SGT_Spring
New member
- 3
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- 1
- Location
- Bates City, MO
Oh Boy! My wife "accidentally" won a bid for a 2010 Fermont MEP 803A! It only had 29 hours on it! It was an Airforce gen set, so you know it never saw a deployment! 
It even still had the little knobbies on the tread surface of the tires! I'll post some photos where you will see it really WAS brand new...
We recovered it from Warner Robins AFG near Macon, GA. I live in Kansas City... so it was a haul! SS was endlessly helpful! I spent hours reading everything here to figure things out before we rolled.
We bought a Pintle hitch with a high plate, because even my F250 FX4 truck was too short for the hitch height. The Military specs for hitch height were impossible to find, because they built the trailer to be towed by several different height receivers. So, for the record, The lintel ring on my M116 Chassis trailer (M101 chassis) is 25 inches high when level.
We also came prepared (thanks to SS) with magnetic towing lights. There is only the small tie down tubing that is steel and sticks out past the decking, so we stuck the lights there and Zip tied them to the lift shackles.
Getting her Home was no problem, but again, the SS forums where invaluable! After bouncing all the way to the Hotel, I read up on how the 17 psi pressure was the "off road" pressure, so I shot off to the closest gas station to throw 30 PSI in each tire and BINGO! Smooth going all the way home!
I did extensive PMCS thanks to the manuals I got off of SS, and bought replacement filters (all from another post on SS) fully expecting to swap everything out... But when I went to check the oil, it was clear and golden brown!! so, they either just did maintenance, or it really had just been sitting in the motor pool for 5 years and 29 hours.
I had to throw in new batteries as the Military needed the old ones. I did not go with the high priced Optivs, but got the generic ones that still fit in the battery retention system. I was nervous as all get out when I turned the switch, but it fired up without any hesitation and ran strong! I plugged in a heater to the convenience receptacle to make sure there was spark and was very happy to see juice was flowing!
Today, I tried to put a load to it through the Lugs. Thanks to all of you on SS, I felt like I had been using my gen set for years! I sauntered out, switched the selectors and monitoring levers to 120v/1PH, hooked up the receptacle cord I made to the proper L3/L0 lugs, turned her over, flipped the switch and started adding load!... then some more load... and some more load... then I couldn't find anything else in the house that might add to it... I had 2 space heaters, 2 flat irons, 1 hair dryer, and a set of halogen lights... but I was only at 25-30%!! I will have to spend some time getting a cool load bank set up (or just rent one). I can see just a little drip on the muffler joint after tonight, so I know I need to really get her cooking to blow off years of "maintenance running"
I will be moving her to a place in the back where she will run as a back up generator for my house. I will leave her on the trailer as I also want her set up to roll to a remote site. I have plans to wire up the gauge lights (thanks SS!), Change out the intra-vehicular cable, and switch to 12v LED bulbs. I will keep things updated with pics as I wire her in and get her set up!
It even still had the little knobbies on the tread surface of the tires! I'll post some photos where you will see it really WAS brand new...We recovered it from Warner Robins AFG near Macon, GA. I live in Kansas City... so it was a haul! SS was endlessly helpful! I spent hours reading everything here to figure things out before we rolled.
We bought a Pintle hitch with a high plate, because even my F250 FX4 truck was too short for the hitch height. The Military specs for hitch height were impossible to find, because they built the trailer to be towed by several different height receivers. So, for the record, The lintel ring on my M116 Chassis trailer (M101 chassis) is 25 inches high when level.
We also came prepared (thanks to SS) with magnetic towing lights. There is only the small tie down tubing that is steel and sticks out past the decking, so we stuck the lights there and Zip tied them to the lift shackles.
Getting her Home was no problem, but again, the SS forums where invaluable! After bouncing all the way to the Hotel, I read up on how the 17 psi pressure was the "off road" pressure, so I shot off to the closest gas station to throw 30 PSI in each tire and BINGO! Smooth going all the way home!
I did extensive PMCS thanks to the manuals I got off of SS, and bought replacement filters (all from another post on SS) fully expecting to swap everything out... But when I went to check the oil, it was clear and golden brown!! so, they either just did maintenance, or it really had just been sitting in the motor pool for 5 years and 29 hours.
I had to throw in new batteries as the Military needed the old ones. I did not go with the high priced Optivs, but got the generic ones that still fit in the battery retention system. I was nervous as all get out when I turned the switch, but it fired up without any hesitation and ran strong! I plugged in a heater to the convenience receptacle to make sure there was spark and was very happy to see juice was flowing!
Today, I tried to put a load to it through the Lugs. Thanks to all of you on SS, I felt like I had been using my gen set for years! I sauntered out, switched the selectors and monitoring levers to 120v/1PH, hooked up the receptacle cord I made to the proper L3/L0 lugs, turned her over, flipped the switch and started adding load!... then some more load... and some more load... then I couldn't find anything else in the house that might add to it... I had 2 space heaters, 2 flat irons, 1 hair dryer, and a set of halogen lights... but I was only at 25-30%!! I will have to spend some time getting a cool load bank set up (or just rent one). I can see just a little drip on the muffler joint after tonight, so I know I need to really get her cooking to blow off years of "maintenance running"
I will be moving her to a place in the back where she will run as a back up generator for my house. I will leave her on the trailer as I also want her set up to roll to a remote site. I have plans to wire up the gauge lights (thanks SS!), Change out the intra-vehicular cable, and switch to 12v LED bulbs. I will keep things updated with pics as I wire her in and get her set up!
