled out w/ only 6 wheels means I have only 2 more tires than a 4x, but the tandem axles lets me go through things that would be much more of a challenge if it was only one rear.
54085 54086

The bed, or box, rides so smooth and gentle with that the stock set up. I'm sure that I "might" get another mile or two per gal but that's not a big deal if your running on collected waste fuels. As it stands we are 400+ miles into this trip and I've not spent a penny on fuel for mine. We did put about 30 gals of diesel/gas mix into my lady's 109 because we were having some fuel issues and wanted to thin the waste motor oil some. Two BIG trucks, one trailer, 400 miles = 30 gal fuel paid for . . .:wings::smiley_drive:

[nk14zp]

I like both mine. One is stock one is bobbed.