Hello Dean,
> Also if you have
>any particular advise about them I would love to get it.
They are FANTASTIC vehicles to own. However, they are not for everybody
for the following reasons:
1. Tracks are a big problem. Original condition tracks are brittle and
will fail sooner rather than later for one reason or another. That means
you have to apply some sort of fix to keep 'em from falling apart. There
are fixes available, but they ain't cheap or easy to fix up! However,
with the right fix you won't even have to worry about them breaking
again. EVER.
2. Some critical parts are impossible to find, like original carb and
water pumps. There are work arounds, but they aren't original (or cheap
in the case of the water pump).
3. Often they are fairly well rusted out due to poor water drainage in
the tub. If the vehicle has been left outside for any length of time, a
fun filled time awaits the restorer :-)
4. If you don't have a lot of land to use them on, they aren't much more
than a very interesting OD Garden Gnome. Since it is fully tracked there
is little chance you can drive it on a public way, and ATV clubs will not
be too pleased about you using their trails. The Weasel leaves no marks
on the trails, but since many trails are narrow (at least here in the
Northeast) there isn't much room left over for the ATVs. Same for
snowmobile trails, but me thinks you won't have to worry about that down
in Texas!!
5. The vehicle and tracks were primarily designed for snow travel. In
this the Weasel is unmatched by any other US Army vehicle ever deployed.
Or so it is said. On hardpack/rocky surfaces the tracks take a beating
as they are just hardened stamped steel. The original rubber pads also
come off VERY easily on such surfaces.
Now... having said all of that, they are a fantastic vehicle to own (did
I mention that?). For me, the key element is the accessibility to
driving areas. I don't buy vehicles to sit in my garage or out on my
lawn, so if I didn't have access to miles of trails around me I wouldn't
own one.
Steve
1xT24 Weasel (running)
1xM29c Weasel (running)
6xM29/M29c Weasels (various states)
1xM274A4 MULE (running)
1xM43 (waiting for a mate)
1x710M Pinzgauer
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Sep 02 2001 - 11:15:37 PDT