My Deuce Thread

[oros35]

Haggerty. About $100 for the year as a collectable.

[joshs1ofakindxj]

Looks like you're making some great progress! You'll have a show stopper in no time.

I agree, the flapper doesn't look as nice as the open pipe, but it is way more useful if your truck sits out, and it does make that cool sound when you're idling...ting ting ting ting.

You should of seen the containers of heavy duty mil-spec battery terminals down at Aberdeen for $2 each. What a deal! I wish I grabbed some when I was down there.

So what's in the plans? 12V conversion? Super singles? Vinyl cargo cover? Gun ring? Quad 50 in the bed?

[oros35]

I melted a batery terminal. Got a new one off a boat supply place for under $5. Seems they are common in boats.

(take note, it is really easy to short your wrench to 2 terminals in that batery box creating a 24V welder. Not only did I need a new terminal, but the battery and wrench were toast. It only took a few seconds, once it touched it was over, next thing I knew I had a puddle of metal)

[Yarz]

A local NAPA said they just ordered some terminals, and they'll be in tomorrow, so I'll have one then. No way it'll be just $2 though!

Yeah, by the time I got around to the batteries, and the cover opened, it was just a cooling puddle, and a bit of smoke.. haha

Plans for now are to just get it inspectable first, then paint. For inspection I still need to mount a license plate light, and was told I needed a triple light (like this) in the back because it's over 80" (I think). So I've got to find one of those, preferably LED. I want to mount sidemarkers as well. Got some real slim LED ones in the mail today, but they didn't have colored lenses like the site's picture showed, so I'm waiting to find out if they'll exchange/return them.

I'd eventually like a cargo cover if I can find a deal. Hadn't thought much about 12V conversion, as I don't really see a need in my case. As for the tires, I think I like the look how they are now, but may need a couple newer ones.. A few have some dry-rot cracking.

This is my biggest, most expensive toy yet, so after that little bit of work is done, who knows..

[joshs1ofakindxj]

I still need to get around to mounting those 3 center lights on my truck and also the marker lights across the top of my cab on the front. I got 3 of the same lights I used for the side marker lights and I'm just going to mount them on a piece of angle iron. I just change out the 194 12V bulb for a 464 24V bulb. I know there are some LED lights available out there that are multi-voltage and good to go with 24V.

There is a military chart out there with different sizes of dry rot and if it is acceptable or not. You'll have to check that out. The military says a decent amount of dry rot cracking is ok. I would just make sure the steer tires are good.

[Yarz]

I got 3 of the same lights I used for the side marker lights and I'm just going to mount them on a piece of angle iron.

That's what I was just thinking about doing. I wonder if there are certain spaces they need? Maybe I'll just go measure one at autozone or something. I have yet to hear anything about markers across the cab. I'll look into it

Oh, and thanks for the info on the tire chart. Never knew that existed. But now, I'd be willing to bet the military and penndot have totally different definitions of what is acceptable...

[joshs1ofakindxj]

Not sure if these lighting requirements apply to your truck or mine exactly, but here are the DOT regs: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-201...3-subpartB.pdf

page 406 says rear red indication lamps in the middle are centered and not less than 6" apart and not greater than 12" apart.

[Yarz]

After two misfilled orders, I finally have sidemarker lights!

I ordered the original two orders through autolumination.com, and neither time I was sent the lights shown and described on their site. I ended up ordering lights from truck-light.com through NAPA auto parts. I spent more, but got what I wanted. They are slim, with colored lenses Here's the ones I got

I'm working on getting them mounted between working on the Jeep (anyone know someone with a mobile welding shop, besides Ralph? -He's busy with other things at the moment) and waiting on the weather.

[joshs1ofakindxj]

Those lights are damn sexy. I don't see a price though and I'm afraid to ask!

So make any progress on the truck?

[Yarz]

They were expensive.. Way more than I wanted to spend, but I wanted that style, and only found them through that company. Since my local NAPA is an authorized dealer of those lights, I got them there. The reds were $13.69 each, the yellows were 15.49 each, and because they had to order them, they charged me a $7.50 freight charge. So total, including tax, they were.. Brace yourself.. $147.56!

But they look awesome! I spent time to make the mounting look factory - Simple angle iron does wonders. There are 3 reds in the back, a red on each side of the rear of the bed, an amber on each side of the front of the bed, and an amber on each front fender.

Here, you can see them shining. (Please ignore the hanging wire)



Since then, I've fought the bows out of their slots (really, only one was super stuck), primed the surface rust on the bed, gotten the low-air buzzer working, gotten the parking brake unfrozen, and pop-riveted some metal over the rust, so it should be able to be inspected. And I'm taking it in the beginning of next week.

I know it's slow progress, but I got the engine swapped in the Jeep and bedlined the interior, and had to do all of these tasks in between that.

Oh, and I'm still considering the hard top.. But have been too busy to really worry about it so far

[joshs1ofakindxj]

Those look nice! If I saw them in person, I would probably say they're worth the coin. Sounds like you've been making some good progress. I'm curious what inspection/registration/insurance costs are like on that thing if you don't go the antique route?

[XJchris98]

Check out superbrightleds.com if you need to buy more lights.

They have pretty much every LED light you'd need and are typically cheaper than Truck-Lite (and usually ship same day if ordered before 5pm). Use discount code RE701 for 5% off.

[Yarz]

I'm curious what inspection/registration/insurance costs are like on that thing if you don't go the antique route?

Well, I registered it lower than it could be. I'm at class 6 (up to 17000 lbs), which according to the DMV .pdf is 288/yr. While yes, it does decrease my legal hauling capacity (not that I'm likely to use it all anyhow), it did two things for me:
1) cut my registration cost a lot (could have been a class 8 @ 405/yr) and
2) Classifies me as a medium duty truck for vehicle inspection as per subchapter A, which should allow me to stay with 1 annual inspection, because motor carrier vehicles with a registered gross weight over 17000 require semi-annual.

We'll see if that works when I head to inspection.. If not, I will be prepared with the definitons, as seen in that link.

I asked how much the inspection would cost, and was told $60, but I don't know if he assumed I was registered higher, or if that is what it is for medium duty trucks. Again, I plan on finding out next week.

Insurance is $218.78/ 6 months, with multiple discounts. I am having trouble with the insurance company because they won't correct the vin they have. I gave them the list of numbers from the dash tag, to get an estimate before buying the truck. When I had the title in my hand, I called them to tell them exactly which one it was. They neglected to change it. I talked to them in person a couple weeks later, and they said they couldn't change it because the real vin is less than the standard 17 digits, so the computer wouldn't let them. I was annoyed and left and haven't brought it up since.

Check out superbrightleds.com if you need to buy more lights.

They have pretty much every LED light you'd need and are typically cheaper than Truck-Lite (and usually ship same day if ordered before 5pm). Use discount code RE701 for 5% off.

I have used them for other things, and they are a great company to deal with, and I will use them again in the future. I think the issue here was I couldn't find anything that was the size/shape I wanted AND applicable to the 24 volt system in the Deuce. I may have just missed it though.. Thanks for the discount code though!

[Yarz]

Took it in for inspection today, and the guy told me I didn't need any of the marker lights I put on, because it's so old that it's grandfathered into the laws.

Ultimately, it wasn't able to be inspected because he couldn't see the brakes. He said he wouldn't pull the wheels because a) they're split rims and he doesn't work with them because they're too dangerous, and b) he said they were a certain type of wheel (full-something - can't remember exactly what now..) and that the process of removing the wheels involved replacing seals and some other things.

This sounds like a load of BS to me..

He suggested that I cut holes in the back of the backing plates (1/wheel) so that he could crawl under and just look to see that there was shoe left. I don't want to destroy my axle like that..

Another guy in the shop said I could pull the wheels myself and take pictures to prove there were sufficient brakes left. So I guess I'm doing that this week.. I had planned to wait till it got warmer in the spring.

Any tips/tricks? I've got the necessary sockets in 3/4 drive, as well as a geared lug wrench like this (I'll need to find some type of handles):


In addition, I have access to an electric impact, and MAY be able to get access to an air powered impact.

So what are the do's and don'ts of this process? I'll be looking at the TM shortly, but thought maybe there were some tricks. For example, I know one side of the truck is left handed threads (right side, right?)

[BUZZINHALFDOZZEN]

You have to pull the hub/drum assy off to see the pads. Not a big deal. They were just beeing lazy.

[BUZZINHALFDOZZEN]

I lied. The drums bolt on and slide off over the hub. They just have to take the tires off and unbolt the drum. If they can't do that, take it to another garage. Split rims are only dangerous when mounting tires. They're not time bombs waiting to go off when joe blow mechanic needs to check the break pads

[Yarz]

Thanks for the info! I like to have some idea what's under there before I tear into it

Split rims are only dangerous when mounting tires. They're not time bombs waiting to go off when joe blow mechanic needs to check the break pads

That's what I thought...

[joshs1ofakindxj]

X2 what Pat said AND...

On the drums there is an inspection window on the outside of the drums to see the brake shoes. When you take a wheel off, one of the bolts on the drum has a little bent metal tab on it that is covering a little window, just for this purpose.

I use a 3/4" breaker bar and a pipe that slides on it for breaking/tightening lug nuts. My MAC 1/2" impact won't break them loose.

Remember, tighten towards the front of the truck and loosen towards the back of the truck (LH thread on driver side unless someone changed out the studs).

[Yarz]

Ahh, ok. They were looking from the center of the axle outward. I guess that's where they are on the semis and dumptrucks like they had in the shop.

[Yarz]

Good news and bad news today:
Good News, I was able to get all of the lugnuts (only outers on the rear) cracked loose.
Bad news, a 2.25 ton jack will not lift a front tire off the ground
Bad news, some of the nuts were tight enough I ruined a ratchet:

Good news, it was a cheap one, and supposedly has a lifetime warranty.. haha

I'll be getting a bottle jack tomorrow..

[Yarz]

Changed out my fuel filters yesterday. The primary was pretty nasty, and even had a pile of gunk in the bottom of the canister. The secondary and final didn't look too dirty, but I have never seen a filter that looked like them:
It looks like twine/string wrapped around a paper filter element. Anyone know if this is actual military surplus stuff, or did I have freak filters?

[joshs1ofakindxj]

Pile of gunk in the bottom of the primary is normal and good. Looks like a milsurp primary filter with the small center hole. The aftermarket napa filters have a large center hole, you have to be mindful of lining it up.

Those secondaries, haha, those look like yarn spools. They must be filters though, cause they were in there and tre truck was running. Change em out with some napa filters and keep on trucking.

[Yarz]

At first I thought someone had just put rolls of twine in because they didn't have filters. But, there actually was a paper element underneath. I changed them out and it seems to pull hills better. I still think it can be better, so I'm working on mounting some gauges so I can turn up the fuel

[joshs1ofakindxj]

Yup, bypass the FDC, install a pyrometer, and crank it up.

[ridgerunner97]

Those filters look exactly like the one's we use on our well system for water filtration...