Street Legal HMMWV Update

We have had a great deal of interest in our prior post “Street Legal HMMWV” and have gotten much information from both our readership/customers as well as from the official sources here in Virginia.

Our last contact with the Virginia State Police Safety Division, the organization responsible for the inspection required for issuance of the VIN, road safety, and to approve the DMV to issue the Tag/Title, the officer indicated that in Virginia to get a vehicle approved for road use, there were equipment upgrades necessary:

“To make this vehicle legal for the road, it is going to be very difficult.  This vehicle is designed for off road use only.

 To bring the vehicle into compliance and be legal for road use, it will have to meet all Federal DOT standards for the year of the vehicle.

 Some of these standards will include vehicle lighting, airbags, instrument gauges, and seat belts.

 I would suggest you begin with the Federal Department of Transportation and get the manufacturer standards for the vehicle you wish to make legal for the road.

 I would think your biggest issue is going to be with the airbags.”

His response did not quite fit our opinion and prior knowledge  on how most vehicles are treated during this titling, inspection, and registration process (several of our warehouse employees have done so with classic muscle cars). Most of the time, if the vehicle was produced without a particular feature, it was grandfathered in and such a feature was not required -yes, we know that the Federal Standards were already in place in this instance, but nevertheless, the HMMWV’s were produced from the factory without such features.

Basically, until another Virginia resident successfully titles their Humvee in this drawn out process, it is our recommendation to have it titled out of state and transfer the title in; there is a completely differing set of rules that govern such transactions.

We have reports of titles being issued in Georgia with some paperwork in addition to inspections and visits to their titling office (see our prior post’s comments here). There is also a note that GovPlanet is offering Florida titles for a fee at the time of purchase – it is unknown at this time as to whether they are off-road/road use titles – such a title will make it a common transaction to transfer a title into any state; hopefully, these titles will be of the common road use variety. Hopefully, these routes will not require pouring over the Federal DOT list of safety standards that are being pushed upon Virginia residents trying to title their Humvee for road use.

The point here is that there is light at the end of the bureaucratic tunnel. It seems that the biggest hurdle has been combating the state employee’s lack of knowledge on how to properly title these surplus DoD Humvees to make them Street Legal. The best advise our team here at www.hummersurplusparts.com can give is to keep at it, keep going back, and just show persistence that these officials are unable to ignore.

If you have success or a “teachable moment” in your titling process, we would love to hear from you and share with our other readers/customers on our blog.

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Preparing New HMMWV Owners for Humvee Maintenance

There are a lot of thoughts when it comes to maintaining a vehicle properly to keep it in great shape for use on and off road. Many people use a very stringent preventative maintenance schedule while others tend to go with the “don’t fix it unless it is broken” style of reactionary maintenance; we think the answer lies somewhere in between for the average Humvee owner. We have written this short post in the hopes of preparing new HMMWV owners for Humvee maintenance.

First, the US Military designed the HMMWV or as it is commonly called, the Humvee, with a very specific set of requirements that were both operational and durable in scope. Some of the veterans we have talked to that worked on the Humvee, have expressed the amount of maintenance that they personally performed on their assigned vehicles was a bit over the top for the average private owner (i.e. the non-combat / security / private contract owner). The common thread in their stories pointed to making sure that the vehicles in their care remained operationally sound to protect their brothers at arms. This level of maintenance may far exceed what a new owner will typically require to keep his/her warhorse rolling.

Based on the discussions here in the www.hummersurplusparts.com warehouse, our team has come to the conclusion that the first thing a new HMMWV owner should do is find a copy of a US Military maintenance manual – not so much for their maintenance schedule, but for the diagrams and part numbers. This information is almost indispensable when trying to locate a problem component. We have digital copies of a couple of the most common manuals we use and will happily provide a download with any purchase as a courtesy upon request. Yes, the manual is available for a small fee if we do not have the part you need.

ARMY TM 9-2320-280-24P-1 Technical Manual – Humvee M998 M998A1

ARMY TM 9-2320-387-24P Technical Support Manual

As for routine maintenance, as with any vehicle, the Humvee, HMMWV, and its variants should follow at least the most basic routine that all off-road / road vehicles require: Changing the oil; lubricating the joints; keeping appropriate levels of transmission, brake, and power steering fluids; keeping appropriate tire inflation, tread wear, rotations, and alignment; as well as general maintenance to the painted surfaces (yes, you should at least wash your Humvee on occasion). Beyond that, your air filtration should be checked at the minimum ever 3-6 months and more often if you operate your vehicle in dusty conditions. Of course there are more labor intensive maintenance projects, but hopefully, your new warhorse will provide you with many years of diesel powered hybrid stomping joy with minimal effort.

We encourage our readers, customers, and Humvee enthusiasts to share some of the maintenance stories, issues, and common problems that they have experienced with their work on HMMWV and its variants; often this information helps the newer, less experienced owners avoid potential problems and mis-diagnosed issues. Feel free to comment and tell us your story or provide your advice. We look forward to reading your responses.

Street Legal HMMWV

OK people, since the DoD has decided to auction some of its “fine” HMMWV’s to the general public, there are many Humvee enthusiasts out there that have been asking how and if a HMMWV can be made street legal. We know, we know; the agreement you sign to buy one states that the buyer agrees that the HMMWV is an off-road vehicle, but alas, we all know what the real world translation to that is: is it possible and under what circumstance?

That’s where all of you HMMWV, Hummer, and Military truck enthusiasts come in!

Given that we like the HMMWV (a lot) at www.hummersurplusparts.com, we have been discussing many of the finer points of this subject as we sort, list, and photo our loads of surplus, and we know many of you are doing the same exact thing. Why not put your 2 cents in and leave a comment or two (do keep the comments on subject and relatively clean; oil stains acceptable).

As a start, our warehouse HMMWV enthusiasts pretty much concur that any interested HMMWV owner (who was lucky enough to nab a sweet HMMWV at auction), should start by familiarizing themselves with their state’s Department of Transportation/DMV requirements for a “road worthy,” street legal vehicle (yes, we know, HMMWV’s are the essence of such a statement, but due to the bureaucrats and safety-mongers, the situation is what it is).  We figure once that list of “essential equipment” has been acquired (and it most certainly will vary by state), the lucky owners can then start that major undertaking of satisfying the paper-pushers in order to put that HMMWV to good work clearing the roads of enemy combatants (or at least waiting in traffic with all of the non-military vehicle drivers).

We will be conducting our own research into the possibility of a street legal HMMWV in the next few weeks/months, so be sure to leave a comment, opinion, or question. Hopefully, once our warehouse team gets this question answered, they can return to work and stop all the mindless searching on their cell phones and office PC’s.

As always, thank you all for your business and interest in www.hummersurplusparts.com

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