If so I have a question. What needs to be done to a military version in order to make it street legal? I was planning on getting a new 4x4 truck to take hunting and mudding and generally abuse, but why buy a truck when I can get a Humvee? I've been looking at prices and was wondering how much more money I would need to sink into it before I could drive it around town.

If anybody has any info on this I would love to hear it, along with any opinions you might have on this idea.

unlees your prepared for majout headaches... buy an old chevy. humvee are for people who wolud trylu love having one even throught the probs. i want one a lot but i would have it as a second vehicle let me put it that way. they usually take a fair bit of work. plus the cops will prolly hassle you about it. do what i'm doing, paint a non-camo/army colour and people will just figure it's a hummer and assume your rich and treat you accordingly. can you say "bling"??

i know more than a fair amount about these so feel free to ask.

man i suck at spelling.

Garry Owen has one if I remember correctly.

Do a search on the subject.  Not too long ago, there was a fellow (or a friend of his) on the board that were selling a few surplused ones.  From what I gather, they only required some minor tweaking to get running.

As far as I know they ARE street-legal - wheeled military vehicles still need to meet DOT and EPA specs. Humvees have safety glass, lighting that can be seen from all angles, seatbelts, and since they have a GVWR of about 8000lbs they're in the same emissions class as a 3/4 ton truck. Some people will say that they don't meed side-impact specs, but I say "[b]prove it![/b]" - a Jeep Wrangler isn't any stronger in a side impact and it's street legal. The only things I could foresee a humvee needing to be 100% in compliance are to have license plate lights, backup lights, and a 3rd brake light added, but only if the humvee is from a model year where light trucks were required to have the 3rd brake light.

Now, what would I do to it first? [b][i]Install a block heater and use it whenever the temp drops to 30F or below![/b][/i] Put a better fuel filter/water separator on, like a Racor 445R, and ensure it has the fuel heater option. If it's a 4-seater I'd run an auxiliary electric heater in the back, especially if you have the cargo area cover. Convert the military glow plug system over to the 85-93 electronic Chevy/GMC glow plug controller (not sure how it'll work with 24V), or just use a manual pushbutton switch that energizes a relay which in turn sends power to the banks of glow plugs. Use AC13G glow plugs are 12V plugs and the tips won't mushroom and break off when you're changing them. Trust me, you do NOT want to have to pull the heads on a humvee 6.2L in order to get broken glow plug pieces out of the cylinder (sometimes you can pull the injector out and fish the pieces out through the hole.) I could go into a lot more detail, but these are the very first things I'd do.

I wouldn't be using this as my sole vehicle, so occasionally working on it wouldn't be a big problem. Also, I would rather have it painted completely flat black, so it wouldn't be camo. Also, it would definately be the 4-door model.

How much work would be needed to keep this thing running anyways? I don't want something that I have to be working on contantly, but a little wrench work every once in a while wouldn't bother me.

I know that straight out of the DOD they are not street legal just from checking them out on the net. Some had been upgraded and registered while other hadn't, but I couldn't find what needed to be done to make them road worthy.

Anybody else?

(edited to ask- Does anybody know of a place near North Texas D/FW that sells surplus military vehicles that I could go check out?)

why not check out a unimog or pinzgauer both are as capable ( selectable fully locking diffs, high fording capability, portal axles, ex military) and available for around 10k or less usually with under 60k miles. Don't get me wrong the hummer is an awesome vehicle but its width and lack of locking diffs handicap it some.

you could dump arb's frt and rer and spank anything. slap on swamps, big winch, d ring brushguard and yer set.

Hell yeah Garry....That is what I'm talking about. I'm shootin you an email...

Found some inspirational pics:
[img]http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20011207/imdf07122001102426a.jpg[/img]
A U.S. Marine rides atop a Humvee mounted with a TOW anti-tank missile during a patrol near Camp Rhino in southern Afghanistan during a period of heightened alert on December 7, 2001. The Hunter-Killer teams are members of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit operating in southern Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. REUTERS/POOL/Dave Martin

[img]http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20011208/capt.1007826513afghanistan_attacks_military_afeg101.jpg[/img]
A Marine rides "shotgun" on a humvee as he passes by on patrol in the desert of southern Afghanistan

[img]http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20011203/capt.1007393833attacks_afghanistan_lon114.jpg[/img]
U.S. Marines aboard Humvee multipurpose vehicles make their way through a sand storm in southern Afghanistan

[img]http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20011203/mdf94356.jpg[/img]

Last one:
[img]http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20011127/capt.1006874787afghanistan_us_attacks_lon126.jpg[/img]

go to www.real4wd.com

tey had a artical in petersons 4wd mag back in augest     of 2000  they seem to do good work
they will hook you  up   with one as is for 12k
to a fully  redone and   fixed up turle back  for 30k and up                                                                        

If what you want is real off road capability, consider a late 80s Toyota Land Cruiser.  You can pick up a good one for $5000 to $7000, and they are pretty stout as they are.  If you really want the best traction, pop for a Detroit Locker in the rear pumpkin and I garontee you will [i]definitely[/i] be able to go places you have [i]no[/i] business being!  There is also a shitload of aftermarket stuff available for them.  I considered a Hummer to, but after I got the Land Cruiser and found out what it was capable of, I never looked back.