New guy with lots of Deuce questions

Hi all. My name is John. I did 5 years in the army with one tour in Iraq (03-04). I spent alot of time behind the wheel of an M818 hauling 5000 gallon fuel tankers. Although they are nice trucks, my true love has always been the M35 with its straight pipe and turbo. In all my 5 years in the army, I never had the chance to drive a deuce. Well, now I'monna buy one through a government auction and I need some help with turbos. First of all, I want a "whistler". Is there any way I can be sure the truck is a whistler before I buy it? For anyone who doesn't know, most of the trucks they sell do not run. I have already bid on a truck (the auction ends tomorrow), but I dunno if the truck is a whistler. If I get it and it doesn't whistle, can I get a whistler turbo? What are the odds the truck is already a whistler? Thanks in advance.

Do a search for turbo picture. You will easily see the differences. No worrys if you get one without, many members have turbos for ya. You can add one or swap one out in about a day or two.

you can tell if its a whistler by looking at the turbo. but my best answer would be dont worry about the whistler and buy the truck you want. by mechanical and such. you can very easily swap it out for a whistler turbo. They are direct replacements. (i have also swapped mine) you might get lucky and find a member that dont like his whistler and just swap you turbos out.

gimpyrobb said:

Do a search for turbo picture. You will easily see the differences. No worrys if you get one without, many members have turbos for ya. You can add one or swap one out in about a day or two.

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Oh, sweet. Thanks alot, man.

grounded said:

you can tell if its a whistler by looking at the turbo. but my best answer would be dont worry about the whistler and buy the truck you want. by mechanical and such. you can very easily swap it out for a whistler turbo. They are direct replacements. (i have also swapped mine) you might get lucky and find a member that dont like his whistler and just swap you turbos out.

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Geez, you guys are quick! Thanks!

I would say 7 out of 10 are not whistlers. You can tell by looking at the turbos themselves. I'd not let the fact that it's not a whistler keep you from a good truck, the can easily be swapped. Bolt on deal. As far as running trucks, since the word came down to get them out of the system, a good percent have been runners, not like the old DRMO days. Good luck, welcome to the site and thanks for your service! The wife is there right now!

someone would swap you for no charge i bet, nice guys here


and thank you for your service to our country

Recovry4x4 said:

I would say 7 out of 10 are not whistlers. You can tell by looking at the turbos themselves. I'd not let the fact that it's not a whistler keep you from a good truck, the can easily be swapped. Bolt on deal. As far as running trucks, since the word came down to get them out of the system, a good percent have been runners, not like the old DRMO days. Good luck, welcome to the site and thanks for your service! The wife is there right now!

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I agree.....I might even say less than that.....its cool to drive them around town, but it will KILL your hearing over 35mph. Make sure you get earplugs!



Here is a "C" turbo & a "D" turbo. The "C" is the whistler.

(C turbos look like a hermit crab shell & D turbos are wide)

I can relate to your story as I drove M35's in the Air Force and when I saw my first 5 ton it was like a kid seeing a Playboy on the magazine rack but couldn't reach it. We only had a few on base and I never did get to drive one.

I agree the turbo is cool...at first. I love the sound when you start it and the first five minutes. The cool factor starts to slide the longer you're in it. I was wicked upset that my first deuce ended up w/ a D turbo (non whistler) when the guy said it was a whistler (C turbo). I'm actually kind of glad now. I do hope one of my new trucks will have a C just for the sake of having it. Most the guys are like Ford v/s Chevy, either like the C or like the D...trading shouldn't be a problem.

Happy hunting.

Welcome to the site if you can't find a deuce to give you your green iron fix you are more than welcome to come crawl all over mine for a while and go for a spin. Any excuse to spend time with my truck and i'm there. By the way, MA is an interesting state to own a MV. Unless you are willing to jump thru some hoops its gonna cost you some $$$$$$

scooter01922 said:

Welcome to the site if you can't find a deuce to give you your green iron fix you are more than welcome to come crawl all over mine for a while and go for a spin. Any excuse to spend time with my truck and i'm there. By the way, MA is an interesting state to own a MV. Unless you are willing to jump thru some hoops its gonna cost you some $$$$$$

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Oh boy... what am I in for?

I had no trouble registering and insuring my me M35A2 in Massachusetts. Insurance with JC Taylor costs me about $80/year. They do have an age limit which sunk Scooter but he ended up going to Maine to register his and it seems to have worked out well (correct, Scott?). Anyway, the only unknown to me at this point is what will happen when I take it to Mass State inspection. It sounds like they would subject an M35 to a pretty extensive DOT inspection that would involve pulling wheells and brakes, and who know what all kinds of indignities and hassles. I don't drive mine that much and have not bothered getting it inspected for about 1.5 years now. I've driven right by several cops and they never bothered me, but of course who's to say that the next time out they won't set upon me like a pack of hounds. If you have moer questions please feel free to PM me. I'm sure some other MA members might chime in too.
Best of luck to you and whether you get a C or D turbo you will love it. You will also want more deuces, the disease seems to be epidemic around here.

Regards,

Charles Schneider

Yup, you pretty much covered it Charles. Can't overlook the plate issues in MA either. You can go the antique route and have TONS of restrictions or you can get a commercial plate and the commercial insurance to go with it, about 1000 a year for that route if i remember right. Or you can do what i did and reg and insure in Maine and call it good. None of the cops i have passed have done anything other than wave Mine is parked in a non visible location and only leaves once a week if I'm lucky enough to have the time, and I'm only 20 or so min from the Maine border. Your results may vary. Insurance is via gulfway for about 175 a year for the same coverage as my daily driver( state law won't let coverage be higher than your DD) and i think with sales tax it was about 300 for 25K lb plates from Maine. Only restriction i have is due to the insurance and that is no COMMERCIAL hauling. I have no desire to use her for making any money so its all good. Feel free to PM me with any questions at all. I think between me and BEDE we have had all the insurance issues you could possibly run into.
Scott

If you guys need inspection stickers let me know. I am a full-time class "A" commercial inspector and we do federal (DOT) stickers. It would be $74 for a duece, no wheel pulling, in and out in a half hour. I work out of Mass State Inspection, 10 industrial way, Whitman, MA. The new MA state sticker as of this past Oct 1 is a federally recognised sticker so I can put a sticker on vehicles registered in any state.

By the way, my auction ends in 30 minutes and I'm still the high bidder! If I win I gotta go to Fort Drum NY to pick 'er up. I've got an '02 KW with a Landoll trailer. You guys think I'll have to take the top off the deuce and put the windshield down for height? (If I win!)

I could be wrong but i think you will be fine on height. Seen several other trucks recovered on a landoll without anything lowered. Definately have to think about the inspection deal, haven't gotten around to finding a place in maine to do it yet..... maybe me and BEDE can run down there in our trucks one day. Hmmm now where the hell is whitman...... We have a number of members close to FT drum to give you a hand if you win it. GOOD LUCK

Oh my god, this bidding has me pulling my hair out! The auction keeps getting extended and I'm sitting here sweating like a stuck pig. Put in my final offer on this one, we'll see....

I won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Grab some pics before GL pulls them. They don't keep them on the site for long.

congrats on the truck dude. you are going to love that thing. well scoot we got another for the scoot burto mini meet