Mark has given you very good advice. I have bought 5 big trucks at the
DRMO. I was only able to drive one of them home, though. The rest needed
some small tweak before they could go out on the road, like new batteries,
flat tire fixed, new battery cables, or AND this is important, OIL. One of
my trucks had had the oil drained from the crankcase. Another had the brake
light switch removed, so every time you put the brakes on, fluid squirted
out the master cylinder. One of them had the rear axles partially
disassembled, but no parts missing. This left all the running gear, spring
hangers, torque rods, and even the axle ends loose but not removed. You've
got to remember that once these trucks get to public auction, every
authorized agency has had the right ot take them, or to cannibalize them.
This includes the Indian Nations, school districts, the Boy Scouts,
everybody.
In the State of Washington, you do not need a CDL to drive these beasts.
The lower weight limit for a Class B CDL is 26,000 lbs GVWR, and a deuce is
22,000 lbs. You can register them as a pickup truck for $175 a year
including the commercial tonnage fee or you can actually register them as a
passenger vehicle if they have troop racks in the back. My insurance,
through State Farm is $53 every six months for liability and PIP and
Uninsured motorist coverage. Mark is correct that you are required to stop
at all weigh stations, but I never have and I drive all over the state. If
I ever get pulled over I will just plead ignorance, even though I have a CDL
(didn't know it applied to collector vehicles, officer).
I paid $1297 for my worst truck, and averaged about $1900. My 5 ton and my
shop van both got $2600, because there is more demand for those versions of
trucks. Look for the turbo diesel upgrade (turbo on the exhaust manifold),
the air shift transfer case (shift switch on the bottom of the dash), and
basically completeness. Watch out for rust, and take a good look at the
tires (a new set can cost $1000). Most of the trucks that come up are in
incredibly good shape mechanically, since they have been maintained and were
just sitting around for years.
Get real familiar with the cost of replacement parts by subscribing the
military vehicles magazine or Supply Line! Also, remember that the supply
of M35's is coming to and end. Consider buying one from somebody who has
already gone through everything above, too. Take a look at all the websites
where these things are for sale. Joe Young comes to mind. If I had it to
doa ll over again, I'm not sure that I would mess around the way I did,
since I still think I got incredibly lucky. One bad buy and I wouldn't be
writing this note to you.
Joe Garrett
cell 206-228-6846
-----Original Message-----
From: Military Vehicles Mailing List [mailto:mil-veh@mil-veh.org]On
Behalf Of mblair1@home.net
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2001 10:29 PM
To: Military Vehicles Mailing List
Subject: Re: [MV] newby considering an M35
The Caffreys <joc@swcp.com> wrote:
> 1. how big of a shop door do I need to accomadate an m35?
I'd suggest at least 10 feet wide, and 12 feet tall, just off the top
of my head. My shop van is about 11' tall (probably taller than a
cargo truck, but I don't have the specs in front of me), and I like to
have some headroom.
> 4. I intend to drive a vehicle home after auction (if i win the bid),
> anything to look out for here? what about documentation?
Many folks do this, but I don't recommend this for somebody who hasn't
driven one before, doesn't have the experience with them to know how
to fix one on the spot, etc. Furthermore, I recommend carefully
inspecting the brakes, wheels, tires, steering, suspension and
driveline before driving the truck. I recommend having it towed home,
and then taking your time to become familiar with it and make sure
it's in good running shape.
> 6. registration in NM ? anyone have experience
I don't know about NM in particular, and requirements vary a lot from
state to state. I do know that in California, a class A or B
commercial driver's license, probably with an air brake certification,
is required to drive one legally on the road, regardless of your
intended use. Driving with the wrong class of license is equivalent to
driving with no license at all, and the penalties for commercial
vehicle violations are very stiff. Also, in California, unless the
truck qualifies to be registered as a Historical Vehicle (i.e., 25 or
more years old, and it must be used primarily for exhibition and never
for hire), the registration costs about $1000 per year, you must stop
at truck scales, etc.
I point out how things are in California to let you know how bad
things might be, and I strongly recommend that you carefully look into
the laws in NM before you contemplate buying one. Study your state's
vehicle code carefully, and contact your state DMV, Highway Patrol,
etc. to mae sure you understand your state's laws. Don't believe
anything about legal requirements that you hear on MIL-VEH list
without checking up on it yourself (including anything I have to
say!), because there has been a lot of misinformation on the list in
the past, and some folk's strong beliefs about what is required just
don't agree with the laws.
At first, I thought the CDL requirement in CA was silly, because the
truck would not require one if it had one less axle but weighed the
same. However, after taking classes and getting my class A CDL, I
don't think it's so unreasonable after all. A deuce does not drive
like a regular passenger car, and I don't think the average car driver
should be driving one around without some training and experience
driving larger trucks first. I learned a lot in truck driving school,
and I think it has made me a safer driver, even in regular passenger
cars and trucks.
> Any eye opening experiences when you folks started out would be nice to
> hear. These M35s sound almost too good to be true, a bit like the jeep
> rumor. whats the catch?
I paid $1751 for mine, and had it towed about 120 miles home for
around $300. I basically needed to fix a flat and bleed the fuel
system to get it running, although I did end up doing a bunch more
work before I drove it for the first time. I got a good deal by doing
my homework, learning everythig about them that I could first by
studying the manuals and the MIL-VEH archives, and very carefully
inspecting a bunch of trucks before I picked mine out. I studied the
prices that other trucks sold for in past auctions to get an idea of
what I should bid, and I only outbid the next guy by $19.01
(woo-hoo!). On top of all of that, I got lucky!
The catch? If you don't choose carefully, you could end up with 15,000
pounds of junk. Unless you're blessed with a much larger property than
I have, you might need to pay a bunch to have a place to park it.
Depending on your state's laws, the age of the truck, and/or how
you'll be using it, you might have to pay registration fees equivalent
to about half the purchase price of the truck every year (or you might
pay next to nothing, or you might have severe restrictions placed on
how you use it, etc.). You might need to get a commercial driver's
license, and that can be expensive if you don't have a truck-driving
friend or relative who's willing to take the time to teach you. I
spent about twice as much on truck driving lessons as I did buying the
truck. Some folks learn in less than half the time I took, and some
take twice as long; having no stick-shift experience beforehand, it
took me a while to get the hang of things. Insurance could be
expensive, unless you can insure it as an antique vehicle. It's a big,
very noisy truck that may or may not be compliant with state laws regarding
noise, emissions, and running equipment. It gulps a gallon of diesl
every 6 miles, and needs 5.5 gallons of oil at every oil change. It
has a top speed of about 55 MPH on level ground with no load.
I'm not trying to discourage you; I just think you should very
carefully and seriously consider things before buying one. Deuces
aren't for everybody, and that's probably why they're so cheap! :-)
I have pictures and a running history of what I went through with my
truck on my web page, if you're curious.
I hope this helps!
-- Mark J. Blair, KE6MYK <mblair1@home.net> PGP 2.6.2 public key available from http://www.keyserver.net/ Web page: http://www.qsl.net/ke6myk/ DO NOT SEND ANY UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL EMAIL TO THIS SITE PLEASE SEND PLAIN ASCII TEXT ONLY -- NO HTML OR QUOTED-PRINTABLE===Mil-Veh is a member-supported mailing list=== To unsubscribe, send e-mail to: <mil-veh-off@mil-veh.org> To switch to the DIGEST mode, send e-mail to <mil-veh-digest@mil-veh.org> To reach a human, contact <ack@mil-veh.org>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Feb 05 2001 - 07:13:53 PST