• 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.

Working on the M1078 LMTV

Another Ahab

Well-known member
18,004
4,565
113
Location
Alexandria, VA
Another minor set back on the AC install. The hose kit that was supposed to be for a LMTV was about 6' too long and the fittings for the compressor side were too short to go over the unit so wouldn't be in the correct position. .
It's almost always like it's something, you know. No project ever seems to be easy. :shrugs:
 

aleigh

Well-known member
1,040
52
48
Location
Phoenix, AZ & Seattle, WA
Another minor set back on the AC install. The hose kit that was supposed to be for a LMTV was about 6' too long and the fittings for the compressor side were too short to go over the unit so wouldn't be in the correct position. Instead of trying to find the exact part - since we can't seem to buy everything at once and know it's correct - I'm just going to take the truck to a local AC shop and have them make hoses for it. This shop did a great job when I had to replace the lines on my M1010 and did so reasonably. The lines for the M1078 will be short compared to the M1010 so I'm hoping to get off without it killing my wallet.
+1 for just having the hoses made, that's a good idea. That goes for a lot of things on the trucks, including the hydro hoses, a lot of the air stuff. If/when you crack a transmission inter-cooler hard line like I did, you can spend forever trying to find an original one, or you can just have them whip one up at your local hydro place. Those guys are looking for any excuse to use a tube bender and flanger. They live for it. Looking through the TMs there is a lot of information on how to actually fabricate various parts.
 

mkcoen

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
5,637
381
83
Location
Spring Branch, TX
Another minor fix today. The seat adjuster for the driver's seat was broken. It appears that's a fairly common occurrence and the replacement adjuster that I was able to get had also been broken but fixed with an upgrade. Unfortunately when they did the repair on the replacement they used aluminum rivets to put it back together and they had already started wobbling pretty good. So instead of having a wobbly working adjuster Keith drilled the holes out slightly to clean them up then tapped them. After putting in the appropriately sized bolts with nuts on them the handle is as tight as if it were welded on. I'm guessing this will last much longer than the field repair.

Pics:
1) new adjuster with bolted handle
2) original adjuster - this one was also riveted when it was new but much tighter than what the repaired slider was. Also note that the repaired handle has a much wider base to it so not as easy to break as the original one.


image.jpgimage.jpg
 
Last edited:

mkcoen

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
5,637
381
83
Location
Spring Branch, TX
The original intention was to leave the 3rd seat out of the LMTV since I was 1 back rest short of a full set and instead maybe put a gunner's platform with some type of cooler/armrest combination in it's place. While piecing the seat together to use for trading material the wife said (I thought) "you're putting that back in?" And I replied "I was thinking of trading it" and she said, "no you misunderstood me. You're putting that back in!" So now I have the 3rd seat in the truck :shrugs:

IMG_4362.jpgIMG_4367.jpgIMG_4370.jpg
 

M813rc

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
4,222
3,274
113
Location
Near Austin, Texas
Mark, understanding whether or not there is a ? or a ! in the words spoken by ladies is very important!

I gotta say she is a grand gal, you need to continue to behave and make sure she doesn't trade you in on a newer model. :)

Cheers
 

mkcoen

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
5,637
381
83
Location
Spring Branch, TX
Mark, understanding whether or not there is a ? or a ! in the words spoken by ladies is very important!

I gotta say she is a grand gal, you need to continue to behave and make sure she doesn't trade you in on a newer model. :)

Cheers
We both know there likely isn't anyone else that would put up with either of us so we're set for life :D. One week from today will mark 24 years. Not too bad seeing as we only knew each other for 2 months when we got married.
 

mkcoen

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
5,637
381
83
Location
Spring Branch, TX
Well it seems like I continue to find minor things to fix. The only time I really needed the back up light was leaving for the car show a couple of weeks ago at 0-dark-30 and thought it was pretty poor. Turns out I was really only using the tail lights to back with. Checked the bulbs and they're both blown. Easy enough fix from AutoZone.
 

Attachments

Another Ahab

Well-known member
18,004
4,565
113
Location
Alexandria, VA
We both know there likely isn't anyone else that would put up with either of us so we're set for life :D. One week from today will mark 24 years. Not too bad seeing as we only knew each other for 2 months when we got married.
That's great; congratulations!

If neither of you has killed the other one by now, there's a REAL good chance you never will.
Not a guarantee, mind you; but a real good chance. Marriage: it's not for sissies. :naner::beer:
 

mkcoen

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
5,637
381
83
Location
Spring Branch, TX
Thanks to Motorcar I have 3 new to me 6ATGM batteries. I have 1 dead one in the 1078 so this was a great deal for me. I brought them home and hooked them up to the Genius G7200 just to check the charge. All 3 are holding better voltage than the 3 in the truck although 2 of them drop pretty quickly from 100% charge. I'm going to use the repair mode just to charge them a couple of times to see if I can get them to hold steady. Still they are good batteries and passed on via this site's Pay It Forward section. Kudos to Motorcar. Hopefully I can return the favor some day.
 
Last edited:

mkcoen

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
5,637
381
83
Location
Spring Branch, TX
Dropped the truck off at the AC shop this morning. Once they have everything put together I'll have the coolest LMTV in town.
 

Attachments

TNriverjet

Active member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
1,172
24
38
Location
Clifton, TN
Dropped the truck off at the AC shop this morning. Once they have everything put together I'll have the coolest LMTV in town.
Mark, you already have the coolest LMTV... Very soon you will feel it on the inside! Thanks for all the documentation. I'm taking great interest in keeping up on your repairs and findings. This will be a "go to" thread for all new M1078 owners.
 

mkcoen

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
5,637
381
83
Location
Spring Branch, TX
Well bad news and worse news on the AC. The bad news is it's still not done. They're hoping to have it finished by tomorrow but having wiring issues. I emailed them the Red Dot schematic that I have in the hopes they can figure it out. The worse news is the cost. Over $1k at this point and I told them if it was going higher they needed to just button it up and I'd figure the rest out. They weren't able to use the dryer I supplied so that was a fairly big hit there. At this point it is a closed system and charged so it's just a matter of getting power to where it needs to go in the proper order.
 

aleigh

Well-known member
1,040
52
48
Location
Phoenix, AZ & Seattle, WA
Sorry to hear that. When you do get it sorted out if you enumerate for us what parts #s were actually required - you are going to be an absolute hero. Is there a SS medal of honor?
 
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