Double check your air-ride cab selector, the cab is not elevated like it’s supposed to be, causing a rougher ride. Used to maintain several of these trucks and the Operators always failed to engage the air-ride cabs. It’s a very nice ride and very capable truck! Congratulations!
My opinion is that at least for the first design of these - the cab support system was not designed well. The problems are the airbags and the locking latch...also tied to the airbags.
So, for the unfamiliar: these trucks, and all military vehicles to a certain extent, are designed to be cheaply manufactured and simple to operate. What that means in practical terms is you've got a bunch of manufacturing shortcuts taken with a vehicle that will probably be driven by 19 year olds with no sense of their own mortality. By the time they reach their retirement, they're beaten to hell, everything that can leak will leak, the electronics may or may not be on the verge of explosion, and the less said about the drivetrain the better. But. They're also designed to be maintained and repaired without any proper workshop support. A half decent mechanic willing to put in the time and effort can get one running and keep it that way until the heat death of the universe. Just don't think too hard about all the pops and rattles, and make sure to keep the fluids topped off.
Im sure many of us can personally attest to how fast these things can be off road, as many of us have suffered through ride after ride with some random PFC flooring it down range roads lol
I worked at Stewart and Stevenson in Sealy Texas for 13 years building these trucks. Great to see it still being utilized and appreciated. Good luck with your FMTV.
@@williamfoster4268 I've spent days on end in every one of those except for the hett. Idk, pros and cons of each I guess. Way easier to piss while driving an lmtv than a hemtt or 915 though
My family has a little farm out near that plant and I always loved seeing the trains full of these off of the assembly line getting shipped to who knows where it was so cool
Your GP truck is a rarer LVAD Low Velocity Air Drop LMTV issued only to Airborne and Special Forces units. The hard top lifts off using the spare tire lift and the windshield, side windows and upper rear wall fold down for palletized parachute drop. The Special Forces rigged them up like Mad Max into support gun trucks for the ODA Ground Mobility Vehicle GMV Humvees.
Watching this was a trip. I fixed these for years. "Alternator blew and the truck rolled to a stop, dead on the side of the road." YUP. I'd still buy one without hesitation.
I had the same problem with GOV PLANET getting my title. The problem is in Florida NO MATTER where it was bought YOU MUST register in 20 or less days otherwise you get a very steep fine. First they sent me a bill of sale (I never asked for I wanted a title) DMV refused it after around 5 months I got the title and had to pay a $550 late fee plus tag $200 (that is JUST THE COST OF A PLATE NOW), plus title $50, plus registration $99 a year. The small claims court and GOV PLANET and I went the rounds they sent their lawyer and they LOST !!! They claimed they have up to 6 months to send title judge told the 30 days and not to show up in court room for this problem again or else
I had an issue with them too. I paid $18,000 for an ambulance. They couldn’t find it for months. I refused to pay for it until they found it. They said pay the $6,000 in storage fees for 6 months. I said it’s not my fault you guys couldn’t find it ! I’ll pay ok whatever . They said ok pick it up now. I sent a driver and they said it had sold in the recent auction for $6,500. So they credited me $5,500 towards my $24,000 invoice. What a bunch of scam artists. What a joke. To this day I have an unpaid balance of $20,000 in my name with them because they lost my ambulance for 5 months and sold it when they found it
Trust US government departments to make any process more difficult, to not communicate with you or each other, be unaware of each other’s procedures, and penalise you for their inefficiencies. No wonder the whole thing is failing by degrees, and collapsing before our eyes.
I really enjoyed the troubleshooting part, particularly that swapped relay start inhibit. It was almost as if some instructor had set it up to test mechanic students.. lol!
@@truedox There's a battery cut-off underneath that you can padlock open and an emergency cut off switch in the cab.. both much easier to access and use as theft deterrence.
Steve, the truck you bought from GovPlanet is an Air Drop Truck. The upper cab folds down into the interior to accommodate C-130 / C17 transport. Better check the motor mounts to see if this truck has been airdropped. If it has, they will be broken. Good Luck!!!
I discovered and fell in love with turbochargers because of these LMTVs. I was hauling a water buffalo and damn-near a platoon, and their crap, when faced with an extremely steep incline. I told the TC I didn't think this piece of shit could make it up a hill that steep and he's like "yeah, it will. Just give it the gas". I tried to get a fast run-up, but I could hear the RPMs dropping before the hill even got started proper. Soon after was my first experience hearing the turbo spool up, and it did. Once it got some good pressure going, I realized that all the driving I had been doing in the thing before that wasn't really using the available power at all. Those things really really go. They're miles better, and funner, than a HMMWV.
@Virtue I've seen LMTVs drive through mud sticky enough that people were permanently losing their MOPP overboots in it, and falling in a rut would plant your balls in the surface slop. That was a very bad time for the dudes in the field, and when the chow truck (an LMTV) pulled up, they were like "We're not getting out. Y'all serve yourselves and put the containers back in. Truck leaves at xxxxhrs, whether you ate or not. " Good times for mud appreciators though". Hilux is for dry climates, with little cover, and good road speed with some offroad capability are required. LMTV is more for "Move the company's additional gear and supplies to them, and the stretchers back, wherever that may be, and driving a logistics convoy on roads, is not always desired/possible"
Another plus for LMTVs over HMMWVs is that they have AC and a charging port in the cab. I brought my car charger one time to a FTX and half the company was taking turns to charge their phones after the commander banned people from charging their phones in the TOC after the generator got overloaded.
@@patrickdtodd I don't recall ours having AC, nor A/C in the cab... Perhaps on the HQ models. I sure hope the soldiers are briefed, inspected, and acclimated to training without all those RF emitters and reactive electronics during deployment prep exercises, as we've been watching civilian electronics (which sometimes operate on military frequencies) get entire units wiped out for the last year now, with the Harpy drone-like missiles, and their derivatives.
@@buckstarchaser2376 This was during the halcyon days of the GWOT when neither the Taliban nor the Haqqani network had anything approaching the sophistication of the EW systems being used in Ukraine by both sides. Nowadays, having a RF source like a cell phone would be suicidal in a near peer environment.
When i was in Iraq I did an engine to one of these and gained mad respect from the motor pool. I told them it didn't need an engine, it was a bad injector wire but they didn't listen. So I said fine, I'll replace the engine in a day. They laughed and said it couldn't be done. I waspped it in about 14 hours. New engine, same issue. So they sent it to the contractor mechanics. Next week it came back with a new wire running from the power board in the dash to the injectors. Ran like a new engine. Injectors are mechanical and electrical. Needs 24 volts.
@@cottonmouthdb8454 yeah but it wasn't even getting that. When I tested volt at the injector it was 0. They thought it just needed the mechanical pump to work.
As someone who drove these trucks (MOS: 88M) this man is telling me stuff I didn't even know. We never really messed with the mode selector on the transmission select pad. and I never drove one with the tire inflation system working. it was always broken
That one almost got me to the floor. I rode around in deuce and a halfs in the 70's. These guys today get air ride. What a bunch of softies. Count your blessings guys. You never had it so good.
@@SoloRenegadeI was going to say, just because the military had these doesn't mean they had the old stuff. I have driven all of it. Got stuck driving an old 5 ton on a long convoy weighed down and was lucky to hit 55 down hill. Had a coworker that was 6ft+ driving a duce and a half, and it looked like his knees were at his chin. Some of the old truck were built for the shorter people back then.
We followed one of these pulling a trailer near a national guard base and I thought “Wow, I wonder what you could haul with that.” Then we took a hard right turn and a huge box fell out into the road, spilled open and toilet paper rolled out. It was disappointing.
Funny story - Many moons ago, you use to buy directly from the Government Surplus Office. My high school buddy and I won a bid for a Jeep ambulance, we were so excited with anticipation of converting it into a camper. We borrowed a flat bed to bring it home. When we showed up at Fort Dix, in New Jersey we showed our paper work to the guard at the gate who directed us to an office building. There we were escorted to a warehouse and showed our purchased lot. It was a pile of oscilloscopes. We tried to explain we bought an ambulance but this guy insisted that our documents was for this lot number and it was electronics not a vehicle. We took the junk home and for many years we each used one of the oscilloscopes as a coffee table. They actually powered up and displayed waveforms.
I have no idea those were being sold for so cheap. I drove around in Iraq for a while, I remember flying down the road with the lights off and taped up dodging mortar holes in the pavement to deliver fresh guard duty. Got really good at dodging those potholes, so I ended up having that detail a lot.
When I was buying trucks from Govplanet auctions it was usually an adventure in one way or another. I helped a new truck owner pick up a Deuce from Ellsworth AFB in SD and it was in the middle of winter and when we got to his Deuce the fuel cap was off on the fuel tank, OK I had told him your going to need new batteries and all new fuel and oil filters plus a plethora of tools. Well we dumped 10 gallons of fuel into the truck and got the batteries installed, this truck did not have the flame engine heater but it had an ether injections system on it but of course the can was empty, so I craked the hose on the intake and he gave it a shot of go juice while I turned it over and it fired up and ran very good. We then proceeded to the nearest truck stop and fueled it up and hit the road we had a tow bar and pulled our CUCV behind the deuce. We covered about 200 miles that day and the truck was running great. We got a motel for the night and there was a truck stop right next to the motel and we fueled up again and hit the road, I got about 10 miles down the road and the engine was not happy as soon as we got out of town I hit the clutch to pull over and the engine stopped. I new we had a filter problem, I changed the primary filter and got it running again and went for another 30 miles when I saw an implement tractor dealer and pulled in there, they let me use one of their bays to work on the truck, first thing I did was drop the bung on the fuel tank and I got about 8 gallons of water out of that, apparently there had been and iceberg in there that didnt melt till I added fuel that morning. Got all the water out of the tank and changed both secondary filters and all was good! I picked up an M925A1 from Kansas from Gov Auction beautiful truck brand new overhauled engine trans etc. and brand new batteries, drove the truck 600 miles home not a problem. After a few days the batteries started behaving oddly and wouldnt turn the engine over, they showed full voltage on the charger and ammeter but wouldnt turn the engine over. I finally put a load tester on the batteries and they were junk. After I replaced the batteries I started to look at the brand new batteries that were in the truck and found the date codes on them and they were 8 years old! There are a million stories about peoples experiences with Govplanet some good and some just unbelievable! My best words of advice is be prepared!
I've purchased from Govplanet and it's worth it to pay them their fees for titling. I didn't have to go through the process that you went through. When I completed my purchase online, I added in the options for them to send me a title. I was able to pick up my vehicle and about 6 weeks later, I had the title in hand (it was from Montana), and I took that and all my sale paperwork to my local DMV and it all went smoothly. I do it this way because I've had a horrible time dealing with my local DMV with just a Bill of Sale and and other paperwork. I spent a year dealing with my local DMV arguing back and forth over a Certificate of Origin. I think it cost me about $150-$175 extra to have Govplanet get me a title, but it was so worth it.
@Freiherr Dinckelacker The title I got from Govplanet was from Montana. I have no idea why they used that vs Florida, and it didn't seem to matter. I took that title and the bill of sale from Govplanet to my local DMV and they processed it like any other normal vehicle transaction that I've done. I went the titling route with Govplanet because I didn't want any DMV problems, and I didn't have any. My previous fiasco with the DMV arguing over the difference between a "Certificate of Origin" and a "Statement of Origin" was a nightmare in itself, even after the DMV did infact verify that the other State called the document a "Statement of Origin". Unfortunately none of the low level DMV employees wanted to make a decision so they kept bouncing me to a higher authority. I didn't have any of those problems when I had Govplanet provide me with a Title vs just the Bill of Sale. I do seem to recall something in the Govplanet literature about the posibility of the Title being from any number of different States, but I didn't care as long as I got a Title.
Hey, Tiffany. In your experience, are you able to get a hold of the certificate of origin/ MCO? That's a valuable document. I'd like to know if that's possible. Thanks.
@@gurnblanston3210 Mind sharing who you got the insurance from? i did some research on another vehicle and had hell getting $900/6mo on it. Different animal, similar market. No accidents for 30 years, so that seemed a bit high to me.
The origin of this LMTV is the Austrian built Steyr 12M18 (9 speed manual transmission with 3 diff locks, ~180 hp), so the Pinzgauer is a close relative! Both Puch Pinzgauer and Steyr 12M18 were built by the same company group "Steyr-Daimler-Puch". When I did my military service here in Austria, the 12M18 was the common truck.
I was looking for this comment. Hey guys Steyr-Daimler-Puch did the G-class Mercedes - Benz! I know right?! Also his poorest military cousin known also in Poland as Wolf X) I would pick MAN fae 8.136 4x4 instead. It's lighter. No need to call Leopard tank to pull it out of mud. ua-cam.com/video/3MtvlCZBn84/v-deo.html
Driving a cabover or cab-forward truck is such an entertaining experience, between the amazing visibility and the ability to so easily place your wheels wherever you want them.
Very informative. I looked at these auctions. Your real life experience confirmed everything I imagined about how it would go down, not mention the (likely) actual condition of the vehicle.
I have worked at the plant that made these in Sealy, TX. It is a "ghost town" now. We took this chassis and turned it into a MRAP, for Armor Holdings and later BAE. The MRAP version has the 8cyl Cat motor in it. They are very capable. Thanks for the video. Brings back some good memories.
Brings back memories.. I also worked at Stewart and Stevenson.. in 80s and 90s .. briefly worked on fmtv project helped set up assembly line.. I worked on the 8x8 esarco .. Cool truck.. have fun with it
No interest in trucks, but as usual Steve tells a great story. The methodical approach to troubleshooting is always a pleasure to watch! In my case since I work alone in the garage, the troubleshooting usually includes a few choice four-letter words to aid in the analysis.
That looks like the work of a mechanic swapping out that relay so that the truck wouldn't start. I guess someone didn't want it to start or didn't want someone driving it. Nice to know though for possible future troubleshooting. Thank you for posting!
They just cannibalized it for parts. "This one getting sold-off? SPC Shmukatelli go pull all the parts we need for the rest of fleet from it, and DON'T get caught!"
I guess I got lucky. I bought one of these on govplanet about 8 or 9 years ago. Contacted "uship" for transport and paid $950 to have it trucked from Georgia to Virginia. I had it in my yard about 3 weeks after the auction ended. When it arrived, I had a local mechanic check it out and the only thing wrong with it was alignment, a bad tire (due to the bad alignment), and a brake light out. Paperwork to get a title in my state arrived about 30 days later. I enjoyed it for about 18 months, driving it in parades and taking kids for rides. I sold it onward to a business that has used it for "advertising" since then.
@9:10 That tail end of a 356 looks interesting, fingers crossed for a video on that. Steve is an excellent mechanic, turns his hand to any car or truck and gets it fixed. The trucks are cool, go-anywhere kind of vehicle, fun to drive around in and a LOT of vehicle for the money.
I admire a man whose personal interests produce (or maintain) something unique and special. Looks like you have collected several, such accomplishments. Thank you for sharing your very interesting projects.
When I was in the Army the joke was that over a weekend a vehicle that ran great on Friday would need to get towed into the shop on Monday because it broke down.
I've been looking to get into military vehicles for years and this has been very educational. I would have never considered these as an option. I was looking at Deuce and a half and 5 tons, but these might be another good option.
This vehicle was designed and made by Steyr-Daimler-Puch. Simply put, a Mercedes G-class (or Wolf, or Galende, or Galendewagen, or Puch, or G - it is all the same) factory. Another nice option is MAN fae 8.136 4x4 very brave and capable off-road truck. Needs nice tires for the mud. Empty will go thru the sandy beach! It is under 8,5 metric tons if this makes difference for somebody. I would say MAN is higher in reliability scale than Mercedes or Volvo - in terms of trucks. Let's make it clear. The Mercedes G-class never has its quality off and was never going all tits up like C-class or A-class or even S-class at some point. ua-cam.com/video/3MtvlCZBn84/v-deo.html
Your scored with great tires! When I was enlisted, I would sneak into the motor pool and scavenge tires off "dead" trucks because I couldn't get new ones from the shop. If your truck comes with a bed tarp- usually stowed in the cab, make sure to remove it before lifting the cab. I cracked a windshield forgetting that one day. I miss this truck! 88 Mike 82nd Airborne
Man this video brought me back, crazy I was driving these things just 5 years ago. I remember one time getting an LMTV airborne offroad. I have to say you must've read the manual because you knew more about its buttons than I did.
This guy explain more detail than allot of ppl on howto raise the cab, checking fuel relay, fuel solenoid explanation those are the major issues with these trucks great vid
I used to train on those things in the SEABEEs, Ret now and would not mind having one. Yours is the first video I seen about the GD process. What a pain. The tires are super expensive too.
Only someone that haven’t spent days, weeks and months living out of those trucks with 1 or 2 other people crammed into it would be so excited about them. Lol. But nice to see it wasn’t scrapped and is still doing it’s thing. Congrats.
When removing a nut from painted, dirty, or corroded threaded stock, I've taken to power wire brushing the threaded stock (and nut) before I start. Makes the job so much easier and is good for inspection of components also. Saves a lot of hassle and work not to mention skinned knuckles or damaged tools.
First spray it with SiliKroil the day before. Then do your brushing and spray it again. After you try one can you will be buying it by the case. You can thank me later. No I don't sell it.
THESE ARE GREAT! for making off road campers so much potential. And being in the military for 24 years I can tell you these babies were well maintained
13:18 I remember when the Hummer first came out, its automatic trans was a big point. Army was getting more and more recruits who had never learned to drive manuals, so all the newer trucks had to be auto going forward (I'm guessing for ease of anyone driving...I know they almost definitely have training courses)
From what I see.it is all explained on the website. I think it would be best to be pre approved. That would save ,moths of wait time. Once approved then go bid. From what I read everything the author mentioned is in the website. It even tells you if the vehicle will start. Me personally, I would drive out with a friend and drive it back. You se you friend as a support vehicle. It would be a great adventure driving it back across the USA. Of coarse give your self plenty of time for break downs. I did this once with a similar vehicle. I figure what the heck I will drive it till it breaks and if I have to tow it…..it will be a cheaper tow. I made it 1500 miles and it finally broke 5 miles from the house. I was able to limp it home and had a great adventure. Just read the website.
My unit on FT. Carson (3rd ACR) back in 96-97 was one of the first units to get the LMTVs. We had multiple issues with the cap raise and spare tire raise lower valve banks. And just overall the trucks were objectively worse than the older 5 ton series of trucks they replaced. The LMTV wreckers for instance were complete garbage that are often more trouble than they were worth. The old 5 ton wreckers at least had a gondola boom that made them far more useful to mechanics in the field and in the motorpools. The LMTV wreckers were something we prayed never came our way. The HEMMT series of trucks was the Army's work horse without a doubt. But yeah LMTV's made me extremely happy I was a Bradley mechanic and not a Wheel mechanic. Tanks and tracks are far easier to work on if but a tad heavy lol.
Agree. Was a NCOIC Course Manager for one of the U.S armies 88M Schools. LMTV's nothing but trouble. The older 9 series 5-tons a LOT better. Even the earlier 5 speed 8 series.
I feel your pain brother. I remember snatching a loaded 915A3, mired to the axles with a 5-ton wrecker. I also remember being on the receiving end, needing to be snatched out when I mired my LHS and trailer. Glad B co. had a HEMMTT wrecker that day! Nothing like accidentally pissing off range control haha! Of course, nothing compares to the mighty 88. That'll pull or flip anything you can put your mind to! I miss the mech.
06-15 I dealt with LMTVs, mostly loaded with a 60k gen set and towing a Q37 radar. The LMTV was way more reliable than a HMMWV, and could hold speed better on hills.
LMTV wreckers are a crime against nature. Hated them when I first used one in 2007 I think. My stance on them didn't change the last time i used one in 2011. Loved my HEMTT Wrecker but she was the worse thing to bobtail in. When the newer A4's started rolling in life was good. Had access to a Maxpro wrecker in Afghanistan. Wish we had one state side but that never happened. Spent a year using a LMTV wrecker and when the stars aligned I would get to run with the HEMTT wrecker. Thankfully after the year was over we got to turn the LMTV wrecker in. Blood and Steel brother.
Never ever not be able to go to the shop again,, what a great purchase especially when someone had the wrong relay fitted ,,☺️☺️☺️☘️☘️☘️☘️ from northern Ireland ,, now you can pick the best one for your use ,, here you buy gov stuff you own it and take it that day ,, from a registered out source
I had a deuce and a half and still have a pinzgauer and considered a LMTV for a moment but was turned off by the auto trans and all the electronics. The deuce although really cool was a chore to drive for me since I am tall and it really didnt fit my body. So far the pinz is my great love...it may be my forever vehicle and is so simple....great video
Only electronics on the LMTV are for the trans. Big advantage the Pinz had over the LMTV and M35 is the locking diffs. They are open on the American trucks.
I like how they sell trucks in a better condition than what they toss into my motorpool. Trucks with severe frame damage from PFCs that managed to back into the only tree on the DZ for 5 miles. Trucks with rusted out beds, interiors that are so infested with mold that they have been “condemned” and sitting in the same spot for 6 years. Trucks with crushed roofs because SPC Snuffy thought he was a master forklift driver with his 30 hours of experience.
I work the motorcade as a civilian contractor, I hated the LMTV's because of the electrical issues they all had. Interesting vehicles though, the engine, transmission and gear oil are all 90 weight. The axle gearing is in the hubs and the run flats are a cool design too but go ahead and get you a torque multiplier for the nuts and bolts they got through the two-piece rim. All the hydraulics are easy designs especially the jack to remove the spare tire. And even as heavy as they are they did pretty fair in Kentucky mud.
@Peter Angles Yea its not correct. Engine oil is a standard 15-40, Transmission fluid is a standard "Cherry juice" (dextron 5). I think 10 weight was authorized under some extreme circumstances and required motor pool SGT sign-off. More often than not it was just not replaced if cherry juice was not available. Gear oil is 90 weight.
I exploratory bid on a M105A2 Ammo Trailer and won in a similar fashion. Only cost me $400. I ended up building an insulated cabin on top of it. I used it as a home on a trip through Canada to Alaska and back to California all over PNW to Wyoming Arizona Nevada. Sold it for $800 to a kid in Mesa. Had a great time and would love to do it again.
Yeah I've been looking for USPS vans on Govplanet over the last year and also thought there was some dodgy stuff going on there. Bid on maybe 3 or 4 and was 2nd place twice. Was told not to bid a maximum. I think for better or worse sometimes they don't check very thoroughly. It depends on the inspector. Saw some of the same ones relisted within a few weeks so for whatever reason the person who won backed out.
Got a chuckle out of "charge the battery and will probably go". Bought two FLU 419s, the one from Govplanet was a piece of junk. Said the engine would not start. It was locked up. Controls inoperable. Main shiftier was broke off with hilo switch missing. ($200) Filed for a bid warranty, not allowed. Bought a second truck from GSA auctions, was much better shape for $750 more and three thousand dollars worth of tools included.
I wish you all the luck in the world. Every LMTV I ever drove was a knackered POS. I can vividly recall driving 12 hours cross-country in one with a massively cracked windshield and a defective brake pressure alarm that couldn't be turned off. I can't recall a single one where the central tire pressure system worked properly, so nobody ever used it. Still... you could fit 10 Joes and all their battle-rattle in the back, so off we went!
I Was in the Army when they started introducing these trucks to different units. It's crazy how fast they are for sale for civilian use to fast. Some military units didn't get these until after 2001
Hell, they adopted the JLTV years ago and my last FORSCOM battalion still only has one. In the entire battalion. I'm sure you can guess what company got it.
@@BeKindToBirds in the early 80s they bought cucvs.which were bought from Ford, chevy,dodge international.mostly they were using them on base very rarely would you see them in tactical situations or field problems
I was a diesel and track mechanic when I was in the military I used to work on these all the time. They were the better of most vehicles. I have always wanted to get one of these at an auction. Glad to see someone's willing to show me how it goes.
5 tons are awsome but the 7 ton the marines have is 1200 hp cat motor . I dont kniw a whole lot about military vehicles but i did haul military equipment for about 10 years. A lot of the stuff would go to places like Fallon NV to the air base and placed out in the desert to be blown up by fighter jets training . We took alot of old APC's out there but 1st we would take them back to our yard. A large percentage of these old vehicles would still run and by putting minimal effort into getting them running and switching some parts off other vehicles to get them to move or function we had a blast. We actually had a track out in the feild and have races with old trucks and APC's ,lol ..we definitely gave a lot of the old vehicles one last bit of glory before taking them to be blown up. With some basic mechanical skills and knowledge of how a fuel pedal , steering wheel and breaks function, just about anyone can drive these things.
Wow Im on my sons youtube but im glad i have read some of these comments ppl has had. Im new to do all of this n thank you all for commenting n for this person sharing this video.
Great video. I used to have a few of those when I was younger. Once I got going in one I was hooked. I hated it when mom would call me home for lunch. My trucks were much smaller.
Earlier this year i bought from a Ritchie Brothers auction here in Alaska two 2015 Peterbilt 579 sleeper trucks, one for $2100, the other $2400, they were emissions disabled.
Me and the rest of my veteran buddies are scratching our heads wondering just who in the hell would want one of these, and why? Must be some civilian fascination.
I was thinking the same thing. I drove these for years along with the 2.5 and 5 tons. nothing but problems but maybe if you get a new(er) one and take care of it they aren't too bad.
These things are so cool. There is someone in Long Island, NY who has one. I take a special route on the way to my in-laws just to see it. Guy has it in perfect-looking shape with a fantastic camper made up in the bed.
My Brother was a Heavy Equipment Repairman in the Army National Guard. He was out in the Field retrieving at the end of some Exercise years ago. One day he was Towing a M198 155mm Howitzer with a LMTV down a Country Road when he felt a Jolt. He looked in both Outside rear view mirrors and spotted the Howitzer going into the ditch to his right. The four bolts holding the cross member at the rear of the Frame were SubStandard and snapped allowing the cross member that the Pintal Hook was mounted on to pop out of its Mount. A Farmer happened along and Volunteered to tow the Howitzer to the Guard Armory. He used his Articulated Big John Deere Tractor to Tow. My Brother’s OIC saw the Tractor and said that the Guard ought to Invest John Deere. My Brother considers the LMTV SERIES Junk.
this brought back so many memories when i was active duty. I rememebre sleeping on top of the cab when deployed to iraq the first time it was cooler out
I’ve wanted to buy from gov planet but I was reluctant of the countless problems I may encounter in the buying process. Thanks for the video. I’d like to learn more of the bidding n buying prices.
6:35 It’s always good to have some extras with You when Driving any Trucks. If You don’t ever need them You may get to help someone else. Glade I had extras one time at the paper mill. The driver didn’t have any on His.
Well done. Yeah, GovPlanet is not exactly well known for how easy it is to get stuff from. Lots of nightmares and busted rigs come from Govplanet. It is a shame as they would never allow military personnel to treat equipment like this so poorly. Good job working through the issues, and I wish you the best of luck with your rigs. You got a new subscriber.
Just as a point of comparison, if you buy an ex-military anything from a British or Australian source, they are in very good condition (they are serviced and fixed prior to sale). If they are in bad repair, the Army just scraps them and does not even attempt to sell them as a safety measure. I've also seen, quite often, that they throw in spare parts for free if the reason for sale is it's a discontinued platform and they just want to get rid of it.
Something else to consider with these, PLS, HEMTT and similar vehicles is that often in cold climates ether is used to help cold starts in the winter. If used sparingly its not an issue. However, as someone else pointed, 19 year olds that don't know better over do it and create what's called an "ether baby." A truck that won't start without using ether. Definitely something that happens mostly on the older engines in the HEMMT style trucks. The newer Detroit diesels tend to start up a lot easier so don't need the system as much. But something to keep in mind if you're looking to buy one. Find one that's spent is life at Fort Bliss or other southern state like NM or AZ.
Steve, your delivery and explanations are so patient and concise, I can almost see how easy it might be to underestimate all your incredible experience. Though, after seeing your terrific car collection video. I am really curious to understand what you actually do for a living? Restore? Race? Repair? Flip? How do you feed the beast? And keep the lights on? LoL. Great work. Keep it up!!! Thanks
@@Nobrainerist I would definitely tend to agree. Most of those cars are in just too good a condition or restoration to be just stored in that massive barn/warehouse. So I figured he had another income source for support. Unless Steve's running a British specialty restoration bus.
I was thinking of purchasing a LMTV but I passed. I love my Pinzgauers. I currently own 3. A 710M, 712M and a 712K great simple go anywhere machines. Thanks for the informative video.
Stew and Steve originally thought that they could buy the drawing package from Steyr, slap a new logo on the drawings, and call it good. Per Fed Specs, they tried local sourcing for metric thickness steel plate, and then spent three years redesigning the whole truck, because of tolerance stack ups... They bought a glass tempering factory in Sealy, Tx, rebuilt it as an assembly line and test track. At the time, it was the largest CARC coating installation in the world.
I drive by that Sealy plant occasionally. Only drove by it once while Stew & Steve still owned it. British Aerospace Equipment had it for a while, and then someone I have never heard of. Just want by it two weeks ago, and it all looked pretty much abandoned / shut-down at this time.
As a retired Soldier I can tell you that the LMTV as well as the 2-1/5 ton and 5 ton Army trucks with exception of a few that were sent to the scrap yard because of battle damage or just a parts vehicle. Are usually still great toys for playing and work. They are built for almost anything and I promise you some of us soldiers have definitely taken some of them in places such as black basalt in Fort Irwin in the Mohave desert which is literally covered in boulders the size of a VW side by side and front to back meaning if you drive on it then you are only drive on boulders!! Scary but great fun!! HOOAAH
"Oh hey, this cool old truck is only 3 grand and I probably only need to charge the battery!" 9 Months and $24,000 later: "We'll, at least it's fun to drive."
They are also dual voltage, one side puts out 12 volt the other 24 volt. The early ones also had a stupid fusible link on the alternator terminals. I believe they eliminated them later.
I miss the sound of the LMTV. Great trucks, and the exhaust serves as a nice heater when you're freezing cold in the middle of winter.. not the best place to stand but heat is heat lol
We got stuck in Iraq towing a giant load with these trucks and nobody knew how to use the lockers. I was new and they just threw me in the truck and said good luck. Apparently you have to make sure the trans is in 1st gear to get the locker to work. Got all 3 trucks unstuck in seconds.
On any list in software the first value in the list is counted as 0, with the second item being 1. If they created an initial starting bid then that would be the second entry (number 1) and your bid was the third entry into the list (number 2).
I have a complete LMTV build series on my channel in the playlist section for those of you that want to see what a full complete restomod is all about... Thanks for making this video! BTW your ctis is not working correctly. It should stay solid and not flash unless it is changing tire pressures...
We haul brand new, to inter-base transfers, and final disposition up to 36,000lbs. We have ramps and charge as per following within the 48 states: milage ÷ my lowest fuel economy x the average fuel cost x 3 Ex: 1,800 miles ÷ 5.5 (low fuel economy) x 3.85 (average fuel price) x 3 = $3,780 We can haul 2 LMVT's or mixture of 2 per delivery. We work with independent owners, mom & pops, all the way up to Big Army and AM General, Stevenson, and Oshkosh. P.S. Most motorized Army equipment are moved in pairs, because one is certain not to start.
The slow and indeterminate process of buying a mil-surp truck on GovPlanet reminds me of buying a Japanese Domestic Market mini truck from Japan. Mine arrived three months after I paid for it (typical) and the clutch was blown. On the plus side, I only paid $265 for the truck ($2380 total with shipping, etc.) and it's otherwise in good shape for a 26 year old farm truck so I can afford to put a clutch in it. Getting mini truck parts from Japan has been a huge hassle.
@@CIARUNSITE - Not sure what JDM dealers you're seeing with a $10K markup for importing, but there are several good importers who can save you the hassle of one-time importing (probably 90% of the hassle and mental anguish is learning the regulatory and bureaucratic processes), for a small fee for them importing and in many cases, titling a vehicle that can be transferred to your state. A title is a hassle but there's no reason it should add $2000 to the price. Maybe the best of both worlds would be to sell an imported vehicle without a title but with all of the paperwork needed to secure a title, along with a cheat sheet explaining what needs to be done, with a checklist, tips of how to make the process go smoothly (some counties are easier than others), etc. I had to pay a $5 inspection fee to the sheriff. That inspection ostensibly ensured road worthiness but in reality, the purpose seemed to be verifying that the chassis number (in lieu of a VIN) matched the paperwork. There was an $11 fee for creating a title, $33 for registration and $15.90 for the state and local taxes. I paid state sales tax on the purchase price, but my Hijet only cost $265 and they didn't tax me on the $1935 shipping. I left with a title, registration, license plate and all taxes paid through October of 2024 (20 months) for $64.90 total. Including travel time, the process took a couple of hours, but I spent several hours researching the process ahead of time to ensure that I had all of the paperwork the county clerk needed to satisfy the state requirements. Now that I know what is needed for the entire process (federal for importing and state for titling and licensing), I'm inclined to do it again. I hated the entire process but the worst part was trying to learn what I needed to do and never being sure I was doing everything properly. Now that I completed the bureaucratic and regulatory process once, it shouldn't be nearly as stressful and frustrating the second time and that lesser amount of suffering is well worth having an inexpensive and awesome 4WD kei truck. Now I need a 4WD kei van. 😛
This proves the army was lying, you can drive these without an ACH, current dispatch, PMCS checklist, a ground guide and nobody dies.
Ha!
There was a time - and I don't remember the year or transition time - when I was driving these military vehicles with a soft cap.
I WAS going to say, and Kevlar, but Glenn beat me to it...lol
What, no PT Belt?
Don't forget your geek strap!
@Jesus is LORD they have Jesus in the Philippines?
Double check your air-ride cab selector, the cab is not elevated like it’s supposed to be, causing a rougher ride. Used to maintain several of these trucks and the Operators always failed to engage the air-ride cabs. It’s a very nice ride and very capable truck! Congratulations!
As a former army mechanic, if he bought it from the government, it may be broken. Usually not to expensive to fix
My opinion is that at least for the first design of these - the cab support system was not designed well. The problems are the airbags and the locking latch...also tied to the airbags.
Lots of love here. I enjoyed every second of that video.
@@adamorick2872 army pays $150 for a $15 part.
Or the damn hydo has checked out. Or the electrics got wet.
So, for the unfamiliar: these trucks, and all military vehicles to a certain extent, are designed to be cheaply manufactured and simple to operate. What that means in practical terms is you've got a bunch of manufacturing shortcuts taken with a vehicle that will probably be driven by 19 year olds with no sense of their own mortality. By the time they reach their retirement, they're beaten to hell, everything that can leak will leak, the electronics may or may not be on the verge of explosion, and the less said about the drivetrain the better. But. They're also designed to be maintained and repaired without any proper workshop support. A half decent mechanic willing to put in the time and effort can get one running and keep it that way until the heat death of the universe. Just don't think too hard about all the pops and rattles, and make sure to keep the fluids topped off.
And always remember - if she ain't leaking, she's out of something
@@FoxtrotYouniform Found that out the hard way when a rear diff grenaded itself on a tank trail. That was a bad afternoon.
@@gatling216 absolutely _nobody_ wants to have to be the one to call up for the wrecker lmao
@@FoxtrotYouniform LOL I had a 350z, where I adopted that mantra, also if i couldn't smell burning oil i also knew i was low.
same logic applies to postal fleet vehicles haha
Im sure many of us can personally attest to how fast these things can be off road, as many of us have suffered through ride after ride with some random PFC flooring it down range roads lol
You always want to try to ride in the cab and not in the back lol
@@SlimJimActual center seat is best seat
Or the SGT in the shotgun seat laughing as the driver hits every bump and you're in the back tryin' not to die....
Could be worse. Could be an Infantry Senior Drill Sgt trying to death rattle that shit
I'm ashamed to say, I was that PFC :( ... My bad
I worked at Stewart and Stevenson in Sealy Texas for 13 years building these trucks. Great to see it still being utilized and appreciated. Good luck with your FMTV.
That's awesome. I drove these things in Iraq in 04. Great trucks, extremely uncomfortable, but very reliable. One day I want one for my farm
Were they built in metric like he thinks or are those nuts standard?
@@elliotw5918 I'd rather ride in an fmtv than the hemtt, nothing beats the m915, het comes close though.
@@williamfoster4268 I've spent days on end in every one of those except for the hett. Idk, pros and cons of each I guess. Way easier to piss while driving an lmtv than a hemtt or 915 though
My family has a little farm out near that plant and I always loved seeing the trains full of these off of the assembly line getting shipped to who knows where it was so cool
A Gatorade or Powerade cap fits perfectly over the buzzer, by the way.
This is the kind of deep knowledge one does not get from official sources 👆
On the newer ones, we just put electric tape on it.
Your GP truck is a rarer LVAD Low Velocity Air Drop LMTV issued only to Airborne and Special Forces units. The hard top lifts off using the spare tire lift and the windshield, side windows and upper rear wall fold down for palletized parachute drop. The Special Forces rigged them up like Mad Max into support gun trucks for the ODA Ground Mobility Vehicle GMV Humvees.
Watching this was a trip. I fixed these for years. "Alternator blew and the truck rolled to a stop, dead on the side of the road." YUP. I'd still buy one without hesitation.
No power to the transmission it stops.
I had the same problem with GOV PLANET getting my title. The problem is in Florida NO MATTER where it was bought YOU MUST register in 20 or less days otherwise you get a very steep fine. First they sent me a bill of sale (I never asked for I wanted a title) DMV refused it after around 5 months I got the title and had to pay a $550 late fee plus tag $200 (that is JUST THE COST OF A PLATE NOW), plus title $50, plus registration $99 a year. The small claims court and GOV PLANET and I went the rounds they sent their lawyer and they LOST !!! They claimed they have up to 6 months to send title judge told the 30 days and not to show up in court room for this problem again or else
I had an issue with them too. I paid $18,000 for an ambulance. They couldn’t find it for months. I refused to pay for it until they found it. They said pay the $6,000 in storage fees for 6 months. I said it’s not my fault you guys couldn’t find it ! I’ll pay ok whatever . They said ok pick it up now. I sent a driver and they said it had sold in the recent auction for $6,500. So they credited me $5,500 towards my $24,000 invoice. What a bunch of scam artists. What a joke. To this day I have an unpaid balance of $20,000 in my name with them because they lost my ambulance for 5 months and sold it when they found it
Trust US government departments to make any process more difficult, to not communicate with you or each other, be unaware of each other’s procedures, and penalise you for their inefficiencies. No wonder the whole thing is failing by degrees, and collapsing before our eyes.
@@D_Cali_Lifethat is a fucked up situation. Now does that $20k count at debt twords your name ??
Pissed that they couldn't racket ya corrupt pos
I really enjoyed the troubleshooting part, particularly that swapped relay start inhibit. It was almost as if some instructor had set it up to test mechanic students.. lol!
Seems like someone swapped it to be non-running when it sold... 😂
Or maybe a theft deterrent.
@@truedox There's a battery cut-off underneath that you can padlock open and an emergency cut off switch in the cab.. both much easier to access and use as theft deterrence.
Steve, the truck you bought from GovPlanet is an Air Drop Truck. The upper cab folds down into the interior to accommodate C-130 / C17 transport. Better check the motor mounts to see if this truck has been airdropped. If it has, they will be broken. Good Luck!!!
Awesome information
So they were meant to be airdropped and the motor mounts breaking were a sure thing every time? Yikes.
Paratrooper from the 1990’s here.... Yup!
@@RamblinVan the early models were extremely problematic. You can tell it's an early model by the shifter. Later ones had a different display.
Yeah, I would have passed on it based on that fact alone.
I discovered and fell in love with turbochargers because of these LMTVs. I was hauling a water buffalo and damn-near a platoon, and their crap, when faced with an extremely steep incline. I told the TC I didn't think this piece of shit could make it up a hill that steep and he's like "yeah, it will. Just give it the gas". I tried to get a fast run-up, but I could hear the RPMs dropping before the hill even got started proper. Soon after was my first experience hearing the turbo spool up, and it did. Once it got some good pressure going, I realized that all the driving I had been doing in the thing before that wasn't really using the available power at all. Those things really really go. They're miles better, and funner, than a HMMWV.
That's such a weird statement to bear from European ears. Our engines are so small, they have more turbo then engine xD
@Virtue I've seen LMTVs drive through mud sticky enough that people were permanently losing their MOPP overboots in it, and falling in a rut would plant your balls in the surface slop. That was a very bad time for the dudes in the field, and when the chow truck (an LMTV) pulled up, they were like "We're not getting out. Y'all serve yourselves and put the containers back in. Truck leaves at xxxxhrs, whether you ate or not. " Good times for mud appreciators though". Hilux is for dry climates, with little cover, and good road speed with some offroad capability are required. LMTV is more for "Move the company's additional gear and supplies to them, and the stretchers back, wherever that may be, and driving a logistics convoy on roads, is not always desired/possible"
Another plus for LMTVs over HMMWVs is that they have AC and a charging port in the cab.
I brought my car charger one time to a FTX and half the company was taking turns to charge their phones after the commander banned people from charging their phones in the TOC after the generator got overloaded.
@@patrickdtodd I don't recall ours having AC, nor A/C in the cab... Perhaps on the HQ models. I sure hope the soldiers are briefed, inspected, and acclimated to training without all those RF emitters and reactive electronics during deployment prep exercises, as we've been watching civilian electronics (which sometimes operate on military frequencies) get entire units wiped out for the last year now, with the Harpy drone-like missiles, and their derivatives.
@@buckstarchaser2376 This was during the halcyon days of the GWOT when neither the Taliban nor the Haqqani network had anything approaching the sophistication of the EW systems being used in Ukraine by both sides. Nowadays, having a RF source like a cell phone would be suicidal in a near peer environment.
I love how your online community is supportive of you with every aspect of your project.
When i was in Iraq I did an engine to one of these and gained mad respect from the motor pool. I told them it didn't need an engine, it was a bad injector wire but they didn't listen. So I said fine, I'll replace the engine in a day. They laughed and said it couldn't be done. I waspped it in about 14 hours. New engine, same issue. So they sent it to the contractor mechanics. Next week it came back with a new wire running from the power board in the dash to the injectors. Ran like a new engine.
Injectors are mechanical and electrical. Needs 24 volts.
Bollocks.
I agree with Matt, balls.
@@Unchainedful and I agree with Alric, nuts.
Most large injectors only need like 6 volts
@@cottonmouthdb8454 yeah but it wasn't even getting that. When I tested volt at the injector it was 0. They thought it just needed the mechanical pump to work.
As someone who drove these trucks (MOS: 88M) this man is telling me stuff I didn't even know. We never really messed with the mode selector on the transmission select pad. and I never drove one with the tire inflation system working. it was always broken
As a former Infantryman, I never thought that I would be missing being in an LMTV.
Thank you !!!
That one almost got me to the floor. I rode around in deuce and a halfs in the 70's. These guys today get air ride. What a bunch of softies. Count your blessings guys. You never had it so good.
@@mncitizen4364 OK boomer.
@@jasonm949 OK grasshopper.
I joined after 9/11 and never drove or rode in an LMTV. it was all 5ton and 2.5ton trucks.
@@SoloRenegadeI was going to say, just because the military had these doesn't mean they had the old stuff. I have driven all of it. Got stuck driving an old 5 ton on a long convoy weighed down and was lucky to hit 55 down hill. Had a coworker that was 6ft+ driving a duce and a half, and it looked like his knees were at his chin. Some of the old truck were built for the shorter people back then.
We followed one of these pulling a trailer near a national guard base and I thought “Wow, I wonder what you could haul with that.” Then we took a hard right turn and a huge box fell out into the road, spilled open and toilet paper rolled out. It was disappointing.
Soldiers got to wipe too man
Think this was the 5 ton version, if it had 2axles in the back. Then pull stuff on top of that. Load wasn't secure, is disappointing.
Funny story - Many moons ago, you use to buy directly from the Government Surplus Office. My high school buddy and I won a bid for a Jeep ambulance, we were so excited with anticipation of converting it into a camper. We borrowed a flat bed to bring it home. When we showed up at Fort Dix, in New Jersey we showed our paper work to the guard at the gate who directed us to an office building. There we were escorted to a warehouse and showed our purchased lot. It was a pile of oscilloscopes. We tried to explain we bought an ambulance but this guy insisted that our documents was for this lot number and it was electronics not a vehicle. We took the junk home and for many years we each used one of the oscilloscopes as a coffee table. They actually powered up and displayed waveforms.
Geez Louise
Lmao
Ha ha ha that's so funny. You must write for Jimmy Kimmel
I have no idea those were being sold for so cheap. I drove around in Iraq for a while, I remember flying down the road with the lights off and taped up dodging mortar holes in the pavement to deliver fresh guard duty. Got really good at dodging those potholes, so I ended up having that detail a lot.
Sounds like fun.
Gass Gass Gass got to pick up the Gass
How is that cheap? for most people, if you don't spend your money $2-10k is all most people make at the end of the year minus expenses.
@@DARKthenoble Those people aren't the audience to buy things like this then.
@@samstanfield2634 given what it is. A glorified used car that needs work. It seems to me a bit price gouged.
When I was buying trucks from Govplanet auctions it was usually an adventure in one way or another. I helped a new truck owner pick up a Deuce from Ellsworth AFB in SD and it was in the middle of winter and when we got to his Deuce the fuel cap was off on the fuel tank, OK I had told him your going to need new batteries and all new fuel and oil filters plus a plethora of tools. Well we dumped 10 gallons of fuel into the truck and got the batteries installed, this truck did not have the flame engine heater but it had an ether injections system on it but of course the can was empty, so I craked the hose on the intake and he gave it a shot of go juice while I turned it over and it fired up and ran very good. We then proceeded to the nearest truck stop and fueled it up and hit the road we had a tow bar and pulled our CUCV behind the deuce. We covered about 200 miles that day and the truck was running great. We got a motel for the night and there was a truck stop right next to the motel and we fueled up again and hit the road, I got about 10 miles down the road and the engine was not happy as soon as we got out of town I hit the clutch to pull over and the engine stopped. I new we had a filter problem, I changed the primary filter and got it running again and went for another 30 miles when I saw an implement tractor dealer and pulled in there, they let me use one of their bays to work on the truck, first thing I did was drop the bung on the fuel tank and I got about 8 gallons of water out of that, apparently there had been and iceberg in there that didnt melt till I added fuel that morning. Got all the water out of the tank and changed both secondary filters and all was good!
I picked up an M925A1 from Kansas from Gov Auction beautiful truck brand new overhauled engine trans etc. and brand new batteries, drove the truck 600 miles home not a problem. After a few days the batteries started behaving oddly and wouldnt turn the engine over, they showed full voltage on the charger and ammeter but wouldnt turn the engine over. I finally put a load tester on the batteries and they were junk. After I replaced the batteries I started to look at the brand new batteries that were in the truck and found the date codes on them and they were 8 years old! There are a million stories about peoples experiences with Govplanet some good and some just unbelievable! My best words of advice is be prepared!
You guys def put the time in to get these military relics from going to a scrap yard and get them restored. I thank you
Interesting experiences. Sounds like you managed all the problems really well.
U wrote a book
@@cedarwest37 and so he did. And it was a good read
@@mobius-1503 What book, please? I'd love to read something like that.
I just retrieved my LMTV this past weekend. Hopped in and drove it from Ft Campbell KY to South Florida. Not one issue. Couldn't be happier.
what is the fuel milage?
@@narcissistinjurygiver2932 bout 8 miles to the gallon.
That’s awesome? Did you have to go on the base? I’m curious if you have to have a real id drivers license to get on the base.
I've purchased from Govplanet and it's worth it to pay them their fees for titling. I didn't have to go through the process that you went through. When I completed my purchase online, I added in the options for them to send me a title. I was able to pick up my vehicle and about 6 weeks later, I had the title in hand (it was from Montana), and I took that and all my sale paperwork to my local DMV and it all went smoothly. I do it this way because I've had a horrible time dealing with my local DMV with just a Bill of Sale and and other paperwork. I spent a year dealing with my local DMV arguing back and forth over a Certificate of Origin. I think it cost me about $150-$175 extra to have Govplanet get me a title, but it was so worth it.
@Freiherr Dinckelacker The title I got from Govplanet was from Montana. I have no idea why they used that vs Florida, and it didn't seem to matter. I took that title and the bill of sale from Govplanet to my local DMV and they processed it like any other normal vehicle transaction that I've done.
I went the titling route with Govplanet because I didn't want any DMV problems, and I didn't have any.
My previous fiasco with the DMV arguing over the difference between a "Certificate of Origin" and a "Statement of Origin" was a nightmare in itself, even after the DMV did infact verify that the other State called the document a "Statement of Origin". Unfortunately none of the low level DMV employees wanted to make a decision so they kept bouncing me to a higher authority.
I didn't have any of those problems when I had Govplanet provide me with a Title vs just the Bill of Sale.
I do seem to recall something in the Govplanet literature about the posibility of the Title being from any number of different States, but I didn't care as long as I got a Title.
@Freiherr Dinckelacker Here in Texas we just put an SMV triangle on the back of it and drive wherever we want to.
Hey, Tiffany. In your experience, are you able to get a hold of the certificate of origin/ MCO? That's a valuable document. I'd like to know if that's possible. Thanks.
@@gurnblanston3210 Mind sharing who you got the insurance from? i did some research on another vehicle and had hell getting $900/6mo on it. Different animal, similar market. No accidents for 30 years, so that seemed a bit high to me.
Wow I got all excited about the MTVR until I saw the specs and found out it gets 3.84 miles to the gallon... 😲
The origin of this LMTV is the Austrian built Steyr 12M18 (9 speed manual transmission with 3 diff locks, ~180 hp), so the Pinzgauer is a close relative! Both Puch Pinzgauer and Steyr 12M18 were built by the same company group "Steyr-Daimler-Puch". When I did my military service here in Austria, the 12M18 was the common truck.
They look like Steyrs. Here in Canada, we got the 91M and you can see the resemblance. Decent vehicles with some idiosyncrasies.
I was looking for this comment.
Hey guys Steyr-Daimler-Puch did the G-class Mercedes - Benz! I know right?! Also his poorest military cousin known also in Poland as Wolf X)
I would pick MAN fae 8.136 4x4 instead. It's lighter. No need to call Leopard tank to pull it out of mud.
ua-cam.com/video/3MtvlCZBn84/v-deo.html
Driving a cabover or cab-forward truck is such an entertaining experience, between the amazing visibility and the ability to so easily place your wheels wherever you want them.
Very informative. I looked at these auctions. Your real life experience confirmed everything I imagined about how it would go down, not mention the (likely) actual condition of the vehicle.
I have worked at the plant that made these in Sealy, TX. It is a "ghost town" now.
We took this chassis and turned it into a MRAP, for Armor Holdings and later BAE. The MRAP version has the 8cyl Cat motor in it.
They are very capable.
Thanks for the video. Brings back some good memories.
Sealy is gonna get eaten by Houston… Katy is expanding crazily
@@whiteboysixty5 I used to stay in Katy at one of the hotels near Basspro, when I was in town.
One of the nicest towns I stayed in, on my travels.
Brings back memories.. I also worked at Stewart and Stevenson.. in 80s and 90s .. briefly worked on fmtv project helped set up assembly line..
I worked on the 8x8 esarco ..
Cool truck.. have fun with it
No interest in trucks, but as usual Steve tells a great story. The methodical approach to troubleshooting is always a pleasure to watch! In my case since I work alone in the garage, the troubleshooting usually includes a few choice four-letter words to aid in the analysis.
That looks like the work of a mechanic swapping out that relay so that the truck wouldn't start. I guess someone didn't want it to start or didn't want someone driving it. Nice to know though for possible future troubleshooting. Thank you for posting!
They just cannibalized it for parts. "This one getting sold-off? SPC Shmukatelli go pull all the parts we need for the rest of fleet from it, and DON'T get caught!"
I guess I got lucky.
I bought one of these on govplanet about 8 or 9 years ago. Contacted "uship" for transport and paid $950 to have it trucked from Georgia to Virginia. I had it in my yard about 3 weeks after the auction ended. When it arrived, I had a local mechanic check it out and the only thing wrong with it was alignment, a bad tire (due to the bad alignment), and a brake light out. Paperwork to get a title in my state arrived about 30 days later.
I enjoyed it for about 18 months, driving it in parades and taking kids for rides. I sold it onward to a business that has used it for "advertising" since then.
The Taliban can offer a lot of parts support these days!
You can get a new one from them for 500$
Won't take long for them to be sidelined by lack of spares.
China Joe is a traitor.
Hahaha nice man
@@johnwren3976that doesn't make sense they have plenty to.use for spares
@9:10 That tail end of a 356 looks interesting, fingers crossed for a video on that. Steve is an excellent mechanic, turns his hand to any car or truck and gets it fixed. The trucks are cool, go-anywhere kind of vehicle, fun to drive around in and a LOT of vehicle for the money.
I admire a man whose personal interests produce (or maintain) something unique and special. Looks like you have collected several, such accomplishments. Thank you for sharing your very interesting projects.
When I was in the Army the joke was that over a weekend a vehicle that ran great on Friday would need to get towed into the shop on Monday because it broke down.
I've been looking to get into military vehicles for years and this has been very educational. I would have never considered these as an option. I was looking at Deuce and a half and 5 tons, but these might be another good option.
This vehicle was designed and made by Steyr-Daimler-Puch. Simply put, a Mercedes G-class (or Wolf, or Galende, or Galendewagen, or Puch, or G - it is all the same) factory. Another nice option is MAN fae 8.136 4x4 very brave and capable off-road truck. Needs nice tires for the mud. Empty will go thru the sandy beach! It is under 8,5 metric tons if this makes difference for somebody. I would say MAN is higher in reliability scale than Mercedes or Volvo - in terms of trucks. Let's make it clear. The Mercedes G-class never has its quality off and was never going all tits up like C-class or A-class or even S-class at some point.
ua-cam.com/video/3MtvlCZBn84/v-deo.html
My wife caught me watching this and threatened me with some unpleasant actions
Your scored with great tires! When I was enlisted, I would sneak into the motor pool and scavenge tires off "dead" trucks because I couldn't get new ones from the shop. If your truck comes with a bed tarp- usually stowed in the cab, make sure to remove it before lifting the cab. I cracked a windshield forgetting that one day. I miss this truck! 88 Mike 82nd Airborne
Man this video brought me back, crazy I was driving these things just 5 years ago. I remember one time getting an LMTV airborne offroad. I have to say you must've read the manual because you knew more about its buttons than I did.
That's what everyone realized about 9 minutes in lmao, my man's turned into an encyclopedia with 400 chapters, all named "LMTV"
This guy explain more detail than allot of ppl on howto raise the cab, checking fuel relay, fuel solenoid explanation those are the major issues with these trucks great vid
I used to train on those things in the SEABEEs, Ret now and would not mind having one. Yours is the first video I seen about the GD process. What a pain. The tires are super expensive too.
Only someone that haven’t spent days, weeks and months living out of those trucks with 1 or 2 other people crammed into it would be so excited about them. Lol. But nice to see it wasn’t scrapped and is still doing it’s thing. Congrats.
I drove my PSG in one for awhile, he took the cab and I slept on a cot in the bed with my tarp strung up. Good times.
When removing a nut from painted, dirty, or corroded threaded stock, I've taken to power wire brushing the threaded stock (and nut) before I start. Makes the job so much easier and is good for inspection of components also. Saves a lot of hassle and work not to mention skinned knuckles or damaged tools.
I just spin them off with the air impact until something breaks 🤣
@@TheNapalmFTW Funny. Hard to know if you're kidding though.
@@brentscottbrent1 I am. Lol
First spray it with SiliKroil the day before. Then do your brushing and spray it again. After you try one can you will be buying it by the case. You can thank me later. No I don't sell it.
THESE ARE GREAT! for making off road campers so much potential. And being in the military for 24 years I can tell you these babies were well maintained
Good survival vehicle. Working on them was fun and easy.
13:18 I remember when the Hummer first came out, its automatic trans was a big point. Army was getting more and more recruits who had never learned to drive manuals, so all the newer trucks had to be auto going forward (I'm guessing for ease of anyone driving...I know they almost definitely have training courses)
At the 12:40 mark I recognized the road and realized you’re in/near Ames. Small world!
Thats why its so familiar looking! Really is a small world
sounds like you got a good truck.. now you have a history together and the bond is solid. you know everything about it now
everyones buying used military equipment while the Taliban got it for free
Your patience and effort can only be described as heroic. Thank you for your service. ha,ha!
From what I see.it is all explained on the website. I think it would be best to be pre approved. That would save ,moths of wait time. Once approved then go bid. From what I read everything the author mentioned is in the website. It even tells you if the vehicle will start. Me personally, I would drive out with a friend and drive it back. You se you friend as a support vehicle. It would be a great adventure driving it back across the USA. Of coarse give your self plenty of time for break downs. I did this once with a similar vehicle. I figure what the heck I will drive it till it breaks and if I have to tow it…..it will be a cheaper tow. I made it 1500 miles and it finally broke 5 miles from the house. I was able to limp it home and had a great adventure. Just read the website.
Bit confused, what should I read?
That LMTV idle is the official sound of a National Guard drill weekend 👌
My unit on FT. Carson (3rd ACR) back in 96-97 was one of the first units to get the LMTVs. We had multiple issues with the cap raise and spare tire raise lower valve banks. And just overall the trucks were objectively worse than the older 5 ton series of trucks they replaced. The LMTV wreckers for instance were complete garbage that are often more trouble than they were worth. The old 5 ton wreckers at least had a gondola boom that made them far more useful to mechanics in the field and in the motorpools. The LMTV wreckers were something we prayed never came our way. The HEMMT series of trucks was the Army's work horse without a doubt. But yeah LMTV's made me extremely happy I was a Bradley mechanic and not a Wheel mechanic. Tanks and tracks are far easier to work on if but a tad heavy lol.
Agree. Was a NCOIC Course Manager for one of the U.S armies 88M Schools. LMTV's nothing but trouble. The older 9 series 5-tons a LOT better. Even the earlier 5 speed 8 series.
I feel your pain brother. I remember snatching a loaded 915A3, mired to the axles with a 5-ton wrecker. I also remember being on the receiving end, needing to be snatched out when I mired my LHS and trailer. Glad B co. had a HEMMTT wrecker that day! Nothing like accidentally pissing off range control haha! Of course, nothing compares to the mighty 88. That'll pull or flip anything you can put your mind to! I miss the mech.
06-15 I dealt with LMTVs, mostly loaded with a 60k gen set and towing a Q37 radar. The LMTV was way more reliable than a HMMWV, and could hold speed better on hills.
LMTV wreckers are a crime against nature. Hated them when I first used one in 2007 I think. My stance on them didn't change the last time i used one in 2011. Loved my HEMTT Wrecker but she was the worse thing to bobtail in. When the newer A4's started rolling in life was good. Had access to a Maxpro wrecker in Afghanistan. Wish we had one state side but that never happened. Spent a year using a LMTV wrecker and when the stars aligned I would get to run with the HEMTT wrecker. Thankfully after the year was over we got to turn the LMTV wrecker in. Blood and Steel brother.
@@kimberleyturner701 i was in alpha 58 trans ft lenardwood mo.1988,retired 88-m in 2008
Never ever not be able to go to the shop again,, what a great purchase especially when someone had the wrong relay fitted ,,☺️☺️☺️☘️☘️☘️☘️ from northern Ireland ,, now you can pick the best one for your use ,, here you buy gov stuff you own it and take it that day ,, from a registered out source
I had a deuce and a half and still have a pinzgauer and considered a LMTV for a moment but was turned off by the auto trans and all the electronics. The deuce although really cool was a chore to drive for me since I am tall and it really didnt fit my body. So far the pinz is my great love...it may be my forever vehicle and is so simple....great video
Only electronics on the LMTV are for the trans. Big advantage the Pinz had over the LMTV and M35 is the locking diffs. They are open on the American trucks.
I like how they sell trucks in a better condition than what they toss into my motorpool. Trucks with severe frame damage from PFCs that managed to back into the only tree on the DZ for 5 miles. Trucks with rusted out beds, interiors that are so infested with mold that they have been “condemned” and sitting in the same spot for 6 years. Trucks with crushed roofs because SPC Snuffy thought he was a master forklift driver with his 30 hours of experience.
I work the motorcade as a civilian contractor, I hated the LMTV's because of the electrical issues they all had. Interesting vehicles though, the engine, transmission and gear oil are all 90 weight. The axle gearing is in the hubs and the run flats are a cool design too but go ahead and get you a torque multiplier for the nuts and bolts they got through the two-piece rim. All the hydraulics are easy designs especially the jack to remove the spare tire. And even as heavy as they are they did pretty fair in Kentucky mud.
@Peter Angles Yea its not correct. Engine oil is a standard 15-40, Transmission fluid is a standard "Cherry juice" (dextron 5). I think 10 weight was authorized under some extreme circumstances and required motor pool SGT sign-off. More often than not it was just not replaced if cherry juice was not available. Gear oil is 90 weight.
@@dmitrychernivetsky5876 it depends this is the older a0 a1 not the newer one
I exploratory bid on a M105A2 Ammo Trailer and won in a similar fashion. Only cost me $400. I ended up building an insulated cabin on top of it. I used it as a home on a trip through Canada to Alaska and back to California all over PNW to Wyoming Arizona Nevada. Sold it for $800 to a kid in Mesa. Had a great time and would love to do it again.
Yeah I've been looking for USPS vans on Govplanet over the last year and also thought there was some dodgy stuff going on there. Bid on maybe 3 or 4 and was 2nd place twice. Was told not to bid a maximum.
I think for better or worse sometimes they don't check very thoroughly. It depends on the inspector. Saw some of the same ones relisted within a few weeks so for whatever reason the person who won backed out.
Got a chuckle out of "charge the battery and will probably go". Bought two FLU 419s, the one from Govplanet was a piece of junk. Said the engine would not start. It was locked up. Controls inoperable. Main shiftier was broke off with hilo switch missing. ($200) Filed for a bid warranty, not allowed. Bought a second truck from GSA auctions, was much better shape for $750 more and three thousand dollars worth of tools included.
I wish you all the luck in the world. Every LMTV I ever drove was a knackered POS. I can vividly recall driving 12 hours cross-country in one with a massively cracked windshield and a defective brake pressure alarm that couldn't be turned off. I can't recall a single one where the central tire pressure system worked properly, so nobody ever used it.
Still... you could fit 10 Joes and all their battle-rattle in the back, so off we went!
As a former LMTV driver this brought back alot of memories.
I'm only halfway through the video, and I can tell you you have the patience of a Saint. Apparently, deep pockets as well. Excellent vid
I Was in the Army when they started introducing these trucks to different units. It's crazy how fast they are for sale for civilian use to fast. Some military units didn't get these until after 2001
Hell, they adopted the JLTV years ago and my last FORSCOM battalion still only has one. In the entire battalion. I'm sure you can guess what company got it.
They're obsolete now is why. The army is getting rid of the ones that aren't up armoured.
@@BeKindToBirds we still had Chevy blazers in my unit. I was in from 1997-thr end of 2001
@@lilcourtny08 I didn't even know the army ever used blazers lol.
@@BeKindToBirds in the early 80s they bought cucvs.which were bought from Ford, chevy,dodge international.mostly they were using them on base very rarely would you see them in tactical situations or field problems
Retired military here....I love the sound of those diesels ❤️❤️
Putting 100-mph tape over the buzzer was the first thing I always did when I got in one of these trucks.
I was a diesel and track mechanic when I was in the military I used to work on these all the time. They were the better of most vehicles. I have always wanted to get one of these at an auction. Glad to see someone's willing to show me how it goes.
No.....
It’s amazes me how little they sell for considering what the government payed for it originally.
Most hardly have any miles on them as well.
Because unlike you and I, the government doesn't have to earn the money they spend.
Kberry3065... The government didn't pay for it... WE DID!! That's why they don't care if it sells for $2 dollars or $20
@@ThisWeekWithCars The life of a military vehicle is in hours, not miles. It spends more time running than moving.
@@j.p.1576 USBP is pretty rough on vehicles as well.
5 tons are awsome but the 7 ton the marines have is 1200 hp cat motor .
I dont kniw a whole lot about military vehicles but i did haul military equipment for about 10 years. A lot of the stuff would go to places like Fallon NV to the air base and placed out in the desert to be blown up by fighter jets training .
We took alot of old APC's out there but 1st we would take them back to our yard. A large percentage of these old vehicles would still run and by putting minimal effort into getting them running and switching some parts off other vehicles to get them to move or function we had a blast. We actually had a track out in the feild and have races with old trucks and APC's ,lol ..we definitely gave a lot of the old vehicles one last bit of glory before taking them to be blown up.
With some basic mechanical skills and knowledge of how a fuel pedal , steering wheel and breaks function, just about anyone can drive these things.
Always wanted to buy a retired USMC humvee but man...the process looks bruuuuuuuutal. Bidding, shipping, etc looks like such a nightmare.
Wow Im on my sons youtube but im glad i have read some of these comments ppl has had. Im new to do all of this n thank you all for commenting n for this person sharing this video.
Wow it took close to a year to receive the vehicle and get it registered to be able to drive it on the street. Your a very patient man
The world isn't instant gratification land for most folks. Patience is something we all should cultivate.
@@meatybtz Agree, the best things in life are worth waiting for.
Great video. I used to have a few of those when I was younger. Once I got going in one I was hooked. I hated it when mom would call me home for lunch. My trucks were much smaller.
Earlier this year i bought from a Ritchie Brothers auction here in Alaska two 2015 Peterbilt 579 sleeper trucks, one for $2100, the other $2400, they were emissions disabled.
Just so you know. I love that you have 2 of them. They are fantastic. I've drove one before in the military
Me and the rest of my veteran buddies are scratching our heads wondering just who in the hell would want one of these, and why? Must be some civilian fascination.
Mine hauls firewood out of the woods pretty well but I wouldn't want to drive it everyday. Do you guys still have all your hearing?
Exactly! Especially if they knew how these things were used and abused by 19yo privates. LOL
Yeah, gotta agree. Militarty= cool , but primitive. Parts would be an issue. AND I didn't know there were so many computers on them ...screw that.
My thoughts exactly these are straight up POS
Thats why I went with the USMC MTVR
I was thinking the same thing. I drove these for years along with the 2.5 and 5 tons. nothing but problems but maybe if you get a new(er) one and take care of it they aren't too bad.
These things are so cool. There is someone in Long Island, NY who has one. I take a special route on the way to my in-laws just to see it. Guy has it in perfect-looking shape with a fantastic camper made up in the bed.
The LMTV is a really good truck. You need to be careful because it will make you feel like you can do more with it than it's rated.
My Brother was a Heavy Equipment Repairman in the Army National Guard. He was out in the Field retrieving at the end of some Exercise years ago. One day he was Towing a M198 155mm Howitzer with a LMTV down a Country Road when he felt a Jolt.
He looked in both Outside rear view mirrors and spotted the Howitzer going into the ditch to his right.
The four bolts holding the cross member at the rear of the Frame were SubStandard and snapped allowing the cross member that the Pintal Hook was mounted on to pop out of its Mount.
A Farmer happened along and Volunteered to tow the Howitzer to the Guard Armory. He used his Articulated Big John Deere Tractor to Tow.
My Brother’s OIC saw the Tractor and said that the Guard ought to Invest John Deere.
My Brother considers the LMTV SERIES Junk.
This sounds like one of those nightmare trips 😂
The nightmare trip is the wiring harness behind that relay panel. Every one of the hundreds of wires in the cab is WHITE.
I have found that these are the trips you remember most! Nothing like a little challenge to get the heart and mind working again!
Dealing with Ritchie bros. is ALWAYS a nightmare!
A "Ritchie Brothers Special" = slap a new coat of paint on any old POS with a motor and sell it for an inflated price
this brought back so many memories when i was active duty. I rememebre sleeping on top of the cab when deployed to iraq the first time it was cooler out
I’ve wanted to buy from gov planet but I was reluctant of the countless problems I may encounter in the buying process.
Thanks for the video. I’d like to learn more of the bidding n buying prices.
6:35 It’s always good to have some extras with You when Driving any Trucks. If You don’t ever need them You may get to help someone else. Glade I had extras one time at the paper mill. The driver didn’t have any on His.
Military maintenance isn’t what it used to be. It started going bad in the middle to late 90’s. Why learn to fix anything when you can just buy new?
Well done. Yeah, GovPlanet is not exactly well known for how easy it is to get stuff from. Lots of nightmares and busted rigs come from Govplanet. It is a shame as they would never allow military personnel to treat equipment like this so poorly. Good job working through the issues, and I wish you the best of luck with your rigs. You got a new subscriber.
Just as a point of comparison, if you buy an ex-military anything from a British or Australian source, they are in very good condition (they are serviced and fixed prior to sale). If they are in bad repair, the Army just scraps them and does not even attempt to sell them as a safety measure. I've also seen, quite often, that they throw in spare parts for free if the reason for sale is it's a discontinued platform and they just want to get rid of it.
Something else to consider with these, PLS, HEMTT and similar vehicles is that often in cold climates ether is used to help cold starts in the winter. If used sparingly its not an issue. However, as someone else pointed, 19 year olds that don't know better over do it and create what's called an "ether baby." A truck that won't start without using ether. Definitely something that happens mostly on the older engines in the HEMMT style trucks. The newer Detroit diesels tend to start up a lot easier so don't need the system as much.
But something to keep in mind if you're looking to buy one. Find one that's spent is life at Fort Bliss or other southern state like NM or AZ.
Interesting thoughts
Not thoughts so much as experience and training. I once was a 63b.
I have a block heater on my starts right up like it's Summer in Las Vegas.
Steve, your delivery and explanations are so patient and concise, I can almost see how easy it might be to underestimate all your incredible experience. Though, after seeing your terrific car collection video. I am really curious to understand what you actually do for a living? Restore? Race? Repair? Flip?
How do you feed the beast? And keep the lights on? LoL. Great work. Keep it up!!! Thanks
from the look of the enviromant and the hay blower at 3:47 i would think hes a farmer, but thats just a gues
@@Nobrainerist I would definitely tend to agree. Most of those cars are in just too good a condition or restoration to be just stored in that massive barn/warehouse. So I figured he had another income source for support. Unless Steve's running a British specialty restoration bus.
I was thinking of purchasing a LMTV but I passed. I love my Pinzgauers. I currently own 3. A 710M, 712M and a 712K great simple go anywhere machines. Thanks for the informative video.
Stew and Steve originally thought that they could buy the drawing package from Steyr, slap a new logo on the drawings, and call it good. Per Fed Specs, they tried local sourcing for metric thickness steel plate, and then spent three years redesigning the whole truck, because of tolerance stack ups...
They bought a glass tempering factory in Sealy, Tx, rebuilt it as an assembly line and test track. At the time, it was the largest CARC coating installation in the world.
I drive by that Sealy plant occasionally. Only drove by it once while Stew & Steve still owned it. British Aerospace Equipment had it for a while, and then someone I have never heard of. Just want by it two weeks ago, and it all looked pretty much abandoned / shut-down at this time.
That is amazing... now I know what CARC is! And being from College Station I had no idea that S&S was in the area... wouldn't need to I guess .
As a retired Soldier I can tell you that the LMTV as well as the 2-1/5 ton and 5 ton Army trucks with exception of a few that were sent to the scrap yard because of battle damage or just a parts vehicle. Are usually still great toys for playing and work. They are built for almost anything and I promise you some of us soldiers have definitely taken some of them in places such as black basalt in Fort Irwin in the Mohave desert which is literally covered in boulders the size of a VW side by side and front to back meaning if you drive on it then you are only drive on boulders!! Scary but great fun!! HOOAAH
Thanks for the information, always wondered how that worked with buying off gov planet.
"Oh hey, this cool old truck is only 3 grand and I probably only need to charge the battery!"
9 Months and $24,000 later:
"We'll, at least it's fun to drive."
That big Betty purrs like a kitten.
Pretty interesting alternator, looked expensive.
Its a generator. Thats why
Yep, expensive for no reason.
They are also dual voltage, one side puts out 12 volt the other 24 volt. The early ones also had a stupid fusible link on the alternator terminals. I believe they eliminated them later.
I miss the sound of the LMTV. Great trucks, and the exhaust serves as a nice heater when you're freezing cold in the middle of winter.. not the best place to stand but heat is heat lol
We got stuck in Iraq towing a giant load with these trucks and nobody knew how to use the lockers. I was new and they just threw me in the truck and said good luck. Apparently you have to make sure the trans is in 1st gear to get the locker to work. Got all 3 trucks unstuck in seconds.
Wow... I know that after a few hours of playing snowrunner, lol.
Half the trucks have diff locks limited to low gear to avoid damage.
@@hatman4818 not sure if they had that game in 2003
Thank you Steyr Puch. Beautiful engineering
On any list in software the first value in the list is counted as 0, with the second item being 1. If they created an initial starting bid then that would be the second entry (number 1) and your bid was the third entry into the list (number 2).
Not all programming languages use zero indexed arrays.
@@zardoz711 Yeah, I'm sure the site event index function is written in COBOL . 👏 Here is your smarty pants prize 🏆
Great video, Sir. I like how you just figured out what the problems were & fixed them. Out.
Thanks 👍
I have a complete LMTV build series on my channel in the playlist section for those of you that want to see what a full complete restomod is all about... Thanks for making this video!
BTW your ctis is not working correctly. It should stay solid and not flash unless it is changing tire pressures...
We haul brand new, to inter-base transfers, and final disposition up to 36,000lbs. We have ramps and charge as per following within the 48 states:
milage ÷ my lowest fuel economy x the average fuel cost x 3
Ex: 1,800 miles ÷ 5.5 (low fuel economy) x 3.85 (average fuel price) x 3 = $3,780
We can haul 2 LMVT's or mixture of 2 per delivery.
We work with independent owners, mom & pops, all the way up to Big Army and AM General, Stevenson, and Oshkosh.
P.S. Most motorized Army equipment are moved in pairs, because one is certain not to start.
The slow and indeterminate process of buying a mil-surp truck on GovPlanet reminds me of buying a Japanese Domestic Market mini truck from Japan. Mine arrived three months after I paid for it (typical) and the clutch was blown. On the plus side, I only paid $265 for the truck ($2380 total with shipping, etc.) and it's otherwise in good shape for a 26 year old farm truck so I can afford to put a clutch in it. Getting mini truck parts from Japan has been a huge hassle.
Honestly with JDM the process you've described is preferable to paying $20k for a car an importer has put well under $10k into.
@@CIARUNSITE - Not sure what JDM dealers you're seeing with a $10K markup for importing, but there are several good importers who can save you the hassle of one-time importing (probably 90% of the hassle and mental anguish is learning the regulatory and bureaucratic processes), for a small fee for them importing and in many cases, titling a vehicle that can be transferred to your state.
A title is a hassle but there's no reason it should add $2000 to the price. Maybe the best of both worlds would be to sell an imported vehicle without a title but with all of the paperwork needed to secure a title, along with a cheat sheet explaining what needs to be done, with a checklist, tips of how to make the process go smoothly (some counties are easier than others), etc.
I had to pay a $5 inspection fee to the sheriff. That inspection ostensibly ensured road worthiness but in reality, the purpose seemed to be verifying that the chassis number (in lieu of a VIN) matched the paperwork. There was an $11 fee for creating a title, $33 for registration and $15.90 for the state and local taxes. I paid state sales tax on the purchase price, but my Hijet only cost $265 and they didn't tax me on the $1935 shipping. I left with a title, registration, license plate and all taxes paid through October of 2024 (20 months) for $64.90 total.
Including travel time, the process took a couple of hours, but I spent several hours researching the process ahead of time to ensure that I had all of the paperwork the county clerk needed to satisfy the state requirements. Now that I know what is needed for the entire process (federal for importing and state for titling and licensing), I'm inclined to do it again. I hated the entire process but the worst part was trying to learn what I needed to do and never being sure I was doing everything properly. Now that I completed the bureaucratic and regulatory process once, it shouldn't be nearly as stressful and frustrating the second time and that lesser amount of suffering is well worth having an inexpensive and awesome 4WD kei truck. Now I need a 4WD kei van. 😛