Quoted: Quoted: Give the guys what they need, but it makes you feel old when all the things that screamed American Military is going away. F-14, M 113, Deuce 1/2, Huey and the list goes on.... Just a sign that you've been around a while. I am sure that there was  a time when some military personnel were sad to see various models of  cannon, wooden sailing ships, single shot rifles, horse cavalry, etc, go away.

Yep.
It's not reall the loss/retirement of the equipment that bothers us.
It's the fact that the replacement of "old" equipment dates us.  

Quoted: My head hurts just reading this! I am no fan of the MTV series - in fact, I talk shit wih our Stewart and Stevenson Engineer every chance I get - but the early "don't drive over 35" harmonics problems are ancient history.  Also, there are thousands in Iraq - your story confuses me. LMTVs are the workhorse of the Army here in Iraq - and were my ONLY gun truck platform for the drive up from Kuwait, through Baghdad, and past Tall Afar.  We have a shitload of M1114s now, though.

Not trying to start anything or hijack this thread, but the simple fact remains if only one piece of the electronics goes out for the engine you can't make a combat "fix" to get it going like you can on the 900 series or earlier trucks. You have to have the exact part to replace.

We also had 13 out of 60 trucks develope trouble codes in the transmissions that wouldn't allow the transmission to shift out of 2nd gear. Maybe these are all model specific problems with the tranny. When are Chief asked the S&S rep. about the tranny problems, the rep. said that our trucks were not covered by warrenty anymore. The warrenty placard riveted on the dash by S&S indicated that the vehicles should have been under warrenty.

Yes you are correct that there are alot of these FMTVs in theater, and most of the regular Army units that were stationed in Kuwait and visiting Camp Arifijan ended up having our unit repair them. I feel it was due to our knowledge and experience, cause that is all we did was repair them.

For all you guys who think you know what a Pinzgauer is, this is what I meant:


www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/pinzgauer/


I didn't know there was a Pinzgauer truck.

Quoted: Quoted: My head hurts just reading this! I am no fan of the MTV series - in fact, I talk shit wih our Stewart and Stevenson Engineer every chance I get - but the early "don't drive over 35" harmonics problems are ancient history.  Also, there are thousands in Iraq - your story confuses me. LMTVs are the workhorse of the Army here in Iraq - and were my ONLY gun truck platform for the drive up from Kuwait, through Baghdad, and past Tall Afar.  We have a shitload of M1114s now, though. Not trying to start anything or hijack this thread, but the simple fact remains if only one piece of the electronics goes out for the engine you can't make a combat "fix" to get it going like you can on the 900 series or earlier trucks. You have to have the exact part to replace. We also had 13 out of 60 trucks develop trouble codes in the transmissions that wouldn't allow the transmission to shift out of 2nd gear. Maybe these are all model specific problems with the tranny. When are Chief asked the S&S rep. about the tranny problems, the rep. said that our trucks were not covered by warrenty anymore. The warrenty placard riveted on the dash by S&S indicated that the vehicles should have been under warrenty. Yes you are correct that there are alot of these FMTVs in theater, and most of the regular Army units that were stationed in Kuwait and visiting Camp Arifijan ended up having our unit repair them. I feel it was due to our knowledge and experience, cause that is all we did was repair them.

There are field fixes for most of the sensors on the cat 3126B, indeed there are only 2 I can think of that you can't work around, and they are simple enough to keep around if you think ahead. I have never seen a CAT ECU fail that wasnt caused by negligence by someone messing with it who shouldn't be.

Same for the transmissions, they default to second gear when something goes out to allow you to keep moving, and like the M1114 (which does the same thing) you just have to read the code and replace what is wrong... almost always a solenoid or sensor. No bigee.

They are no worse than the 900 series, it is just that so many people are used to the 900 series and its quirks. The biggest problems are lack of training on the newer systems, one truely has to understand modern engine electrical systems to be effecient at working on these.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Something else we copied from the Russians. legion.wplus.net/guide/army/tr/gaz66-1.jpg Other than being a  cab-over design, what makes you think we copy anything from the Russians? Look familiar? I was told, when I was making wings for the B1, that we were beating the Russians into the air with a version of their own aircraft. www.fas.org/nuke/guide/russia/bomber/tu160-pic.jpg

Thats interesting as the Soviets often fielded their copies of/or counter measures of our weapons before we even started production. I remember one high ranking soviet complaining that it drove them nuts every time we would develop some impressive new system, they develop a counter measure, we cancel the program.

Back to trucks now.  

Quoted: I think the new trucks look wimpy when compared to the classics like the M35A2. But I could just be prejudiced.. www.fireflyarms.com/truckpics/deucenow.jpg Sam B.

The M-35A2 is a bar-hoppin' chick magnet! Also perfect for those trips to the golf course,opera,nite on the town,ect.....

Quoted: I think the new trucks look wimpy when compared to the classics like the M35A2. But I could just be prejudiced.. www.fireflyarms.com/truckpics/deucenow.jpg Sam B.

Yea, but it's a good kind of prejudice!

Merlin