2nd Gator Up and Running

[Madmedic]

Well...... after 18 months of on again, off again, work, our 2nd M-Gator is up and running. (Big Sigh)

We completely rebuilt the engine, New Belts, Hoses, & Chain. New Fuel Injector, New Fuel Pump, New Water Pump, New Transmission, All New tires, New Brakes, New Seats, New Plastic Fenders, New Plastic Front Cowl. We are waiting on John Deere to get the Front Winch Mount, and then we will mount the winch.

Original plan was to side mount and bed mount Dummy or Propane Firing belt fed weapons on this one, the same way the U.S. Military has done so in Afghanistan. We're gonna hold off on that till we have more $$$$ saved up. This rebuild cost A LOT MORE than I had originally budgeted.

 

[NDT]

Is this one of the Ft Sam units? I was tempted to bite on those, but pricing some of the missing bits from my Deere dealer convinced me otherwise. Glad you were successful.

 

[Madmedic]

Negative. This unit came out of Ft. Polk. We have a pretty good history on this unit, which is why we (I) decided to Salvage it vs Scrap it. Your friend gave you VERY good advice. The mechanical/Engine repair work was done by a friend of mine in his spare time (He IS a John Deer Mek-a-Nek). I supplied un-skilled labor. Which is part of the reason it took so long to restore.

There were 2 seperate auctions out of Ft. Sam over the last 2 years or so, with large numbers of M-Gators. We (mek-a-nek and I) went and inspected all the M-Gators in both auctions, looking for parts donors. In HIS humble opinion, all of them in both auctions were scrap. There were several in the very 1st auction that might have been restorable at a reasonable cost, but very few. Unfortunately, the ones that were viable as parts donors, went for more than what the parts we wanted were worth.

Another factor in the high cost of restoration was me. There were many cases where the mek-a-nek said,,, "well, we can get by for a while by doing THIS........" and I said, "NO, replace with new parts"

As much as it hurt my budget, and knowing full well I will never get my money back if I chose to sell the unit, I am a firm believer in "DO IT RIGHT THE 1st TIME"

 

[Madmedic]

NDT, my apologies, I was reading your question, while carrying on a phone conversation at the same time, and mis-read it, as you having had a John Deere Dealer Advising you not to buy. (I have trouble walking and chewing gum as well)

 

[m715mike]

This M-Gator is being put to use. Here are a few recent pictures of Madmedic using his Army M-Gator to clear brush.

 

[bigmike]

Madmedic,
do you have pics of the gun setups you want to do? I’d like to add some gun mounts to my gator also.

 

[Tinstar]

This M-Gator is being put to use. Here are a few recent pictures of Madmedic using his Army M-Gator to clear brush.

Tires flat in first pic.
Great thing about two rear axles......you can keep going.

 

[mdainsd]

Madmedic,
do you have pics of the gun setups you want to do? I’d like to add some gun mounts to my gator also.

I too would like to see pictures of this modification as I can find zero reference to belt-fed weapons being mounted on gators.

 

[mdainsd]

Some searching did reveal: http://www.military.com/video/guns/machine-guns/humor-the-gator-gun-truck/1871441895001

But with "humor" in the title, Im not sure it can be called evidence...

 

[Madmedic]

In one of my other threads for the M-Gators (I think?) I posted some pictures of other 6 wheeled UTV's with the mounts in place. In some cases they mounted Russian Recoilless Rifles in the back bed, and others they have mounted LMG's on a swing arm mount on the passenger side. The mounts were a "Hill Billy" modification done in theater. Not something officially approved by the U.S. Gov. The swing arm mounts are the same ones used in some Special Ops HUMMV's. I have NOT done the modifications. Call it "A.D.D." Call it being a typical male (hey LOOOOKK it's O.D. Greeeeennnn, let's get it) but I've been working on other projects and so my $$$$ has gone there instead of following through with the mounts Idea. And the cost would be in $2,000.00 to $3.000.00 range, buying parts retail.

 

[mdainsd]

Thanks for the insight. I am the same way, ohh that's cool got to have it!

But being in the land of fruits and nuts (California) no sense even researching it now. Its a crime to display any weapon, fake, real or even a BB gun, even in your own yard unless they are painted one of the florescent colors. Time to get out of this dump.

But...stumbled onto one of the searchlights for the Sheridan tanks (new in the box). Might just do a pedestal for it in the bed, upgrade the alternator and voila! "Light, self propelled" Those aren't illegal here (yet)

 

[Madmedic]

Speaking of expensive distractions. Here is the 2nd Gator sitting on IT'S brand new trailer. (Well it will share with it's brother when neccessary). The Garrisson Gator we have loaned to Carlos, needs to go into the shop for some issues, sooooo, we're gonna do a swap, so that Carlos will have a running M-Gator for the event in College Station. I have a conflict and will not be able to attend.

 

[Madmedic]

I have NEW information on this subject. Have been in touch with one of the military contractors of the gun mounts for ATV's and Hummwv's. They have opened their business sales to Private MV owners, so I asked them about mounts for the M-Gator. Their response was: "The U.S. ARMY did for a time experiment with swing arm mounts on the M-Gators. However, the Army found them to be too unstable and in-effective, and cancelled the project. However, soldiers in the combat zones continued to make HILLBILLY Modified mounts on their own"

 

[NormB]

I have NEW information on this subject. Have been in touch with one of the military contractors of the gun mounts for ATV's and Hummwv's. They have opened their business sales to Private MV owners, so I asked them about mounts for the M-Gator. Their response was: "The U.S. ARMY did for a time experiment with swing arm mounts on the M-Gators. However, the Army found them to be too unstable and in-effective, and cancelled the project. However, soldiers in the combat zones continued to make HILLBILLY Modified mounts on their own"

My neighbor down in TN, a former GE mechanical engineer (small-town Kentucky farm-educated "hillbilly", never went to college) was given a used gator that needed some work on the brakes.

It needed new brakes.

JD dealer quoted him some absurd number in the thousands for calipers, discs, master cylinder, etc.

He said he went to O'Reilly's (I think may have been NAPA) with the parts, found 'em in some cross-reference and for less than $200 has a good working Gator for his farm.

Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

Hoo-AH?

 

[mdainsd]

Got my second M-gator running and immediately was offered an M931A1 five ton tractor in trade. I took the offer