Why not a Hummer?

[billiebob]

At 6' 1" I always felt the driver's seat was way too cramped for any kind of comfort. Very capable, no doubt, but for such a big vehicle, not much room inside

yep, I love the power train I just wish it had the space of a Suburban.

 

[badm0t0rfinger]

2007 AM General M1165 HMMWV 4 Door Soft Top w/Truck Body
ITEM NUMBER2374544
LOCATION
Albany, Georgia, United States. 31705
AUCTION DATE
Mar 11, 09:15 AM - 09:20 AM PDT
STARTING BID
US $6,000
BID INCREMENT
US $100

AM General Government Surplus For Sale | IronPlanet

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The smart part of me is saying nawww, the dumb part of me is opening up a checkbook.

 

[rayra]

'It's only $6000...'

Have to look on Steelsoldiers.com and see what they are running these days. But I kinda wanted an M35 when I finally get relocated to E. TX. But that will be several years still.

 

[Todd n Natalie]

yep, I love the power train I just wish it had the space of a Suburban.
View attachment 572742

I do like an old suburban. I'll take mine with a small lift with steel wheels and poverty caps please.

 

[Nomadic52]

We did the build in 2017 when we bought this and did quite a bit of overlanding in ‘17 and ‘18 mostly in eastern Oregon, WA (the WABDR), Death Valley and such.
Here’s what we did to it originally:
This hasn’t been out daily driver and has only been used for our eastern Oregon, Washington (did the southern half of the WABDR) and northern Nevada overlanding trips.
We set it up for flat towing behind an RV with Blue Ox tow mounts
It has the 3.7 liter inline 5 with automatic transmission. We retained the stock alloy 16" wheels (not chrome!) for airing down, with new Cooper Discovery AT 33" tires.
Here's a list of what it has:
-ARB bumper
-Blue Ox towing brackets mounted to where the OEM tow shackles are located. We have two shackles that can attach to the rings on the Blue Ox mounts for recovery
-Warn 8000k winch
-9" high intensity LED dual spots lights on ARB bumper
-LED backup light
-N-Fab rock sliders
-it has a 30 watt Zamp solar panel mounted to the hood where the original plastic fake vent was and was replaced by diamond plate cut to the same pattern to mount the panel. This has a solar controller that leads to the new (last year) AGM battery under the hood. We did this to keep this battery topped while running our frig while parked and away from the vehicle whil hiking or whatever while the frig is running.
-300 watt inverter mounted in back
-custom built all metal rear fold down tailgate table with molle mount holes with small shovel and ax mounted with Quick Fists
-OEM Pioneer Bluetooth sound system with GPS (to be replaced with a radio delete plate and a Garmin Overlander GPS
-all interior lights switched to LED to conserve power
-Weathertech floor matts
-Coverking canvas seat covers
-Midland CB radio with Firestik antenna mounted to bumper
-Kenwood 2 meter ham radio (yes I’m licensed KI7AKW)
-custom rear rack mounted on spare tire (Outfitter Designs which I’m selling)
-Rhino roof rack bars which will hold the Pioneer Tray as we’ve sold the CVT RTT
-RAINGLER webbing barrier installed behind front seats
-AGM battery
Tepui awning
5 gal NATOgas can
5 gal Front Runner water jerry can
2 gal Rotopax water
2 gal Rotopax gas

5 lb propane tank
Front Runner wolf boxes for food and recovery gear
2 Front Runner chairs
Ram mounts for iPad and iPhone and Garmin inreach
Scanguage
Hilift jack on bull bar
Alpicool 45qt frig
MrHeater Buddy
Treds recovery boards
Mr Heater outdoor radiant heater


After figuring out the total weight we were carrying when on our trips we decided to sell the RTT and go to an overlanding trailer. We bought a used 2018 Crux 1600 in like new condition and have been using it this winter in AZ. It’s a whole other level of comfort actually.
The pics show it before we moved to using a trailer.

 

[Nomadic52]

This is how we use it now:

 

[Ron B]

I have been wheeling and camping in my 97 h1 since 2004. Love the thing. It’s a lot of fun and definitely not uncomfortable...though as mentioned it is noisy and one does have to raise their voice to chat with the passenger...I have headsets and intercom to help with this issue when the top is off.

I know what’s some are saying here as far as the “hate” and have heard many horrible stories but my truck is obviously used and set up for the trails and people notice that so comments are always positive. I think people just love to see ******** being used like they're meant to be. When the top is off, while waiting at a stop light or in a parking lot I have had many people over the years ask what kind of Jeep it is...when I say Hummer they say “nooooo...seriously what is it?” Turns out what they don’t like is seeing so many pristine off-road vehicles and decked out overlanders at the mall without a speck of dirt or scratches on them.

It’s a lot of fun and not hard to maintain. And it’s a serious point and shoot wheeler. It will go pretty much wherever it will fit ;-) . Mine is on 39.5’s with a small body lift, and I added lockers maybe 8 years ago to reduce the stress from BTM (humvee guys will get this!). People have the impression that it isn’t so huge but it seems the same length as a 4 door Jeep (and my gf’s Camry). It’s a foot wider though. It’s been said that the h1 isn’t great at any one thing...but it’s good at everything and I would tend to agree after spending the last 16 years beating it up.

I just posted a thread a few days ago about a trip to Miller’s Jeep trail with a friend of mine. Good times

 

[Martinjmpr]

View attachment 573018

3 door Suburban in Avocado green! ? <---- (should be a "drool" smilie.)

 

[Hilldweller]

My 17' Ford seats 5 adults and one child. Practical overlanding comfort? Just 4 people.

Same with the burb's or the H1. The burb's extra seats don't count, because it's miserable beyond 4 people IMO.

The H1 has generous room on the trans tunnel to stack gear. And the ambulance models are still available, which might be neat for a camper build. If the H1 is still a little cramped, it's character might make it worth it. I've never met kids that complained about climbing into a cool truck.

2009 Rebuild Am General M1123 Humvee 4-speed

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The Land Rover Defenders would be a nice parallel argument. Terrible interior. Uncomfortable. Noisey. Really not that capable, even if they are satisfactorily capable. Absolutely loved by many.

I'd rather go this direction, add a custom built box:

1996 Stewart & Stevenson M1078 4X4 2 1/2 Ton Cargo Truck

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:

I camp with @Tennmogger and his LMTV all the time. If I had a place to put one I'd have one already. Fun truck.

 

[Cav 3724]

I'll agree that the 998's are one of the most capable off road vehicles I have ever driven. I had the distinct pleasure of putting them on the rubicon trail 7 times. Each time there were 8 of them. Each time at the trail head, Loon lake, we were told they would never make it, might as well go home. 4 days later, moving gps average of .5 mph, we finished. There were points where we were causing metal damage on both sides at the same time. Cadillac hill was the most challenging. Any breakage we had we were able to fix on trail. BTM, brake throttle modulation, don't leave home without it. Better know how to do it right. Best trips of my life.

 

[Ron B]

I'll agree that the 998's are one of the most capable off road vehicles I have ever driven. I had the distinct pleasure of putting them on the rubicon trail 7 times. Each time there were 8 of them. Each time at the trail head, Loon lake, we were told they would never make it, might as well go home. 4 days later, moving gps average of .5 mph, we finished. There were points where we were causing metal damage on both sides at the same time. Cadillac hill was the most challenging. Any breakage we had we were able to fix on trail. BTM, brake throttle modulation, don't leave home without it. Better know how to do it right. Best trips of my life.

Yeah...those trucks are so light and capable they are really point and shoot. I LOVED to BTM...relied on it for years but eventually I wanted to ease the stress on the driveline/reduce chances of breakage so went with lockers. Those hi-bias ratio diffs (pre 99) are amazing. I still have a full diff set up like that as a spare.

the main reasons I went with a civi Hummer vs a humvee was the low highway speed and the persistent rumors of difficulty getting one’s truck registered — that infamous AM General letter to the nation’s dmv’s scared a lot away.

 

[Cav 3724]

We did several things to our fleet that helped quite a bit. First, we put 1165 coil springs on the 998's for max ground clearance. Made the ride quality suck, but ground clearance was excellent. Next we changed the front/rear diffs to a 3.08 from stock 2.56, the lowest ratio available. Skipped the 2.73's altogether. That alone made a HUGE difference in the BTM capability. It also saved a lot of driveline destruction. Then we put in heavy duty rebuildable idler arms not the old stock skinny ones. We were going through a tremendous number of motor mounts due to the stress of BTM . Had a company here in San Diego make round cylindrical bushing type motor mounts, direct bolt in. Never had to change one again.

 

[Ron B]

We did several things to our fleet that helped quite a bit. First, we put 1165 coil springs on the 998's for max ground clearance. Made the ride quality suck, but ground clearance was excellent. Next we changed the front/rear diffs to a 3.08 from stock 2.56, the lowest ratio available. Skipped the 2.73's altogether. That alone made a HUGE difference in the BTM capability. It also saved a lot of driveline destruction. Then we put in heavy duty rebuildable idler arms not the old stock skinny ones. We were going through a tremendous number of motor mounts due to the stress of BTM . Had a company here in San Diego make round cylindrical bushing type motor mounts, direct bolt in. Never had to change one again.

I was always amazed at how small some of the humvee suspension components were compared to the civilian hummer stuff. Good call with the 3.08’s, I am still running 2.73. I still have the “oh ********” chain wrapped around my drivers side motor mount from the BTM days. I miss BTM to be honest. It was actively taking part instead of flipping a switch, and so much better to see obstacles coming and preemptively deal with them as opposed to modern traction control systems that have to slip/flounder a bit before it reacts and kicks in.

 

[jammoto]

Drove the majority of the Trans America Trail (TAT) coast to coast with my wife and dog in a M1123 HMMWV. Traveled over ten thousand off-road miles in various humvees these last few years.

It's an experience.

 

[billiebob]

H1 is a wonderful vehicle, incredibly capable. But massive wide and really small inside.
H3 is as good or bad as any other GM product, definitely more space efficient than the H1.
H2 is purely a GM marketing experiment which excels at nothing except sales.

I like to fill my mind with possibilities and the H1 has been a great source of entertainment, how to make it into an RV, but thats as hard as making a Corvette into a school bus. Everything an H1 does so well makes it impossible to sleep, eat, cook in.

But it would be cool to do this with an H1,



And ultimately the compromize is an H1s capability or a cutaways liveability.
As an overlander an H1 rarely offers the capability increase to justify the loss of livability of a van.