New to Steelsoldiers and pending EUC a HMMWV owner

[whelmed]

Hi All,

Been a lurker for a while, and this is my first post here. Recently won an auction on a '89 HMMWV (hard top, 2 seat/2 door) and just waiting for the EUC to get approved, it's going to be a long 2-3 months! I'm already shopping for components but trying to figure out what constitutes good prices for various components. Was hoping to get some help to make sure I'm shopping correct as I know from my time with other hobbies that it's much easier and cheaper to work with other people in the know rather than going to fleabay for transactions. Still working my way though TM-9-2320-280-10 which will probably answer my fording question when i get to that section.

- Seats I can wrap my head around as I'm happy without OEM (so 200ish per seat for what I've seen). I've seen in a few threads where that's possible depending on make and model. I know the sky is the limit here though.

- X-Doors (there are only 2 soft doors) - looks like the 'sold' ones on the bay go for $1500+shipping (200-400) give or take. Seems crazy that I can buy a fully functional HMMWV for $6700 but replacement doors cost $2000. There seems to be aftermarket options, but they are more expensive. Plus side though is that they would require less work to look nice. I'd like to have some security on the vehicle which is why I want hard doors, but don't need them to withstand bullets or shrapnel.

- AC: from what I'm seeing you need the red dot unit in the back ($200-400?) and a compressor kit for the front ($???). Haven't searched much here but would love a cheap solution to cooling as I'm in Florida. Doesn't have to be OEM.

- Deep fording kit - lots of them running around $1300 or so. Not sure I'll even need this, but was wondering if there are any DIY solutions that are cheaper? You can buy the snorkel ($200) and muffler extender ($300) separately but there seems to be a lot of other components which need to be added as well so seems like the kit's aren't too bad a deal depending on the costs associated there. This can wait to be honest, but it just feels so cool to have this on the vehicle.

- Key replacement for ignition: $80ish

Anyways, looking forward to joining the community!

 

[Bravojmc]

Welcome from Colorado

 

[3jacks]

Congrats on the win! Welcome to the addiction.

 

[whelmed]

Congrats on the win! Welcome to the addiction.

It's already feeling like an addiction - which has it's ups and downs The downs being mainly the cost of adding fun things on.

 

[Wire Fox]

- Deep fording kit - lots of them running around $1300 or so. Not sure I'll even need this, but was wondering if there are any DIY solutions that are cheaper? You can buy the snorkel ($200) and muffler extender ($300) separately but there seems to be a lot of other components which need to be added as well so seems like the kit's aren't too bad a deal depending on the costs associated there. This can wait to be honest, but it just feels so cool to have this on the vehicle.

I can speak to that! There is more to the deep water kit than just the obvious external components. In the HMMWV, you have the obvious extended intake and exhaust to provide a path for air to flow in and out without being submerged, but the HMMWV also presurrizes the driveline internally to prevent water pressure from pushing past the seals and flooding your engine, transmission, transfercase, and geared hubs. This means that there's extensive modification to the vent lines (lucky, you can do all of the vent line fittings and tubing with cheap off-the-shelf components) and additional special control hardware. Here's a listing of some of the special items: control valve, which is mounted in the dash for the driver to switch from "VENT" to "FORD" mode; water sensor cup & frame mount, which the pressure of the water pushes on this and controls how much pressure is released from the CDR valve to the driveline; special CDR valve, which most noticeably has an extra vent line fitting on top of it; air box dust cap, which replaces the "duck bill" dust unloader; the air intake elbow, which seals the air intake snorkel to the air filter canister, instead of being open air; power steering reservior vented cap, to pressurize the reservior; and replacement transmission and engine oil dipstick tubes (and dipsticks...) that actually form a locking seal. Also often overlooked is the bracket the supports the exhaust pipe on the fender...you can probably run it without this, but expect to have damage to your fender and exhaust if you catch a branch without it-I don't see many of these show up, so if you seriously plan on installing the water fording kit at some point, buy this if you see it show up (someone needs to do a production run of these...). The -24P parts manual has a pretty long section showing the parts used in the water fording kit that should help you figure out everything you need when you get to that point.

EDIT: Had forgetten about the Power steering cap

 

[juanprado]

Welcome to the madness!

Fording kit tidbits that are hard to find individually is the special cdr valve, fender exhaust brace, and dash valve.

Other components are out there. When you get to it, if you are piecing together- I can point you to some suppliers. as that is one of my current projects........

 

[General Hood]

Welcome from SE Oklahoma. Post up some photos of your projects on the HMMWV as they come along. Enjoy your venture

 

[Action]

Can you post a link to the 2-door hardtop? if it wasn't an m1123.

 

[whelmed]

By hardtop I should have said hard helmet top I suppose: http://www.govplanet.com/jsp/s/item/904254?h=null&do=1

The paint job isn't great, and it'll need some bondo on the hood, but overall feels like a great project for the price. My only mental debate currently is what color to put it when I'm done. I.e. do I stay with the camo green, or do I go crazy and do a matte black or gloss black finish. I really would have loved the slant back, but that's out of my price range so I settled for this one.

 

[whelmed]

Odd - I replied with a link to the auction I won and it didn't go through. Tried again. I re-read the forum rules, and it seems fine to post a link to an ended auction so not sure if I violated some unsaid rule by putting a link to a completed auction. Strange. It was item number 904254 on Gov P, and I got it for $6700 which seems like a steal. Not sure why it was so cheap, maybe it's the bad paint and the crack in the hood. Don't care that it's 2 doors, easy enough to convert from what I understand.

The only major thing I need to decide now is whether to go matte black on the humvee or redo a green camo paint on it. Matte black looks bad as. Maybe even do Nato black color camo.

 

[3jacks]

From the auction photos I would say you definitely need to look at your geared hub seals. Looks like some moisture there. Nice looking rig though! Probably got the price you did because of the Tampa Bay Bucks sticker

 

[whelmed]

I didn't even notice the sticker until you pointed it out

Re that hub seals, I've got tons to learn about these. I noticed at least one seemed to need some TLC - from your view do you think it's all 4? Is it a replace on arrival, or replace sometime in the first 6 months? Mind if I ask if there is anything else you notice on a glance of the photos? I was trying to be selective within my budget but I'm sure I missed some thing because the price seemed way to low so I'm still confused about that. Is it that the helmet tops aren't really that popular? Figure it would sell for as much as the soft tops as you can always pull it off and sell it.

 

[3jacks]

I would change the geared hub oil. Easy to change...drain plug and fill plug. When you drain it if it looks like chocolate milk you have a seal issue in that hub. Seals are not expensive...but definitely read the TM's and info here about what's involved. It's a critical component so I would have it high on the list to go through. Didn't notice anything else though.

 

[Action]

Ah i see now. I was expecting a hardtop pickup.

 

[whelmed]

Man, been looking at pics from planb and other sites re their fixed up humvees. Is there a poll showing which is the most popular model? Seems like for popularity its Slantback > 4-door hard top >> pretty much everything else. I'm already starting to wonder if I should have waited for a deal on a 4-door hardtop now and looking at the helmet top wondering if it'll look as good as I hope when I'm done with it. Ah well, I suppose I can swapout later if I want too.

 

[1 Patriot-of-many]

Good price!!!! I like the helmet tops myself. I hope to have a couple different variants in the future. Good luck. Hopefully nothing major is wrong. As you know it's a crapshoot.

 

[schersch78]

Welcome to the club! My EUC just came in and I'm picking mine up tomorrow morning. I've done a lot of research just as it sounds you have started to do. I couldn't get past the small window openings on plan b's hard doors so I ended up getting a set of original x-doors for just south of $2k off the "E" site. I actually shared posts with a plan b rig owner who really likes his truck, but is disappointed with the small window openings. And in Florida, I think they would really suck. I own a machine shop so I plan on fabbing my own hard top and slant back. I'm with you on flat black, I think it looks badass but not sure which way I'm going to go. I also picked up a deep water fording kit. I'm sure you could piece it together cheaper than $1300, but I just don't have the time or patience. I don't know how to link to it, but if you track down a thread I started a few weeks ago, somebody responded with a great list of "NEED TO DO's" when first getting the HMMWV. Oils, fluids, filters, ball joints, and other stuff like that. I've been so excited and wrapped up in all the cool ****, it was nice to have a voice of reason reminding me that I'm buying a military surplus vehicle that's been through God only knows what. Good luck, and YES...post pictures. I will be. Also, I got a keyed ignition for about $15 from NAPA. Will require hard wiring, but didn't cost $80 either.

 

[whelmed]

schersch78, I think I bookmarked the exact thread on my other computer that you're referring too with regard to need to do's - I'm also pretty sure I thanked them for the comment so think I can find it that way otherwise. It had a pretty comprehensive list of the truly must do's.

Seems silly, but I like the idea of making the ride have a certain look and I go back and fourth on pretty much every option as I'm not anchored to the straight military look. Slant back seems to be the standard thing that people go for, but I don't mind being a bit different. I also love the hard top 4-door with truck back in black, as I found out it's easy to take the top off and go fully convertible (that's pretty awesome). The one attached image is also another idea which makes the helmet top look a lot more badass, but I don't know exactly why it does. Yes there are lights and roll bars, but it just seems to add a lot more character to it. Maybe it's the bigger wheels? I'm an engineer (bio/med though) but I don't have a fab shop at my disposal so I'm going to have to eat the cost of anything I choose to do. The other choice is to do CARC vs the Behr paint I've seen spoken about so often for the paint side. Then there is the AC unit and how to install it (i.e. compressor, or upgrade the alternator to 200A and run all electric version). It's probably a good thing to have to wait 3 months so that I can sort my mind out on this. Too many options!

Re doors - the PlanB doors don't do it for me either. I have an RV and the front to back sliding window isn't my style. Feels like it's there to keep kids in. Not what I want. I want the proper roll down windows with the X pattern on it. There are nice one for $3-3.5k and beaten up ones for $1.5k which probably need new skins to make them look at the level that I want them too. Likely better to just buy the ones that don't need the work on them.

The last thing that's killing me is when to buy stuff. I'm tempted to buy before getting my EUC, but I think I'll only do that if I get a steal of a deal. I'm worried about having tons of M998 stuff and no humvee

 

[Tracer]

Welcome aboard from Nevada.

 

[twisted60]

Welcome from Jupiter (FL), I have been thinking of trying to get a M998, currently my M923A2 is my get around truck.