My soft spot for diesel trucks is right here, the Stewart and Stevenson LMTV. These forward-control beasts started appearing in the U.S. Army fleets in the mid-to-late 1990s and by the time I had enlisted they were a pretty common sight. Running a Caterpillar inline-six and an Allison automatic, the LMTV has plenty of capability and is surprisingly good off-road. From fording flooded tank crossings to one notable incident where I might have stood a truck on it’s front bumper with all four wheels off of the ground…that was never proven, by the way…I learned to love and trust what the truck was capable of. I never had one break down on me, and the only time I ever saw an LMTV down for maintenance was due to a careless mechanic tilting a cab without checking inside to make sure that the fire extinguisher was strapped down.
Fred Williams got to roam the GovPlanet.com auction storage yard somewhere in Utah and decided that instead of a HMMWV or even a 939-series 5-ton, he instead would take an LMTV, in this case a 1995 M1078 (a basic people-mover/cargo variation). These trucks, loosely based on the Steyr 12M18, are everywhere and currently the older trucks are either being retrofitted with new armored cabs or are being phased out due to use/mileage. What harm could possibly come to this truck when Roadkill’s dirt-oriented friend gets ahold of an Army truck? Well…let’s just say that going out for a morning coffee just became a bitch of a task.
Now, remember that part about being able to actually purchase the M1078? That isn’t a joke. This truck is actually available for sale on GovPlanet.com. GovPlanet functions like a cross between a military surplus store and eBay, and right now the LMTV is sitting on the auction block with a bid of $4,750. Unlike eBay, you are told about what’s good and bad about the vehicle from the start…in this case, there’s an issue with the lights (probably a bad headlight), the fan knob is missing (no shock there) and this truck has a bent tie-rod. But the CTIS system works and the canvas and bows for the back come with the big beast…just in case you need a camping vehicle for the summer or something like that.
I’ve been looking forward to this episode for weeks, thanks Bryan!
Fred has been a hero of mine since I first started reading his articles in 4WOR as a kid, waiting on the oil changes on Dad’s pickup.
Yes, in fact, I DO need a camping vehicle for the summer… Govplanet.com you say… hmmm.
rut roh.. air brakes. So much for my summer camping vehicle. I’m not calling my insurance company for that endorsement, been there, done that. They wanted 700.00 a month for a school bus… lol. Not.
CTIS works? Well that’s rare! Good price. The worst failures on those rigs all seemed to be from the cab, whoever designed the sheet metal should be sent to Ramadi. The glass is import car thin and does not roll all the way down into the doors and Joe’s are not delicate, lots of broken windows. They eat swaybar and end-link bushings like I eat Costco chocolate muffins, which ends up making the way they porpoise naturally even worse. Give me a M35 with a PS conversion on it any day. The FMTV series is stout, has decent power, great axles, relatively fast, and can be driven by anyone off the street once told how to operate the parking brake. That dosen’t mean I like them much, I’d take the drivetrain for something else in a heartbeat.
The ‘Skull’ cab uparmored almost fixed everything but the bushing problems and not much can fix the seating position designed for a little guy, a tilt would help a bunch.