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M35A2 2 1/2 Ton Truck

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bill mart

Well-known Member
Anyone out there spent time driving a duece and a half? Looking to see how they do with military tires in snow.Anywhere from a couple inches to a couple of feet.Bill M.
 
No experience with a 2-1/2 ton, but I have an M38a1 Jeep with military tires. They don't do as good as you would think in the snow and mud. They are pretty hard and don't clean well. One spin and they're full. Then you have a slick. Lots better than 2 wheel drive, but I think there are better tires.
Paul
 
Thinking of getting a M35 as a plaything.If they are good in snow maybe I can use that as an excuse to justify the purchase being that I live near Buffalo Ny.Bill M.
 
To operate on NY snow and ice covered roads with the standard military tires, you'll need to equip it with chains. Those military tires are wicked on ice or packed snow.
 
drove 'em a bit while stationed overseas... I've seen 'em get stuck in mud without much trouble... not much experience driving 'em in the snow. My guess is that they're pretty much helpless in the deep stuff. There is a company that is buying & customizing 'em... can't remember the name, but you should be able to find on google. It seems I first saw their stuff on ebay tho. Anyways, they were putting wide wheels & super singles on 'em... those might get ya somewhere! ...D
 
An empty duece with normal tire pressure is very helpless on NDCC military tires on ice or snowpacked roads unless you have chains on both ends. The center rib will leave you stuck on the slightest incline on ice unless you air them down. You will probably have to replace them with a contemporary traction tire if you want to do much empty. Loaded should help a little to a lot.

Military NDCC do work fine in the mud and most offroad use.
 
Iwork for DOT and we have a 5 ton which has been converted to wrecker/recovery unit.We put rough tread 11r22.5 front and rear.I have had to get in some pretty tough spots in snow to winch out moto graders and snow plow equipped dump trucks and she goes like a dream.
 
Those standard military tires should be outlawed for civilian use. If you try driving them on normal roads with just a little snow pack you might as well have on racing slicks. That center rib just holds the tire up off of the lugs and sliding you go. Just after basic I was stationed in Alaska for sixty days. It was late fall and we had just a little snow. Had one man killed and two others hurt in three different driving accidents. Base commander made us put tire chains on everything that moved that had the single rib tire on it.
Now if you put regular grip tires on them they do fine. The 6x6 drive will go good. Years ago one of the local townships around here got one with a snow plow. They put on snow tires with studs. That thing pushed a lot of snow on bad hills.
 
We tested these trucks and they smoked a lot. We ran drawbar pull on them with all the different fuels. Germany outlawed these trucks because they smoked so bad in a convoy and
they bought the German Mann trucks that smoked very little. We tested them too. Hal
a26354.jpg
 
That's the only truck that lives here, great farm truck especially with that winch. Don't have any use for the military tires, wear fast on pavement. I run moderately aggressive tread. My driveway's 1/2 mile long, rises 400' elevation. Headed up once, lost traction, put on the brakes and didn't stop. Sliding backwards, I steered for the cut side of the driveway.

Next day I sized some standard truck chains to fit the front tires. Solved the problem. I've never bothered to fit dual chains to the rears, no need.
Bigtirestruck.jpg
 
Drove them for 23+ years including 4 years in Alaska.
If you can get enough weight in them...they will go if you take the non-directional tires off.
The hydro-vac brakes are awful.
I would have to pass and go to a 5-ton. M54 is a much better truck.
 
As others have said, pretty helpless with military tires. Also, take off one of each dual- lots better traction with tandem singles than duals. Should still be plenty of tire for farm stuff (hay) you would haul in it.

I used to drive one in National Guard- early 70's and they weren't new by any stretch of the imagination. Had automatics that had you in high gear at about 10 MPH if you let them shift themselves. Mine was fully loaded, then had to tow the disabled armory truck (weapons and ammo- HEAVY) over the Cascade Mountains once- did the steepest part at about 5 MPH. Sure could watch a lot of scenery that trip!
 
Go to the web site "Steel Soldiers". Some are
converting those tandem axle trucks to single
axles. They look pretty sharp and make a good
general purpose truck.
 
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