My dad's new FMTV...

[mhodges]

mod's if this belongs in convo's feel free to move it.
Well here it is, my dad's new FMTV-

Actually, it's not his. Would be cool if it was cause then I could drive it....lol.
My dad runs a company that builds milspec genset units that are mounted on trailers and used by multiple branches of the service...some pretty neat stuff- they use the Appalachian's in the western part of the state as a test trail prior to aberdeen to make sure their stuff is up to snuff. They even have a M998 HMMWV on loan from DoD to test pull the trailers with...This FMTV is their newest project- mounting one of their large 60kw gensets on an FMTV being designed as a mobile medical facility capable of operating under a chemical attack....cool stuff....anyhow, thought somebody would enjoy the pic. Shameless plug for my dad's company: PSI, power systems inc.- http://www.get-psi.com BTW, his company builds trailers and a/c units for current conflict vehicles, some nice looking stuff if anybody is interested....

 

[BKubu]

RE: My dad

Hopefully, your Dad can let you drive the FMTV. Speaking of which, does anyone know how they drive? Do they drive well?

 

[emr]

RE: My dad

They drive well, very very well, I am a BIG supporter of them, they are up to date, and the more one looks into them the more good things there are to say about them, all the guys up here dont touch anything else anymore, only want to drive the fmtvs, and i can see why...plus as for a military vehicle it has a space and a gadjet for more things than anything in the past, even a heat duct to the troop area, and comunication also, like hey guys we need to stop for beer?...Randy

 

[bulldog_mack13]

RE: My dad

the ones I drove, nah

I want the M35A2 back in service, the LMTV/FMTV roll really easy compaired to most trucks in Colorado on the hills. The small things that add confort to the FMTV can be put into a upgraded M35. The M35A3's should have had a better plan and design, but I dont have a problem using them instead of a LMTV.

 

[Mike_Pop]

I used to own a 1994 Mitsubishi FM-HD which is very similar in styling to the FMTV. It was a pleasure to drive that truck. Plenty of cab space, windshield visibility, leg room, head room, and super easy to back up because of the cabover design. I almost wish I didn't sell it. It had an 18' dump body on it for my garbage business. It would make an excellent car hauler for OTR driving. I averaged 8 mpg and could do 82 mph max.

 

[Daneil]

The question I have is this. Can you abuse them like a M35. Let face it, you can beat the snot out of a deuce, and she'll still work for you. Can you do that with the new trucks.

 

[saddamsnightmare]

July 10th, 2008.

Gentlemen:

I concur with Bull Dog Mack 13 and Daneil above..... The M35 series had great potential for upgrading to newer vehicle status with the essential frame and running gear being but little changed..... To steal an advertisement" They take a licking and keep on ticking". For an off road medium duty truck, the M35 has stood the test of time, used for construction and logging work outside of their military applications.... sure, they ride hard, they steer hard, and the parts are heavy as h--l!, but they'll be soldiering on somewhere long after the FMTV has bit the dust...... WHAT... almost 60 years in Uncle's service and still going.....
Older then the B52 or C130!!!! What more needs to be said..... I've seen the FMTV's and they are complete pansies compared to the work an M35 can do.... If the Army had only taken care of them and upgraded them like the AF, the trucks would still be dishing it out.....
Our Army has alway had a thing for European.... first the Charleville Musket of 1763 (one of the few items the French made that actually performed....), the French Uniforms of the Civil War, the German Uniforms of the 1880's, and today.... the wimpy FMTV's... Uncle... it's time to spend the money in the States on good old American engineering....like the Oshkosh..... by Gosh, on equipment that works, and hold both the designer, the builders and the users equally responsible. The REO design had some weak spots, but the deuce and her children in the five and ten ton classes generally got her done.... in HOW many wars????
If War proves nothing else... the Army that gets the most operable material and men to the battlefield in an efficient manner, usually wins..... The Army has forgotten that they need to design the equipment to be "Bubba" proof, so it works with minimal maintenance...... and the Deuce, the M38A, the M60 all had that quality.....

I'll sit back with my opcorn: and watch the thumbwrestling begin......

Cheers,

Kyle F. McGrogan

1971 Kaiser Jeep M35A2 Wo/W "Saddam's Nightmare" Desert Storm and Vietnam Veteran Deuce
1968 Johnson Corp M105A2
1967 Hercules MEP023A Gas Gen-set APU
1963 Swiss Army Cargo Unimog, S.404.114 MB

 

[bulldog_mack13]

NOOOO you cant beat them up, I know lol . The Cat motor is nice to look at but its no M35 sir . lol

 

[Daneil]

opcorn:

 

[Adamlee]

FMTV

FWIW,

I routinely piloted a cab forward landscape truck virtually identical in design to the Mitsubishi mikepop used, and that the FMTV takes its style cues from.

While I do agree that the modern cab forward approach is wonderful for over-the-road missions, it seems like the off-road capabilities leave much to be desired in the FMTV reviews I've read, and conversations I've had with my "full-time" colleagues at monthly drill at the National Guard Armory.

Seems like the FMTV's are great, when compared to modern pickups and medium-duty trucks that "younger" folks are used to, but generally perceived as lightweights in the durability department by older gen folks.

To each their own!

Now, if somehow I could mutate my M35A2 K-J into an '85 923 5-ton.....

 

[wreckerman893]

M35A2
PROS:
Built like a tank and runs on almost anything flammable.
Can be push/pull started and will run with dead batteries (or no batteries at all)
Can be worked on by anyone with basic mechanical skills using simple tools.
Can be overloaded to the extreme and still pull Hell's half acre.
If still equipped with duals carries 5 spare tires.
Engine has no electronic controls and can be fixed with duct tape and baling wire.
Fairly cheap to manufacture or rebuild.

CONS:
No power steering (unless modified)
Rides like an oxcart
Loud
Hot due to lack of insulation under cab
Top speed around 58mph (unless modified with taller tires)

FMTV
PROS:
Decent ride.
Fairly quiet.
More creature comfort.
Better turning radius.
Has more room to stow gear.

CONS:
Diesel fuel only
Cat engine is electronically controlled and needs batteries to run.
Top heavy
Requires a mechanic to fix almost anything.
Central Tire Inflation System is problematic. (you see a lot of FMTVs on flats in the Motor Pool).
Tires are large and heavy, very hard for small drivers to change.
Automatic transmission means no push/pull starting capability.
Cost is very high for what the military got.

Maybe it is just an old soldier waxing poetic but a lot of the new military equipment is long on eye candy and short on reliablity and function.
Give me the deuce any day (Oh wait.....I got four of them).

 

[saddamsnightmare]

July 11th, 2008.

And one last comment regarding the M35--- Stone Age, yes, but which cab would you rather be riding in in the event of smacking a tree on maneuvers, or having to push a car out of the way (in combat)? Neither are much good against an IED, but for taking front end damage & surviving---- the deuce has to be it....!!! I've seen M35 logging trucks get away from the driver for various reasons in W.Va., and usually after some sheet metal repairs (fenders, hood (sometimes), brush guard and bumper, they generally get put back in service... The trees don't always win with an M35.... BUT AN FMTV??? You're going to really hug that tree if you don't clear the cab fast enough....
If the Army were really serious about getting a tactical truck, they would aim for an American adaptation of the larger Unimogs, like a U1300 on steroids.... now that would be a tactical truck, but stay away from computerized anything (other then the TACOM switch), because these babies better run when you need them, nothing less will do.....

Besides, off the subject, who's going to cajole Jay Leno into putting an M35 in his garage????


Big Cheers for the M35A OX-Cart brigade!!!!!

Sincerely,

Kyle F. McGrogan

N.B. : Mike Pop: You can keep that Japanese noodle beater in the background, but please send me the Diesel Unimog behind it, I'll guartee it a good O.D. (NATO Green, actually) home among my M35, S.404.114 and M105A2 fleet!
K.F.M.

 

[emr]

all said and done , there may be no other vehicle ever in the world like a deuce, it lives up to its reputation and more, BUT it is an antique, no young driver i have seen will ever do anything in the field to the truck,and no or very very few young soldiers will take a deuce over an FMTV anyway, and after all they are diving them not us. as for being a multi, that would be and was upgraded out anyway, sure its as tough as it looks, the Marines are a shore landing bunch of brutes and need the 7 tonners they have, the Army does not,They have heavy truck batalions for that stuff,PLS Hemmits rule the world !!!After all its there call and they made it , Oh as Bob has stated, they outperformed the deuces in all areas in real life.I rest my case....

 

[Ferroequinologist]

Get a bullet in the tranny of a deuce- drive until it grinds to a hault.

Get a bullet in the tranny of an FMTV- it grinds to a hault.

Boo technology. I'm with those that say it better run when it's needed, and all that nice comfy crude is what will keep something from running if it goes bad.

yesterday the entire steel mill was shut down. Why? we didn't have a $0.10 O-ring for the furnace hydraulics.

K.I.S.S.

 

[cranetruck]

......., Oh as Bob has stated, they outperformed the deuces in all areas in real life.I rest my case....

Then there was this 5-ton 8x8 designed and built in the 60's to replace the deuces and 5-tonners of the era. The M656 was built for minimum maintenace and one of the first vehicles built from scratch to military specifications. Bet it can outperform most 2-1/2 to and 5-tonners of today....
I have now only started to drive mine and it's a dream with the dual axle steering and small increment automatic Allison. With the low pressure "super swamper" tires it literally floats across the field (first test run).
With the aluminum construction and the 200 plus hp multifuel it has higher hp to weight ratio than most other military trucks including the new ones. It weighs 3,000 lb less than the equivalent steel 5-ton truck.

If any of you ever come by my place you are welcome to drive it.

 

[saddamsnightmare]

July 12th, 2008.




Sincerely,

Kyle F. McGrogan

1971 Kaiser Jeep M35A2 Wo/W "Saddam's Nightmare" Desert Storm and Vietnam Veteran Deuce
1968 Johnson Corp. M105A2 Cargo Trailer
1967 Hercules MEP023A gas Gen-set APU
1963 Swiss Army Cargo Unimog S.404.114 MB

 

[pevrs114]

One thing I thought was neat on the FMTV is the electric fan cut-off for fording operations.

I'll see if I can dig up my photos of fording an FMTV through a river, depth of the water up to the bottom of the driver's door! I was teaching my squad about off-road driving.

 

[m376x6]

I still miss my M656, they actually do float as you go down the highway. You could go from 4X8 to 8X8 with a flip of the switch. I went through and made sure all the seals worked as well as the bilge pumps but never floated either one I owned. Never had to use the winches mounted on the front, didn't seem like it could get stuck. It was the most aerodynamic cinder block I ever drove. The only vehicle out of over 70 militaries I regret not still having.

Regards,
M376X6

 

[desertfox]

I can only comment on what I drove. The deuce can take that licking and keep on ticking. We proved that in Nam. Drove them hard and fast. They broght us home. Leaking and full of holes. They were designed to take that beating.
I will sit back and opcorn: then see if they reissue the deuce like they have the M60 and M14.

 

[davidkroberts]

ive only driven the FMTV once, it was snowing and raining mix in the first snowstorm Baghdad has seen in 50 years( im a civilian security contractor and we usually dont mess with military stuff much). I was very greatful for the kicka** heater and the transmission shifted nice. I wouldnt trust it any more than i could throw it when it comes to combat though.

Way too complicated for this trigger pulling retard.