There’s a recurring question online: should you get an LMTV expedition vehicle? Yes, you can if you’re willing to build it right. This truck is one of the most durable machines on the planet and it can serve you well. The following’s all you need to know:
Well, it can be referred to as a soldier of steel. FMTV stands for Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles. These are some of the toughest trucks on the planet that aren’t a Unimog. These bad boys are used by armies for all sorts of tasks. These include resupply missions along with support for army engineers.
These trucks are used primarily by the United States Army. So, who makes FMTV trucks then? Well, they’re currently manufactured by the Oshkosh Corporation. If you look at the older models, half of the truck’s parts are American while the other half are Austrian-made.
These trucks originally came with 17 variants, but we’ll only be referring to 4 of them in this article. These trucks are known as LMTVs and they’re masterpieces for overlanding.
LMTV stands for Light Medium Tactical Vehicle. It is a part of the FMTV lineup, and it comprises of the 2.5 (US) ton class trucks made by the Oshkosh cooperation. These machines are quite powerful and they’re protected from all sorts of corrosion.
So, how does an LMTV overland build fare up?
An LMTV expedition camper will be a great fit for all the right reasons. For starters, it is super tough inside and out. This is quite the feature when you’re carrying a portable house on top of the truck through the trail.
As mentioned above, it is also protected from rust. In fact, you can go a step further and have it protected from chemical attacks like Guido Kimble did here. The more parts you source from the military, the tougher you can make the truck.
So, we know that it is built to last. But what about its performance? Well, you’ll have to work on that yourself as Kimble did. You’ll need to swap the truck’s powertrain with something more powerful and something that can accelerate your furniture-loaded LMTV to a high speed.
Furthermore, you’ll need to add a set of chunky offroad tires to the truck. Yes, the LMTV comes with a lot of ground clearance, enough to take you through some of the deepest waterbodies you can find. You’ll still need to add tires that can provide you with traction on the tarmac.
While there needs to be a gearing change, the suspension of the truck is more than fine as it is. This beast has been developed for some of the toughest terrains on the planet and you shouldn’t really mess with it. It can easily handle everything that you load the truck with.
An M1078 is a type of LMTV truck that has a 21 feet long chassis. It can manage up to 5000 pounds of payload which is more than enough for your needs. It comes with an engine that produced around 225 horses when it was new, clearly not enough for overlanding though.
Of course, it is. The US Army wouldn’t be using this truck if it wasn’t. in fact, there wouldn’t be around a hundred thousand models of this truck running today if it wasn’t. This truck even achieved the “Ultra Reliable” badge by the army, which is a better seal of approval than JD Power or Consumer Reports could ever provide your car with.
Comments