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M35A3 Owners unite

flyxpl

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717
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Location
Chatham IL
I have spent the last couple months paying of my two A2's . Ready to start bidding on an A3 . Hope to have one in a few months .
 

lonegunman

New member
298
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Location
Eastern, Washington
I really like mine, I drove it home from Georgia to Washington state last April. After a day at the Cat dealer and some TLC from an older mech with tons of 3116 experience he announced it was the best running one he had ever scene. I have to agree, after driving 3000 miles this spring and summer, this truck is great.

Last trip out I got almost 12 mpg on the highway, how cool is that for a deuce. :)


Oh yeah, it is not ulgy you are just jealous.
 
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lonegunman

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Just a really nice overhead, filters, oil, diffs serviced, chasis lubed and trans serviced. It passed emissions when I got it home with flying colors. It is plenty quick for around town driving. Without an overdrive it really rides nice at 48-50 mph or so( about 2500-2600 rpm). Faster than that and she bounces with al they CTIS crap on the wheels.

I had the tach verified as well for good measure.


My only question about adding speed is axel heat. With the low ratios they are really humming along at highway speed.

I've driven tons of A2's in the National Guard and this truck is quicker to speed and slower top end. The lower noise, power steering and better seat make it a winner.

If you added power steering, single tires, better seats, brakes, electric wipers and heat to an A2 it would cost far more than a like new A3.
 
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EXITNOONE

Member
137
3
18
Location
LOS ANGELES, CA
thanks for the input GUNMAN. i'm thinking i'll have the overhead done on my 3116 as well.
sounds like it's part of necessary maintenance on the 3116's.

i'm also having a full pm service done on my A3, including flushing the trans and refilling with transynd.
my A3 had it's entire transmission and differentials replaced in february 2009 by the army, a $17,000 job, so adding the transynd should keep it practically brand new.

as far as the axle speed, would lock out hubs help ?
 
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lonegunman

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Eastern, Washington
Cat recommends one at the 500 hour mark and once every 1000 hours after that. My truck had 490 hours when I bought it. Depending on the Cat dealer or mech it should cost $200-$400 dollars. The A3 does not require a lot of disassembly to get to the engine, unlike many trucks with Cat engines, that makes it cheaper since some places charge for the disassembly time to get to the engine.

The engine came from Cat with a 150,000 mile/Three year. For all the BS you hear from A2 guys, Cat seemed to like the engine. I like the complete lack of electronics myself.
 

AceHigh

Well-known member
2,175
30
48
Location
Princeton WV Lake City FL
There is a little switch added to the e-brake handle. What is it wired to?

Did engine oil, filter, fuel filter, tran fluid and filter yesterday. The list is getting a little shorter.
 

EXITNOONE

Member
137
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18
Location
LOS ANGELES, CA
ACE- sounds like a re-routed brake indicator wire. engage your e brake and check to see if the dash indicator light comes on. dash e brake indicator light is located at the lower right side of the speedometer. if the dash indicator light does not come on while you're e brake is engaged, well that would be an issue... but the wire may also be an add on to make the tail lights light up when the e brake is engaged. and if so, maybe somebody thought it would add a bit of safety to the truck, by making it easier to see while idling with the e brake on at night. normal night running lights should allow the tail lights to be on anyway. so i'm guessing it's a re-rout to the dash indicator or an added "safety" possibility.
 

lonegunman

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Eastern, Washington
I am still trying to figure out year of manufacture on mine, SN [FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]504806[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]The axle tags are all late 1998.[/FONT]

My truck is tagged 9/98. Since the fiscal year for Uncle Sam starts the following month you could argue my truck is 1998 or 1999 made.

I'm guessing since the axles tags are 9/98, alternator 9/98, rims stamped 9/98 and about every other date code available including four of the tires is 9/98 that the truck was assembled in the last quarter of 1998.

In the automotive world that would be a 1999 truck, in the military world it is still considered a 1993 model truck, since it was built to 1993 specs.

The last three contracts were for fiscal year 99 from the looks of the dates. Those 595 trucks ordered from 10/98 until 1/99 would be made for the 1999 year. Your truck was 678th from the last truck, I'd go ahead and call it a 1998.
 
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flyxpl

New member
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Location
Chatham IL
My truck is tagged 9/98. Since the fiscal year for Uncle Sam starts the following month you could argue my truck is 1998 or 1999 made.

I'm guessing since the axles tags are 9/98, alternator 9/98, rims stamped 9/98 and about every other date code available including four of the tires is 9/98 that the truck was assembled in the last quarter of 1998.

In the automotive world that would be a 1999 truck, in the military world it is still considered a 1993 model truck, since it was built to 1993 specs.

The last three contracts were for fiscal year 99 from the looks of the dates. Those 595 trucks ordered from 10/98 until 1/99 would be made for the 1999 year. Your truck was 678th from the last truck, I'd go ahead and call it a 1998.

This stuff is new to me . Does this mean that my A3 advertised as a 1993 by GL could actually be newer ?
 

AceHigh

Well-known member
2,175
30
48
Location
Princeton WV Lake City FL
What is the serial #? 500001 I think was the first, built in 1993 and owned by a member here, and they went up to about maybe 505484 in 1999.

Note on M35A3 VIN numbers (serial numbers)
All trucks known so far have a VIN in the format 50xxxx where the last 4 digits were apparently numbered in sequence as the trucks were built. The VIN is stamped in the frame and on the dash data plate. Research so far indicates 5,484 M35A3's were built; so the last truck made would have a VIN of 505484. The first truck should be VIN 500001. Is your truck a lower or higher number or something other than 50xxxx? Let us know. The truck pictured is VIN 505451 and built in 1999. A later VIN has not been shown to us yet.
From Erik's Military site, http://www.eriksmilitarysurplus.com/erm3oermiins.html
 
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lonegunman

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Eastern, Washington
If all your tags and probably the manufactor dates on the rims and date of rebuild on the alternator say 1996 then you truck is probably assembled in 1996.

They are ALL assembled to the same 1993 specs, safety and emmissions standards no matter when they are built.

If you take a look at M35A2's you will notice the same things. A 1966 truck and a 1972 truck are basically the same. An AM General, Kaiser Jeep, REO or any other maker made the same truck for the most part. There may be some small differences in welds, small parts or vendors but they are the same. They all used the same engines, trans and axles and all makes of truck interchange parts.

The M35 is one of the last trucks made by the military to a military design and spec. It was wholly owned by the military and they could ask any vendor to build them. Our trusty A3's are the last incarnation of that process.

They realized the basic parts are hellforstout and **** near unbreakable and in an effort to upgrade the design and save on costs they used A2's to built A3's to a new truck condition. There is a report on the outcome, the Army determined they gave away to many good condition trucks and got too few A3's back. They felt in the future they would do better evaluations of the outgoing "donor" trucks to insure they were not giving away to many good trucks for rebuild.

In the end, the truck lost out to the new series of truck. The new truck is a nice truck, a/c power everything, better visibility, faster, better brakes, less pollution and all sorts of positives. But I like the M35 series of trucks myself. They have been in service for fifty years and while they might belch a little smoke, they still do the job.

Sadly, M35 represents something very important that has been lost forever. It is a truck designed and built by the military to their specs. These days, everything the military buys is overpriced crap from the thousands of companies that make it their business to reinvent the wheel and sell it back to the DoD for five times the price. This is what Eisenhower warned about when he left office and I think he was spot on , right. As long as truck makers can convince the DoD that we need a "new model" or an "upgrade" they are going to peddle it to them with the help of congress. New trucks are costing as much as planes used too.
 
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EXITNOONE

Member
137
3
18
Location
LOS ANGELES, CA
i think LONEGUNMAN'S explanation on the year discrepancy is about right.
when the government makes a legal form it is titled with the year of publication and form number... even if the form is still being used 5 or 10 years later, it still shows as it's original publish year.

same most likely goes for the m35a3's in this case.
they were first issued as a 1993 model and built exactly the same until 1999.

it's like a winchester model 1873 (the year patented) made in 2007 as a special anniversary edition. it's a 2007 manufactured gun, but still an 1873 model.

i'd still register my m35a3 as old as possible to avoid higher fees and insurance if that's what your title already says 2OLD2HUMP.
 

EXITNOONE

Member
137
3
18
Location
LOS ANGELES, CA
HERE'S A SHOT OF MY A3, ALMOST DONE WITH THE BOB @ EASTERN SURPLUS....

the question is- does anybody know the radio model # that goes with the antenna set up?
from what i've seen, the antenna mast and whip are rare on civilian a3's.
if i can get it working, it might be a cool feature in the field.
 

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seve7

New member
14
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1
Location
Denver, CO
its asips 1523-e i believe is the most common radio to use that antenna, its just a fancy smaller version of the cincgars, you wont be able to get your hands on any as they have the ability to have comsec encryption loaded into them. also the mbitr and newer multiband harris radios use it as well.
 
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