Driving 7 Ton truck to the Utah desert

Driving my Oshkosh MK23, known as a 7 Ton, or MTVR, to the desert West of SLC. I forgot to mention that the truck cab is loud so I turned down the audio of the road noise. I also made a mistake in the voice over. At the end, I mention that one issue I had was the the truck lost traction once and it was due to the second axle losing traction - not the third axle as I stated. I was on an approach to a steep hill and the second axle was lifted off the ground so it lost traction.

[@brentcos9370]

Love it. Pretty cool that it doesn't have a 2-speed transfer case so you have all the power you need right away.

[@probabilityfilms1911]

Thanks Brent. Sometimes I wish it did have a 2 speed transfer case because I would like to get better fuel mileage on the freeway. But it is all good because the truck has great low end power and can still do 65 on the freeway.

[@brentcos9370]

@@probabilityfilms1911 Good point. I had a 5 ton with the Cummins 8.3L turbodiesel with a 2-sp t-case and it's common to get 10mpg. Shifting into low almost always led to bloody knuckles though. They really shoe-horned those things into a tight, awkward location. It was a blast to drive though.

[@CooperJohnson01]

The engine and transmission uses the same oil on a 7ton, while the dif and axles use gear oil it’s useally blue,

[@trailridescj7528]

Mirror-lite brand blindspot mirror on hood. Typically on school buses and inner city delivery trucks. Great scenery, thx for posting.

[@kalebnolen1616]

Here in Okinawa all of our 7tons in the fleet got 'em on both Driver and Passenger side. I think its due to the Local's cars being so small. But yeah...

[@311mdub]

I believe I’ve seen you driving around the valley a few times before! I would love to get one of these a long bed version and put a 5th wheel on the bed and convert it to an extreme off-road bug out

[@stingraycors_t6455]

The CAT C12 beats the UPS truck!!!

[@jdm1066]

Can you use this as a daily driver or is it a fun money pit/hobby?

[@zoexenatinlin284]

im thinking about buying one and building a tiny home on the back. im up in the air between the mtrv and the fmtv. have you had any problems with the mtvr since you have gotten it? and does it have locking differentials?

[@probabilityfilms1911]

I have had many small issues. They do not sell the good ones, they sell the ones that have issues and keep the good ones. I fixed many things. It does have lockng diffs. Check out steelsoldiers.com in the MTVR section and there are a few people building an overland camper on this truck.

[@Slim_Slid]

All of the MK23-MK38 have locking differentials in the rear axles,both of them.On the front axles,it's limited slip.I highly recommend getting a MTVR over the junk FMTV.The M1076-M1089 are a electrical nightmare for engines,transmissions,and integral transfer cases,including air actuators and planetary axles...The Seabees and Marines don't have that problem since they got the MTVR.The MTVR is just a great truck above all.

[@Btstaz]

Ha, what on earth do you use to tow your 7 Ton? That is a tow bar on the front?

[@probabilityfilms1911]

Yes, it is a tow bar on the front. It is not used to tow the 7 ton, it is used to recover other vehicles. Vehicles usually get stuck driving into something (like mud) and so the rear end of the vehicle is usually accessable. So this tow bar hooks on the the stuck vehicles tow hitch and then I can pull them out.

[@marshallallensmith]

An 18 wheeler or there is also a tractor version of the MK23. A regular tractor and trailer can haul 80,000 pounds and there are wreckers that can even tow them so yes it would not be as hard to tow a 7-ton vehicle as one may think.

[@Slim_Slid]

@@marshallallensmith The semi truck variation is the MK31 and the wrecker variation is the MK36.There is also a MK24,which is the same cargo truck as the MK23,except that it has a longer wheelbase on it.All of which are not sold to civilians,not now at least,only the USMC MK23's.I wish that the Seabees would start selling the MK31...Those can haul 72,000 lbs if you want to see their capabilities...And the Caterpillar C-12 is a great engine.

[@seleldjdfmn221]

Great work. Is Your Video software free? #love :3

[@probabilityfilms1911]

No, the video editing software is not free. Currently, I use Cyberlink PowerDirector but I am not in love with it. Before I used a hardware based editor and it was great. If you want a free editing solution, then you can check out OBS Studio.