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To: MarkL
I have spent so much time in military HMMWVs that I find people who go ga-ga for them simply hilarious. If I had a nickel for every time one of those pieces of junk got stuck in Afghanistan, I'd be able to sponsor an X-Prize entry (speaking of cool hardware) and have enough left over to get Michael Jackson's nose repaired (not that I would).

I have seen every piece of that independent suspension break at least once. We once choppered out a pallet of dead transmissions and transfer cases (and we had a max population of six Hummers).

It has an automatic slushbox that fails every 800 miles of so -- this is necessary because of all the soldier-chicks who can't (or won't) learn to work a clutch. The tires were made by the lowest bidder, and it shows. The tread life is nil on the road, about 2x nil on dirt, the square root of nil on rocky ground. Also there are two different versions, the regular and uparmoured Hummer, and nothing interchanges -- not even the spare wheels. (And removing a tire from a wheel is not supposed to be a field repair).

Finally, the thing is too big for many roads and bridges in the third world, but so ineptly designed that it only seats four and has no more usable interior volume than a crew cab Tacoma, and less than a crew cab American pickup.

It finally reached the point that we needed to have full-time mechanics out at our camp just to keep the HMMWVs running -- and when I left, we were sending them out on the backs of Russian-made, Afghan-operated Kamaz cargo trucks because they were all irreparable.

The Toyota HiLux pickups didn't look nearly so cool, but they kept running. From where I sat -- all too often in the driver's seat of one of those crummy Hummers, under tow by a Kamaz -- the thing is all image and no performance.

But it looks cool, so it makes a good toy for the kids... probably the best use for the thing.

As far as I know the H2 is just a Blazer with some Hummer styling tacked on and the price jacked up. A Blazer for the insecure...

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

8 posted on 12/23/2003 6:05:50 PM PST by Criminal Number 18F
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To: Criminal Number 18F
Damn!

I really had no idea about all the problems that the military is having with HMMWVs!

I wonder if one of the problems is that the military procurment process requires getting parts from the lowest bidder... While the civilian version (still with very limited passenger space, but then I hate people in general, and probably wouldn't be driving people around!) uses more expensive, civilian parts, like tires and wheels. I don't know... Just guessing. But if someone were to buy a $120,000 playtoy that breaks down every few thousand miles (other than those designed to do so, like a Lamberghini), you'd think that it would be all over the press.

Thank you for your service

Have a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Mark
9 posted on 12/23/2003 7:19:59 PM PST by MarkL (I know that there's a defense around here somewhere... Chiefs 12-3... Bah, Humbug!)
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