One of my dreams is to restore an ex-military HMMWV someday [AFTER I
figure out how to become reasonably rich! :-) ]. Yes, I know it's very
difficult, very expensive, and I need to be very careful to avoid
visits from unfriendly US government employees, but as long as I
assume that I will become filthy rich first, the rest isn't too hard
to imagine. :-)
As I understand it, the de-mil process involves cutting the frame and
major suspension members with a torch in all sorts of inconvenient
places. I've also heard that you can sometimes bid on a HMMWV, strip
off many of your favorite pieces (except for the parts that they want
to cut up), and then let the helpful DRMO guy torch the rest for
you. Please correct me if I'm wrong; I've never dealt directly with
the DRMO before.
Here's my question: Are the frames and suspension components of
HMMWV's that currently get scrapped similar enough to the
corresponding parts of any civilian HMMWV's that one could conceivably
bid on a scrapped HMMWV, and then replace the cut-up pieces with
civilian repair parts ordered through the friendly local Hummer
dealership? Would that be a better solution than attempting to weld up
the cut pieces? Or do AMG and/or their dealers discourage that by
making it difficult to obtain the appropriate repair parts (such as
the frame and control arms)?
I know that there are at least a few restored HMMWV's rolling
around. Does anybody know anything about how they were restored?
Thanks in advance for any insight!
-- Mark J. Blair KE6MYK e-mail: mblair@gruumsh.irv.ca.us