General Reliability of 002/003 gensets

[Buckeye Mike]

The vast majority of posts on SS is due to someone having an issue they are trying to fix on a genset. It then gives the impression that everyone who has a genset has a problem. I am looking at purchasing an 003. What is the general feeling once you have one running correctly?

 

[319]

Excellent! I have an MEP002A, no issues from day one.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Welcome to the site Mike! Most of the posts are about getting the gensets working initially. Once you have gone through them, they are pretty reliable. I am just south west of you in Cincy. Kipman up in Langcaster has one or two available and they have been checked out.

 

[Buckeye Mike]

Thanks Gimpy,

Always wished I would have found this site before getting rid of an 003 I had a few years back that was not behaving properly. I am a south east of cinci and live off grid in Brown County OH. Now looking at purchasing another 003.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Southdave is not far from you in Ripley.

 

[Buckeye Mike]

That is cool. Is he a generator afficianado?

 

[scranch18121]

I got one a 002 out of Camp Shelby. Worked great. Sold it.

Got another 002 from Camp Shelby a year later, had another member tinker with it and it works very good right now.

 

[gimpyrobb]

No, Southdave is NOT a genset afficianado, but picks them up once in a while.

 

[Buckeye Mike]

I have seen an M35 or two around Ripley. Would that be SouthDave

 

[gimpyrobb]

Yup, one would be his, the other was probably mine.

 

[Buckeye Mike]

Gimpy, do you take those dueces out anywhere? Do you live out our way?

 

[gimpyrobb]

I take that truck almost anywhere. The closest offroad event for you would be Haspin(www.haspinacres.com) in June. You don't need an army truck to attend, you should stop out. I live just off exit 12 on I71.

 

[Buckeye Mike]

If you did not have a place to get it off the road I was going to invite you to bring it out to my place. Sounds like you are in good shape though. I have a couple of miles of logging trails through the forest with some good hills etc.

 

[Speddmon]

My answer to the OP's question is that they are EXTREMELY reliable. I have two that run beautifully. The one was even stenciled from GL as unservicable, and that is the best running one of the two I own.

 

[derf]

The vast majority of posts on SS is due to someone having an issue they are trying to fix on a genset. It then gives the impression that everyone who has a genset has a problem. I am looking at purchasing an 003. What is the general feeling once you have one running correctly?

The only reason we get our hands on them is because the government deems them useless. This determination varies from just having dead batteries to a total basket case that isn't worth fixing. If you get one that looks really good and has very few hours on the meter then chances are you will have very little trouble getting it going. Since we are paying anywhere from about 1/20th to about 1/3rd or so the price of a new unit then some tinkering and/or repair is to be expected. My thoughts are: be thankful they are available and get them while you can. A couple things to realize about the government when dealing with DRMO equipment: the government is extremely wasteful at times and they don't care how much fuel and maintenance cost sometimes.