Yes I am using plastic rod for hoses? Very small diameter stuff I simply warm the bend area between my fingers before bending. Larger diameter stuff I run under hot water.

Also I never use flat point needle nose to do my bending. I use needle nose where the two "needles" are tapered cones. The farther up the cone you place the rod the larger bend diameter you get.

Every now and then one will break but all in all I have had good success.

Hope this helps.

Yes it does Mike. I use solder and wire wrap wire, but I like that you can get way more choices from using plastic rod. I was stupid and use flame or soldering iron when I tried with no success of course.

I will try that on my next cabling/plumbing job.

Working on some plumbing in the back yard now - lots yet to do.


All the hoses and cabling back there on the HEMTT get kind of wild. I hope to capture some of that look with my work.

Something in a new direction:

If you are going to have front brakes then you are going to have to have some indication of front brake drums as well.

A quick trip to the parts box and a foursome of drilled out unused panzer road wheels will do the trick.

Great job, as always Mikey!

Pat
MMiR

Thanks Pat I always appreciate your comments.

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Here is a question: Do any of the HEMTT kits currently offered include the side mounted self-recovery winch?

I may scratch build one as this truck needs some additional complexity on that side anyway!

HEADS UP! - An interesting info find that will affect more than a few folks out there:

If you are planning on buying the new Trumpeter HEMTT semi-tractor AND the Italeri HEMTT with LHS to combine the best parts from both, please know this. The semi-tractor sports a shorter frame than the LHS.

You will either be lengthening the Trumpeter frame or using the Italeri frame as the starting point for your LHS build. (Or a combination of the two!)

As Taylor has already discovered there are other differences between the two frames such as the step down near the #3 axle. The LHS has the step down while the shorter, beefier frame on the semi-tractor has no such step.

Myself, I would just plan on using the Italeri frame, as it is a more than respectable start for your LHS flatrack project.

From the HEMTT Tech Manuals:

M1120 LHS
Vehicle Length = 393 inches
With Flatrack = 424 inches

M983 Semi-Tractor
Vehicle Length = 350 inches

I first noticed it in a photograph when I happened to realize that on the semi-tractor the standard 155 gal. gas tank just barely fit between the front and rear wheel sets with no room for other equipment boxes. I knew then that something was different!

Mike,
If you haven't already, check the manual. There are hoses that run from those 2 canister looking things attached to the wall of the spare tire. I think one is air and the other is oil/hydraulic fluid. Some of the hoses do run to the engine somewhere.

Right now those large oil lines look like they are attached to the air compressor but for the time being they are just floating into the back of the engine and not attached to anything. When the time comes they will be attached to the PTO driven oil pump on the transmission.

Pete, the right most canister is the gas filter as the bottom bullet shaped portion is actually glass and normally has a metal shield over it.

Not sure about the left canister as yet - maybe an intake air filter for the air compressor. I do know that there is usually a line dryer canister to take moisture out of the incoming air to the compressor and it might be strapped to the davit mast. I will be scratching that but for right now I am not sure what it is used for.

The plumbing work is far from over.

I found out last nite that the tractor has a shorter w/b. I think it is also bobbed behind the #4 axle as well. I thought about splicing the 2 kit frames. I think I agree with you and will simply use the Italeri frame instead.

I dont have the Italeri kit yet, so I will just work on the crossmembers, axles etc for now.

BTW, another great day of work by you!

The right one is a Raycor fuel filter and the one on the left, if I recal properly, is an air dryer for the vehicles air system.

You are right on the money Dustin - took me awhile to find the right illustrations in the 1600+ page manual.


Right hand canister for fuel system:

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Left hand canister for air system:

If only I took a little more time to go through that manual!
To many pages to go through so I just pulled out what was going to be more noticeable.

Pete, it was the next thing on my list to try and figure out anyway. Now I have to figure out the piping.


After that my next challenge: I had thought the cylindrical item strapped to the davit post was an air dryer. Now I don't know what it is and I cannot seem to find it in the manual.


(Original un-cropped photo credited to Tac Air Pubs & Michael Benolkin - shown here for discussion purposes only)

Michael, that is a high pressure hydraulic filter. The filter resides in the housing, which is what you see in the picture. The filter housing.

You know what my next question will be; how/where do the hoses from this filter tie into the system?

That top line probably comes from the pump, and the line from the side probably goes to the the control valve that operates whatever function that's needed. Such as the LHS. Then you'll have a return line from the control valve back to the hydraulic tank.

Funny story about a HEMTT I was working on once.

I had it pulled in the motorpool, of course everything had to be up to 1028 standards. So I'm checking everything out, doing an initial inspection on it. I had the outriggers fully extended and the legs all the way down. I also had the crane fully extended.

Well in doing so, this takes hydraulic oil from the tank, to fill the hydraulic cylinders. In passing, and not paying attention to what's going on, one would think that the tank is low by looking t the sight glass on the tank.

They usually had soldiers in the motorpool that were just drivers. So they'd be making sure their vehicle had its proper equipment, like drip pans, chock blocks and so on. Well this particular soldier seen that the hydraulic tank was "low" (in reality it wasnt because I had the crane extended and so forth) and decided to fill the tank up. Well when I racked the crane back up and slide the outriggers back in, that oil has to go back to the tank... Well, it came out of the fill cap/vent very quickly and sent oil flying all over the motor pool.

Lets just say the motor Sargent wasn't happy with this guy at all. Lol

He spent the rest of the cleaning up hydraulic oil.

Lol

Well you have basically answered my questions but just to confirm;

#1 - It is part of the "accessory" hydraulics system driven by the PTO pump and not part of the steering system which has its' own separate pump?

#2 - Would this high pressure filter be on the output side of the pump or on the return side? ( I would assume "high pressure" means on the output side. ) So the plumbing would run from the PTO pump to the filter and then the line would go to the accessory control box?

Thanks Dustin for all your help. It is great to have someone right here with hands on experience of these trucks.

Another minor but easy to correct detail:

Italeri would have you build these forward lifting bars as being straight up vertical and the spanner bar they give you keeps them this way. In reality however these bars cant inward. Easy enough to accomplish with just a little gentle tweaking with some needle nose pliers and then you shorten the spanner bar slightly.



p.s. Also, if you have some hex shaped rod on hand there is supposed to be a LARGE bolt head on each outside end of this spanner bar.

1. Correct.
2. Correct, output side of the pump.

No problem sir. I'm glad that I can be of help for a change. Lol

Hey, don't call me sir, I used to work for a living! (Ret.)

Just kidding - I always wanted to say that.

No, never was in the military - 1A but had unbelievably high draft number.

Wanted to go Navy and try for machinist mate!


Thanks again for the info!

Tonight I scratch built my high pressure hydraulic filter, (seen strapped to the davit) revised the high pressure hoses to include this new filter, added some gas lines from tank to gas filter to engine and finally I added a couple of air lines.