This month’s military featured vehicle was a staple of operations throughout the world for nearly half a century in different iterations. Nicknamed the Deuce and a Half (due to being a two and a half-ton, medium duty truck), it inherited the moniker from its iconic World War II predecessor, the GMC CCKW, when production of the M35 series began production in 1950.
Used in everything from construction to combat operations, the M35 was built in a wide variety of configurations, with modularity and flexibility serving as an overall theme for its design.
“During active duty, you would have found this truck just about everywhere – out on the battlefield, at military bases, supporting a construction effort, anywhere,” explained Bill Dozer of Those Military Guys in Rancho Cucamonga, California, who specialize in maintaining vehicles like the M35. “These trucks came in a number of variants: Cargo, tank truck, van, wrecker, tractor, construction, gun truck, and even civilian models that were sold as military surplus to the public.”
Perhaps the most interesting characteristic these of vehicles is the multi-fuel motor. Staying true to the M35’s theme of flexibility, these multi-fuel motors were designed to run reliably on a wide variety of different combustible fluids, including diesel fuel, jet fuel, kerosene, heating oil, and even gasoline. “Using gasoline really should just be used in emergencies,” Dozer says, “Though common practice within the Deuce community is to run gasoline mixed in motor oil.”
The power plant in this M35A2 is a Continental LDT 465, an inline 7.8-liter, six-cylinder turbocharged stump puller that generates 134 horsepower and 330 pound-feet of torque.
Although the standard M35 cargo truck is rated to carry 5,000 pounds off-road or 10,000 pounds on-road, the Deuce and a Half has been known to dispatch loads that are twice that rating. Hooked to a five-speed gearbox with a two-range transfer case, the M35 has a top speed of 58 mph and an operational range of 300 miles.
Although the M35 is typically a 6×6 (with ten tires in total on the ground), this particular M35A2 has been bobbed and converted into a four-wheel M35A2. With the bob conversion, the frame was cut and an 8-foot bed installed, and one of its three axles was removed in turn.
Acquired by Those Military Guys through one of their customers, this M35A2 has been retrofitted for civilian life, and the modifications made to it are there to make it a bit easier to handle on public roads. To that end, a custom power steering rack has been installed that “makes this truck turn easier than your mother’s Camry,” says Dozer.
Bobbing the truck not only makes its wheelbase shorter and inherently easier to manage in tighter spaces, it also reduces the M35A2’s weight, which should help with everything from top speed to gas mileage.
The Oshkosh-produced Light Medium Tactical Vehicle began production in the mid-1990s as a replacement for the M35 series of vehicles, but many armies around the world continue to keep the M35 series trucks in service to this day, almost seventy years after production first began.
Stay tuned next month as we dive in a check out our next installment of Month Military. What military vehicle do you think we should go check out? Tell us in the comments below!
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