The thing that strikes me about posts from those who've driven these trucks is that they talk about driving them as the military 'supplies' them, not how a civilian is likely to outfit/rebuild/remodel one. Are they still only worthy of a museum if the cab is sound and heat insulated, the steering is power, the CTIS is rendered in-op or removed, and air ride seats are fitted?
No doubt that is a fair amount of work and cost, but say you called that work sweat-equity in trade, is there a similarly capable truck that is commonly available within the US for that adjusted price?
EXACTLY. I would say there's not. It's been a lot of work trying to modernize this thing, but what other platform is better-suited to build a vehicle of this size, with similar off-road capabilities? In the US, for a similar amount of money? None that I know of.
I just bought a brand new cab and hardtop, and I'm going to spend a lot of time trying to insulate them, but that's one area where these vehicles really show their age. It's basically just a Jeep tub. Also just bought some springer seat-bases that some of the deuces came with, and I'm planning on replacing the shocks/springs with some high-end mountain-bike shocks, and topping the seat frames off with a set of low-back suspension seats. It's going to have heat and AC, modern radial tires, high-performance desert racing shocks, and a whole bunch of other stuff that will help to make it a little more bearable. Hah. This thing already has a lot better road manners than a lot of my old rock crawlers and off-road trucks.
Heck, you could buy one of these truck for less than $2000, throw away the body, bed, engine and transmission, and the build whatever you want using the Deuce's framerails, 2.5-ton rockwell axles, and transfer-case. Although honestly, at that point I'd probably rather start with a 900-series 5-ton. Then you'd get 'real' air-brakes, bigger axles (with a much more common 10-lug pattern) and a much beefier, heat-treated frame. But in any case, the drivetrain is solid. You could replace EVERYTHING else, and still end up way ahead. You could buy a late-model Dodge Ram and swap the Cummins AND the cab onto the deuce (or 5-ton) chassis, and Bammo - you've got a waaaaay heavier-duty truck to start building on, and it's going to have all of the modern amenities you might want.
No, I'm saying that, accoring to another post, the box was built by a company that works to very high standards. Shoot, I can go buy a surplus A3 tomorrow for about fifteen grand. The money is in the camper.
You could buy an A3 today for under $10,000 (check GL and steelsoldiers). Are you really considering building one of these?
