What have you done to your HMMWV today/lately

Did you do the tire removal and install yourself?

jbmatt said:

Did you do the tire removal and install yourself?

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Sorry for the late answer - I did, and those are some heavy tires! Had to purchase a set of tires because three of the old were cracked. Left the runflats out and installed double beadlocks and centramatics. It runs really smooth compared to my first brief outing when I got it running.

I let the fuel level drop below a half tank to check what kind of MPG I'm getting.

Calculated out at 9.6

So got a message about a motorcycle that went off the trail and down a slope that needed recovered (I volunteer in my area for off road vehicle recoveries that tow trucks won't go to)


Used the tow bar to get a little more height on the lift





It went pretty straight forward. Bike was in excellent shape for the fact it went off the hillside, but it was upright the whole time.


Loaded it up and took it to their camp site. Bike wouldn't start because the computer in it said there was a fault in the brake light. Brake light seemed to come on just fine, but still won't do anything. Honestly, any vehicle designed to be able to go off road that won't start for a reason like that is stupid. Anyway, the tailgate just barely shut with the bike in it.

Fixed a KDS S3 box that was in the back of my truck when I bought it, I had tried it and discovered pretty quickly the start relay was welded shut. Without de-soldering the top plug it would have been hard to remove the K1 relay, so I cheated and milled an access hole in the box.

I decided to solder wires onto the board, and remote mount the new 50 amp relay for easier replacement if needed.

I sealed the hole with a plate and it works as it should. Nice to get the old Nartron EESS out of there, I hated the afterglow on that one. I added a little LED wired to a glow plug so I can see when they are actually on. The S3 box just flickers the LED for a couple minutes after starting instead of a full current pulse like the old EESS

Got it up on my lift to diagnose why it will intermittently not shift to 3rd. I also decided to figure out what the clunk noise was while turning at low speed. Turns out the pitman arm was just about to fall apart.

Then I decided to replace all the hub seals since I didn't do them when I first got it on the road and they were all seeping.

Also picked up an M1101 trailer and started cleaning it up. It's basically new apart from a few scratches.

Gastrap said:

Fixed a KDS S3 box that was in the back of my truck when I bought it, I had tried it and discovered pretty quickly the start relay was welded shut. Without de-soldering the top plug it would have been hard to remove the K1 relay, so I cheated and milled an access hole in the box.

I decided to solder wires onto the board, and remote mount the new 50 amp relay for easier replacement if needed.

I sealed the hole with a plate and it works as it should. Nice to get the old Nartron EESS out of there, I hated the afterglow on that one. I added a little LED wired to a glow plug so I can see when they are actually on. The S3 box just flickers the LED for a couple minutes after starting instead of a full current pulse like the old EESS

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Was that a Song Chuan relay that was bad? The reason I ask I have a Nartron box on the bench in pieces awaiting said relay. It appears I will be able to lift the board enough to get to the bottom of the relay on the Nartron.

TNDRIVER said:

Was that a Song Chuan relay that was bad? The reason I ask I have a Nartron box on the bench in pieces awaiting said relay. It appears I will be able to lift the board enough to get to the bottom of the relay on the Nartron.

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Yes, all the relays in this box were that brand. As a heavy equipment mechanic, most of the welded contacts I see in a start relay or solenoid are usually from extended cranking attempts with low batteries, so I wouldn't blame the relay for that. I replaced it with the same brand relay. Though obviously Chinese, they're in a Volvo marked bag with military sticker and CAGE code, and say country of origin United States.

When my wife's Jeep was new the remote start wouldn't work. I replaced all the Song Chuan brand mini relays with Denso and it's worked fine for 4 years now, so I'm not really a fan of that brand.

Gastrap said:

Yes, all the relays in this box were that brand. As a heavy equipment mechanic, most of the welded contacts I see in a start relay or solenoid are usually from extended cranking attempts with low batteries, so I wouldn't blame the relay for that. I replaced it with the same brand relay. Though obviously Chinese, they're in a Volvo marked bag with military sticker and CAGE code, and say country of origin United States.

When my wife's Jeep was new the remote start wouldn't work. I replaced all the Song Chuan brand mini relays with Denso and it's worked fine for 4 years now, so I'm not really a fan of that brand.

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Got a second box to open when I get time. I'll look for a substitute relay for it. THANKS

What I did was give the DuraVee a ride of shame home today
After 23K of relatively trouble free terrorizing S TX it came down to this.
It started 3 days ago when a couple time it took a little longer than usual for her to fire off, that happened twice in the estimated 10 times it was started over two days, today she fired right up as usual, I had to go to the Auction site Pam works for and help her find her lost phone, when I got ready to leave it failed to start for 4-5 "cycles" then she fired up, went and fueled up and she fired right up
But after lunch in Beeville (YES Chinese) she would not fire up no matter what, the good and the bad of a computer controlled drive train, they are overall very dependable but when it goes south it goes SOUTH!!
I did not ever get a MIL light when it was running but of course it may have codes, and I will have to connect the laptop to see if it is building enough rail pressure to start, it could be a CP3 pump failure as the donor did have 300K on it
Diggy dog did not care, she got to ride in three different vehicles today so she is happy!!

EDIT, this may not be too bad, I plugged in my code reader and it did not power up! the OBDII plug gets its power from the Power Train unswitched 12V bus, without that it ain't gunna run

It's been a while driving, maintaining and updating the 1999 M1123. Recently I have built and installed a center console for added accessories such as a stereo, cabin lights, voltmeters for the aft battery (transmission supply) and both together, placed the GPS speedo, analog tach, an inside outside ambient air temperature displayand plenty of switches for future back up camera, off road LED lighting, and other stuff. Even added a cell phone holder/charger for Pandora since my stereo is only Bluetooth, no radio or other features.



Pretty simple design and build, 1/4" underlayment plywood, cut to fit the upper width and lower dimensions of the doghouse cover.




Installed two rows of switches with voltmeters for 12 Volt and 24 Volt indications, fused for the upper row in the back of the panel, and reset-able circuit breakers for the lower 24 Volt (was an afterthought to go that route).



The tach was tricky, when I connected it to 12 volts, it would not work correctly at all but when connected to 24 Volts, it is spot on. Maybe that'll help someone down the road? I stuck with green LED lighting for the cab lighting above the seats and under dash to match the tach color and switch led colors.






Simply connected the panel on the upper rail below the windshield with two 5/16" bolts, added the side wings with Gorilla Tape to close the compartment off, looking for a more permanent solution down the road. It works great so far. Painted it with camo green, soundproofed the rear with 1/4" Silless soundproofing.



Pretty happy with it so far, makes it more comfortable driving with entertainment and cabin dome lighting. Also, huge difference for soundproofing the interior. I was hoping for good results, but it was better than I thought. I can only recommend to everyone to consider soundproofing the doghouse area...

Mogman said:

What I did was give the DuraVee a ride of shame home today
After 23K of relatively trouble free terrorizing S TX it came down to this.
It started 3 days ago when a couple time it took a little longer than usual for her to fire off, that happened twice in the estimated 10 times it was started over two days, today she fired right up as usual, I had to go to the Auction site Pam works for and help her find her lost phone, when I got ready to leave it failed to start for 4-5 "cycles" then she fired up, went and fueled up and she fired right up
But after lunch in Beeville (YES Chinese) she would not fire up no matter what, the good and the bad of a computer controlled drive train, they are overall very dependable but when it goes south it goes SOUTH!!
I did not ever get a MIL light when it was running but of course it may have codes, and I will have to connect the laptop to see if it is building enough rail pressure to start, it could be a CP3 pump failure as the donor did have 300K on it
Diggy dog did not care, she got to ride in three different vehicles today so she is happy!!

EDIT, this may not be too bad, I plugged in my code reader and it did not power up! the OBDII plug gets its power from the Power Train unswitched 12V bus, without that it ain't gunna run
View attachment 948695

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UPDATE turned out to be a defective Chicom fuse panel, the input bus bar was making int. connection to the unswitched power control lead fuse clip (AGU fuses)
It holds 4 AGU fuses, powering the lights, transfer case, transmission and engine (ECM) I just moved over and doubled up with the lights for now.
But the big problem is, am I going to be able to even find a decent panel to replace it, I see tons of Chicom panels being used in projects (like the one above) and they have pretty much put the US manufactured stuff out of business and they are all crap.....