One of the problems being faced by the military is the dramatic
change in the mechanical nature of it's vehicles.
The M35 / M54 / M151 series trucks could be maintained by anyone
who has ever worked on a tractor. They are transparently simple
vehicles that, while they had their quirks, worked phenominally
well. If something broke you could 'rig' it to get home with
a fair amount of success.
Simplicity drove the design of these machines. The maintanance
is straightforward. Try to pull a radiator out of a deuce.
It's easy. It was designed to be easy.
Try that same task on the newer 939 series trucks or even an
HMMV! It's a nightmare.
The new trucks have parts that are brought together with cost
savings as the key driver in design. They have computer controlled
this, digital that, shimmed parts that are borrowed from civilian
truck lines and tech manuals that require a tractor trailer to
bring anywhere.
This exponential growth in vehicular complexity, combined with
the overall decline in the scholastic ability of the average
American have resulted in the current condition of the vehicles
that have been discussed here on the list.
It might be worth while to keep this in mind when you are considering
the next addition to your collection. The new trucks, while
very cool and capable are a much differant beast than what many
of us have grown comfortable with.
M211 series torque spec: Several sharp blows with a large mallet.
M35 torque spec: 125 lb-ft of torque
HMMV torque spec: 125 lb-ft note: torque to yield bolts, use
only once.
-=-
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 23:13:20 PST