In Eugene this time of year, U-Haul trucks and pickups loaded with beds, couches, big TVs and piles of clothes are everywhere, as our very mobile student population (and others) are coming, going, and switching digs. But seeing an old M35 truck with a bed in the…bed is a bit out of the ordinary. Or not. This is Eugene, after all. The answer to the question is: “Sure, as long as you fill it up”.
When I read the headline, and before I saw the photo, I expected to see a mattress stuffed into one of these:
Hope his hydrovac unit doesn’t go out. These are cool, but impractical trucks as repair parts will become harder to get as time goes on for these Vietnam era trucks. One of the reasons these were phased out was because most of the soldiers joining the military today do not know how to operate a manual transmission. That being said, they are much superior as far as durability compared to the unnecessarily complicated Austrian based LMTV truck that they use now. Getting in and out of the back of the M35 was much easier because it was lower to the ground, The newer LMTV has a ladder to get in and out of the back, which in places like in Iraq or Afghanistan is a major problem. That and the lack of armor was one of the reason soldiers never rode in the back except in emergencies.
Supposedly some of these are still in service with National Guard Units, the last ones were made in 1999. The last variants I think did finally get automatics.
These were made by REO, Studebaker,Kaiser, AMGeneral, Kia(for the Korean Army) and by Bombardier for Canadian Forces.
Yes, the M35A3 had an automatic transmission and only National Guard units got them. They are not very common. The M35A3 was a built out of worn out M35A2s. Talking to people who worked on them, they were not very well built and had problems, especially with the CTIS.The M35A2, like the one in the picture, is much more common and actually stayed in use longer than the A3 version did. I know some training units were using the M35A2 as recently as 2008.
Campus parking should be a cinch, however.
They don’t have power steering, so yes, campus parking will be interesting.
One of these in the Portland area has been upgraded to LED headlights and the day it unloaded a Piano at my current place it had filled up on something that made it smokier than usual. The Hydraulic Liftgate sure came in handy.
My National Guard unit had M35A2’s back in the eighties. I got to opearte one fairly often as one of my jobs was to drive to Fort Campbell (2 hours each way) to pick up rations before weekend drills. i don’t really remember any problems with the deuce and a halfs, they were much more reliable than the M151 “jeeps” we had. I never would drive the M35A2 more than 55-60 on the highway as the universal type tires started getting pretty squirelly if you went faster. I know that some people had them up to 70 mph, they have more courage than I did.
Looks like a fun ride! As per a recent episode of The Walking Dead….these are a kickass rig for the zombie apocalypse, as long as some dumbass doesn’t randomly fire a machine gun with it in the line of fire…perforated fuel tanks are no bueno.
The journey is more fun than the destination? (so long as it is not too far…)
One of the fraternities at NC State had one, painted red and white (the school colors). Popular vehicle in parades and always carried a full load of students in the bed to football games (they had installed benches).
Does seem a teensy bit overkill for a simple mattress and box spring, but hey, it’s an excuse to drive the beast!
This is the type that gets referred to as a “deuce and a half”, correct?
Yes, that is the legendary “deuce and a half”, so called for its nominal 2½ ton capacity. In actual usage the practice was to load anything that would fit until the rear springs sagged too far, and then remove item(s) as needed. I can tell you that putting 20 people in the back of one does not compress the springs very much at all.
Nice truck ! .
Lots of these are coming up Surplus in running condition these days .
-Nate
Practical suggestions , BTW , you are wanting a IRS 1040-ES , We used a fillable form here http://goo.gl/1hNFTM