LVS Rear body units delivered

[bigmellon]

I received my MK17 and MK18 rear body units yesterday... Thought I would share a few pics.

The rolloff unit has seen better days and will need some serious TLC. I think the loader went crazy with a fork truck and snapped off most of the fittings connecting the truck to trailer. Darn thing is going to be a nightmare to rework, and might wind up as spare parts.

The unit with the crane is sure good looking! Looks to be all there and recently cleaned up and painted. My inspection shows that the crane is marked "DO NOT USE" and it seems to be missing the winch rope. I will need to test the unit to see what all is missing.... and needs love.

The FPU should be here next week! Hopefully it just needs the batteries to be replaced and will be in modest running condition. It would be great to have this bad boy functional.

A guy in Georgia has a few spare parts for these things, but it is limited mostly to the RBUs. I had to order up driveshafts and the remote control units. Anyone know of a good source for parts for the tractor heads???

 

[area52]

Whats a FPU and a RBU? Looking good!

 

[wreckerman893]

Whats a FPU

FPU=Front Power Unit

RBU=DAMIFINO

 

[1 Patriot-of-many]

In his case sounds like RBU= Rear Broken Unit

 

[emmado22]

Rear Body Unit

 

[bigmellon]

HAhahahahaa. Rear Broken Unit. I like that.

I guess I have been reading the manuals a little too much!!

 

[bigmellon]

FPU delivered...

Here she is! Unloaded safe and sound. Topped off the fluids, add batteries, and she fired right up! Wow. I do have a small hydraulic leak, but hope to get that sealed up in the next day or two. Sounds healthy!!

 

[Flyingvan911]

That looks like it will be tons of fun.

 

[youngunbd]

Zoinks!

You sir, win at life! I wish I could get one of these rigs, let alone afford to fill one up!

 

[Derrickl112]

Looks great. I recently bought a crane from an mk17a1. I cant wait to get it mounted and working!!

Keep the pictures coming!

 

[bigmellon]

Help identify these parts...

I found a treasure trove of parts in the passenger seat. Looks like a bunch of tie downs for the RBUs, an axe, shovel, and pick. what are these bars for? They are too long to lock out the hydraulic knuckle. There are also a lot of brackets... NO idea what they are for. Anyone have any ideas? I could spread it all out and take some better pics tomorrow...

 

[maddawg308]

Wow. So, what's it like having money?

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

I'm sure I speak for many here....

We'd LOVE to see some video of the FPU being operated separate from the RBU - (Rear Back Unconnected thingie) If you can, please post some movies.

 

[bigmellon]

I am not sure if this will work... But my buddy took a short video of the initial start up. It actually started so easily, he missed the beginning! And of course, I am stunned that you have to depress the brake before it cranks over! Duh!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=587486889939

I am not sure if that is a public FB page, but we can give it a shot. I will try to post up some video of it teetering around in the next day or two...

 

[emmado22]

You DONT want to drive over 10 MPH without a rear body unit.. You WILL do a faceplant. Read the pages of warnings about this in the TM.

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

ERROR MESSAGE on that link.....

This content is currently unavailable
The page you requested cannot be displayed right now. It may be temporarily unavailable, the link you clicked on may have expired, or you may not have permission to view this page.

 

[1 Patriot-of-many]

****, I want to see that thing hooked up and driving..... Looks sweet!

 

[1 Patriot-of-many]

You DONT want to drive over 10 MPH without a rear body unit.. You WILL do a faceplant. Read the pages of warnings about this in the TM.

No kidding? Wierd the military would buy something so inherently unstable...

 

[Scooteerr]

If I may ask, how much do the whole sets usually run? Both the fpu and rbu...

 

[bigmellon]

No kidding? Wierd the military would buy something so inherently unstable...

The speed limitation is just for when unhooked. These units are designed to drive around with the RBU for normal conditions, and separate and grab a new rear body unit in about 20 min to fit your logistics needs.