High Mobility in a Retired War Horse
1987 AM General M998
Set free to explore the country it was built to defend.
Why a Humvee?
It was 1992, the Humvee had been in service for 7 years and was now occupying more screen time either in the news or the movies than any single vehicle type ever before. It’s success in the Persian Gulf War during the early 1990’s made in an icon of America’s military reach. Arnold Schwarzenegger had to have one, and once he did everyone wanted one. The catch was, the military would not sell them to civilians at the time, so AM General and it’s later partner General Motors came out with the iconic Hummer H1. Big, brutish, and barely suitable for the street it was a thing of beauty. So yea, every kid wanted one… and I’m just a big kid really.
Fast forward 30 years, the Hummer H1 was long out of production and the brand stores a memory, but the H1 continues to command a obsenely high used vehicle price. However the military, now engaged with the Humvee’s replacement the JLTV, was selling off it’s stockpile of Humvees to civilians. The catch is it doesn’t come with a title, you purchase them sight unseen, and most of the ones let out of the military have spent their last years being used as parts donors to keep the fleet running.
For me, years of offroading in a few different Jeeps has been fun, but due to the limited size, cargo capacity and my use of them as a daily driver, I could never really “outfit” them for overlanding. I set my sights on a Humvee to build specifically for this purpose. I could be set u p for many weeks out in the wilderness, carrying food, shelter and equipment for whatever challenges may be encountered. And then, as that would be the primary purpose of the vehicle, left that way, always ready for the next adventure.
Purchasing a HMMWV
First Impressions
It does fantastic in LA traffic, absolutely no one cuts you off
You can park it just about anywhere
60 MPH Top Speed ensures I’ll never get a speeding ticket ever.
Its actually quite stable on the road and drives surprisingly easily.
I quickly removed the Mil-Spec wheels and tires, and replaced them with oversized normal off road BF All Terrains. This was as much a safety and functionally improvement, as it was aesthetic. At the same time I added a rear bumper (making it more street appropriate) and a spare tire, as these are really necessary for travelling off the beaten path. I also removed all the hastily installed LED nonsense lighting, most of which didn’t work anyway.
First Adventures
The HMMWV is actually an extremely capable off-road vehicle.
The internet is a strange place where much speculation is made from people with varying levels of practical experience, and sometimes it’s tough to separate the signal from the noise. The Humvee is certainly one of those items that polarizes commentators. As an avid Off-Road enthusiast, and a former 4WD powertrain engineer, I can assure you the Humvee is in a league of its own in the off-highway realm.
For the negatives:
The articulation isn’t all that great. In rocks, the body angle gets impressively tippy quickly, however the ridiculously wide stance and relatively low center of gravity keep it planted even when it feels uncomfortable.
It is wider than most trails with foliage. It fits down most, but I have broken two side mirrors already and the exhaust stack slams into everything (designing a mod to get it out of harms way).
The engine, intentionally modified to run a variety of normally aviation fuels, and to be extremely simple for field servicing is anemic.. This resulted in gearing to support convoy speed as maximum and prioritization on off highway agility. When on road, the engine operates at or near it maximum RPM for extended periods.
It is loud. Designed to be driven with helmets and an intercom the interior noise level is basically that of an industrial factory. Not exactly plush like it’s civilian counterpart.
For the Positives:
The Turbo400 and gearing work well together to keep the anemic engine in it’s power band as best they can.
The torsen front and rear differentials work impressively well with the open center differential to keep the vehicle moving and maneuverable offroad. In the rocks where you start lofting tires (due to the aforementioned deficient suspension articulation) just a slight tap of the brakes can keep you moving with two tires lofted.
It can carry everything inside and outside the vehicle.
Humvee Fails
In general the Humvee has been mostly reliable with maintenance related failures, however if you are going to be taking it way out of the way, “mostly reliable” can become a life threatening situation pretty quickly.
Humvee Mods
The High Beam
MRAP Seats
Mega Fan