thinking about getting a LMTV

[sargentwolf]

greetings all. so ive recently found that my favorite truck from when i was in is now for sale as surplus.

i am so frigging tempted to get one.....

i know quite a bit about maintaining these beasts as i would pester the mechanics of my unit to show me more when we had nothing to do in the motorpool....which was every day.... add in i do disaster relief work and this is a perfect truck for it (mid Missouri seems to be made of floods this year... my phone goes off at least 5 times a hour with a new flood warning)

so my overall questions are:
1. am i insane for thinking this is a good idea?
2. is there a place to get a list of civilian equivalent LMTV fluids and basic parts (belts, bulbs, etc)? been searching the forums and found some things, but not a lot overall unless im failing at searching.
3. with getting the thing home, is it quasi legal to drive it back with the sale paperwork or would contacting the local DMV to get a temp tag be required?

and finally, those that already own LMTV's, would you buy a surplus one again? this would be my first personal military vehicle, most likely not the only one....

thanks in advance!

 

[kev009]

Most parts seem somewhat rare, and the specialty MV shops that have them aren't afraid to jack the price up on things. It will probably get worse before it gets better since many of these are entering private hands. Aside from cost, expect to spend a massive amount of time looking for whatever you need. This is in stark contrast to something like a deuce or HMMWV.

I would do it again. I got lucky mechanically, but some of the knick knacks like door handle and actuator have been tough enough to track down. I'd be willing to spend much more than I did knowing what I do now for a truck in pristine condition -- the most bang for your buck will be right on the auction block selecting the truck.

Find a hauler on uship.com. Consider it part of the price tag. You can't drive it until it is tagged, and you should minimize driving until you've done basic maintenance.

I'm talking about auction trucks. The people selling on ebay seem to be delusional.

 

[bikeman]

Depends on where you live and base regulations if you can drive off. Some posts authorize this, Ft. Bragg for example. Your state may require you to get a "trip tag" or a temp tag. YOU need to find out from the DMV, not take someone else's word, especially if they are not in YOUR state. You will also want to look into how you will be able to tag this on a regular basis. Some states require Commercial, Commercial for Private, or have laws such as "Historic/Former Military Vehicle". For me, mine will be titled as 'antique auto' and I can use Year of Manufacture Display plates, while (Texas IIRC) allows a stenciled bumper number to be the license tag.

you can use the TMs for fluids, bulbs and similar. There are commercial variants. Mainly since the lighting system is 12v, makes it easier to find parts than 24v.

There's guys who own HETs, Half-tracks, 5-tons, etc... you're only as crazy as you want to be.

If you do buy, or are ready and need a shipper post on here. I posted for 4 weeks on uship and couldn't get a reasonable price when I did get a bite. After a referral on here I had the truck picked up (almost within hours for the first possible shipper) in a few days and in my yard a few days later for exactly what I wanted to pay. And this was for a pickup, not a LMTV, so, who knows what that would look like.

 

[sargentwolf]

ok, cool. thanks for the info.

ive got a call in with the awesome DMV at my old house in missouri.....love those small town places. they are checking with their supervisors in jefferson city about this. either a trip tag or plates. they have no problem plating this, as a commercial vehicle as it will be for my business (bobcat work) as well as disaster work. plus my insurance company doesnt really care as its a big old heavy lifted 4x4 truck in their book (got to love when you get a fellow vet as your insurance agent!)

i will look into getting a shipper, as well as post on here.

another question, government planet. are their inspections good enough to take at face value or should i pay/bribe someone to go take a look before bidding? what about their guarantee, face value or good enough that they will stand behind it and honor anything thats wrong that they missed?

 

[mahdey]

Nearly everything on the LMTV i can get from my local truck parts house. Don't let the military side of things scare you, these are very much over the counter trucks in one way or another.

 

[gottaluvit]

Thinking of getting one of these myself as a daily (well, when I need a pickup truck) driver. I am so over the 3/4 ton pickup trucks. They just can't handle my roughness. My current one has a frame starting to crack and why go deep into debt for another that will surely fail miserably like the last 10 I've had. Besides, a tan LMTV is a chick magnet for my kind of hillbilly girls. You know, the ones that snarl the nose up at the driver of the $50K pickup truck drivers that won't dream of taking it off road in some mud!

Jim

 

[bikeman]

another question, government planet. are their inspections good enough to take at face value or should i pay... someone to go take a look before bidding? what about their guarantee, face value or good enough that they will stand behind it and honor anything thats wrong that they missed?

This depends on the site. I got good intel today that says certain sites are outperforming other sites, and it's all coming down to the inspections/pictures/evaluations. If you can find someone close to a site you are looking at, and they are familiar with the GP personnel, an inspection won't hurt. But if they are not familiar with the process or the trucks, it might not work out for you. The GP personnel, at least here, do NOT have the time to do additional inspections. I've seen half of what they are responsible for and whew... no way jose!

AFAIK, the Ironclad assurance is good, BUT, it only lasts so long after the auction. If you are holding on for a cheap shipper and take a month to move it, it might not run like it did before, GP doesn't PMCS them daily. Now, major end items, significant components, damage? that all should be fairly straight forward as long as it's proven it happened before the shipper picked it up. BUT, I'm not a GP employee or know anyone that has had a claim so far. I know one person that has had an experience with their cust service on a major issue, and it was resolved very favorably. So...

 

[gottaluvit]

Forget about batteries. Mine said that it "required ether to start" yet it had two bad batteries and they said they don't honor the "ironclad guarantee" on batteries. Well, at the cost of them, I see why they threw that clause in there. Sad part is the truck driver that delivered mine said that the first thing the GP personnel told him was that it needed jumped. I see no way how ether has anything to do with batteries. Ether is for cold weather. Bad batteries is year 'round.

Jim