Military FMTV pic's and discussion..

Martinjmpr

Martinjmpr

Wiffleball Batter
When I left active duty in 1996, my unit was just getting these in. I stayed in contact with a few friends of mine who said they had some "teething" problems with the FMTVs when they first came out. For one thing, there were apparently some transmission problems that caused the trannys to lose fluid and burn up on a long convoy from NC to FL. I don't know if that was a manufacturing defect or just a maintenance issue.

Having said that, I saw a lot of them in the desert in 2004. They seemed to be doing well, even with several hundred pounds of additional armor welded on. Not sure I would buy anything that came out on the surplus market now, though, as anything that is worn out enough to be surplused would probably need a lot of expensive repairs before it would be road worthy.
 
G

Grim Reaper

Expedition Leader
Martinjmpr said:
When I left active duty in 1996, my unit was just getting these in. I stayed in contact with a few friends of mine who said they had some "teething" problems with the FMTVs when they first came out. For one thing, there were apparently some transmission problems that caused the trannys to lose fluid and burn up on a long convoy from NC to FL. I don't know if that was a manufacturing defect or just a maintenance issue.

Having said that, I saw a lot of them in the desert in 2004. They seemed to be doing well, even with several hundred pounds of additional armor welded on. Not sure I would buy anything that came out on the surplus market now, though, as anything that is worn out enough to be surplused would probably need a lot of expensive repairs before it would be road worthy.
Click to expand...

The military is know for letting stuff sit and then when it won;t start yanking parts. I have helped friends pull apart plenty of 5/4 ton Chevy's with under 20k on them. Clean up the fuel lines and pump and they fire right off when you replace the parts that were robbed from them. You are right it might be costly to get one back on the road that does manage it hit surplus. It will proably be in bad shape or missing a lot of parts.

You find Deuces with under 30k on them all the time. There are three on Atlanta Craigslist right now under 30k.


Now where the problem may be is I heard that the FMTV is a lease deal and they will be returned to the SS (or whatever name is) and be stripped reconditioned and possibly redeployed. It may be more rare as a real Humvee in civilian hands. :(


I saw two on Thursday on I75. One up in Marietta near Dobbins and one in Warner Robbins. They look awesome! They seem to be able to keep up with traffic reasonably well.
 
crazyjane

crazyjane

Observer
I have worked on alot of these as it's my Job in the Army. They're not a bad vehicle just alot of electronics. As stated before there were teething problems but have since been remedied. If one comes up for sale and it has a transmission problem don't think that you may be getting a deal. A new transmission is $25,000.00, yes thousand, we have had a couple go bad. Atleast thats what the ARMY gets charged for a new one. You'd better find the biggest, baddest transmission jack out there as you are in for a ride. You might be able to get help from anyone that services allison transmission since this isn't a military specific transmission it might cost you though. when we get to change transmissions we always get the latest package we were up to WTEC 7 last time I checked about 1 1/2 years ago.
But if you do get one you can go thru Mac Motors in PA to get parts as well as the Manufacturer, whatever they call themselves now. I'm not a big fan of the style of air brakes they use either. Always end up replacing the automatic adjusters if you don't do the required maintenance. I wish they had S-cam brakes, easier to adjust and don't rust together. They have a kind of star wheel setup and rubber cups that don't keep out the water.
You also need a special bearing nut wrench to take the hubs apart since you have planetary gears on the end of each axle, you also have to measure the depth and reset the gears with shims after you take them apart. There's more to talk about but I think that I've said enough for now.
 
S

Scarface

New member
Hello,
the fmtv were originally based on the Steyr 12m18 and 12m21 (177 and 215hp). They proved very good in tests by the US-army, be it with not enough hp. The model was licensed to Steward & stevenson. If I'm correct the Stewart and Stevensons have a 275hp engine for starters, everythings bigger in the US I suppose :rolleyes: (I'm from Belgium Europe)
Anyway, these Steyrs are quite similar to the MAN LE2000 4x4 line (224 up to 284hp).
Unicat and Action Mobile used these MANs quit a lot as base vehicle.
Now the Austrian army is bringing them (steyrs) out as surplus. Quality seems to be very reasonable to very good, only the brakes seem to be different than on the MAN and thus harder (more expensive) to get.
here's more:
http://www.lkw-allrad.de/forum-I/index.php
It's in German I know, but hey, they have some great trucks on that forum, mainly MAN kat 1's, go check it out i'd say!
(I speak Flemish (Dutch) so I have to adapt as well ;-)

all the best,
 
Last edited:
Michael Slade

Michael Slade

Untitled
I found a website last night that showed a fire department in Texas getting one all fitted out with tanks, and all the fire goodies. It looked good in red/cream.

I ASSuMEd that they wouldn't be available to civilians. I don't know if a FD would be considered 'civilian'.

Anyway, I don't think I can afford 25K for a new tranny. Heck, I probably can't afford the jack!

The drivers I talked to said that there was an electronic governor on them keeping the speed to 55mph, and that to work on the thing you needed a serious computer, not sure if it was specific to S&S or not.

I like that expandable van. Pretty sweet.
 
D

DynamiteJack

New member
Hi you guys, does anyone know if the M1079 can be shifted into 2WD for a little better gas mileage? Also the vented box in front of the van box, any chance that could be air conditioning? Lots of plug ins inside the van box. Is there a generator somewhere or a large inverter to plug in 110v? Thank you, Jack
 
Ozrockrat

Ozrockrat

Expedition Leader
Nope it cannot be run in 2wd. No transfer case on these only the AWD that changes the power split when put in 4WD mode. I think it is 30/70 in normal mode and 50/50 in dirt mode.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
190,022
Messages
2,923,251
Members
233,266
Latest member
Clemtiger84

Members online

Total: 650 (members: 28, guests: 622)
Top