Probably buying this POS Jeep

[Ezbok58a]

Not near enough in the middle of it I say...

[Jinx]

Yeah, well the middle of the state is a desert. (Kind of ruins the myth that it always rains in Washington). If I were to impersonate personify John Rambo, it has to be closer to where I live. There has to be a lot of woods to hide in and maybe an old mine or two to escape an explosion.

[HEMI]

Cool. You going to leave it 2WD or convert to 4WD? I've kicked around the idea of finding a dispatch jeep to play with...

[Jinx]

Keep it 2 wheel drive. Hopefully spend as little money as I have to in order to keep it running. It's going to be strictly a work vehicle until I can afford something better.

[Jinx]

Made it home safely driving nearly 200 miles round trip, including two ferry crossings over Puget Sound. Right now it's still on the dolly connected to my dad's Ford truck. I'll disconnect it and reconnect the drive line tomorrow. It runs surprisingly well even though it looks like garbage. Got it for $500 by the way.

[cowman]

Didn't pick it up with the deuce and a half?

[ronman]

I would think it would fit nicely in the "bed" of the 2.5... of course, the ramps you'd need to get it up there would be staggering.

[Jinx]

Kind of hate to rack up the miles on the deuce. It already has 9,500 miles on it.

[cowman]

How many miles do those things typically go before having a lot of issues?


Also kinda curious about licence/insurance. Do you need a CDL?

[Jinx]

How many miles do those things typically go before having a lot of issues?


Also kinda curious about licence/insurance. Do you need a CDL?

The lifespan varies on these trucks as much as any other vehicle. With that said, it's not uncommon for the military to sell them at 30k to 60k miles and as long as you do regular maintenance they should last at least twice as long. Not too many people drive them on a daily basis so I only know a couple people that have over 100K miles on them. The bodies usually rust out long before that. (Lousy rustproofing)

Insurance is a tricky one. As long as you don't haul anything in it, you can get collector plates and use collector vehicle insurance. That's what I do through an insurance company called Traveller's Insurance. Though you need to contact a local office since they won't have a listing for an M35A2 on their website. A local agent will need pictures, registration and what not before getting it insured. I pay a little under $200 a year for full coverage collector vehicle insurance. It's cheap because they know I won't be using it much because of the collector license plate restrictions.

If you want to license it and use it for work or hauling, expect to pay a lot. Here in Washington state you have to pay tonnage when you buy your license plates. On a truck that has an empty weight of 14,000lbs and is designed to haul 24,000lbs on the highway, it will cost a lot. Insurance for the truck is comparable. Insurance companies are expecting you to haul heavy loads and will charge you a comparable rate.

CDL is not required! (Unless you live in California, those communists) Even though the truck has air over hydraulic brakes, you don't need a CDL because its GWV is under 26,000lbs. With that said, I do have a class-A CDL. I want to get this truck a bigger brother some day.