FLU419 SEE HMMH HME Owners group

[BigBison]

One of the cool things about "Graveyard Carz" is watching them paint & stencil various markings onto newly refurbished parts, to simulate how the factory inspectors used to do 'em. There's books on that stuff for Mopars. My HMMH is the only FLU I've seen with "45MPH OFF HWY 55MPH ON HWY" stenciled on the front fenders, as seen in my pics in this thread but nobody else's. There's something on my SEE which means it was deployed to Afghanistan, but I haven't seen my SEE for months so I forget what it was.

 

[911joeblow]

So looks like I need my Ether setup to work. I ordered the can from Napa but i need help with how it supposed to work. To add complication the knob broke so all I have is the shaft sticking out. So what should I check before i use it?

 

[The FLU farm]

So looks like I need my Ether setup to work. I ordered the can from Napa but i need help with how it supposed to work. To add complication the knob broke so all I have is the shaft sticking out. So what should I check before i use it?

I remember reading the official procedure in the manual, but not what it was. Since my SEE seems to squirt some into the system every time it's started all by itself there was no reason to occupy valuable space in the brain cell.
Cleaning out the receptor was about the only thing I did when putting the new can in.

 

[The FLU farm]

My HMMH is the only FLU I've seen with "45MPH OFF HWY 55MPH ON HWY" stenciled on the front fenders.

Ah, that explains a few things, Bison.
But those are maximum speeds, not minimum.

 

[Another Ahab]

Alright, who here can help decipher the markings on the doors on my FLU?
It reads "E199", and directly below it says "TE004M". Up front is stenciled "AF 93". I'm sure that there's a clue to where it used to live in there.

A body might think that had something to do with the Air Force (AF), but then I guess it would read USAF, and not just AF; so I'm not much help.

 

[The FLU farm]

My HMMH is the only FLU I've seen with "45MPH OFF HWY 55MPH ON HWY" stenciled on the front fenders, as seen in my pics in this thread but nobody else's.

Okay, you had me fooled there, Bison. Your "45MPH OFF HWY 55MPH ON HWY" stencil obviously doesn't apply to a FLU, yet it sounded familiar.
Sure enough, there's one on my HMMH, too.

I even have one without any mention of off highway pressures.

But as you probably know from reading this thread, and other FLU related information sources, those pressure recommendations were changed to 40 psi for all uses.

But yes, there are recommendations for speed, too. This is how it was applied to my HMMH.

 

[BigBison]

So looks like I need my Ether setup to work. I ordered the can from Napa but i need help with how it supposed to work. To add complication the knob broke so all I have is the shaft sticking out. So what should I check before i use it?

I don't know of a way to check that ether shot *before* trying it, because if it works but you're not really using it to start the FLU, you're gonna get a little buzz. I cold-started my SEE several times before trying the ether shot, down to about 15 below the motor fired right up.

The procedure for the ether shot is the same as it is on my landlord's John Deere tractor. If the motor's turning over too slowly to fire, then while cranking, give one pull to the ether-shot knob. This should give a metered dose of ether to the motor, which should fire right up. If it doesn't, don't pull the knob a second time, quit cranking and let things sit a minute.

My SEE just kept pumping the ether, more than the motor would burn, and I had to bail out of the cab once I realized how high I was on ether. In retrospect, a shot of WD-40 on that shaft your knob broke off of, couldn't hurt. I think it was my knob that stuck, not any other part of the system.

 

[BigBison]

Ah, that explains a few things, Bison.
But those are maximum speeds, not minimum.

lol... but I agree with the "MAX SPEED 35MPH" w/ the stock tires @ 40psi, for the SEE. The HMMH is more stable on the highway, so 40MPH. Off-road, I haven't had either above 25MPH. You'd love talking to my neighbors, two brothers in their 90's with Korean War combat-infantry badges. The older one, regardless of conveyance, never breaks 10MPH. I road-work my malamute faster than that when she's trotting next to the truck or motorcycle, he'll see us blazing up his tailpipe and turn into a driveway to circle around & let us pass. But, he gives his younger brother the same speed-demon grief he gives me. Then they'll reminisce about riding horses into town to go to school, and how that was so much faster than walking, but how fast do you need to travel? Not that his little brother's much faster.

You want to talk about driving too fast on the county roads hereabouts, let's look at the larger ranching outfits and how fast their pickups & 4-wheelers & tractors & hay-laden semis drive off-pavement. Believe it or not, I'm slower traffic around here. But I will exceed 10MPH because I used to ride my bicycle to school faster than that, even in the snow!

 

[BigBison]

Okay, you had me fooled there, Bison. Your "45MPH OFF HWY 55MPH ON HWY" stencil obviously doesn't apply to a FLU, yet it sounded familiar.

When I say FLU I mean all of SEE, HMMH, HME. Aren't they all FreightLinerUnimogs? What I've learned better from participating here, is not to call any but the SEE a FLU-419. But I still thought they were all FLUs?

Now that I've seen pics here of both "MAX SPEED" and "ON HWY 55 PSI" stencils, I'll admit today's the first day it's occurred to me that the fender-stencils on my HMMH refer to PSI not MPH! Gotta love ambiguous markings, but I still took 'em with a grain of salt because I've yet to try driving one in a military convoy. Having passed plenty of military convoys on US Interstates over the years, they seem to move along at 50MPH, so a 55MPH max speed didn't seem outrageous on the surface of it.

 

[The FLU farm]

When I say FLU I mean all of SEE, HMMH, HME. Aren't they all FreightLinerUnimogs? What I've learned better from participating here, is not to call any but the SEE a FLU-419. But I still thought they were all FLUs?

Correct you are, Bison. Somewhat recently I learned that one way to identify them is as FLU419.101, FLU419.102, and FLU419.103.
But it seems that FLU419 is automatically associated with the SEE, and then there's the FLU10344 designation for the HMMH. The latter makes some sense when knowing that the HMMH is a FLU419.103.
So yes, when I write FLU, I also mean all of them.

 

[The FLU farm]

Well, there goes the neighborhood. Found this a few miles away.

 

[peakbagger]

To me its "great minds think alike"

 

[Go Go Gadget FLU 419]

Long time no see folks. I was down with the sickness for a while, still haven't gotten caught up with reading this thread. I'm pretty depressed about my SEE. Anyone able and willing to give me the over all length of their motor oil dip stick, and the distance their full mark reads from the tip, and what their oil level is? What a headache...she ate all my money, now I'm broke, and too scared to use it until I know she is ok.

 

[General Hood]

Alright, who here can help decipher the markings on the doors on my FLU?
It reads "E199", and directly below it says "TE004M". Up front is stenciled "AF 93". I'm sure that there's a clue to where it used to live in there.

I believe AF93 is a designation given by the Air Force Material Command, not sure about the other markings

 

[FOD]

Long time no see folks. I was down with the sickness for a while, still haven't gotten caught up with reading this thread. I'm pretty depressed about my SEE. Anyone able and willing to give me the over all length of their motor oil dip stick, and the distance their full mark reads from the tip, and what their oil level is? What a headache...she ate all my money, now I'm broke, and too scared to use it until I know she is ok.

I'm taking a total guess here based on your post, but are you checking a dipstick on the driver side of your engine or the passenger side. I only mention it because the power steering stick is very short and can be confused for engine oil since it likely has oil in it. The engine oil is actually on the passenger side and much more typical of a regular oil dipstick. I may or may not have made this mistake in my haste during the first hour of ownership when I was trying to get it off the delivery truck.

 

[The FLU farm]

Long time no see folks. I was down with the sickness for a while, still haven't gotten caught up with reading this thread. I'm pretty depressed about my SEE. Anyone able and willing to give me the over all length of their motor oil dip stick, and the distance their full mark reads from the tip, and what their oil level is? What a headache...she ate all my money, now I'm broke, and too scared to use it until I know she is ok.

Welcome back among the living, Gadget. And I won't even make the obvious a bad pun.
Too bad you didn't resurface a few days ago, when I had two of the 'houses off to check anti freeze levels. For now, I'm guessing that the oil level should be about 18 inches down. Come to think of it, wasn't there a couple of posts on this issue many pages ago?
Glad you're back, either way.

 

[The FLU farm]

I believe AF93 is a designation given by the Air Force Material Command, not sure about the other markings

Thanks, General. Air Force would make sense in this case.

 

[BigBison]

So, where's the proper place on this forum to put up a review of Couch Offroad? Things between me & Jay couldn't possibly be any uglier than they are now. He cashed my $35K check for the HMMH 9 months ago based on his claim of having clear title to it, which if it wasn't a lie, he'd have certainly signed over to me by now. Instead, I keep getting stories about how hard he's working to get that title he told me he had or no way way in **** I'd have cut him a check for $35K (actually $40K for the hydronics/heaters/etc he hasn't done to the SEE despite having it for several months). Currently dealing with my attorney & the Adams County Sheriff to get my SEE back from him after five months and no work done on it.

If anyone here has a better relationship with Jay than I apparently do despite knowing his GF from Steamboat in the 90's, maybe help me recover my SEE or get the title promised for my HMMH? I've spent the past 36 hours trying to recover my SEE to no avail, but heck, does it make me a jerk if I don't want to deal with the guy, and just want the title (as promised) to the FLU he sold me and possession of the one he's done no work on for almost half a year? RAC Transport's been awesome, but the first place they went was the vacant lot which used to be Couch Offroad, so good luck even trying to figure out his addy to reclaim your 'Mog if I'm not the only one he's flaked on.

As of right now, I should bow out of this thread, because apparently I won't own any FLUs for a couple of years until the courts can sort all this out between me & Mr. Couch. Caveat Emptor, and all.

 

[BigBison]

If I still thought I could recover the SEE, regardless of the HMMH title situation, I wouldn't have made that last post. But at this point, it'll cost me as much as both "my" Mogs did to sue Jay Couch, so I'd rather bad-mouth him until the end of eternity unless he sues me to shutup, or just gives me back my SEE and the title to my HMMH, because from where I sit, I'm out $60K for two Unimogs I can't prove I own, because the one I'm more certain about is in his posession not mine, making things really problematic when dealing with the unscrupulous.

 

[BigBison]

Yes, I tried calling Jay yesterday, but his response to my being upset about his not even getting the hydronic unit installed on the SEE (as per the one he did install on "my" HMMH he's not come through with the promised title for) was cussing, yelling, accusing me of being drunk, and slamming down the phone on me. Why I'm dying to know where to post a proper negative review here so other Mog owners have something to think about before doing "business" with someone who really would rather have your truck than your money. Despite how I'd much rather keep this sort of thing private, because there's always two sides to a story. But heck, unless "bill of sale only" was clearly indicated at time of purchase, who amongst us would let this slide beyond 9 months on a used-vehicle purchase, into the next calendar year with no (as-promised) title in sight? Sorry, but I'm not that chump. 25 years since I've even threatened to sue anyone. If you value your FLU, don't give it to Jay Couch for any reason, OK?

Even if I get my SEE back tomorrow, no retraction forthcoming on this opinion. If my SEE had at least had a hydronic unit installed since Couch got it in July, I'd be way way WAY less pissed off than I am atm!!!