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What have you done to your HMMWV today/lately

85 USMC M998

85 USMC M998

Member
228
17
18
Location
Monroe Area, MI
bdl said:
Hey 85 USMC very nice looking spare tire rack may I ask where you purchased?
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Actually that was NormB's. But mind looks the same. I picked mine up 2 years ago at the Findlay, OH show from... sorry cannot remember at the moment.

Here is a poor picture of mine
 
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Wire Fox

Wire Fox

Well-known member
1,252
161
63
Location
Indianapolis, Indiana
NormB said:
About that 18 gauge wire. I thought about buying some, but I couldn't find connectors for it. It's listed as several hundredths of an inch smaller in OD than the 16 gauge IIRC, I was afraid it wouldn't make a water-tight seal with the 16 gauge connectors.
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It's actually a non-issue. Take a look at the wiring diagram a bit more closely...everywhere it calls for 18 AWG for the TCM harness, it doesn't terminate with a typical military or bullet connector. All of it goes directly from the TCM to the transmission stub. If you're wiring based off of transmission repair stub and a TCM stub, you're just going to be splicing wires directly to other wires, so you can just use adhesive-lined heatshrink butt connectors, or solder and heatshrink. It also calls for 18 AWG wire for a short dongle from TPS to engine harness, which just adapts from a weather seal connector on the engine harness to the metri-pack connector on the TPS (and also allows for easy installation of a service cable that has bullet connectors to help with setting the position of the TPS). The metri-pack and weatherpack connectors handle 18 AWG just fine if you buy the appropriate connector. Just as a note, I'm using a civilian TPS on mine that directly has a weather pack connector, so I'm just direct-wiring my harness to it with no dongle. I have extra connectors, so I'm just going to make my own service stub with breakout leads for measurement.

Other things out there again show as a non-issue: STE-ICE Frequency converter, if you install it, is 16 AWG wire. I didn't see a spec listed for the fan cutoff switch, but I'm just going to assume its 16 AWG since there's no special notation and the part isn't in front of me. Best part about the 18 AWG wire is it's a butt-ton cheaper than the 16 AWG wire, if you're trying to follow the type of wire originally used in the application. I think I got a super-overkill spool of 18 AWG wire (500 ft...I used probably 75 feet) for $85 delivered, but 100 measly feet of 16 AWG that just barely gave me enough wire was $28 + shipping. Buy two spools of that 16 AWG wire and you only have 200 ft to show for nearly the some money as 500 ft of 18 AWG.

*EDIT: I've been trying to find any smaller quantity of that Teflon wire I bought for sale. I can't find any exact match, but the 500 ft spools are still for sale if you search for M22759/1-18-9. The stuff is truly high-quality stuff. It's not actually tinned, but it's silver-plated copper. On top of that, it's laid in a PTFE (teflon) jacket, and then that jacket is wrapped in a fiberglass braid that's also coated with PTFE for further temperature and abrasion resistance. This was the wire that was rated for 200 C operation, not the CSPE wire like I had thought earlier.
 
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juanprado

juanprado

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
5,635
2,953
113
Location
Metairie/La (N'awlins)
Postman515

Postman515

Active member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
488
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Location
Clayton, Illinois
JuanPrado, I've tried everyone I know in the business and nobody has seen one like it. My friend that was in the Army was surprised at the craftsmanship and thought it was probably depot installed. The box is the only thing that looks kinda rough but guessing they field installed that to keep out weather and dirt/sand.
As soon as I get some small things buttoned up it will be for sale.
 
NormB

NormB

Well-known member
1,220
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Location
Cloverly,MD
Wire Fox said:
It's actually a non-issue. Take a look at the wiring diagram a bit more closely...everywhere it calls for 18 AWG for the TCM harness, it doesn't terminate with a typical military or bullet connector. All of it goes directly from the TCM to the transmission stub. If you're wiring based off of transmission repair stub and a TCM stub, you're just going to be splicing wires directly to other wires, so you can just use adhesive-lined heatshrink butt connectors, or solder and heatshrink. It also calls for 18 AWG wire for a short dongle from TPS to engine harness, which just adapts from a weather seal connector on the engine harness to the metri-pack connector on the TPS (and also allows for easy installation of a service cable that has bullet connectors to help with setting the position of the TPS). The metri-pack and weatherpack connectors handle 18 AWG just fine if you buy the appropriate connector. Just as a note, I'm using a civilian TPS on mine that directly has a weather pack connector, so I'm just direct-wiring my harness to it with no dongle. I have extra connectors, so I'm just going to make my own service stub with breakout leads for measurement.
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I meant packard connectors, for general use.

Meanwhile, I'm amazed at your talent and patience in making your own harness.

Since installing the NP242 in my truck I've bought the TC light to go with the switch that's built-in to the TC.

There's no lead off the engine harness (being a 6.2L not a 6.5L) so I'll just cobble something together. I was thinking the 18 gauge stuff would be fine for this, but the outer diameter being smaller than 16 gauge and the unavailability of 18g packard connectors leaves me using the 16g stuff. About 12 feet at most, it's an easy patch into the 24V bus I installed in my battery box.

I'm going to stick with the 3 speed for a while. Don't intend on doing any more highway driving than I already did getting the truck home (42 miles on the DC beltway lunch hour rush with my son at my six warding off traffic), 55mph the whole way. With ear plugs.

It's getting so I trust electronics/gadgets less and less these days anyway.

Keep us posted with your project.
 
Wire Fox

Wire Fox

Well-known member
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Location
Indianapolis, Indiana
NormB said:
I meant packard connectors, for general use.
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You actually just reminded me...when I first got my TCM harness stub, I noticed something peculiar about that. The military had the same wire diameter issue for the metal tags they use to mark the wires. They had put pieces of heatshrink on the 18 AWG wire to enlarge the outer diameter and allow the metal tags to stay firmly in place. I'd bet you could do the same thing to get a good seal with the packard connectors-just make sure that you can actually get a good crimp on the wire, as that's more important than the weather seal itself.
Keep us posted with your project.
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Will do.
 
S

Shibby575

New member
3
0
0
Location
IN
Does nyone have have a link to the below referenced Ted G. Checklist. I just recently joined here and wired payment for my new toy and am trying to have everything ready when I finally get her home...in a few months. Thanks


Lawdog734 said:
I don't mean for this to be an "I told ya so", but more to help others who are also going down this road to new HMMWV ownership.

It's easy to get excited with a new toy and immediately want to take it for a spin to "try her out" when in reality, this isn't the best course of action. There's no telling how long these have sat before DLA turned thdm over to IP/GP, so it behooves us to go over these trucks with a fine tooth comb before taking it for anything more than simply moving it in the driveway. Ted G was nice enough to write up a nice checklist of things to do when you get that new toy home. A lot of the info is already part of the PMCS for these vehicles, but there's a lot of anecdotal info from those who've been down the road before us that helps too. One of those things is to check the half-shaft bolts. If you'd have gone through the list, there's a more than good chance that this could have been prevented and thus saved you considerable headaches.

Considering we have typically 30 days or longer of waiting for EUC's to clear, we don't have any excuses for not doing our research beforehand.
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Aerialfred

Aerialfred

New member
224
2
0
Location
Lost in the hills of Ky
Today, here in Kentucky, I was finally able to LEGALLY license my M998! I had to take the SF-97, along with the reassignment document, and my invoice to show taxes had been paid, as well as proof of insurance to the clerk's office and was given a tag! It has been a good day.
 
NormB

NormB

Well-known member
1,220
72
48
Location
Cloverly,MD
Aerialfred said:
Today, here in Kentucky, I was finally able to LEGALLY license my M998! I had to take the SF-97, along with the reassignment document, and my invoice to show taxes had been paid, as well as proof of insurance to the clerk's office and was given a tag! It has been a good day.
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OUTstanding!

Congratulations.
 
C

CGFFEMT

New member
23
0
1
Location
PNW, USA
Finished fabricating an ammo can holder I've had on the back burn for awhile. Mounts on the airlift rear bumper and can hold a small 40mm ammo can and works as a step if needed. Should be good for holding some extra fluids, parts, or recovery gear when off-roading. Side note, I finally broke down and bought a cheap flux core wire welder so I could finish this - some of the most fun I've had in a long time, looking forward to more welding projects in the future.

DSCF0179_1.jpgDSCF0180_1.jpgDSCF0181_1.jpg
 
M

Mario

Active member
315
87
28
Location
Rio Rancho, NM
What is this humidity you guys speak of?
I'm at 6% right now (zip 87144).
Wake up with bloody nose almost daily since it's so dry.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
V

Victorkilo31

New member
82
0
0
Location
San Diego CA
Th at humidity thing is what I'm getting used to again. It's weird going from 5-10% to 60 or more. I'm having trouble with the water falling from the sky still too lol safe to say I'm glad I left the desert lol
 
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