FLU419 SEE HMMH HME Owners group

[General Hood]

Won another SEE off GP auction. This one needs a little attention to get it up to par, but glad to have a redundant machine in the motorpool

 

[The FLU farm]

Congratulations! Seems like you, too, find them somewhat addictive.

 

[General Hood]

Congratulations! Seems like you, too, find them somewhat addictive.

Same color and same year model as my other machine. Who knows, they could have been twins in the production line

 

[The FLU farm]

Don't remember if both of mine are the same year, but they are the same color.
It's still easy to tell them apart as one is more of an evil twin.

 

[General Hood]

Picked up my newly acquired SEE yesterday, and after going through the truck was pleasantly surprised to find (22) 30 round M16 magazines and a couple pair of new WileyX ballistic sunglasses under the passenger seat. Always nice to get a bonus gift.

 

[Another Ahab]

Picked up my newly acquired SEE yesterday, and after going through the truck was pleasantly surprised to find (22) 30 round M16 magazines and a couple pair of new WileyX ballistic sunglasses under the passenger seat. Always nice to get a bonus gift.

https://d3macfshcnzosd.cloudfront.net/043167905_main_xxl.mp4

 

[The FLU farm]

Picked up my newly acquired SEE yesterday, and after going through the truck was pleasantly surprised to find (22) 30 round M16 magazines and a couple pair of new WileyX ballistic sunglasses under the passenger seat. Always nice to get a bonus gift.

You're lucky.
Just imagine if you'd lived in California. If so, you could've ended up in jail for possession of contraband.
Although, the sunglasses might still be legal, even there.

 

[General Hood]

You're lucky.
Just imagine if you'd lived in California. If so, you could've ended up in jail for possession of contraband.
Although, the sunglasses might still be legal, even there.

One of several reasons I don't live in CAL, we decorate our Xmas tress with them here in OK

 

[The FLU farm]

One of several reasons I don't live in CAL

And one of several I moved out of there. It's still legal do do so, but who knows for how long that'll last?

On a lighter note, today's fun and games was to move some broken tree branches to the side of the ditch where I can get to them and put them in the dump trailer.
Never imagined that an HMMH could be as useful as it has turned out to be.

 

[The FLU farm]

Got a chance to load the trailer today. I can almost guarantee that it'd been faster to pick these things up one by one with the tractor, and move them to a spot about a quarter mile away than it was to use the HMMH and trailer.
Especially since the sketchy ramps used to cross the ditch had to be moved between the M1008 and trailer due to differences in track width.
And the HMMH was driven around (already got the SEE stuck in that ditch once), about a 2-mile round trip.
But what fun would it have been to use the tractor?!?

 

[General Hood]

I've been working on the SEE I bought from GP last week. Got it cheap because the gauges didn't work and the throttle was inoperable. Gauges were an easy fix, a quick disconnect was unplugged under the hood. The throttle / accelerator linkage was a mess. All the accelerator and hand throttle rods & brackets were bent and distorted . Throttle must have stuck at some point in time and someone took their frustrations out on it. IT WAS NOT easy to disassemble and correct the design of the linkage w/o tilting the cab, but I persevered (even in this heat).

 

[Another Ahab]

That's kind of warm, for sure.

 

[The FLU farm]

Yeah, even if it's Celsius.

 

[Go Go Gadget FLU 419]

Props to you General Hood! This heat is no joke! I can't even check the mail till it's plum dark. I'd probably end up like that worm that didn't make it across the sidewalk. Today is cloudy, so I'm looking to take advantage of it.

Got my first FLU home the other day. Paid good money for it at auction because I could drive it home from Texarkana. At least I hoped. Made it about 6-8 miles. Yup, that was me on I-30. Got the OEM rat in the wires I think. Wouldn't break 35 MPH, tachometer and temperature gauge not working, ended up getting hot. Little black box (pressure switch or something) started leaking fuel onto the engine. Turns out the exhaust was crushed underneath. Fixed that. Now to drain the oil from the engine. Dipstick reads about an inch and a half over the full mark. I read the injectors can leak fuel into the oil over time, maybe that's the issue, and not me tearing it up worse. I also read driving it hard and overheating it is bad. Who knew.

Going to pick up my oil and put my EI filter kit to good use as soon as I can pry my face off this screen. Just marathoned through the whole thread. Wish me luck.

And BTW, what a great community, awesome folks, and wealth of information! And yes, yes, pics and all that stuff will come when I get them!

 

[Another Ahab]

Props to you General Hood!

And BTW, what a great community, awesome folks, and wealth of information! And yes, yes, pics and all that stuff will come when I get them!

 

[peakbagger]

RE the wiring issue, this is pretty interesting that there are enough of us folks with munched harnesses that we need a support group . I am curious if the damage is localized to vehicles that resided in Texas or did Mercedes just put some special sauce on the harness behind the dash?

My SEE was purchased from a depot in VA and then shipped to Texas and left out on a farm for some period of time before it headed north to NH. I didn't realize it but the harness was most likely munched before shipment. It sat through a -30 degree F winter outdoors so I assumed that whatever had been living in it in Texas was frozen stiff after a winter up here. Its pretty rare to hear of gnawed harnesses up north although I have heard that woodchucks do it on occasion.

Good luck and maybe my messy notes I posted previously may be of help.

 

[General Hood]

RE the wiring issue, this is pretty interesting that there are enough of us folks with munched harnesses that we need a support group . I am curious if the damage is localized to vehicles that resided in Texas or did Mercedes just put some special sauce on the harness behind the dash?

My SEE was purchased from a depot in VA and then shipped to Texas and left out on a farm for some period of time before it headed north to NH. I didn't realize it but the harness was most likely munched before shipment. It sat through a -30 degree F winter outdoors so I assumed that whatever had been living in it in Texas was frozen stiff after a winter up here. Its pretty rare to hear of gnawed harnesses up north although I have heard that woodchucks do it on occasion.

Good luck and maybe my messy notes I posted previously may be of help.

Both my units came out of Texarkana, 6 months apart. First one had vines grown up and over the engine and into the cab. Second one had varmint nests in the heater, and under the hood. Found some chewed wires but were an easy fix. Had to break out the super orange cleaner in spray bottle, as a MV is just not supposed to smell like rat excrement . Red River Army Depot is aka Red River Rat Depot

 

[Go Go Gadget FLU 419]

"I am curious if the damage is localized to vehicles that resided in Texas or did Mercedes just put some special sauce on the harness behind the dash?"

Heh. It's all about status. It just seems fancy to snack on imported Mercedes wires, the caviar of junk yard rodents. I may lay out some decoy wires when I'm done, buy myself some extra time until they get to the imports again.

HA! Rat Depot. That's not a car lot, it's a feed lot, they are raisin' em like they do cattle! Let me tell ya, when I was down there a week or two ago, there must of been a couple hundred SEE's in the lot. And nothin' but. Awesome!

Well, I was fiddlin' with the exhaust before I changed the oil, took a good chunk of finger off, guess that means I need to spend a couple more days reading TM's. It truly will be a miracle if I ever get this beast to work. I'm short on tools, short on cash, but triple big on enthusiasm, let's see what happens!

A huge thanks to everyone who takes the time to share their experiences! Except that moron who mangled his finger on the exhaust.

 

[The FLU farm]

I shouldn't whine about the heat, even if it's near or record high for here, when looking at what you guys farther east have to deal with.

Anyway two of mine came from Texarkana, also several months apart, and neither has any rodent damage that I know of. Not sure which would be worse for the people doing the inspections before the auctions, the rodents or the snakes they likely attract.

And Gadget, keep your spirits up and you'll get your SEE working just fine. Bleeding a bit in the process is helpful, too, as you automatically lower your blood pressure when bleeding.

Foe everybody, may it be your rear cooler fan that gives out. Changing the rear one is stupid simple compared to the front fan.

 

[Another Ahab]

And Gadget, keep your spirits up and you'll get your SEE working just fine. Bleeding a bit in the process is helpful, too, as you automatically lower your blood pressure when bleeding.