• Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!

  • Microsoft MSN, Live, Hotmail, Outlook email users may not be receiving emails. We are working to resolve this issue. Please add support@steelsoldiers.com to your trusted contacts.

What have you done to your HMMWV today/lately

Wire Fox

Well-known member
1,252
161
63
Location
Indianapolis, Indiana
I currently get to enjoy the boring job of pulling watch on my HMMWV tonight. The power went out in a massive storm that came through. The HMMWV has long been my backup power plan until I get a proper generator, but this unfortunately means I get to monitor it and ensure no one breaks into my now-open garage tonight.

If the power comes back on or the rain keeps away for a bit, I can safely shut it down and rest knowing the sump pump will be good for the rest of the night.

Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk
 

TOBASH

Father, Surgeon, Cantankerous Grouch
Steel Soldiers Supporter
Supporting Vendor
3,586
3,497
113
Location
Brooklyn, NY
I currently get to enjoy the boring job of pulling watch on my HMMWV tonight. The power went out in a massive storm that came through. The HMMWV has long been my backup power plan until I get a proper generator, but this unfortunately means I get to monitor it and ensure no one breaks into my now-open garage tonight.

If the power comes back on or the rain keeps away for a bit, I can safely shut it down and rest knowing the sump pump will be good for the rest of the night.

Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk
Be safe and I’m sure we all hope all turns out OK.

Might I suggest a large chain to the steering wheel?

I’m getting ready to pound a large pole into the ground that will attach to a lockable removable cement filled pole that will block my driveway to prevent theft. Just unlock and pull the inner pole and lay it down and drive away. Come back and re-lock it.
 

Mogman

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Steel Soldiers Supporter
6,933
9,594
113
Location
Papalote, TX
In the process of rebuilding the driver side portal hub I decided to replace the lower ball joint, both the upper and lower passed inspection but the boots on both were a little ratty and the lower did not have a grease fitting so I decided to replace the lower and reboot the upper, well LA-DI-DA the lower ball joint had 3/8" bolts but the lower control arm had 7/16 holes, I had bought an "upgrade" lower ball joint so I was good there, removed the top one just to check and it did have the 5/16 bolts and holes so I am OK there, but now I get to check and possibly replace ALL the other ball joints, oh joy!!!
At least I bought #2 straight out of DRMO even as junky as it is I am hoping not to find as many improper maintenance "fixes" as I am finding on #1......
 
Last edited:

TOBASH

Father, Surgeon, Cantankerous Grouch
Steel Soldiers Supporter
Supporting Vendor
3,586
3,497
113
Location
Brooklyn, NY
Nice, but I think I have you beat on price... I used Zipties. ;)

That being said, your idea is more secure and I will purchase one. I already have the light.
 

Coug

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
2,975
4,356
113
Location
Olympia/WA
I test fit my camouflage storage rack that came with the BEOD today. Didn't have the spacers it's supposed to come with, didn't realize it at first, so ended up drilling an extra hole through the windshield frame that I didn't need to, but I can cover it up by replacing the windshield retaining bracket.

Also installed the hood reinforcement/stiffening kit designed for the armored grills. Don't have the armored grill, but I do end up walking on the hood a lot so I figured it couldn't hurt.
Roof Rack.jpg

Hood reinfocement.jpg
 

Lintrix

New member
3
1
3
Location
Chicago, IL
Bumper is done. On to other adventures.
Hey we did the bumpers at the same time!

I finally got around to doing mine yesterday and made an install video for those interested:

I still need to pick up some mud flaps and maybe the middle bumper reinforcement plate.

Anyone know of an easy solution for a license plate mounting kit for the airlift bumper? I might have to just drill into it and make my own.
 
92
88
18
Location
Perrysburg OH
Hey we did the bumpers at the same time!

I finally got around to doing mine yesterday and made an install video for those interested:

I still need to pick up some mud flaps and maybe the middle bumper reinforcement plate.

Anyone know of an easy solution for a license plate mounting kit for the airlift bumper? I might have to just drill into it and make my own.
Nice. I’m going to make a set of the angle braces. They’re a unique size of c channel so I’m going to have a shop brake some flat stock to the right size. Then I’ll make all four angle braces. Should be a piece of cake.
 

rcamacho

Well-known member
770
850
93
Location
Bainbridge Island Wa
Hey we did the bumpers at the same time!

I finally got around to doing mine yesterday and made an install video for those interested:

I still need to pick up some mud flaps and maybe the middle bumper reinforcement plate.

Anyone know of an easy solution for a license plate mounting kit for the airlift bumper? I might have to just drill into it and make my own.
I’m running the Black Dog license frame for airlift bumpers


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Coug

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
2,975
4,356
113
Location
Olympia/WA
I test fit my camouflage storage rack that came with the BEOD today. Didn't have the spacers it's supposed to come with, didn't realize it at first, so ended up drilling an extra hole through the windshield frame that I didn't need to, but I can cover it up by replacing the windshield retaining bracket.

Also installed the hood reinforcement/stiffening kit designed for the armored grills. Don't have the armored grill, but I do end up walking on the hood a lot so I figured it couldn't hurt.
View attachment 795734

View attachment 795733
Today was putting all the Red Dot stuff in place to see if it will fit how I want it to.
Downside is, I'm moving the inside unit up higher, so the existing hose is now 6 inches too short. Have a new hose on the way to replace it with.
The condenser takes up just over half the roof rack front to back. I kind of wanted to install it on the front of the BEOD, but it just doesn't seem to work for me. The fans are puller fans, so it won't work properly if installed facing forward, and that would increase likelihood of being damaged, so just doing it to the roof rack for now.
Moved the dryer/receiver inside the truck instead of attached to the condenser unit (which ended up removing one hose from the system, as I'm not running these through armor don't need bulkhead connections), allowing me to shift the condenser back a little bit so it doesn't take as much of the roof rack, and the hoses fit better. Currently it's sitting on some 3/4" thick wood blocks so the lines don't rub against the back end of the rack.

I'll probably switch to a fender mounted unit in a year or two, for now just want it installed and working for this summer.

(Plate the unit is mounted on is some scrap from a dead standby generator unit that was disassembled a couple years ago, still need to drill the holses for bolting it to the B pillar bar, and I installed some rivnuts in the truck floor)

Aircon 1.jpgAircon 4.jpg

Aircon 5.jpgAircon 6.jpg
Aircon 7.jpg

So if anyone sees something horribly wrong or can give me some advice for improvement before I finish installing everything I'm all ears. I've done some aircon repairs before, but not installs like this.
 

Attachments

Ajax MD

Well-known member
1,569
1,414
113
Location
Mayo, MD
We used the truck to pick up a load of furniture. Soooooo much better than trying to cram stuff into my Subaru.
Next up- cubic yards of mulch and soil for the yard and veg garden.
 

Wire Fox

Well-known member
1,252
161
63
Location
Indianapolis, Indiana
Be safe and I’m sure we all hope all turns out OK.

Might I suggest a large chain to the steering wheel?

I’m getting ready to pound a large pole into the ground that will attach to a lockable removable cement filled pole that will block my driveway to prevent theft. Just unlock and pull the inner pole and lay it down and drive away. Come back and re-lock it.
All did go well. I watched for a few hours and rain let up, then I saw that the rate of water flow really just wasn't enough to even fill the sump pit, so I manually cycled it to empty the pit fully, shut the HMMWV down, and went to bed. About two hours later, I was woken up by everything in the house beeping and letting me know that the power had been restored.

Last night, I just finished installing a battery backup sump pump. Now I get to enjoy redundant pumping, plus have a nice backup supply to keep everything going for a few hours without directly feeding power to the main pump. It was about $325 for all the supplies needed, and I'm pretty sure that's going to be well worth it. The HMMWV will still come into play for long-term outages until I have a nice MEP-802 or 803 to really deal with power issues.
 

Coug

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
2,975
4,356
113
Location
Olympia/WA
Yesterday I bought an old set of 4 H1 16.5 inch steel 1 piece rims. I just wanted them for the 2 tires in good shape on them.
Turns out they have all the CTIS hardware on them, including the quick disconnect, so if I ever feel like installing CTIS, I'm ahead of the game already.

Took 2 of them to les schwab to get the tires taken off, as I couldn't break the bead here at home.
Got a call from les schwab that they didn't really know what they were doing, hadn't done wheels with run flats before, so they'd have to charge me by the hour. (I didn't realize they even had run flats for 1 piece wheels)
Ended up costing me LESS money to have them dismounted and some other tires put on without the run flats in them than the initial quote for 2 dismounts and 2 installs, but I also didn't have them balanced and didn't get the run flats put in, as these will be farm use or trailer use at this point, or at worst an emergency spare.

(This all came about because the tires on the truck are HORRIBLE for their balance and roundness, something about sitting in a desert for a decade on an armored truck probably)
 

Crapgame

Well-known member
635
329
63
Location
Navarre, FL
Hey we did the bumpers at the same time!

I finally got around to doing mine yesterday and made an install video for those interested:

I still need to pick up some mud flaps and maybe the middle bumper reinforcement plate.

Anyone know of an easy solution for a license plate mounting kit for the airlift bumper? I might have to just drill into it and make my own.
I've bought 4 sets of the HMMWV Mud Flap Kits from Milbot on ebay for $60 shipped using Make An Offer, some of the poly closeout panels were cracked from the mfg's piss-poor packaging method, though: https://www.ebay.com/itm/HMMWV-Spla...AOSw-5RZkdJL:sc:FedExHomeDelivery!32566!US!-1
 

Wire Fox

Well-known member
1,252
161
63
Location
Indianapolis, Indiana
That face you make when you're certain you know how much fuel your HMMWV has left in it when you go to drain the tank, but your container that's "just right" isn't.

Just finished draining about 20 gallons from a tank I was sure only had 8-9 gallons left in it. As you can imagine from this misunderstanding, my reason is I'm preparing to drop the tank this weekend for a fuel sender replacement.

Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk
 

BLK HMMWV

Well-known member
1,577
500
113
Location
Pasadena California
That face you make when you're certain you know how much fuel your HMMWV has left in it when you go to drain the tank, but your container that's "just right" isn't.

Just finished draining about 20 gallons from a tank I was sure only had 8-9 gallons left in it. As you can imagine from this misunderstanding, my reason is I'm preparing to drop the tank this weekend for a fuel sender replacement.

Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk
Are you planning on doing the access panel upgrade while the tank is out.
If not I strongly suggest it.
 
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website like our supporting vendors. Their ads help keep Steel Soldiers going. Please consider disabling your ad blockers for the site. Thanks!

I've Disabled AdBlock
No Thanks