Keith's M1078A1 Project Overland

[coachgeo]

The spongy suspension of both the yeep and the LMTV may cause erratic driving oscillations that can end up disastrous. Might want to consider this potential and pull and bind down the Yeeps springs heavily when you lash it on the bed for transport. Thats a pretty high center of gravity as well.

 

[Keith Knight]

You are correct and thats why I always bind the jeep down by compressing the the springs as much as possible when ever I haul it, and is a general rule for hauling anything. The goal should be to prevent your load from any potential movement. But the majority of the jeeps weight is below 4' keeping the center of gravity relatively low in the bed.

 

[buffalorunner]

The lock down bar on the airbag is pretty common problem only because of human error. I had 6 MTV variants in my platoon, and found that 4 of the trucks had this problem. Including the one I own. For some reason the soldiers or mechanics would put the travel lock pin in and drive with one or both of them in (perhaps for rail or trailer loading and never took them out). As a result, the lock bar would break in the middle after traveling over severe bumps in the TA. I was so frustrated after riding out to the field in my PSG's truck and noticing a harsh ride, only to find out that both the air bags had the pins in. The good news is, unless you plan to trailer your LMTV or load it on a C-130, then you probably will never use that bar again. Sounds like you fixed it pretty fast anyway though.

I like your black grill/steps paint job, mine came out pretty similar and folks seem to like it.

 

[ramdough]

I love the interior work.

How expensive is it to have your cat dealer flash your ecm? Do they have all of the correct connectors? Is that commonly available at any cat dealer?

Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Keith Knight]

They said it would be $500 to reflash the ECM. And yes they have the connections for the plug.

 

[1951M1078]

What power level did you take it up to ?

 

[Keith Knight]

330 hp

 

[Keith Knight]

Well....... I now know what it feels like to have a major Blow out on the front drivers side tire at 50 MPH in a M1078A1.

It was very manageable! Just a sudden drop and very little pull on the steering wheel. Despite all the worries. The worst part is changing the tire and being unprepared to do so. The second worst part was using the original military bottle jack that fit under the axle perfectly with the flat tire, but wouldn't jack it high enough to remove the tire. It needed 4 more inches to do that so be prepared to jack, put a jack stand under it, lower the jack then put 4 plus inch block under the jack and jack again and finish with the jack stand.
After getting the Spare tire put on I went straight home and when I got out I noticed the other front front tire leaking air out of a crack on the side wall.

So If someone has a good solution that would fit under the axle when the tire is flat and will raise it high enough to actually change the tire but still be a small package like the bottle jack and still fit in the tool box. I'm all ears.

After getting the Spare tire put on I went straight home and when I got out I noticed the other front front tire leaking air out of a crack on the side wall. So I now needed a new set of tires. Luckily 20 miles from home there is a company that deals in military tire take offs and I was able to get 4 Never used Michelin XZL 395 x 75R - 20 made in 2009
for $300 per tire.

Check out the sticker still on one of the tires!!! If you can't read it it says.
NSN: 2530015555038
QTY:80 EA $6512
NOUN: WHEEL, PNEUMATIC


That was a three day ordeal changing those things out by my self between washing all the nasty grease off of them from the run flats and painting the inner rims before reassembling them.

When it was all said and done it drives so so much better than before and no more worries of a blow out due to dry rotted tires.

But I did want to mention something important, before you start trouble shooting a driveline vibration that you feel in the seat of your pants while driving...... Put a new set of tire on it. Because all my driveline vibration worries disappeared after putting the new tires on. Its drives and feels great now.

Happy driving and Merry Christmas,

 

[mkcoen]

I carry a piece of 2x10 and 3 pieces of 4x4 for cribbing blocks for my 12 ton bottle jack. Plenty of room to get the tire off. I also have Road Side Assistance so I don't have to use it on the side of the road.

 

[blozup]

I carry a piece of 2x10 and 3 pieces of 4x4 for cribbing blocks for my 12 ton bottle jack. Plenty of room to get the tire off. I also have Road Side Assistance so I don't have to use it on the side of the road.

What kind of Road Side Assistance do you have?

I have Hagerty for our two classic/project cars, and I have their $120/year unlimited free towing for all household vehicles. I have many doubts they would tow a LMTV. Unless it fits on a normal flatbed tow truck I guess?

 

[DiverDarrell]

I'm in the process of changing my tires as well. My two fronts were well thrashed and on borrowed time. So now I have two new xzl's in the front still need to swap the two near new goodyears on the rear for xzl's. And run the goodyears as a spares. I can't believe you changed them all in 3 days... I'm at 1 a month.

 

[mkcoen]

I have Hagerty for our two classic/project cars, and I have their $120/year unlimited free towing for all household vehicles. I have many doubts they would tow a LMTV. Unless it fits on a normal flatbed tow truck I guess?

Well I don't think this breaks the "no insurance" discussion as we're not talking about who covers what vehicles in what states. I have collectors coverage through CHUBB. I had a mechanical breakdown about 100 miles from home and they covered the full $850 tow bill. It was a "front lift" commercial wrecker and I pulled the rear axle shafts so didn't have to worry about disconnecting the drive shafts. I actually have coverage within 200 miles of my residence so could have been a bit further out costing more and still been covered. Best option is to check with your carrier to see what they will actually handle.

 

[Keith Knight]

Sorry the pictures didn't load properly the other day, so I reloaded them, hopefully they will stay this time.

When it happened I was close enough to a parking lot to pull into without damaging the wheel. Then had a family member bring the tools necessary to put the spare tire on. 2 hours later i was driving home.

 

[Keith Knight]

I did this a couple months ago and haven't had time to post it.
I wanted a strong drop hitch and didn't want it to be a permanent fixture and this was my solution.

So now a standard receiver is at the correct height and sticks out away from the vehicle to prevent the trailer binding during sharp turns.

 

[Keith Knight]

It's a sad day here, after my truck sat still for a few weeks during the crazy holiday schedule, it decided to not run any more......Crank and Crank and Crank but NO start!!!
I had a CAT mobile service tech come by and try connecting to the ECM and start diagnosing the problem. After 2 hours of trying to connect to it, including verifying voltage to the ECM and every other possible cause of not being able to connect. After testing more things today I'm 99% sure the ECM is bad.
Does any one have a ECM from a 2003 M1078A1 CAT 3126B or something close maybe even from a 330 HP engine near the same year?

 

[1951M1078]

That sucks ! Wish you much luck.

 

[Keith Knight]

Removed the ECM and took it to CAT service center and it did test bad. I ended up buying one from them and having them reprogram it with the 330 HP. Put it in and everything is working again.

 

[CMPPhil]

Removed the ECM and took it to CAT service center and it did test bad. I ended up buying one from them and having them reprogram it with the 330 HP. Put it in and everything is working again.

Hi Keith

Just out of curiosity when you buy an ECM unit direct from Cat does it come with any warranty?

Also have enjoyed reading your progress reports, great looking truck.

Cheers Phil

 

[Suprman]

Can they program and give you the ecu without the truck present?

 

[Keith Knight]

Yes it comes with a 1yr parts warranty with option to pay $300 for an additional 3 years.

And yes they were able to program it without the truck as in my case. I live 1.5 hours from a cat service center. Hauling a dead truck that far isn't fun.

But I'm not sure in every case. I had the truck there back in May and they connected to it to run a diagnostics check where they found a couple bad sensors. Because of that they still had most of my ECM parameters on file.
My suggestion to everyone with an ECM would be to take your truck to your location CAT service center and have them save your settings and keep them on file.