Flat towing a LMTV ?

Need some info on flat towing a LMTV from any of you military hook jockeys, the TM states that flat towing is the PERFERED method of recovery, with the max. distance of 100 miles and 35 mph., this brings up a few questions from people that have done this,

1 -- How well does the LMTV follow ?
2 -- Has there been any damage if the tow speed was 50mph (tm states "damage may happen over 35 mph)" does not sat WILL, so the question is, WILL a flat tow speed of 50 mph hurt the truck since the drop box can not be dropped into natural ?
3 -- On a lift tow, which is the preferred end lift, front or rear ?
4 -- I did a front lift tow off the lift shackle brackets, a very high lift is required to get the tires to clear the ground due to spring droop, would it be better to chain up the axle and use that as the lift point (chain up around the front bumper or rear frame member)?
5 -- I have seen military recoveries where the front tires are spinning as the vehicle is being towed, the question is will there be any damage if this is done with the LMTV (again the TM states "may" cause damage) does it ?
6 -- If lift towing and again the tow speed is over 35 mph and the drive shafts are not removed as the TM states (again "MAY" cause damage), Does it ?

I noticed that there are more "MAY" happens in the -10 then all the other TMs that I have put together, it is like the morons that designed the LMTV learned a NEW word "MAY" and were so proud of this feat of intelligence that they wanted to show off that they were capable of learning.

Drop the drive shafts and pull away.

wb1895 said:

Drop the drive shafts and pull away.

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+1

When flat towing the transmission will not cycle the fluid so serious damage can result.

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Look at it this way. Are you going to risk messing up that EXPENSIVE Allison just to save 3 hours pulling and replacing driveshafts? Not me. With the driveshafts removed, the TM more or less says you can tow at highway speeds. The 35 mph is the limit with the driveshafts in place.

Towing a LMTV...

I had posted in another thread about taking off my gladhands in the front and putting plugs in and after that the brakes locked. Good folks replied and I put it back like it was.

It is just making me think about towing. I think someone replied that these trucks are made to tow.

How is the transmission made to handle towing? Does neutral mean you can tow it? Is it like putting a manual transmission in neutral?

Let me know if you know.

If you tow an LMTV more than a couple of miles, you have to remove BOTH driveshafts.

A trailer tow is the preferred method . I had to take off a driveshaft on one of these and it's not a fun thing to do.

1 -- max flat tow IS 100 miles
2 -- max flat tow speed IS 35 mph
3 -- if front lift tow, pull the rear axles
4 -- if rear lift tow, pull the front drive shaft
5 -- if flat tow over 100 miles, pull rear axles and front drive shaft
The reason for all this is that the POS truck does NOT have a transfer case with high, neutral, low, what the POS does have is a drop box with NO NEUTRAL, just direct drive to both front/rear axles, there is NO WAY to isolate the transmission from the drop box and in turn the axles. Another better idea by a design committee with NO idea how to design a tactical truck.

Andyrv6av8r said:

If you tow an LMTV more than a couple of miles, you have to remove BOTH driveshafts.

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Ah, the voice of experience -)

bchauvette said:

Ah, the voice of experience -)

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The voice of experience says; 'driveshafts of an LMTV are a bitch to get off ('

It may just be me but it seems combat rated vehicles should be as simple to operated maintain and tow including bump start. We may be in long going sutuations where we wont have all all the high tech resources and logistics to continue a war. We seem to continually give our stuff away so they can defend themselves???? High tech equipment is not a good fit.

73m819 has it correct... If you can get it up on a low boy that is best for rig. Less hassle all way round. Don't get me started on glad hands. Front side air is for towing.....nothing else! Take a guess how to get air to rear....

I tow these trucks quite regularly. I use an M1089A1P2 so I utilize the lift tow option exclusively. They will track just fine using a towbar but it's too much trouble going through the serpentine created by the barriers to get on post. If I'm only going the 10 or so miles from the training area, we just hook, lift and go slow. If I have to tow to home station 180 miles down the road, we do the same and pull the driveshaft from the transfer to the forward rear axle or only rear axle if it's a 2.5 ton LMTV. One thing I've learned is I can use both airlines on a single rear axle truck and have no issues. If I'm towing a dual rear axle LMTV, only the red "Emergency" air line gets hooked up and I drive much more cautiously. If I hook both airlines which would seem to be the correct thing to do, the brakes will apply but not release on the towed truck. I follow the TM, hook up, air up the disabled truck, release the brakes with the yellow diamond and go about my business. After 1 or 2 applications of the brakes, the towed truck will start to drag. When I pull the blue "Service" hose off, it releases quite a bit of air and the brakes are freed. I've learned this through experience of towing about 20. After the first 5, I had to modify my procedure to leave the blue hose in the storage box and drive more slowly and cautiously and I've never had an issue. If anybody has a good idea of what I'm doing wrong, I'd love to hear it. I'm much more comfortable having both trucks brakes operational when towing. The FMTV Wrecker does weigh more than anything I've towed with it but a Safety Margin would be nice when towing.

The only one I'd use for transporting a LMTV is Combat Kingz, they are combat proven and KNOW what they are doing, with safety of equipment and personnel involved in mind. They can handle anything from the size of HET's to CUCV

I have a few shippers I trust to ship trucks for me, a fair price, and a do a great job

73m819 said:

I have a few shippers I trust to ship trucks for me, a fair price, and a do a great job

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I had to deal with so many shady shippers. It comes with the territory. If you buy a few MV's there are always these poor souls that try to pull you one over.
But that's a thing of the past, I found one of the very few honest transports and won't even bother dealing with someone else.

I used Rounders Logistics to transport my LMTV on a flatbed and was very pleased and thankful I didn't self recover after getting the truck home and finding all the issues not reported in the GP inspection report. They are a vendor on SS in the Transportation Forum.

I was a nay-sayer on paying to transport and had tons if parts, tools, and supplies prepared for recovery but 800 miles was just too risky sight unseen. Thanks to folks on this forum and Lmtv772 especially for steering me to pay for shipping and happily wait for delivery.

73m819 said:

1 -- max flat tow IS 100 miles
2 -- max flat tow speed IS 35 mph
3 -- if front lift tow, pull the rear axles
4 -- if rear lift tow, pull the front drive shaft
5 -- if flat tow over 100 miles, pull rear axles and front drive shaft
The reason for all this is that the POS truck does NOT have a transfer case with high, neutral, low, what the POS does have is a drop box with NO NEUTRAL, just direct drive to both front/rear axles, there is NO WAY to isolate the transmission from the drop box and in turn the axles. Another better idea by a design committee with NO idea how to design a tactical truck.

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I just wanted to say that I like that you don't have a filter here and didn't sugar coat anything.