New to me M1075 and M1074 PLS

I recently purchased a 1991 M1074 PLS with a winch, and a 1997 M1074 without. I have read most if not all the information on this site and others about these vehicles. I am waiting on the EUC to go pick them up. I plan on doing some interesting things with these, and thought I would start a thread to chronicle the experience. Does anyone else active on the forum have one of these vehicles?

Gotta get the M1076 PLS trailer to go with it, and a couple large CONEX containers for both of them to carry - so you can have your own land train!

maddawg308 said:

Gotta get the M1076 PLS trailer to go with it, and a couple large CONEX containers for both of them to carry - so you can have your own land train!

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I have the 20' CONEX containers. I have been looking for the M1076 for 6 months. No luck yet. We have some family here in Richmond, VA, but most of our family and resources are in Utah. The "Land Train" is exactly the idea.

My favorite wheeled vehicle. Congrats!

I'll be watching this thread with envy.

Holy cow the possibilities with one of those are endliess!

If you're doing a connex, you're either going to need a CHU or a flackrack to put it on... I don't see either in the picture (doubtful that it will come with a rack, CHU... maybe).

We have one of the M1074 PLS's and one of the M1076 Trailers. My understanding is that basically the original PLS family consisted of the M1074 (with Material Handling Crane and Self Recovery Winch - used more for "front line" operations), the M1075 (without either of the previous - used more for "line haul" operations), and the M1076 PLS Trailer (intended for use with the M1075 for line haul, but could be used with M1074). Can't say that I am a mechanical guru or anything, but I can get my head around things and figure out what I am looking at. I might be able to answer a few questions.

fyi, I remember a thread here on a military pls with a 20ft connex box that struck a bridge as they sit real high in comparison to a civy container chassis.

juanprado said:

fyi, I remember a thread here on a military pls with a 20ft connex box that struck a bridge as they sit real high in comparison to a civy container chassis.

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That was because the connex box was on top of some stacked flat racks

ev2bfree said:

I recently purchased a 1991 M1074 PLS with a winch, and a 1997 M1074 without. I have read most if not all the information on this site and others about these vehicles. I am waiting on the EUC to go pick them up. I plan on doing some interesting things with these, and thought I would start a thread to chronicle the experience. Does anyone else active on the forum have one of these vehicles?
View attachment 608246View attachment 608247

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So here is the latest update. I took the M916 and a Step deck from Richmond, VA to Whitehall, OH to pick up the first M1074. The motor on the M916 started to smoke heavily. I limped it into the Cummins dealer in Whitehall, OH. After digging we determined that the motor suffered from "Lot Rot" and two sleeves were severely pitted. When I picked up the M916 from Texarkana, TX it ran great, but I have been noticing that it seemed to be loosing power as I drove it. I had the dealer rebuild the motor with ceramic pistons, and LPF liners. Some day I may want to turn it up, so this lays the ground work for future mods.
Now, I can go pick up the M1074. The mechanic said throwing a load on the motor and driving it would help the break in, so we loaded the 55,000 lb 10X10 and brought the total haul weight up to 110,000 lbs. We drove home without any problems, and the new motor sang a pretty song the whole way.
I was told the 1991 M1074 has "electrical issues" and would not start. I changed all the fuel with filters, all the oil with filters, checked all other fluids which looked great. I put 4 new odyssey extreme batteries, and connected all the cables. The alarm came on right away even though the start switch was not on just like I was told it did. I ignored the buzzing and turned the start knob and to my surprise it started right up. I think it did not even turn over once before it fired up. It is like it wanted to live.
We have spent the last couple of weeks using the crane to move trees, the PLS hook to pull tree stumps, the winch to drag trees from the woods. The unit is amazing! Everything works perfect. The CTIS airs up and down. The DDEC II adjusts the idle to keep it from getting to hot on these 100 plus very humid days.

Cool! thanks for sharing

Wow defiantly need more pics

srodocker said:

Wow defiantly need more pics

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NEIOWA said:

If you didn't find a trailer yet, there are 10x M1076 working their way thru DLA surplus. In GSA status until Apr 23. Ft Polk, LA​

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I have been watching for these M1076 Trailers or any others. Anyone here know where I can find some M1076 trailers for sale? I now have two M1074's running that need trailers.

Today I got the 2011 Oshkosh M1075 A1 PLS 10X10 home. She is a dream. Compared to the 1991 M1074 with the Detroit the C15 sounds much different. Both the engine and transmission do not feel like they are trying so hard to move the vehicle down the road. The independent suspension is much smoother, and it seams like the turning radius is much better. The fact that the chassis is 20 years newer means everything is clean and rust free. I can't believe the military let this one get out into the civilian hands.

Was that the one on Govdeals? I am glad to see that they finally sold it and that is went to a good home

Yes, that's the one! Are you the one who was bidding me up?

No and if I was, I wouldn't admit it It seemed like they had it listed over 5 times. Did you get any of the flatracks they had on GL a few months back?