HMV Maintenance
Thousands of books and manuals have been written about operating, repairing, and maintaining virtually every make, model, and vintage of vehicle from the Model-T Ford to the newest SUV. In regard to historic military vehicles (HMVs), there are usually several manuals for each type and variant, from WWII jeeps to present-day HMMWVs. Regardless, there are some people who will pay thousands of dollars for a jeep, MUTT, M37, M35, or HMMWV, yet won’t pay twenty bucks more for the appropriate service and repair manual.
While you should always have the manuals that apply to your vehicle, keeping your HMV in good, dependable running condition is not always a matter of doing everything by the book. Instead, you will usually find that maintaining a reliable HMV is mostly an ongoing, common sense process of checking things out, performing basic service, and fixing things before they break. These are few important lessons that you won’t “find in the manual.”
LESSON 1: TAKE YOUR TIME
Proper HMV maintenance is mostly a matter of getting to know your vehicle. This seems to be a new concept for many folks who’ve been raised to accept planned obsolescence. Too often, things are thrown away when they quit working simply because a newer model has come out, and/or it;s cheaper to buy something new than to fix something broken. This doesn’t work with HMVs!
Begin by making acquaintance with your vehicle as soon as you get it home. Ignore the adolescent urge to drive it right away to show off to your friends like a high-school sophomore with his or her first car.
Why? I once bought an M38 that seemed to be in very good condition. When I checked the transmission I found only rusty water inside — no gear oil at all. Had I given in to the urge to drive it around, I would have destroyed the transmission within a few miles.
A wise philosophy is to always assume the worst with a newly-acquired vehicle. Assume that the gear oil in the transmission, transfer case, and axles is low, and/or dirty and worn out. Likewise, assume the same about the engine oil and power steering fluid.
Add to this, assume that the wheel bearings need repacking, the vehicle is overdue for a lube job, and the brake fluid is at least twenty years old. Assume that all components, connections, drive belts, hoses, and nuts and bolts are loose. Inspect all the brake lines, the steel ones for rust or damaged spots, and rubber lines for cuts, cracks and deterioration.
If your vehicle has a vacuum or air brake booster, inspect it for leaks and deteriorated parts. Check all the universal joints for looseness, and put a wrench on their mounting bolts to make sure they’re tight. Check the tightness and condition of the engine, transmission and transfer case mounts. If a mount is deteriorated or broken, it should be replaced before driving the vehicle. Jack each wheel off the ground to check for loose or rough-running wheel bearings.
Most HMVs have drain plugs on their fuel tanks. On older vehicles, the plug may be
