M-Gator

[rob love]

It has been about a month since I updated this thread on the Gator. I have brought in a few batches of parts, and it seems you go to replace one thing and 2 other problems show up. I replaced the tires, and found the front wheel bearings have a bit of choppy drag on them (likely dry grease) so I am replacing those. I'll likely do all the rear bearings as well, since they will also be of the same vintage.



The front tires are a pair of the original P-tracker runflats that Frank Von Rosensteil picked up for me and passed to another collector to drop at my place. The rears are a readily available Chinese made tire for now. However I had superdave pick me up a very nice pair of the original P-trackers rear tires that I spotted on kijiji near him. I am now watching to fin another pair. I see some in Peterborough ON that are priced right, but they appear more worn than the ones I have. I would like it to have the original factory tires.



Got in a pair of aftermarket seats, and they are installed. I ordered the majority of the switches, some from China and some from the US, as the old ones were hard to read. I figured out that the missing switch was the 4 way switch. I have also ordered one of the fender lights, since it was broken at the back. It is coming from Latvia of all places...they had them for $20 shipped. In hindsight I should have ordered two. Then again, I am not sure if I am getting the complete lamp assembly which I need, or just the lens. I'll know this week.



I removed the hood so I could access the wiring, and also remove the "408" which was so poorly spray painted. That was the tactical-helicopter unit that had this thing. Once in there I found out that this gator had the John Deere winch kit installed at some point, although the winch and mounting plate did not make it to the auction. Winches rarely do.



So as it turns out, the 2007 Gators seem to have a few luxuries that the 2005 gators in Afghanistan did not have. There is the deluxe turn signal kit and the John Deere Warn winch kit. Evidence of these can be seen in the photos Robin showed earlier from a Gator sold by CADC about a year back.



I picked up some 383 green CARC substitute at the MVPA convention last week, so will repaint the cargo box and the brush guard/litter rack soon. I am also placing an order for all the nickle and dime items like certain washers, spacers, plastic caps, decals from a John Deere dealer in the US so I can get this project completed. Unfortunately, John Deere may have discontinued some of the M-gator specific items like the blackout switch and some of the M-gator specific decals.



There was a gator at the MVPA convention this year. The owner had a photo of him (or someone) with an M-gator in Iraq or Afghanistan. However the gator he had at the show was just a civilian trail gator, with the civilian cargo box and no blackout lighting. Perhaps, if my project turns out well, I'll bring mine down next year.

[Ed Storey]

Rob,

Will you be mounting a C6 on your vehicle....?

[rob love]

I only have a brit made copy, L8 I believe. I do not have a c6.
I am only presenting this vehicle as an administrative vehicle, and not a fighting vehicle, so there will end up being just the personal weapons, webbing and kit if it goes on display. I will not be presenting it as a vehicle that was in Afghanistan, but rather as a vehicle of a type that was. It did go to Mali with the UN, so it has a bit more history than your average golf cart.

Been busy in the shop with wiring repairs. There is corrosion in a lot of the connectors, so they have to be disassembled and the terminals cleaned or replaced. I have found a circuit that could not have possibly worked (front marker lights), so a bit of rewiring is required there. I may also add an interlock so the regular lamps, including brake lights, won't illuminate when the blackout lighting is energized.

[rob love]

I took the cargo box apart and sandblasted most of it. Then I decided I needed the Gator for an event in the area, so quickly painted the box and re-assembled it. It also got a Canadian fire extinguisher bracket to replace the US type, but that may get reversed.



I also found the winch on kijiji. Cost more than I wanted to pay, but a lot less than from John Deere. I doubt I'll ever need it, but this vehicle was set up for it, so it is there.



I still have to remove the front grill and stretcher frame and repaint them. But as it stands now, the vehicle runs and it is a hoot around the yard. I do have to say that the lack of a suspension on the back makes it a little rough on poor terrain. I may try and lower the tire pressures some and see how that works out.

[derk derin]

Still no picture with a stretcher on it!
Derk

[rob love]

So just for Derk, here are a couple shots with the stretchers affixed. I talked the wife into playing one of the casualties, and my Santa Claus dummy who has been residing in the quonset filled the other stretcher.
The literature says it can transport two stretchers, however two will fit neatly onto the cargo box with the third on the front rack.

In the one photo you can see the tail-lamps I ended up going with. The originals were damaged, and did not appear available separately. You had to by the complete $350 USD deluxe lighting kit from John Deere to get the originals. I ended up getting two of the LED sealed taillights along with markers, in the steel boxes for $40 Cdn from Amazon. The problem with them is they look a little too fancy for a military vehicle.



I may take the gator to the last cruise night of the year. I don't think I can talk the wife into laying on the stretcher for 3 hours in public, so I'll likely take the mannequin that is dressed up in the arid cadpat.

[rob love]

So a little update to the project. First the tires: I had found some nos of the original p-tracker tires when I started this project, but settled for some non-original tires for the back. I did buy two used ones thanks to superdave, and had located a few pairs out east. But after keeping an eye on ebay for a while, a stack of the proper p_tracker run flat tires became available on ebay for a very decent price so I bought a set of 4 new ones. The fellow at the border place commented that they were as heavy as light truck tires. Anyway, they will wait for spring before getting installed.

The other update is on the rear lights. The original lights were in poor shape, with one cracked lense and both brackets bent. The rear light kit from John deere is several hundred USD. I had replaced them with sealed LED light in steel. Ones which I had mounted underneath the cargo box. But I was not happy with them not being original. I had tried to locate lenses from speaker, whose name was on the lenses but had no luck looking over their inventory. I had resigned myself to paying john deeres price along with the 3 hour round trip to the US border and back. But a google search led me to photos of some taillights for a polaris atv from around the same time period as the gator. I got some from a company here in canada for $15 ea with free shipping and they were a perfect fit. I straightened an repainted the original brackets, cleaned up the wiring harness, and have everything reinstalled and working. As these lights are now the widest part of the gator, I can see them possibly getting damaged one day, and I am not quite loving the look of them, but they are oem and that is what matters most.

One last job will be to replace all the rubber lines along with the fuel filter housing over the winter. She loses a little prime over a few days and has to crank about 10 times to start. She used to start almost instantly....I want that back.