LMTV Traction on Soft Ground

[NDT]

I had the misfortune today to drive the LMTV on an area of ground I thought would be just fine to drive on. The pictures tell the story. The unloaded but heavy LMTV (L, really??) pushed the MVTs 12" or more into the wet ground. I had the Allison in "mode" and as the sinking in got worse I gave more and more throttle until at the end it was WOT, inching forward. As you can see the MVTs packed up. The ground is typical gumbo. I am not at all happy with the way the FMTVs apply power in heavy pulling situations. With an old gen deuce, you can gear down and get on the throttle and tires will spin on concrete, mud, whatever. With the FMTVs, the gearing is so high that from a standstill, the torque converter just absorbs all the power, and the engine is stuck under 1000 rpms, and it just bogs. I guess the moral of the story is be very very careful what your drive your FMTV into.

 

[steve6x6x6]

The wheels have started to turn on DT. lockers to be made for the Meritor RF12, or M1078 and up.

 

[Suprman]

On dry dirt under load I didn't have any bogging issues. Maybe low range with the tire pressure in sand mode would have helped a bit. If I had looked at the "before" grass I wouldn't have though anything of it either though.

 

[Coffey1]

At least you didn't get stuck and buried.

 

[tennmogger]

At least you didn't get stuck and buried.

That says a lot! The transmission split the torque and kept both ends pulling. Bet that was a tense time until you hit harder ground! (Can't imagine one of these things buried.)

Ditto the suggestion of SAND mode. I have been in soft earth like that here on the farm and the LMTV did just fine aired down, and did not sink. Not Unimog fine (no comparison really), but adequate. I also found out how much traction and pull these trucks have. I was pulling downed trees out of a ravine and the LMTV never failed to move them.

Bob

 

[Webrep]

They can and do get stuck especially if you don't go directly into the muck. We tried to avoid it and got two tires mired down on one side. This left the drivers side tire just spinning with no traction. Jeep and a 15,000 lb winch pulled it out with a pulley. Interesting side notes...1. our CTIS wasn't working at the time 2. we hit a rock with the schrade valve on the tire and it went flat as heck. Everyone told us after that "how did you get one stuck"...they drove them through the swamps in MS and quicksand in Iraq, etc. Always go straight in never get one side higher.