Posted by David Sherman on Saturday, February 11, 2006 at 12:03PM :
In Reply to: Re: OT and but value of a M35A2 w/winch? posted by Mark S. on Saturday, February 11, 2006 at 11:07AM :
When the DRMOs were selling the M35s directly, good runners were going for $2000 or so and the dealers were cleaning them up and reselling them for $4000. Now that Gov Liquidation is doing the sales, good runners are going for $3000-$4000 at the auctions and $5000-$6000 from the dealers. Desirable features that most trucks don't have are a winch and hardtop cab. Air-shift transfer case and cab heater are also plusses. A drop-side bed is a real plus for a work truck because it allows you to load from the sides with a forklift, but they are fairly scarce.
Almost all the ones sold by the government in the past 5 years, which are plentiful on the market, have turbo multifuel engines and air-shift transfer cases. Many of the older fire department trucks have either gas engines or the "smoker" LD427 non-turbo multifuels, and sprag (automatic) transfer cases. Obviously, in the end the truck is worth what people will pay for it. I paid $2200 for our fire dept's M125 brush rig because the body was perfect and the engine was all 100% military, plus it had a good fire pump and 2 hose reels and a useable tank, however what I didn't know was what a dog the hydramatic tranny is, and that the tranny on this truck was blown. But you won't have that kind of trouble with an M35.
Parts are still plentiful for M35s. Rubber parts will get scarce at some point, but stockpile a couple steering knuckle boots and outer axle seals and you'll be okay. Bearings and other seals are standard commercial parts, as are drive-line U-joints. Engine rebuild parts are expensive and will probably disappear at some point, but for now most people just swap in a complete take-out engine from a residue truck. If you don't over-rev it, and you keep the filters clean, you should never have to rebuilt a multifuel engine. Most are killed by over-reving, or people blow the turbo by reving it up before it's built up oil pressure.
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