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Anyone use a Deuce for a hauling business?

wreckerman893

Possum Connoisseur
15,612
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113
Location
Akenback acres near Gadsden, AL
Welder......I am a jack of all trades and a master of none.....I can do stick, mig, tig and even gas weld.....I do a lot of simple fabrication for my own nefarious purposes.
I would love to learn blacksmithing.
If I had the time and money, and needed another hobby, I would get into melting and casting various metals. I have all the Dave Gingery books about making your own machine shop tools from scratch. http://www.lindsaybks.com/

This hobby allows me to use a lot of skills I have but am too lazy to use to make a living.:)
 

rwoods

Member
258
4
18
Location
Greeneville/TN
Don't know if you can make it a paying proposition as payloads are limited compared to a commerical truck. But I can tell you that the addition of a pulling front axle will surprise most people whether it is on a truck or a tractor. If you watch GL you will often see single axle dump trucks converted to include a driven front axle. Some are below 26000 GVW and will haul more and manuver better than a deuce ... but they won't be near as much fun.
 

clutch

New member
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0
Location
martel ohio
yes greenjeepster i built it. its a hoist from a grain truck with a small electric pump to power it. it works great for stone or firewood or anything else you want to put in the bed. stretch's truck is what i used as a reference.
 

greenjeepster

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Southbury, CT
As long as he stays under 26K he will not need a CDL. Depending on what he is hauling that may be very hard to do. If he is hauling out of a quarry I can say from experience that if you tell the loader operator not to put more the x amount of weight on you they are usually pretty good, but will not hit it every time.

That being said 13000 lbs of crushed rock is a pretty small load...

Everybody knows that CDL stands for Can Drive Loaded (not meaning the truck)
 

O.D. Fever

New member
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Location
Howard City, Mi.
My M35 is licensed as a commercial truck, 2 year plate, for about $400.00 and insurance is about 600.00 a year. I am Insured for 100 mile radius. This way I can us it for what ever I want, except Bar hopping. Does it make me money??? NO! Joe
 

Scarecrow1

New member
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Location
Florence , S.C.
I have noticed a few people in Landscapping and farm work putting them to work without any problems .You may be able to hook up with a another company to hire out for the hard to reach places ...Most landscapping companies use a pickup truck and a trailer and two are three guys . they don't have the budget or the need to have a truck like a deucearound all the time ..this could be a selling point for you to get some extra bucks . And no you wouldn,t need to register it as a commercial truck either , just dont talk to loud about it and put the money in your pocket ....:driver:
 
well 4 yards of gravel is more than most ppl need on there front drive way and you can always make a couple trips .anyway its a heck of a lot better than shoveling it into and out of a pickup.we have a guy here that does landscaping and he has an old graintruck to haull gravel and dirt. he loads up a couple yards pulls a little tracked bobcat behind on a trailer and seemes to do just fine .
 
what do you mean by not eficient enough? to hard to manuver or to hard on fuel or do you have to haul long distance 2 or 3 hundred miles?and i know what you mean fun to drive lol one thing i dont think i could get used to is the soft top i like the hard top on mine
 

pjpiche1

New member
131
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Location
bostwick, GA.
These trucks cost about the same to operate as a civi 10 wheel dump. The civi dump can carry 3 times as much product in both weight and volume in almost half of the time. In most cases, If the ground is wet enough to require 6 wheel drive it is to wet to work, anyway. You end up causing more problems than it is worth.
 

pjpiche1

New member
131
0
0
Location
bostwick, GA.
what do you mean by not eficient enough? to hard to manuver or to hard on fuel or do you have to haul long distance 2 or 3 hundred miles?and i know what you mean fun to drive lol one thing i dont think i could get used to is the soft top i like the hard top on mine[/quote


The only time I use my soft top is in the winter. I have had zero problems with it. I love running it as a convertible.
 

pjpiche1

New member
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0
Location
bostwick, GA.
I guess what I am trying to say is, if you add all of your expenses over the year and compare it to your return, you will have a negative number. In my case, I don't really care what the truck cost me to own or drive. I am going to drive it anyway, because, I like it! So, If I can make a few bucks here and there, that's great! I consider it more on the lines of spending quality time with my truck, more so, than money in the bank. The truck on paper is certainly NOT a money-maker for me. Philip
 

mckeeranger

Member
779
4
18
Location
Eastern Kentucky
While not a deuce, our M817 (5-ton) has many of the same maintenance characteristics.

We've been using it for almost 13 years. We've hauled firewood, dirt, gravel, garbage, scrap metal, and the remains of demolished buildings. The only real weakness I've encountered is the glass and nylon belted NDCC tires tend to pick up nails and other sharp objects at the landfill.

We've also used it to pull the M107 water buffalo as an emergency water supply. We've had to do that twice.

If you're planning to get a deuce anyway, why not use it to make a little money? Just take good care of it, and remember it's not a "modern" truck. It is better than the commercial trucks of 50 years ago and the world survived then.
 

Parker2

New member
317
2
0
Location
Plant City, Florida
I use my duece for work in rough off road jobsites. It's a lifesaver. From experience it does better off road than a mack dump truck. As for needing a CDL. I would check your states laws. In Florida if it's a commercial truck you are required to have a CDL and signs on the doors.
 
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