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My Whoopee Lights and convoy signs

erniemigi

erniemigi

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well you could paint it, but you got to get the oil coating off of it first, they treat them with a coating to help delay the rusting affect, you could dip it in acetone, then in soap water to remove the acetone, let dry then put on your desired color of paint, or you could just let mother nature with the rain, salt from the roads etc. do it for you, another thing of them being shiny is that you will stand a better chance of not loosing it in the dark or snow or mud
 
mcmullag

mcmullag

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Colorado Springs, CO region
whoopee straps

I always have in my daily driver, a 30 ft tow strap, think it handles 18,000 lb load. $25 to $30 at a farm and ranch supply store. I like the way you can 'snatch' the stuck vehicle with those (if you have good strong attachment places). I have pulled full size pickups from deep snow drifts and plow residue, this way.
My 4x4 club here only uses these type straps for pulling or retrieving each other from stuck spots or to get a broke vehicle back down the trail. Everybody has one in their jeep, can also be used wrapped around trees or boulders to attach the winch cable to. Also lightweight, great for home or office. IMHO Chains are so 1980's, dawg. [thumbzup]
 
W

wallew

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The chain has some kind of gold anodized on it...

But after I've used it a while it's all gone and you've got a plain steel chain. There are numerous ways to coat it.

paint
powder coat
heavy anodized

and numerous other methods, the ones I listed above are but a few...
 
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ranchhopper

ranchhopper

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Got the 1009 picked up in pineville my friend hauling it says everythings still on it no pilferage thats a relief he says the truck is so nice it could have been driven up to me.
 
lindyp38

lindyp38

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so if it were to be a proper restoration of a military vehicle....with all its equipment......where would the right place for the chain be......

im using a plastic storage tub to store my extra parts and so forth....and i know ...thats not military.....lol...

where would equipment like that have been kept back in 84......?
 
R

rikinwyoming

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Looks really good. I keep a full recovery kit in my jeep in case anyone needs help. Have you or anyone else mounted a winch to the front of your cucv's? If so did you go with an aftermarket bumper, or weld up a support to your exsisting bumper?
 
O

Oldsouthernboy

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AHHHHH I can not take much more of this.. Mounted on my M1009 is a Hummer winch on Bubbaed winch mount (Hydraulic winch) I carry my tree hugger, snatch block, recovery strap and gloves in a GI ammo can, Chains are in a milk crate in the back, Extra cable rolled up and beside the spare tire. High lift Jack on the left side rear. No whoope lights yet, may never get them. Not getting to cold in the south is okay but I have gone CRS to Kraft disease (Kant remeber a F**king thing)
 
CARNAC

CARNAC

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lindyp38 said:
so if it were to be a proper restoration of a military vehicle....with all its equipment......where would the right place for the chain be......

im using a plastic storage tub to store my extra parts and so forth....and i know ...thats not military.....lol...

where would equipment like that have been kept back in 84......?
Click to expand...
I don't think it is in the back of the -10 technical manual so it wasn't issued with the vehicle. With that said, a lot of GI's get stuff to use on vehicles they think they'll need. During ODS I had a CUCV that was replaced by a HMMWV just prior to the ground war. After re-reading for the 10th time "Stirlings Desert Raiders", the book I have re-read more than any book in my collection; I grabbed cable and had 1/2 inch cable on my brushguard and shackles. I padlocked it on to keep it from walking (suggest you do the same with your chain to keep it from walking and to keep it from coming undone).

By the time I got my HMMWV, I was able to score me some Marston Mat (Pierced Steel Planking). This heavy stuff was cut to fit down the side of my HMWV side racks. I also had a sling strap on the rear shackle running into the bed. The PSP was dumped fairly early due to weight and just wasn't needed. I also had 2 rolls of concertina wire on my hood (scratched the crap out of the hood cause I failed to wrap the wire). And when I went across the berm, I had 40 gal of fuel, 40 gal of water, 4 cases of bottled water, 6 cases of MREs, some extra tools, a GP small, decon stuff, and I can't remember what else.

My ruck was attached to the far back rack and was hanging outboard of the bed. Always figured if the vehicle had the crap shot out of it, that I could drop that and survive off of it as needed. I think I had 2 gal of water in it. Oh, also forgot all the ammo and pyro stuff I had. It was a butt load. One night I fired off 36 star clusters to try and bring in a MEDEVAC that we only had sporadic radio comms with.

Bottom line is a resourceful GI grabs what he can, when he can to ensure he improves his chances. I have no problem with the chain but if I could have gotten two sling load straps, I would have one on the front and one on the back but only when I was rolling out to the field.

Only issue I saw was the vehicle say "CONVOY APPROACHING". I've never seen that. The norm is "CONVOY FOLLOWS", "CONVOY COMMANDER", AND "CONVOY AHEAD". These would not be on the same vehicle.
 
H

Hal O'Peridol

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Blaine, WA
First thing, drop the "whoopie" light term :D. Makes me think of Whoopie Goldberg :-x. In the old FRG (Federal Republic of Germany) or more commonly called West Germany, the yellow lights were called "RAWLS" lights, Rotating Amber Warning Light System, even if it didn't rotate.

On field exercises, and also in Desert Storm, we carried our recovery chain up front threaded through the front shackles. Only thing I would like to say is your chain does not, shall we say, look the part. Looks much flimsier that a US GI chain. Also if you leave it there, a good bicycle padlock will keep it from growing legs.

We didn't coat our chains or do anything about the silver color of the chain. Ours had sort of a matte finish, and really did not reflect much light.

We also had a slave cable up front between the brush guard and the grill. Kept one end on the slave fitting in the grill, held on with a couple of tie down straps.

What a lot of people who never had to fit a basic load, personal gear, snivel gear, pogey bait, battlefield souvenirs and other necessities into a CUCV don't understand is often gear goes where it will fit, be accessible and leave enough room for the passengers!

Each vehicle had to have a drawn load plan, showing where every piece of equipment went. These were an inspectable item on motor stables inspections.

Another cool convoy sign would be the German language versions, but if you are using your truck in enthusiast convoys here in CONUS (the States) your's looks good, just needs different wording.

Get a better, more GI looking chain, and don't listen to the naysayers. The chain through the shackles is perfectly fine.
 
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