New member?

[otter]

Hello,
I am new to the forums. I use my truck for extended trips into the Sierra Nevada mountains (expedition?), usually for more than 14 days. Planning on the southwest soon, to be followed by the Pacific northwest. Would like to do the AlCan highway to AK. but that is down the road. The truck has a sleeping platform with a mattress, 3 way 'fridge, 3 burner stove, and 15kBTU heater.
The Box is heavy guage steel and I am currently equipped with 50 usgals of diesel(@13mpg), planning to add another OEM 50 gal tank, 60lbs of propane hard mounted and plumbed. Water is usually carried in jerry type cans. Offroad navigation is usually performed with USGS topo maps along with a ex-military Trimble trimpak mounted and equipped with an external antenna.
I also use the truck as a base for dirtbike trips and have a 2 1/2T trailer for those ends.
Fun site
eric
P.S. The truck is ex-marine corps M109A3 2 1/2T with 10k PTO bumper mounted winch. Engine is 465ci turbo diesel, 5speed manual all wheel drive, and a bunch of other details I could list but won't.

[Scott Brady]

Great Truck Otter

Those 2.5tons are just awesome for payload and space. Is that the original radio box or did you fabricate that yourself?

Have you ever driven it back to Laurel Lakes? One of my favorite campsites of all time.

[Brian McVickers]

WOW! You're not messing around, that's a sweet rig!
Welcome to the site
Can't wait to see more pictures of your truck.

[The BN Guy]

Welcome Otter! It's gonna take a lot to stop that duece and a half! There's one in San Antonio for sale that a buddy wants to buy. Even a trailer to match right next to it.

[flyingwil]

Welcome Otter! Nice ex-Mil Vehicle you got there! Sounds like you got it pretty well set up to suit your needs for now. What part of the globe you staying at right now?

Looks good, man! I look forward to reading your input and words of wisdom in the near future.

Wil

[lionsbreath]

Sweet Always a good knock down your own trail rig.

[otter]

Great Truck Otter

Those 2.5tons are just awesome for payload and space. Is that the original radio box or did you fabricate that yourself?

Have you ever driven it back to Laurel Lakes? One of my favorite campsites of all time.

Hello,
I will try to answer the questions one at a time. The "box" is the original box as built by the manufacturer,orf the truck-unit, Kaiser/Jeep. The nomenclature M109A3 describes a M-35 chassis with the "shop van" box mounted. The box has 6 opening(7 if you count the forward one) windows, the doors to the rear open to aprox 5' wide. The floor of the truck is about 4' off the ground, a set of steps are removeable and stored on the back of the body. The body is about 7 1/2' wide x 12 deep(inside measurments), and is supposed to be waterproof to the windows. That is deeper than the service fording depth. Lat/Long to locate Laurel Lakes? I mostly spend time near Sonora pass west of Kennedy Meadows and Clear Creek near King City.
eric

[otter]

Welcome Otter! Nice ex-Mil Vehicle you got there! Sounds like you got it pretty well set up to suit your needs for now. What part of the globe you staying at right now?

Looks good, man! I look forward to reading your input and words of wisdom in the near future.

Wil

Hello,
We live in Boulder Creek, CA near Santa Cruz CA.

[otter]

Welcome Otter! It's gonna take a lot to stop that duece and a half! There's one in San Antonio for sale that a buddy wants to buy. Even a trailer to match right next to it.

Hey,
Luckily the brake system, when adjusted properly will stop the truck(at reasonable speeds less than 60MPH) quite well, air over hydraulics is a good system. If your buddy wants to buy a truck have him subscribe to Military Vehicles Magazine, the info is invaluable and quite informative. The learning curve for the 'deuce series is steep but short, military manuals are readily available and are written for the high school grad who has his own set of hammers. I also have 2 trailers one 3/4 ton and a 2 1/2ton which is a 2 1/2 ton generator trailer chassis with a 2 1/2 ton cargo bed mounted to it, 8'wX12'l by 1 1/2' h.
eric

[BajaTaco]

Up this point...

The truck has a sleeping platform with a mattress, 3 way 'fridge, 3 burner stove, and 15kBTU heater.
The Box is heavy guage steel and I am currently equipped with 50 usgals of diesel(@13mpg), planning to add another OEM 50 gal tank, 60lbs of propane hard mounted and plumbed. Water is usually carried in jerry type cans...

... I was going imagining a typical 1-ton truck and imagining it way past GVWR and wondering about the mileage figure...

Luckily you added the "P.S." part

Cool truck! So how long have you had it and what has your experience been with the reliability/maintenance factor?