Drain some at the 'oil test' portal near the engine. Might take a while but clean and easy.
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Beginning the Journey
- Thread starter gslader
- Start date
CONJIN
Active member
Apparently the broken flange bolts can be a sign of out-of-balance drive-lines and a precursor to bigger headaches down the road. After replacing the flange bolts I pulled both of the drivelines and had them balanced and I also installed all new u-joints. When they balanced the drive shafts both of the splined shafts had so much play in them that they both needed to be replaced as well.
The remote start switch is behind the front co-driver (passenger) tire. Flip the left most switch up then the middle switch is a momentary starter switch. See picture below.
CONJIN
Active member
That switch must be an A1 thing, definitely don't have that on my A0.
What kind of mileage was on your shafts? I lubed mine, but hoping to defer that for awhile if I can.
CONJIN
Active member
Not a lot of miles really. I've only got 1500, but it's something that I will be looking into. Thanks
No, not many miles at all. As I learned since getting my truck the driveline angles on the A0 and A1 variants are steep which enable them to carry vibrations more so than “horizontal” or more horizontal drive lines and this can lead to the cracked engine housings at some of the noted stress risers (around the air compressor bracket and behind the turbo) so I just decided to bite the bullet and get them balanced.
CONJIN
Active member
I get the steep angle and all, but they come balanced out of the factory or at least I think they do. So I don't understand why they go out of balance, unless they never were?
They sometimes get assembled incorrectly when soldiers remove them and reinstall them - not properly aligning the slip yoke splines. Even assembling them 180 degrees out so they *appear* to be aligned can result in them being out of balance. There's also some question as to the quality of the balancing that was done on the early trucks - the driveshaft balance and steep angles was responsible for a lot of things breaking and coming loose and it had to be addressed in later revisions of the trucks with things like the addition of Nord-Lock washers to critical fasteners, and eventually the high-pinion intermediate axle being modified for use on the LMTV's to eliminate the steep driveline angle.
It is well worth the trouble to have them professionally balanced.
Even my 2008 came with 15w40 so that's almost certainly what it will have. The military doesn't swap out for different fluid. They always put in what they originally came with in my experience.
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Gotta remember too that the US Military has a much fatter wallet than you (no insult intended). Plus they have just about any amount of money they want to spend in Research & Development. If that fluid was good enough for them - I would bet it would be for you too.
There is a way to reprogram the shift points on M107x and M108x trucks.
I would guess it is the same on your HMMWV.
That fluid might be good enough for the military fleets when they regularly auction 20 year old trucks with less than 10,000 miles, the military probably didn't make the decision to use one fluid based on what's best for the transmission and extending it's life.
What is the reason(s) guy's reprogram shift points? I am interested in that from a knowledge standpoint, not to hijack this thread though..
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@Ronmar might want to jump in on this, but reprogramming shift points is partly because through the years of use - things get repaired - and sometimes the changes don't cooperate with the transmission. Parts (TCM etc) get replaced and nothing is done to notify that the engine and so the transmission just does what it always did. Reprogramming helps get those two pieces of hardware "back in sync".
Mine wanted to "shift hard" and with a really easy "learn me" session, those up and down shifts softened up those "shift points".
INFChief
Well-known member
Actually the military has done numerous oil studies.
It is not reprogramming, but relearning.
The Throttle position sensor info plays a big part in how the transmission shifts. On the A0 there is a cable actuated throttle position sensor that serves this purpose exclusively. Also using throttle cable to actuate the governor, the possibility of something getting out of sync and causing issues is more likley.
On the A1, the engine is throttle-by-wire and the ECU shares that info with the transmission. Since this info controls the engine, it is far less likley that a TPS issue would not be noticed.
For the other reasons noted though, relearning the shift points is not a bad thing to do…
The Throttle position sensor info plays a big part in how the transmission shifts. On the A0 there is a cable actuated throttle position sensor that serves this purpose exclusively. Also using throttle cable to actuate the governor, the possibility of something getting out of sync and causing issues is more likley.
On the A1, the engine is throttle-by-wire and the ECU shares that info with the transmission. Since this info controls the engine, it is far less likley that a TPS issue would not be noticed.
For the other reasons noted though, relearning the shift points is not a bad thing to do…
It's been a while since I've updated you all. Lot's of small projects like adding an air quick connect off the wet tank - which took a bit more effort than I expected.
I've also made some good progress on larger projects - most specifically new seats for the cab and soundproofing/insulating the cab. Over the last few days I got both the new seats installed and the floor insulated and recovered. I know there are lots of different ways out there to do this, so let me add to that compendium of knowledge.
After pulling the OEM seats out I first vacuumed the floors thoroughly, then scrubbed them with a degreaser (I really like the Super Clean brand degreaser which I cut 1 part degreaser to 3 parts water) and washed the interior out "gently" with a hose. After the interior was dry I wiped the floor down with acetone and let that dry as well.
After the acetone was dry I sprayed on a single coat of rust inhibitor along the entire floor and hit any areas with screw holes through to the exterior with a second coat. I then let this dry over night.
After the rust inhibitor was dry I then put Kilmat down in any spots where the floor sounded hollow or "tinny" - there were only two of these spots one at the rear of the cab and another up at the front of the cab where my left foot rests while driving.
After the Kilmat went down I covered the entire floor in 4mm Siless closed cell foam (I found it interesting this stuff is made in Russia - who knew?). Cutting the templates for the Siless and flooring was the most painful, time consuming and tedious portion of this whole process. For that reason I'm planning on having a real car upholstery professional do the upholstery for center hump . . . no way that I can do that and have it look anything but embarrassing. Also, this Siless stuff is super sticky - you don't get a second chance with it so where ever you put it down is where it is staying.
Lastly I put down the actual flooring. I used this diamond pattern rubber flooring. Initial impressions are that it is nice and pliable, seems relatively robust and should be wear resistant and easy to clean. The only concern I have so far is that cuts seem to propagate in it relatively easily. For example at the corners of the cut outs for the seat brackets where my cuts met up I can see that there are small tears propagating in the flooring. This would be a natural area for stress risers to occur so we'll see how this does over time. I just secured the flooring with a few strips of carpet tape as I want to have the ability to replace it if I am unhappy with the performance of other aspects of it. BTW - choosing the flooring was tough for me and I didn't ever feel like I landed on a GREAT option so if others have suggestions that they are happy with I'd love to hear about them.
Lastly I put the seat in. I should mentioned that I built up and dry fit the seat while the cab floor was still bare so I wouldn't be tearing up the flooring. I used 1 1/4" x 1/8" cold rolled steel flat bar stock to fab up the mounting brackets. I do have to say that there was never any easy way that I found to reach the back to hex bolts to attach the seat rails to the cab mounts - those were just a pain every time I had to put them in - if there is an easier way that I am missing let me know! I opted for the go to Chrysler Pacifica seats which so far feel like a nice upgrade.
Next up is to finishing insulating / sound proofing the rest of the cab and running wires for lighting and sound.
I've also made some good progress on larger projects - most specifically new seats for the cab and soundproofing/insulating the cab. Over the last few days I got both the new seats installed and the floor insulated and recovered. I know there are lots of different ways out there to do this, so let me add to that compendium of knowledge.
After pulling the OEM seats out I first vacuumed the floors thoroughly, then scrubbed them with a degreaser (I really like the Super Clean brand degreaser which I cut 1 part degreaser to 3 parts water) and washed the interior out "gently" with a hose. After the interior was dry I wiped the floor down with acetone and let that dry as well.
After the acetone was dry I sprayed on a single coat of rust inhibitor along the entire floor and hit any areas with screw holes through to the exterior with a second coat. I then let this dry over night.
After the rust inhibitor was dry I then put Kilmat down in any spots where the floor sounded hollow or "tinny" - there were only two of these spots one at the rear of the cab and another up at the front of the cab where my left foot rests while driving.
After the Kilmat went down I covered the entire floor in 4mm Siless closed cell foam (I found it interesting this stuff is made in Russia - who knew?). Cutting the templates for the Siless and flooring was the most painful, time consuming and tedious portion of this whole process. For that reason I'm planning on having a real car upholstery professional do the upholstery for center hump . . . no way that I can do that and have it look anything but embarrassing. Also, this Siless stuff is super sticky - you don't get a second chance with it so where ever you put it down is where it is staying.
Lastly I put down the actual flooring. I used this diamond pattern rubber flooring. Initial impressions are that it is nice and pliable, seems relatively robust and should be wear resistant and easy to clean. The only concern I have so far is that cuts seem to propagate in it relatively easily. For example at the corners of the cut outs for the seat brackets where my cuts met up I can see that there are small tears propagating in the flooring. This would be a natural area for stress risers to occur so we'll see how this does over time. I just secured the flooring with a few strips of carpet tape as I want to have the ability to replace it if I am unhappy with the performance of other aspects of it. BTW - choosing the flooring was tough for me and I didn't ever feel like I landed on a GREAT option so if others have suggestions that they are happy with I'd love to hear about them.
Lastly I put the seat in. I should mentioned that I built up and dry fit the seat while the cab floor was still bare so I wouldn't be tearing up the flooring. I used 1 1/4" x 1/8" cold rolled steel flat bar stock to fab up the mounting brackets. I do have to say that there was never any easy way that I found to reach the back to hex bolts to attach the seat rails to the cab mounts - those were just a pain every time I had to put them in - if there is an easier way that I am missing let me know! I opted for the go to Chrysler Pacifica seats which so far feel like a nice upgrade.
Next up is to finishing insulating / sound proofing the rest of the cab and running wires for lighting and sound.
I had a chance to do a little work on the truck today. Was hoping to get both sub woofers installed but the going was slower than expected, really for no good reason. A couple small screw ups here and there that I had to redo but generally it ran pretty smoothly, just took a longer than expected.
So the plan is to drop to 8” “under seat” powered subwoofers into the dead space behind the driver and co-driver seats. I’m using the under seat subs because they are thin enough to fit in the void in the truck wall. Given how thin the skin (internal and external) is on the truck I’m concerned about vibrations and am doing several layers of insulation - will see if it works or not.
So here is the first step - Kilmat on the truck skin both the exterior skin (which you can see below) but also on the interior skin - which I applied on the interior facing portion so you can’t see it - but it’s there.
After the Kilmat I applied 4mm Siless closed cell foam
Lastly I used regular fiberglass insulation to provide some baffling and more thermal and acoustic abatement.
That was all relatively easy and quick. After that I used the original plastic paneling as a template to create two new panels out of plywood. This part was a real time suck - I think primarily because of the large number of holes that need to be drilled in each piece of plywood and relative precision required, even with a template. I then cut holes for the subwoofer and speaker grill. After all the drilling, cutting and sanding I did a dry fit to check for hole alignment - which was acceptable.
Lastly I upholstered the new panel and attached the subwoofer to the back, put the grill on and fished the wiring up to the ceiling of the cab. Hoping to get the second one installed tomorrow and make some incremental progress beyond that.
So the plan is to drop to 8” “under seat” powered subwoofers into the dead space behind the driver and co-driver seats. I’m using the under seat subs because they are thin enough to fit in the void in the truck wall. Given how thin the skin (internal and external) is on the truck I’m concerned about vibrations and am doing several layers of insulation - will see if it works or not.
So here is the first step - Kilmat on the truck skin both the exterior skin (which you can see below) but also on the interior skin - which I applied on the interior facing portion so you can’t see it - but it’s there.
After the Kilmat I applied 4mm Siless closed cell foam
Lastly I used regular fiberglass insulation to provide some baffling and more thermal and acoustic abatement.
That was all relatively easy and quick. After that I used the original plastic paneling as a template to create two new panels out of plywood. This part was a real time suck - I think primarily because of the large number of holes that need to be drilled in each piece of plywood and relative precision required, even with a template. I then cut holes for the subwoofer and speaker grill. After all the drilling, cutting and sanding I did a dry fit to check for hole alignment - which was acceptable.
Lastly I upholstered the new panel and attached the subwoofer to the back, put the grill on and fished the wiring up to the ceiling of the cab. Hoping to get the second one installed tomorrow and make some incremental progress beyond that.
CONJIN
Active member
Nice job, hope it works out for you! I think you are on the right track. No such thing as to much insulation! Will be doing something similar sometime in the future.