Just bought a MTV M1094 LVAD

[smashcrashy]

Whats the relationship between the truck and tankland, they just helping out or its owned by the museum? I went there back in February or so to check out the V-100 (was considering buying one), very cool place and I got to meet Craig and he was very generous to share some stories. I've since purchased a couple of Ferrets.

 

[DSD277]

The truck is mine. When the truck came up for sale, I presented the idea to Craig on the buildup as a War Pig for display at the museum and for MV events and parades. Though I could make room at my shop, the room needed for working on it would be a big inconvenience. I saw the potential of making something representive of something currently in service that the public never/rarely see, and the museum is the perfect place

Some have suggested restoring it to the original M1094 cofiguration because of it's rarity. The cab has a lot of damage, and finding a complete LVAD cab would seem nearly impossible, or cost prohibited (at least for my budget), besides my belief is a toy should be a softtop. And the tops removed from the trucks were only for air dropping. My plan is to make the windshield's folding frame removeable for display with removeable hinge pins and useable for the road, to be legal...

I also want to thank the members here and at the museum that have given me a lot of positive support on this project that could just have been a 24000lb albatross around my neck

And if anyone can find any more pics of War Pigs, I'd greatly appreciate it if you'd post them here, or PM them to me.

 

[bikeman]

Working around these trucks all the time, one forgets how simply massive they can get.

Glad to hear things are moving in the right direction, I'm always willing to lend an attempt at an answer or find someone who does know!

 

[DSD277]

A little more progress tonight. Started to troubleshoot the air brakes and cleaned the bed of the spares and operated the dump. The tailgate linkage is broken on the right side, as the side rail is bent in also... again, no big deal, and easily fixable....

THIS THING IS COOL!

 

[Goatwerks]

Dave, it was fun getting it up and running/function tested last weekend. Can't wait to see the project move forward now that you got the brakes fully functioning today and it moves under it's own power.
You may want to put a separate thread in for the park brake release diagnostic method you used

 

[DSD277]

Hey Jim, thanks for the help, some things need 2 people to do the testing.The air problem would be simple to anyone that had more than a hour experience with air brakes.... I'm at 45 minutes now .... I am surprised that the truck moved the 5 feet last week.

The folllowing are the pics of my 'victory lap' at the museum , the first real drive of the 'Flying Dump Truck' with steering, brakes, and trans shifting and backing up.

Tomorrow, it's off to the field for a real drive.... first, I gotta find my racing goggles and flying scarf

 

[DSD277]

Christmas in October!
It has been a while since my last post, and there has been progress. I even started on doing bodywork .
To touch the high points. It has been running and moving between the display area of the museum and into the shop.
The day after my last post, The Flying Dump Truck must have known it was going for a test drive... while I was doing a pre-drive check, it perted up!... ok, maybe some non-believers might think it was the cab suspension kicking in... but me think they're ...the truck's happy .
The short run had the trans working fine in the lower gears ( couldn't go very fast where it was) and brakes working great. Later it went into the shop to re-orient some the wheels to hook up the CTIS lines. Initially, there were some fault codes that I have worked around and I believe the system just needs to be exercised after sitting for for a long time.

Now for my Xmas. In the last few weeks, I scored a brand spankin' new bumper in the crate from GL. Also 3 new "AO" doors ( SS's term for the air drop cab and associated parts) and 2 uppers, a later model grille, several clearence markers ( new and old style), a CTIS ecu., mud flaps and other misc. parts
Also received a pair of Goodyear tires complete to make a complete match set of shoes with spare.

Also, we've finally figured out some of the wood rigging on the truck. The stack of 2x6s bolted to plates by the middle axles were for lifting the truck with a forklift and used the fuel tank and guards for the other fork.... the horror of it all..
There is probably more, but I just don't remember right now.

I'm looking forward to fitting these parts in the next few weeks...

 

[bikeman]

Nice scores! Now that wood makes sense.

 

[kindapointless]

Have you found out when the truck had its airdrop malfunction? I only ask because it looks like one of the truck that had a malfunction a couple years ago at brag during a 17 heavy training drop. I will have to look through my -9 but i may have all the original test airdrop instructions. I know i do for the four wheel one because i was one of the first to chuck one out the back but cant remember if i kept the one for yours.

 

[ranger.41]

kindapointless,
Thanks for the great backstory to this truck.
ranger.41opcorn:

 

[DSD277]

The timeframe seems correct. I bought the truck back in April and the seller had it for around a year, and the Tan respray was Sept '09 (according to a stamp on the door).
But, I have never gotten any info on this malfunction, or when. Interestingly, I have heard from a few people that Stewart/Stevenson had a video of a M1094 air drop and "malfunction", and some wondered if this was the truck, but another person said that the video was about 15 years ago. Either way, any videos or pics of this or any LVAD in operation would be interesting and appreciated.

 

[kindapointless]

I think i know the video and if i remember correctly that was a burn in and not a tuck and roll loke yours was. Your truck seems more like a timer malfuction then anything else, too little damage. What yours seems like is either chute didnt release or she hit a rock and rolled upon landing. I would lean towards no chute release since it seems like a easy roll. I contacted a buddy in joint airdrop inspection and he says there have been about a dozen of those which i lower numbers then burn in. Chute release was always iffy with a double chute or higher load it all depended on a piece of string and the right knot. We always gave the new loadsmashers the pia loads during heavy week and things happened. On another note how would one find out if a T.O. was good for general release? Reason being is i have the af T.O. for your trucks airdrop rigging and drop procedures.

 

[DSD277]

I wish I knew more. Most is guesswork. The damage to the fuel tank and guards puzzled me until we figured out it was probably done by a forklift after-the-fact.
Physical damage on the left side seems to have been the front and intermediate tire had blown and shreaded, the rear radius arm with a small bend. The cab damage from the cab uppers flapping in the wind.
The right side, bent the dump bed inward from about 1/3 the way back to the tailgate. The right side of the cab did hit hard and distorted the body when it rolled onto it's side. This became most apparent when I fitted new doors. At first they drooped from the top hinge pockets pulling out of the body, and after I made tooling to press the metal back in and the doors fit the A pillars, I could see that the quarter panels had been pushed down and I need to make a rigging to mount in the cab to pull on the rear portion of the cab floor and pull the sides up.
Further damage to the right side included a dented front rim ( which the tire still holds air) and a bent tierod from the truck coming over onto the right side.
The roof has me baffled. Did the truck in your malfunction roll over with the dirty side up?

The 3rd and 4th pages has the latest pics
http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/dsd277/FMTV/M1094 rebuild/#!cpZZ3QQtppZZ32

If you look at the doors on these 2 pics, you get a good idea how much the doors moved just by reseting the hinge pocket

 

[kindapointless]

Yeah it was definetly a tuck and roll not a burn in. The burn ins are normally a twisted pile of slag with frames twisted and much more damage.a simple roll with these trucks causes a lot of damage because of wieght of vehicle. Im thinking the airdrop platform hit something upon landing and rolled it. The platforms this was strapped to had to of had damage to blow the tires and they are some very very sturdy aluminum honeycomb and should of protected the tires and suspension. I will dig out rigging book later and take picture of one rigged to show you what i mean. It will just add more mystery to this as that damage would be hard to have. I do belive you have a "murphy" malfunction. The ones i witnessed did not go belly up. Do you know the original base this came from? There are not that many loadmasters that have qualifications to drop these anymore so if i can get an idea of the base i can probally ferret it out.

 

[DSD277]

The truck came from Bragg. I'm pretty sure it didn't go all the way over, but have wondered how the top of the cab ended up looking like it was run overed ( considering they're stowed in the bed for the drop)
If you have looked through those pics, you can understand how finding another AO cab would be best, though this one will do for my intentions

 

[DSD277]

Well, I intended to post these a few days ago, but never got to it. I've been working to straighten the right side rail of the bed, and replaced the front bumper last week and installed a newer style steel grille.

 

[DSD277]

A distant great uncle to the FMTV

This last Sunday, I finally took a distant relative to the FMTV ( from the old country) down to the museum, SDP Haflinger, to get some comparative pics.

 

[bikeman]

Looking great! Keep it up!

 

[Ord22]

looking good. Kepp the pics coming! Thanx.

 

[MyothersanM1]

My son and I met up with Will Wagner and Craig at the museum Sunday morning. Will picked up a Cummins part for me and we made the exchange. My boy and I checked out the "flying dump truck". Did a quick walk-around "pre-trip" inspection. Sure is looking a lot better than day one. We'd like to come out again sometime and see her fired up.