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M934A2 Expandable Off-Road capabilities

red

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A thought to the crowd. What do you think would be better offroad and overall reliability; a M934, a M1079 with a m105 in tow, a M932 with a s250 on the deck and an M105 in tow, or a 923 with a S-280 in the bed?

All of them would be set up with a living area inside the van. The trailer would be for a motorcycle, bicycle, and other storage. The 934 the last 8 foot would be built in like a toy-hauler. the 923 I believe would have room in the bed aft of the shelter to store the motorcycle. This would be for long term living and I have no issues with cramped living space as long as I can store what I need.
In order of offroad capability: m923 with s-280 best, m934 2nd, with all the others performing similar 3rd place offroad because of the trailer. For reliability I will NEVER trust a LMTV based on my experience with them while active duty. We had many vehicles on the demolition range and the LMTV had to go in for repairs (not maintenance, repairs) an average of 3 times per year.

Depending on which s-280 it should be 12ft long, leaving 2ft of bed space. Lower the tailgate halfway and pretty much double that extra space for outside storage/deck/whatever.
 

TB58

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Fayetteville, Nc
Red, Thanks for the insight. We don't use our LMTV's nearly enough to really tell if they are reliable or not. They leave the motor pool maybe once every few months. The 1079 is really attractive for this but reliability is something I am going for.

As far as the trailers, I would be dragging them to a camp site and leaving them there, or if I find a place to set up as "home" I would leave it there if I intended to do anything serious.
 

red

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Eagle Mountain/Utah
If you are leaving the trailer at camp then for offroad capability m932, m923, m1079, m934 in order from best-worst.

The range trucks would get about 300-500 miles a year on the highway, spent most of their time offroad. The LMTV's got more highway miles because when it would break down maintenance would put it on a trailer and tow it back to base, then we would have to drive it back out to the range once it was fixed. The idea of setting up C4 on the LMTV or leaving it to become a bombing target was discussed multiple times by all of us.
 

TB58

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Fayetteville, Nc
ah yes, the blow it in place response. Have tried that on a few aircraft but never got the go ahead, apparently they are worth more than my time was.

This gives me a good starting point, now the big hurdle is availability of quality products and getting the license and such.

Thanks again for the info
 

Valence

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The setup Valence had is appealing. Those cargo truck beds are spacious. The close-up pics are good, they show just how much room there is. Adding an insulated layer under the existing canvas could help keep the heat in. Much like an insulated tipi. That truck/tool box could be used to secure my computer equipment and things that look pricy while in town getting supplies in the remote chance someone peeks in.

Can the canvas in good condition withstand 60-80MPH wind? It gets pretty windy anywhere near the Sierras. There may be a problem with the wind sucking the heat out too. I wouldn't know how to address that, need to keep the fingers warm to type and use the trackpad. But getting a cargo setup like that would keep me from going overboard initially and it would be mobile enough in the more open country.
As long as the cargo cover is lashed down tightly, and not put on backwards, IMO, it will survive 60-80 MPH winds just fine. My currently equipped cargo cover is not new and it has had some professional sewing to fix it (re-stitch windows and other repairs from damage by previous owner). I cruise my M35A2 at about 50 MPH on the interstate, so I'm sure it has seen well above 60 MPH wind and it shows no signs of further deterioration. I will admit that's only about 2000 miles of use in 3-4 years and it gets stored indoors.

As red pointed out, the problem with my setup in the bed is the low height due to the cargo cover. You are stooped over and your back quickly gets tired. It is plenty high when sitting down though. I left the tailgate down but folded the rear cargo cover flap down so there was about an 18" opening along the bed end (more than enough ventilation - cracking a window flap would have sufficed). As you can see, I had a small, single tank version of the Mr. Heater. That night, temperatures got down into the 40's and I started the heater more for fun than necessity. It quickly got too warm inside. I just threw the gear/cot arrangement together, a little different layout would give more open floor area. Also as red pointed out, an M939 series cargo has +2 additional feet of space in the front that you could setup for secure storage. The Knaack box in my bed is as big of a model that will still allow the troop seats to fold down, though it kind of blocks the seating at the front.

2016-10-22 08.27.13.jpg 2016-10-22 08.26.48.jpg 2016-10-22 08.27.35.jpg

Anyway, it's a decent setup that lets the truck serve multiple purposes, but is labor and time intensive to gather/organize the necessary (and unnecessary lol) camping articles each time.

The 60-80 MPH winds will be more concern to actually getting to sleep (noise) and to the rest of the camp:
Camp fire, chairs, cooking area, bathroom/shower tent... etc

2016-10-22 08.25.39.jpg


If I could have any "take-backsies" or "do overs", the #1 would be Power Steering. Fortunately, all the truck models that you're considering here have that covered. My truck, even with added air-assist steering, quickly wears out the elbows as the truck tries to turn at every rock on the trail. That said though, on sandy, well dug out trails with high sides, the truck literally steers itself. I mean, hands off the wheel steering as it rode and turned from rut to rut, or side berm to side berm - which was immensely entertaining.
 
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Nomadic

Active member
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Nevada
After seeing a trip report from a guy with a van and a military trailer, I think the M932 and trailer would out perform the M934 with higher center gravity. But I don't think I want to manage a huge truck plus a trailer. The trade off of limiting where to go is more appealing.
As insane as it seems, there is a trailer in back:

DSCN0440.jpg (it won't embed :()

Trip report link.
 
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red

Active member
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Eagle Mountain/Utah
My concern with a trailer offroad is not going forward, it's when having to back up. The bumperettes limit how tight the trailer can turn so it's easy to get it in a bind.

That being said if you would rather not deal with a trailer and you want more than 12ft of length for a camper, then a cargo truck with a s280 shelter or a m934
 
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TexanOnTheMove

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Centreville, MD
My ‘92 M934A2 works great off road. I’ve taken mine deep into the woods of central PA in February for our annual winter camping trip. Negotiating around trees is a problem due to the size of the truck, but it has no problem knocking down small trees or going though deep mud. Our camp site is in a ravine next to a stream, down a steep hill. My M934A2 had no problem climbing out of it in high range. Just had to in-gauge the front axle to clime out. I even had to snake my way through the woods to pull out a Dodge Ram that had gotten stuck the night before in a deep mud puddle that had frozen solid over the night. I’ll post the vid of me pulling the Ram out when I find it.
 

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