Truck
We chose a surplus U.S. Army standard cargo truck as our base for the vehicle. Specifically, ours is a 2006 LMTV (Light Medium Tactical Vehicle) model M1078A1R. Couch Offroad Engineering prepared our truck for us. Acela Trucks also does great work on LMTV/FMTV trucks.
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Manufactured in USA by Stewart & Stevenson
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Caterpillar (CAT) C7, 7.2-liter, 6-cylinder inline water-cooled turbo diesel producing 330hp (boosted from stock)
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Allison 7-speed automatic transmission, 6.14 gears
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Full-time 4×4
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CTIS (Central Tire Inflation System)
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Cruise-control (after market)
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Tires: Michelin 395 / 85R20 XZL’s which are 46” tall and 15” wide
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Wheels: Hutchison beadlock
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Tire/wheel weight: ~ 330 lbs
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Length: 25’ (including motorcycle carrier), 40’ with trailer (see below)
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Weight: 26,000 lbs – LMTV with Bliss Mobil box
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Height: 12’ 4” – including Bliss Mobil box
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Fuel capacity: 112 gals
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Fuel efficiency: 6 mi/gal – highway
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Range: 672 miles – highway
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Top speed: 70 mph
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Comfortable cruising speed: 55-60 mph
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Top speed on 6% grade: 40 mph
One comment we often hear is “That thing could go anywhere!” It certainly looks like it but it’s not completely true (Hello narrow ATV trail!).
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Water fording depth: 50” – I’d never take ours through 50” unless I’m willing to let the storage boxes get full of water – I’d also worry about water seeping in around the Bliss Mobil door.
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Additional rear spring added for better capacity and stability
House (Bliss Mobil)
Our living quarters is from Bliss Mobil in Breda, the Netherlands. The 15’ model is designed to go “off grid” for up to 30 days.
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Fresh water: 460L (121 gal)
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Grey water: 220L (58 gal)
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Black water: 110L (29 gal)
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Water recycler / maker – can produce 70-100 liters clean water per hour from grey water or any outdoor water source
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4 solar panels with combined capacity of 0.96 Kw
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2 parallel lithium-ion battery banks with combined capacity of 22kW/800 Ah
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40-liter capacity freezer
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83-liter capacity fridge
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6100 BTU air conditioning/heating
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Diesel air heater
Trailer
When we moved from our home in Oakland, CA, we were not sure what we would need so added a trailer as our “garage”. It turns out we really don’t actually need most of what’s in the trailer and will be working to eliminate it by end of 2018.
We chose a surplus U.S. Army M1102 Light Tactical Trailer. This trailer was designed to be pulled by a Humvee (HMMWV M1097/M1114 series) but looks great behind the LMTV. The M1082 LMTV trailer is way too heavy duty and tall for our purposes.
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Tongue extended to clear the rear motorcycle rack overhang
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Custom storage enclosure and roof-top rack by Access Manufacturing – Expedition Supply provides sales and support
The Two if Overland folks reported that they averaged 8.1 mpg in their 6×6 LMTV which is bigger and heavier than your vehicle; any thoughts on why your mpg is 75% of theirs?
How comfortable is it driving long distances in your vehicle? My reason for asking is that I am still working and will be for a few more years; until then I will not be in a position to travel for extended periods of time; I live in MA and would like to explore far from my home and do not want to spend more time traveling to and from a distant state – say Montana – than I actually spend exploring.
I’ve only taken one good measurement so far and it was mixed on/off highway. I have two tanks and keep forgetting to make recordings on how much I’m filling each tank and switching between tanks before recording miles. That’s all to say, I’ll keep measuring and report any changes.
Forgot to answer the long distance question – I’m comfortable 5-6 hours and then I fatigue. It might be more me than the truck, though…
Darrel,
One other comment; I too beat cancer; I had diffuse large B cell lymphoma; my last chemo was 2/28/11; stopped all meds about two weeks later and have not looked back.
That’s awesome to hear!
Hello there wanderers, I saw your rig in Bozeman this afternoon from my hotel room. I had to go see it. Unreal! Congrats to you on your cancer fight and doing what most people would never do. I’m a car and truck geek and this thing blew my mind. I will follow you on your journey. Good luck!
Cooper
Thanks so much! We are on our way to the Montana wilderness…
What a well done truck!!! You can tell that significant and planning went into this build. I’m guessing it wasn’t a straightforward project to manage either. I noticed the reconfigured air intake: did Couch reengineer those for you using an “off the shelf solution” or was that custom? With the reconfigured intake were you able to create a “pass through” between the cab and the blissmobil unit?
Thanks!! The air intake was modified to get the Bliss box close enough to the cab for the pass-through. The air filters are Donaldson Powercore PSD Air Cleaners custom-mounted – one on the passenger side toolbox and the other on a bracket, driver-side.
It was great seeing you come through our little town of Columbia Fall, Mt. Today I honked and tried to wave from my tiny car, haha my little guy loved your big rig! I got a couple of neat photos of it too..
I think I remember you honking! I tried to wave but maybe too late. Glad to hear your young one appreciates the rig!
Darrell.. Craig T. REI Bozeman. RPOD179. Triple Bypass, off grid fool. Enjoyed our few min. in the parking lot. This is SUPPOSED to be a journey, right? :)… Blessings on your journey and health
Craig – it was a pleasure meeting you and will keep in touch.
My daughter and I saw your incredible rig July 25, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho! I was so curious as to what someone would be doing with a rig like that! Thanks for the website! I took a photo of the back of your rig and I was excited to see you have a blog! Good luck to all you do on your adventures! Very inspiring!
Thanks! We really wished we could have spent more time in Idaho. We left some things to see for “next time”.
Absolutely! Please come back to visit Sandpoint, ID! 🙂
Love your rig. Quick question, where do you end up getting parts for it? Also, The eco-cage is awesome, is it a custom one off piece or can you purchase it somewhere? Thanks and I’m now following your page!
So far, I’ve found parts on E-Bay. Eastern Surplus is another place to check out.
For the Bliss box, contact Bliss Mobil at blissmobil.com
Oops…answered the wrong question. Couch Offroad built the cage.
We bought an M1078 recently. It’s a quite unusual truck in Germany. More common is it’s brother – the Steyr 12M18. Its great to see that you have the same truck. Maybe we can learn some things from your camper. Would it be possible to get to know how you changed the air intake, after you removed the iriginal parts. Maybe post a few photos. Another point are spare parts. MAN bought the manufacturer of the M1070 blueprint Steyr. Both have lots of parts in common. We hope that the spare parts supply works via MAN. Where do you get spare parts from? We think about order few in the US. Any recommendations?
Thanks for sharing your project. Best wishes from Germany.
Nicole
Greetings Nicole! Congrats on your M1078! We switched the stock air intake for a pair of Donaldson PowerCore PSD Air Cleaners. These are connected by a “T” connector to the main air intake. One of the air cleaners is mounted to the top of a toolbox, and other on a bracket, on either side behind the cab. I’ve purchased spare parts from both EBay and Eastern Surplus. From the latter I found a basic M1078 spare parts kit that contained fuel filters and the like. Please feel free to reach out any time and good luck with your build!