LMTV M1079 M1078 ARB air locker group buy, we need 50 of you to make this happen.

[Guruman]

I'm just saying "go try it". Wheeling small trucks on trails and obstacles "made for" small trucks is very different than driving the LMTV on those same things. Similarly, experience wheeling Jeeps/etc. doesn't really transfer, nor do opinions about how to set up the trucks based on that experience. Some of it will, of course, because it's just physics and mechanics in the end, but it's different.

And honestly, that's the best part. I spent 20 years wheeling K5's, Jeeps, HMMWVs, etc., and it was getting to be a bit of "been there, done that". The LMTV is a totally different beast, with totally different challenges, and it's made it all refreshingly new again. I've now taken my LMTV on everything from mountains, to sand dunes, to mud pits, to blizzards, to water crossings, and it's so much fun. This thing is seemingly unstoppable.

I've been watching stuck videos. The majority of which are a lmtv in not even hub deep mud. Not dragging the axles, not buried up to the frame, not digging the bumper in. It just got squishy and the lmtv's massive weight cannot climb out of the rut due to the open diffs.

All that weight without traction to match is a liability. One that could be mitigated with lockers. I'll be switching to 3.07 gears, so it's a no-brainer to drop one of the Detroit units in while I'm doing the rear, which gets me to 75% traction utilization, but I'd sure like to have that remaining 25% as an option.

I equate the lmtv to more like a farm tractor than a Jeep. big, heavy, slow, not nimble or flexy, which is why you can hardly find a farm tractor these days without locking axles, even my baby Kubota 2601 has one.

I'm not saying you're not right, "go try it" is valid advice. I'm just the kind of guy that if. I can get to 100%, I don't like settling for 75. And being down some logging road in Montana somewhere 50 miles back to the pavement, I'd surely rather have it and not need it, then need it and not have it.

 

[Awesomeness]

I've been watching stuck videos. The majority of which are a lmtv in not even hub deep mud. Not dragging the axles, not buried up to the frame, not digging the bumper in. It just got squishy and the lmtv's massive weight cannot climb out of the rut due to the open diffs.

All that weight without traction to match is a liability. One that could be mitigated with lockers. I'll be switching to 3.07 gears, so it's a no-brainer to drop one of the Detroit units in while I'm doing the rear, which gets me to 75% traction utilization, but I'd sure like to have that remaining 25% as an option.

I equate the lmtv to more like a farm tractor than a Jeep. big, heavy, slow, not nimble or flexy, which is why you can hardly find a farm tractor these days without locking axles, even my baby Kubota 2601 has one.

I'm not saying you're not right, "go try it" is valid advice. I'm just the kind of guy that if. I can get to 100%, I don't like settling for 75. And being down some logging road in Montana somewhere 50 miles back to the pavement, I'd surely rather have it and not need it, then need it and not have it.

One of my biggest concerns has been that the LMTV is so big that if I get it stuck somewhere, who will be able to get me out? You would have to chain up a whole mule-team of Jeeps to make it budge. I installed a winch off an MTV on my LMTV, for that reason. I also almost never use Mode, partly because I have rarely felt it necessary (even before I had a locker), but also with the thought that if I can get somewhere without Mode and get stuck, hopefully I can get myself unstuck with Mode. (In all the wheeling, I've probably only used Mode a dozen times.) I also carry a 6-ton chain hoist as a "super come along".

I'm not against the lockers. I have one, after all. I just don't think it's as valuable for these trucks as it is in the smaller vehicles, in my experience. On the lockers, I'm worried that they aren't made well. I'm not saying they are or aren't, just that we don't know. It isn't clear where they came from, who designed them, what materials they used, and how much quality control is on them... there is no brand-name on them, so they could LOOK good, but be lacking the proper materials (e.g. proper metal types, hardening of certain parts, etc.).

 

[Third From Texas]

I don't know... these trucks will go through, over, and get out of a lot of situations that would stop a Jeep/Tacoma that was all upgraded. What I find is that most of the off-road places you can go are created by Jeeps/Tacomas, and so everything is designed to "challenge" those vehicles (e.g. the size of the rocks on the trail, the width of the trail, the depth of the water crossing, etc.). The LMTV cares about none of that, but has a significant tipping issue.

I do have the rear locker installed, but I only got it because I was already changing to the 3.07:1 gears. I didn't have any big issues without it.

I never stuck my M1078. And believe me, I tried.

But I've had to dig my M1079 out three times so far. In each case it was simply a matter of the AWD not being, well all wheel drive. In each case, had two wheels on either axel been turning I would have never stuck it. *this all being in soft sand. Granted, I plan to invest in a rear locker at some point (assuming availability..

And yeah, I had Jeeps circling me advising me that "you're not in four wheel drive" as they watched one tire on each axel spinning in the sand while the rest of the wheels took a nap.

Me: lol "duh"


So yeah, while these trucks can get by in most light situations, they can and do get stuck (where the exact same platform with real 4x4 simply would not). I grew up driving in dunes and soft sand. And of course weight plays into the equation in each terrain scenario. They aren't as "stuckproof" as the public (and some owners) think. To make them "right" (ie: lockers, 3.07s, etc) adds up pretty quickly (and at some point around paying for a Cummins swap it becomes cheaper to shift to another platform).

*keep in mind that I don't have a shop nor the tools and equipment to swap axels, swap engines, etc so once I factor in labor to get one of these trucks "right" it really adds up fast

 

[Guruman]

One of my biggest concerns has been that the LMTV is so big that if I get it stuck somewhere, who will be able to get me out? You would have to chain up a whole mule-team of Jeeps to make it budge. I installed a winch off an MTV on my LMTV, for that reason. I also almost never use Mode, partly because I have rarely felt it necessary (even before I had a locker), but also with the thought that if I can get somewhere without Mode and get stuck, hopefully I can get myself unstuck with Mode. (In all the wheeling, I've probably only used Mode a dozen times.) I also carry a 6-ton chain hoist as a "super come along".

I'm not against the lockers. I have one, after all. I just don't think it's as valuable for these trucks as it is in the smaller vehicles, in my experience. On the lockers, I'm worried that they aren't made well. I'm not saying they are or aren't, just that we don't know. It isn't clear where they came from, who designed them, what materials they used, and how much quality control is on them... there is no brand-name on them, so they could LOOK good, but be lacking the proper materials (e.g. proper metal types, hardening of certain parts, etc.).

I agree on the size being an important factor in who/how it could be recovered, that's my worry as well. Kind of why I figured if I could get that last wheel training in an "emergency" situation, I would.

I guess the reliability of a locker is not something I calculated. A dodgy locker that fails might be worse than not having one.

Maybe we can get that 50 people needed for this ARB group buy? What's the correct count?

 

[coachgeo]

..... Maybe we can get that 50 people needed for this ARB group buy? What's the correct count?

this thread was started 5 years ago.. Original Poster is not even active here anymore. If you read back you will discover that ARB reneged on the deal around 4+ years ago when we reached 50+.

aka- the ARB deal is dead in the water/mud/rocks/snow

 

[Third From Texas]

this thread was started 5 years ago.. Original Poster is not even active here anymore. If you read back you will discover that ARB reneged on the deal around 4+ years ago when we reached 50+.

aka- the ARB deal is dead in the water/mud/rocks/snow

True

There are full-time lockers.

Sometimes.

From Bryce, but I don't know of any others who have made them public.