Big and Little Jeeps...

[FleetFox]

I know we joke about other jeep models as being baby jeeps...

[/url]0125201604 by highsiera, on Flickr[/IMG]

Each year we try very hard to do a "fleet utilization assessment" on the stuff we have. Particularly the bigger stuff. Generally speaking if it's not been used regularly over the past 2 years, it gets sold. So after almost 10 years it's time so say goodbye to our Extra Full Size Jeep.

1971 AM General 6x6 "5 ton" m817 dumper. NHC 250 cummins, 5 speed Dana-Spicer trans w/ Rockwell 2 speed t/c , Rockwell axles. 11r20 Goodyears (11of them)
24k lbs dead empty

Mrs. Fox likes it when things go and it makes it easier for Mr. Fox to bring home other things...

Few more pics in greener pastures:

[/url]0705191932a by highsiera, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]0705191933b by highsiera, on Flickr[/IMG]

So long old friend.

Fleet Fox

[Kaiserjeeps]

I wish I could have it. I sure could use a dump truck. I had a 69 M35A2 and trailer I sold two years ago to a guy in Maryland. So I still have a brake drum for it....
Looks like a super handy rig.

[FleetFox]

It's been a fun truck Al, but the 5yd bed has been a huge limiting factor. Most of the dirt work we've done is localized so no need for hauls. Plus, it's so big and so heavy I've shied away from putting it anywhere it might sink, so that also limited it's usefulness. On top of that, we have a few neighbors that run tri-axles and it's much cheaper and less time consuming to have them make quarry runs for us than pull this out of the barn. So in the end, it was time to go. If I need another truck someday, I'd likely buy a Checy c-60/70 (no cdl) or an old Mack R model. If I really need an off road dump, I know where a few old Euclids are...

As an aside, thanks again for your step by step tutorial and rebuilding the vent window assemblies. I've followed them closely in recent days and they have eased my anxiety considerably. I don't have a lathe, but I turned down the ALum rivet tool in the drill press with a flat file. Different process, same results.

So thank you.

FLeet Fox

[rws31]

I'll take it!

[rocklaurence]

I like the little tire cut-outs on the bed. Will it ever get close to touching

[Kaiserjeeps]

It's been a fun truck Al, but the 5yd bed has been a huge limiting factor. Most of the dirt work we've done is localized so no need for hauls. Plus, it's so big and so heavy I've shied away from putting it anywhere it might sink, so that also limited it's usefulness. On top of that, we have a few neighbors that run tri-axles and it's much cheaper and less time consuming to have them make quarry runs for us than pull this out of the barn. So in the end, it was time to go. If I need another truck someday, I'd likely buy a Checy c-60/70 (no cdl) or an old Mack R model. If I really need an off road dump, I know where a few old Euclids are...

As an aside, thanks again for your step by step tutorial and rebuilding the vent window assemblies. I've followed them closely in recent days and they have eased my anxiety considerably. I don't have a lathe, but I turned down the ALum rivet tool in the drill press with a flat file. Different process, same results.

So thank you.

FLeet Fox

Excellent!! hey what ever works... I just scored a drivers side NOS vent window gasket last night. I think I might be doing all that vent work again soon. I hope I can remember how...

I can't believe that thing weighs 24K. Wow... My duece was 13.5 K And funny I noticed the axle cut outs too. I sure would not want to get that rig stuck like you mention Fleetfox. Your 450 loader would probably just spin and knock all your fillings out.
Dang it is sure cool though. Old military stuff is a grown mans tonka.

Just don't move to the Idaho panhandle with anything military. That was the single most stupid thing I have ever done. I did not make the connection with the areas reputation or play that movie out. I had feds coming out of the woodwork posing as buyers when I sold it. They would test drive it and ask me if I wanted to join a militia. I had to say no several times and I don't want to hear about it. One of them I think knew I was harmless and told me he was active duty intelligence after an hour or so of conversation.
Very long story and I am done with the mil stuff because of the trouble it brought. I am not someone they need to be concerned with. Just a very simple aging jeepaholic.

When I saw your 5 ton it made me miss my old duece. Thanks for posting it.

[FleetFox]

rocklaurence I like the little tire cut-outs on the bed. Will it ever get close to touching

maybe.... I've never flexed it.... i guess with the camel back suspension it could happen if you broke out the 4 dog bones, bet yeah I hear you. For perspective, I'm about 5'6, and i am eye level with the lip of those front fenders over the wheels. it's just plain big all around.

KaiserJeeps,

yeah, GVWR is 45k, but they can be loaded way past that and be functional, probably close to 55k. The little deeres are maybe 17-18k? so a stuck would be a big stuck!

As for your experience, all I can say is wow, and yet I'm not surprised. I have traditionally kept it in a barn. I took it out a few years ago and left it out and have noticed the google satellite images for my place get updated far more often than they used too... Of course our area gets annual helicopter tours from the DEA, so more likely something to do with that....

I'm selling it to a guy who was looking for that specific model, he posted a wanted and I responded. It really was just timing. He knew what he wanted, we both knew what it was basically worth. 20 mins of chit chat and a handshake and it's done. I really didn't want to list it for sale and deal with the circus that seems to surround selling these things. btw, list price to uncle sam when I bought it at auction was over $100k, in 1971 dollars.

I spent a month one summer as a teen driving a mack B model tandem with a rock box as a site truck hauling blast shot. Old guy asked if I could drive stick, and I said "yeah." He laughed and said "she's all yours.." twin stick Quadraplex with a weak clutch, uphill both ways on the cycle. Double clutch every shift, one arm thru the steering wheel to make the shifts. What a summer. By the end of that job I could no clutch half the shifts just by getting the rpms right for certain gears in the old dog. and my left thigh was twice as big as my right!

Fleet Fox

[rang-a-stang]

Those trucks are amazing! i have a friend down here in Southern California that bought one when they were closing Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in the mid 90's. The Marines were selling ~80 of the personnel transport ones that day and he got one for $3,000. He went home, got a trailer and went back to pick it up. The Marines had 5 that go no bids at all that day so they said, if he could come up with another $3k, they would give him a second one. So he got 2 for $6k. As he finished loading the second one up, the Marines told him if he could be back before sun set (3 hours) he could have grab a third one at no cost! So he ended up with 3 of them (all running, all complete, all in decent shape) for $6k!

I asked him if I could borrow one to take to Pismo. He said "Sure!". I started planning the logisitics of a Pismo trip when another co-worker came over and said "You know, if you get that thing stuck in the sand, there ain't nuttin that is going to tow you out. You're going to be digging for days..." Good point. scratch the Pismo Deuce and a half trip.

Those trucks are a wonder of engineering! I would LOVE to buy yours, bob-it, and make a pickup out of it. Could you imagine how "fun" it would be to road trip that guy from the Blue Ridge Mountains to Southern California?!

Mrs. Fox likes it when things go and it makes it easier for Mr. Fox to bring home other things...

Our Mrs. are apparently sourced from the same manufacturer.