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inherited a FMTV - trying to learn about it

outinthewoods

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Oregon
I inherited a FMTV, and need to learn about it so I can figure out what to do with it. The previous owner called it an LMTV.
I don't know much about it, except it has highway gears and was a winch truck.

The kids (of the deceased) need the money more than they need this truck, so it'll be for sale soon. It was running well a year ago, so it shouldn't be a big deal to get it going. It's currently in southwest Oregon, just a few minute off Interstate 5.

Problems:
  • batteries are dead. I assume it's 24v, and I can put in 4 regular batteries, 2P 2S.
  • I have no idea what it's worth, and where to sell it. Other than the classified here, I'm guessing that Expedition Portal is another good option.
It looks like this. The back half of the cab isn't damaged; it was just my poor photoshop job covering up a company name.

Interested in your comments and opinions.
 

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NDT

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Sure this forum is a good place to figure things out. You say it “was” a winch truck, is the winch gone now? You say it has “highway gears”, were you provided information that the ring and pinions were replaced? These two bits of information weigh heavily on the value of this M1078.
 

dronsen

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The batteries are all 12V - Napa 6T 750 A (p/n 7256) works well. Can you post a photo of the serial number plate located to the left of the steering wheel? That will also help determine value. I may be interested in purchasing
 

Ronmar

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Well it looks like it is still a winch truck(hydraulic tank in place)...

It is a 12 and 24V power system with a pair of 12V batteries in series, placed in parallel with a second pair of batteries in series. They pull 12V out of the middle of the series/parallel batteries and it has a special alternator that acts to keep the batteries in balance. The battery box cover has a wiring diagram, but that does not appear to be the original battery cover.

You do not need 4 batteries. 2 batteries in series will operate the truck to start, test and sell... It looks like an A0, what year is it? A0's have a 12v vampire load so lift the battery leads when not using the truck to preserve their charge...
 
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GeneralDisorder

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If you get it up and running it's worth around $25-$35k to the right buyer, depending on condition - mostly due to being a winch model - which some people (not me) enjoy beating their heads against the proclivities of said winch system. The tire date codes are extremely important and can easily make a +/- $5k to the price tag if they are new or old. Old is VERY unsafe. Anything over 10 years is asking to be crushed in a roll-over. Check the DOT dates on the tire sidewalls. At least it's got MV-T's (Goodyear model) and not XML's (Old Michelin model that is dangerous).
 

outinthewoods

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Sure this forum is a good place to figure things out. You say it “was” a winch truck, is the winch gone now? You say it has “highway gears”, were you provided information that the ring and pinions were replaced? These two bits of information weigh heavily on the value of this M1078.
As far as I know all the winch parts are intact, and was part of the reason it was purchased.

My understanding is that there were two ring & pinion options, and this is the taller of the two. As far as I know, it's stock.
 

outinthewoods

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Oregon
Well it looks like it is still a winch truck(hydraulic tank in place)...

You do not need 4 batteries. 2 batteries in series will operate the truck to start, test and sell... It looks like an A0, what year is it? A0's have a 12v vampire load so lift the battery leads when not using the truck to preserve their charge...
As far as I know, the winch and hydraulics are stock, and installed.

Made in '98
 

GeneralDisorder

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As far as I know all the winch parts are intact, and was part of the reason it was purchased.

My understanding is that there were two ring & pinion options, and this is the taller of the two. As far as I know, it's stock.
The winch option is...... a thing. Not a great thing. But it does bump up the value and is likely to be well received with the 3116 crowd likely interested in this unit.

If the gearing is "highway gears" and that was specifically pointed out to you in some fashion, then it is likely the gears were swapped with 3.07 MRAP gears. They are NOT STOCK. Stock FTMV gearing is 3.90. This modification *was* the hot item a few years ago but has been mostly supplanted by the ECO hub arrangement and for someone interested in ultimately installing ECO hubs it's actually a deficit since it would be preferable for it to have the original low gearing in that case. But that's for the next owner to navigate/decide. As-is it would make someone a great farm/ranch truck. As a platform for overland builds it's not really the most desirable - it's old (one of the early models) - under-powered, and the winch takes up a HUGE amount of weight and real-estate plus the highway gears will make it even slower with ECO hubs. For it to make a great overland platform would mean swapping back to standard gearing, installing ECO hubs, removing all the winch equipment for space and weight, and probably some performance and quality of life upgrades. While it might be what someone thinks they want to do, it's not the best choice..... although most buyers have never built one, driven one, sat in one, or even seen one in person let along driven all the different model and all the different engine performance options and gearing options and habitat/chassis options. Guys like that (myself and a few others around here) don't want that. But we're also not the market - the market for that specifically WILL be almost entirely first-time buyers that have no idea what they are looking at and will probably buy the first one they see. So you just need to be that truck for them.

Where in Oregon? I'm in the Portland metro.
 

wandering neurons

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Ah, when you said Winch truck, I was thinking you had one of these, an M1089:
IMG_0857.jpeg


Me, I like my M1081 with winch. I’ve joined an offroad recovery group (775ofr.com for those interested) and the winch is invaluable. Nobody else in the group has 300+ feet of cable on a 11,000lb winch with 100% useage factor. No using the winch for one minute and stopping for another fourteen for cooling.
IMG_1818.jpegIMG_1805.jpegIMG_1802.jpegIMG_1820.jpeg2013476920655920031.jpegIMG_1513.jpeg
 

SolaAesir

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Rogue Valley, Oregon
I'm down by Grants Pass.
I'm in the neighborhood and would be willing to come take a look. I've been in the market for a year or so now, so I'm pretty familiar with current prices based on what has been replaced and what hasn't. Most people just get an LMTV running and then replace things for the next 3-5 years as they break rather than going through and replacing all of the seals, gaskets, pieces of rubber, worn wires (basically everything that degrades with time rather than odometer miles) at once, so the prices can be very different depending on what has and hasn't been fixed.

If you get it up and running it's worth around $25-$35k to the right buyer, depending on condition - mostly due to being a winch model
Yeah, this is the top end once everything rubber/plastic has been replaced and it's reliable to drive around. It goes down to around GovPlanet+$10k ($13-15k for our area) for something straight from GovPlanet, assuming it's titled for road use (knock of $2-3k if not), that is able to start and move itself on and off a truck but not much else.

It's probably worth noting that doing fixes before sale, apart from replacing those batteries and getting it running, probably won't net you anything. The people looking to buy these either don't think about labor costs or they're using it as a project where the labor is a bonus, so you'll basically only add the price of the parts to the sale price for anything you fix.

The one exception is once everything that needs to be replaced (more or less this list) has been done, you'll see an extra $5-10k added (to the $35-40k range) because some buyers will pay a premium for something they can just drive and not have to work on. It's not worth the time at all if you value your own hours, but it can be a nice little bonus for something you inherited if it's almost there already.

While it might be what someone thinks they want to do, it's not the best choice..... although most buyers have never built one, driven one, sat in one, or even seen one in person let along driven all the different model and all the different engine performance options and gearing options and habitat/chassis options. Guys like that (myself and a few others around here) don't want that. But we're also not the market - the market for that specifically WILL be almost entirely first-time buyers that have no idea what they are looking at and will probably buy the first one they see. So you just need to be that truck for them.
I feel targeted :p though I have lurked here long enough to know I probably want to hold out for an A1R coming onto the market. They never seem to be for sale publicly though. People buying LMTVs tend to want to turn them into work trucks (farm trucks, water trucks, etc) or overlanders/RVs (though you really want the double rear axle for those builds). With the winch you'll probably appeal more to the former (sounds like this is what the original owner used it for) than the latter.

It's probably also worth noting that there haven't been a lot for sale publicly in the region this last year (a few on GovPlanet that didn't run in the last two weeks and one on CL a few months ago in a similar state for $5k that sold in ~8 hours) so there's a good chance it will get snapped up regardless of how well it works for the buyer's purpose.

Edit: Probably worth sharing my CL search of the western US and CA for comps to give you an idea. All of these have been on the market for several months and so are probably priced a little high (the $1 listed one started at $18k and is now down to $15.5k). They're mostly in the SoCal region (including Phoenix) which seems to have a lot for sale and not many buyers, if they were already up here they'd likely be sold easily.
 
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outinthewoods

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I'm in the neighborhood and would be willing to come take a look.
I wasn't expecting anybody in the are to be looking. Nice coincidence.

>> assuming it's titled for road use (knock of $2-3k if not), that is able to start and move itself on and off a truck but not much else.

Permanent Oregon plates.

>> It's probably worth noting that doing fixes before sale, apart from replacing those batteries and getting it running, probably won't net you anything.

I'm not looking for a project, but I'll get it running again.

Drop me a message and we can talk.
 
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