bit of a vent: I love my m998, but what a year for maintenance!

[kestrelnh]

Me and my family love our '92 m998a0. I've owned it for a little more than two years, and have put maybe 3,000 miles on it. The kids adore it, we use it as the family pickup truck, go off road with it, and today joined in a Memorial Day parade with a '42 MB and a '71 M35a2. But holy smokes, what a year for keeping it moving! The front diff came apart at the end of last year, and the parking brakes were sticking. I replaced the diff and brake cables this spring. With it moving again, we discovered during inspection there was a bad tie rod end. I had replaced all the steering components when I got it, so this was the rear. No problem to fix, but it took a week to get the parts. One I got THAT fixed, I pulled out of the garage and the silly thing wasn't charging. Diagnosed to bad regulator, did some research, got one that works great, took a week to get here, put it in, voila! Charging system sorted.

Then yesterday I decided it was time to change the transmission fluid and filter on the TH400. Not that it would have made a difference, but I know I should have done it when I got the truck a couple years and few thousand miles ago, but the fluid was nice and red, and it shifts fine, so I delayed. Pulled the pan, and besides a small amount of very very fine shaving on the magnetic drain plug that I expected, there seemed to be a fair number of flakes (shavings? But probably smaller) of yellow metal and maybe aluminum in there. I didn't even take pictures. New filter, buttoned up, filled up, and now I'm wondering how long I have left in the transmission. I have changed every other fluid (most yearly) except the coolant, which tests OK, and that's getting changed in a couple of weeks.

My higher brain functions knew what I was getting myself into when I bought it, I love it and like working on it, but there are a lot of hours and dollars to the used mile on this thing, which I'm sure is news to nobody at all.

If someone DOES want to tell me that they've put 100k miles on their HMMWV with nothing except regular oil changes, please don't

 

[URSATDX]

They are like buying an old, used boat with wheels.
I have an older boat, too.

 

[Ue413]

That's anything mechanical.....it is par for the course. What I don't like about my m998 is every time the fan turns on I practically have a heart attack.

 

[kestrelnh]

That's anything mechanical.....it is par for the course. What I don't like about my m998 is every time the fan turns on I practically have a heart attack.

Hah It took me a month to experience that one since my fan was stuck on until I replaced the thermoswitch. I warn people about it when they ride with me, as a high percentage of passengers look very concerned the first time they hear it. Actually, if I remember correctly I also had to apply shop air to the fan clutch and reach through the fan blades and tap on the clutch to get it to release. I think mine had been sitting long enough to make it stick.

 

[jshummer]

A differential
Parking Brake Cables
A Tie Rod
A regulator

Sounds pretty tame for a 20 year old truck. You should see the list of parts and the wait times and the price for parts on my old 2005 Range Rover.

The dif is the only major thing. Sounds like you’ve done well. Drive it more maybe that’ll help.

 

[Bulldogger]

My list is a bit different, but monetarily and time-wise identical to yours. Part of owning an old piece of industrial equipment

I still enjoy it and do not regret it. I'm from Indiana, and so more than a little bit Contrary, but I enjoy being different than every one else, so a Hmmwv is good stuff.

Keep at it. Check the annual maintenance requirements and consider trying to get out ahead. Not that you ever get very far...

Bulldogger

 

[BLK HMMWV]

HMMWV
High Maintenance Money Wasting Vehicle !!!! What part don't you understand

 

[kestrelnh]

My list is a bit different, but monetarily and time-wise identical to yours. Part of owning an old piece of industrial equipment

I still enjoy it and do not regret it. I'm from Indiana, and so more than a little bit Contrary, but I enjoy being different than every one else, so a Hmmwv is good stuff.

Keep at it. Check the annual maintenance requirements and consider trying to get out ahead. Not that you ever get very far...

Bulldogger

I enjoy working on it, and don't regret owning it for a moment. Here in NH I pulled it out of salt-avoidance storage in early April and started to work on it at that point, and I just got it fully functional this past week, so it took me two months to really start using it again. That's partially unexpected snags, partially parts lead time, partially lack of time to work on it. The kids aren't quite old enough to help It was the charging system going out that really got my goat. It had been working the day before, and I had hustled and taken off form work to get the tie rod in and replaced so I could go on a fire road scouting run the next day, and then there was just the sinking feeling as I looked at the voltage gauge and the thought of "For real? Seriously?". The regulator is an unserviceable potted piece of electronics. Not that I knew it was the regulator until I went through the troubleshooting procedure the next day. I began to anthropomorphize the truck at that point wondering why it didn't want to go out for a nice ride in the woods =)

I'll have to figure out how to work on it with some degree of comfort this coming winter so I can get ahead on some stuff like ball joints, starting to rebuild the geared hubs, etc.. None are toast yet, but all are showing signs that they are approaching the end of their useful life either through age or hard use. The diff replacement project crept in scope a bit into half a new drive shaft, front brakes, and a new half-shaft, as I was not going to have it all apart and not fix those issues as I found them. I went through quite a bit of the truck the first year, and then more this year, at this rate within five years I should be in good shape, having a ship of Theseus with all new parts!

 

[Flyingvan911]

Hang in there. As you repair and maintain each item, it will last a long time.

 

[ken]

I wouldn't worry too much about the TH400. Most of the material you see in the pan come from the clutches when shifting. They slip a little during to smooth out the shift. They are metal impregnated so you will see metal in the pan. Along with normal gear hard parts wear. I have pulled civi TH400 pans that were never serviced in 20 years with 1/4 inch thick crap in the bottom of the pan. They ran just fine. I pulled the pan on my 998 when I got it. It too had a thick layer in the bottom.

 

[riderdan]

That's anything mechanical.....it is par for the course. What I don't like about my m998 is every time the fan turns on I practically have a heart attack.

It's not the noise that gets me (hearing protection), it's when I'm chugging up a hill and I'm suddenly going 5mph slower for some unknown reason

 

[NDT]

That's anything mechanical.....it is par for the course. What I don't like about my m998 is every time the fan turns on I practically have a heart attack.

Thought I was the only one. That bothered me so much I went with the viscous clutch from the H1.

 

[Pierreab]

Me and my family love our '92 m998a0. I've owned it for a little more than two years, and have put maybe 3,000 miles on it. The kids adore it, we use it as the family pickup truck, go off road with it, and today joined in a Memorial Day parade with a '42 MB and a '71 M35a2. But holy smokes, what a year for keeping it moving! The front diff came apart at the end of last year, and the parking brakes were sticking. I replaced the diff and brake cables this spring. With it moving again, we discovered during inspection there was a bad tie rod end. I had replaced all the steering components when I got it, so this was the rear. No problem to fix, but it took a week to get the parts. One I got THAT fixed, I pulled out of the garage and the silly thing wasn't charging. Diagnosed to bad regulator, did some research, got one that works great, took a week to get here, put it in, voila! Charging system sorted.

Then yesterday I decided it was time to change the transmission fluid and filter on the TH400. Not that it would have made a difference, but I know I should have done it when I got the truck a couple years and few thousand miles ago, but the fluid was nice and red, and it shifts fine, so I delayed. Pulled the pan, and besides a small amount of very very fine shaving on the magnetic drain plug that I expected, there seemed to be a fair number of flakes (shavings? But probably smaller) of yellow metal and maybe aluminum in there. I didn't even take pictures. New filter, buttoned up, filled up, and now I'm wondering how long I have left in the transmission. I have changed every other fluid (most yearly) except the coolant, which tests OK, and that's getting changed in a couple of weeks.

My higher brain functions knew what I was getting myself into when I bought it, I love it and like working on it, but there are a lot of hours and dollars to the used mile on this thing, which I'm sure is news to nobody at all.

If someone DOES want to tell me that they've put 100k miles on their HMMWV with nothing except regular oil changes, please don't

I enjoy working on it, and don't regret owning it for a moment. Here in NH I pulled it out of salt-avoidance storage in early April and started to work on it at that point, and I just got it fully functional this past week, so it took me two months to really start using it again. That's partially unexpected snags, partially parts lead time, partially lack of time to work on it. The kids aren't quite old enough to help It was the charging system going out that really got my goat. It had been working the day before, and I had hustled and taken off form work to get the tie rod in and replaced so I could go on a fire road scouting run the next day, and then there was just the sinking feeling as I looked at the voltage gauge and the thought of "For real? Seriously?". The regulator is an unserviceable potted piece of electronics. Not that I knew it was the regulator until I went through the troubleshooting procedure the next day. I began to anthropomorphize the truck at that point wondering why it didn't want to go out for a nice ride in the woods =)

I'll have to figure out how to work on it with some degree of comfort this coming winter so I can get ahead on some stuff like ball joints, starting to rebuild the geared hubs, etc.. None are toast yet, but all are showing signs that they are approaching the end of their useful life either through age or hard use. The diff replacement project crept in scope a bit into half a new drive shaft, front brakes, and a new half-shaft, as I was not going to have it all apart and not fix those issues as I found them. I went through quite a bit of the truck the first year, and then more this year, at this rate within five years I should be in good shape, having a ship of Theseus with all new parts!

I'm in NH also if you need moral support or a shoulder to cry on ! PM me if you want to compare notes or need help I'm a former GM line tech.

Thought I was the only one. That bothered me so much I went with the viscous clutch from the H1.

Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk

 

[tage]

No inspection. But my hmmwv I have just done a control box and glow plugs... Maybe 300 miles in the last 3 years now. Should be due for fluids. But I never take her on black top.

 

[ken]

I've learned that parts for these trucks are WAY over priced. For example I saw one military parts dealer selling a water pump for $80! What seriously $80???? NO THANKS! A GM diesel water pump can be had for less than $20. I am a huge capitalist and happy that I can find things cheaper. One good point is that they used a lot of off the shelf parts to build it. Kinda like Jeep did in the old days. So it is possible to find the civi part number for a lot of things cheaper with some research.