The first pics of my HEMTT project !

[dma251]

It's still a LONGGGG way off from completion, but I've finally got it together enough to feel good about posting some pics here for you guys to see what I've been spending all my money on the last couple months.

I just got the repaired skidplate and skidplate frame back from the powdercoaters. It's been shot with a powdercoat primer, and I'll lay down a nice coat of 686 Tan when it's all ready.

I'm heading down to meet Leonard Jones and his Baby-HEMTT in a few weeks, and pick up a second cab from him which I will sandblast and powdercoat (the inside) / paint (the outside). This way I can build up a like-new cab in my garage over the fall and then swap it on when it's done, yet still be able to drive the truck around town with the cab that's currently on it.

I am attaching a pic of the seats I bought for it, too. Also I just got the spare tire mounted up and ready to go on the spare tire carrier - which I also have freshily powdercoated and will bolt them up when the front fenders are done being fabricated and mounted.

I also picked up a like-new ISO drop-side cargo box like the ones the Navy retrofitted on the 5-tons recently. I'm going to put that on the back of the truck when the time comes. It's 3 feet shorter then the stock HEMTT box, but I'll slide it up against the crane, and build a small boarding steps/work platform at the front of the bed next to the engine.

More to come as I move along with the project, especially since it looks half-way presentable now!

 

[ARMYMAN30YearsPlus]

That looks great!

I have great respect for the HEMTT's as they have been serving in forward support companys for over a decade going places a duece or 5 ton had trouble in. I will never forget the evening our HEMTT wrecker slid down a hill during a flash thunder storm in Western Pennsylvainia all the way down till it hit the treeline at the bottom. We could not recover it till it stopped raining and the ground dried up. Once that happened we started it up and drove it out.

 

[nf6x]

HEMTTs are really neat trucks, and I'm excited to see pictures of one being fixed up by a collector!

 

[WillWagner]

That thing is beautiful! Wish I had room for one.

 

[Cdub]

Wow.....you have taken on a great project there........Thanks so much for posting some pic.
Please keep up up-dated on the restoration.

Keep up the good work

seya,

C'dub

 

[dma251]

Here's a couple pics of the battery box I just mounted up after posting these last pics. When I got the truck it had the battery box, but was missing the battery box lid. I had a new one fabricated up. It's a little bit different then the stocker, but I think it's an improvement. I wanted it to have absolutely no metal to metal contact points, a prop rod to hold it up, and I also wanted the top to clamshell down over the front edge, instead of resting on the front edge like originally. I welded up some bungee hold-downs to the sides, and had the box configured for the type of batteries I was running - that's why the battery hold down brackets are a bit different.

Missing in the pick is the stainless steel hardware for holding the batteries down and the airtanks underneath. I have new air tanks I will add on tomorrow.

The whole thing has been sandblasted and powdercoated. Once I have the truck painted, I am going to take it to Rhino-Liner and have them Rhino the inside of the battery box, the side storage cabinets, and the interior floor.

 

[steelsoldiers]

Very impressive! Is your family tired of the "other woman" yet? I know my wife was about ready to kill me around week 10 of the 923A2 project.

 

[M715ForLife]

Looks cool!

How do you park it at walmart though?

Where do you get parts for them?

 

[steelsoldiers]

Where do you get parts for them?

Autozone, Advance Auto Parts, your buddy in the ARNG.

 

[ida34]

Re: RE: The first pics of my HEMTT project !

That looks great!

I have great respect for the HEMTT's as they have been serving in forward support companys for over a decade going places a duece or 5 ton had trouble in. I will never forget the evening our HEMTT wrecker slid down a hill during a flash thunder storm in Western Pennsylvainia all the way down till it hit the treeline at the bottom. We could not recover it till it stopped raining and the ground dried up. Once that happened we started it up and drove it out.

When I was at Fort Campbell we had one off our gun trucks get stuck while trying to leave a firing position after an all night rain. The 15000 lbs M198 howitzer is quite a drag on the five tons. We had 900 series five tons with a winch because of this problem. One of our HEMTT's from our ammo section came up to help pull out the gun truck. It got stuck. Another HEMTT tied and it too got stuck. They could not even get themselves out by the time they decided to unhook everything. I kept driving around the area in my Humvee. I did not get stuck because I was much lighter. It took an engineer units bull dozer to come out and free everything. It just winched every think out. Even the gun was winched out by pulling from the lunette. That is the only time I saw a HEMTT stuck and I got to see two stuck. To be fair the first HEMTT had a mechanical failure while it was trying to unstick itself. I drove HEMTTs both in the states and in the deserts of IRAQ and Saudi Arabia and I can say that I really loved driving them.

 

[M715ForLife]

Where do you get parts for them?

Autozone, Advance Auto Parts, your buddy in the ARNG.

Seriously?

 

[ARMYMAN30YearsPlus]

My Wife served in the USAR and USARNG as an Army Nurse and when she commanded a Charlie Med company in an FSB the USPF&O gave a lot of stuff away to Soldiers. In one case they told my wife's Supply Sergeant to turn in radio mounts as duece tarp kits to get them off the books. I flipped out and told her how illegal all of that was but they did it anyway even when she told them it was not correct or legal. So I surmise that some friends in the right Guard unit could help you. Just be careful because class IX stocks should not come your way unless you are a valid unit. It is really possible to get in aheap of trouble getting any parts from any Army unit. Get them from GL or a dealer it is not worth the price you could pay if found out.

 

[steelsoldiers]

Where do you get parts for them?

Autozone, Advance Auto Parts, your buddy in the ARNG.

Seriously?

No, I was just being a wise-arse. Like David said, you can get in some deep doo-doo if the feds find out you are receiving property from any military unit. The are not many HEMTT's in civi hands so parts can be tough to come by. Sometimes you can find a dealer with some things laying around and sometimes you have to fab stuff up. Bruce Kubu would be a good guy to talk to since he went through a HEMTT complete resto project.

 

[dma251]

I have found that parts are not as hard to find as some might think. The only parts that are really tough are parts made SPECIFICALLY by Oshkosh - such as skid plates, rear fenders, cargo boxes, airboxes, battery boxes, front fenders, etc. These parts are out there, but you have to find them from salvagers or word of mouth. It can be tough. Most of those parts that I was missing I found it easier to just have fabricated.

Engine parts are "mostly" similar to off the shelf 8v92ta Detroit Diesel parts, Tranny parts are Allison, suspension parts are made by Hendricks, crane parts are Grove.... You get the point. Even the hardest parts to find, like door handles and gauges are all fairly simple to source from their original manufacturer.

Example - When I got the truck I was missing the interior door handle. This part seemed impossible to locate. I work at a company that has semi trucks, and one day I noticed that the door handles on some of the Freightliners was exactly the same as the HEMTT door handles. (Hemtt door handles are the exact same inside and out with no key lock). From there I researched Freightliner door handles and finally found this item on Ebay - http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&viewitem=&item=190116023099

I was able to take two of them and have them keyed with matching lock cylinders at a local locksmith, and I took one of my outer door handles, switched it to the inside that was missing, and now I have two locking HEMTT door handles for my new cab!

Same thing with the window cranks. I did a little research and found out that the window cranks are also used on some Peterbilt trucks.

I can get every part I need and never need to even think of getting something illegitimately. It just takes resourcefulness.

 

[gimpyrobb]

If anyone hasn't walked through a Peterbuilt or Kenworth parts place, you should!

 

[dma251]

Next I need a couple of front shocks. The 2 for the front steer axle are missing. I think I will pull one of the rear shocks off and make sure it fits okay on the front, and then take it to my local Kenworth shop where I get most of my stuff and get two new ones matched up from the parts cross-reference manual. Same deal with air filters. I want two new ones (inner and outer) but I only have one old dusty inner filter. I will just take the whole air-can down and we'll crack open the manual until we find the one that fits.

Resourcefulness... Everything I have in my life is because of resourcefulness... I'm not a rich man. Just clever.

 

[redass73]

Great looking project. I would love a M984. Thanks for the pics.

 

[BKubu]

Damon, if I can send any pics of my truck to assist in your reassembly, please let me know. Also, I was talking to Tommy Craig last night and he said he can probably help you find some of the parts that you need. He might even know where a cargo bed is. They are rare so, if he knows where one is, snap it up quickly. The truck looks great!

 

[BKubu]

I wish I could relocate the web site, but I once stumbled across an active duty soldier's site that showed pictures of two HEMTT wreckers pulling a tractor-trailer combo up an icy mountain road in, I believe, Bosnia. Why two HEMTT wreckers to pull one tractor-trailer combo up the hill you might ask? The tractor-trailer's brakes were locked. The two HEMTTs literally dragged the truck up!

 

[Cdub]

After going though some of the pic I took up at Schott's in Maine. It looks like he has a HEMTT in his yard.