America's Most Iconic Delivery System - Grumman LLV
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*buh* fairchild republic makes the A10 learn how to google! *buh*
2 second google search results:
“In 1987, the A-10 OEM Team and all A-10 assets were acquired by Grumman Corporation from Fairchild Republic Company”
🐟
🦆💥
I was gonna mention how you said B21 instead of B2
where YF-23?
Please please oh please do a video on Leo major plump wireman (since when does editing a comment get rid of a heart 🦘🦘)
As a "retired" rural carrier, I can say this is one of the vehicles of all time. You could drive this thing into a crowd, and the crowd would get impatient.
HAHA
@@the_fat_electrician my friend who still drives these things could tell you hella llv stories.
*Keep uploading BA'ness on yt*
@@the_fat_electrician As a carrier since '86, the LLV was a godsend. The old POS Jeep was small, weak, and would roll over if you looked at it wrong. The biggest downside was the cheap-ass lock on the back door and that it's basically a Chevy S-10. Shout out to Arden Branch, Sacramento, CA, and my old customers at Timberlake Condos.
As they dwindled in number, many of us letter carriers would ask for the LLV's. Not because they were comfortable or drove well, but the mail just fit better than later models. Except in winter of course 😂
My Dad was a rural carrier when I was a kid. He started out with an old post office panel van he got at auction, but the OPEC gas crunch made him switch to a little Datsun B210 and then a 310, before retirement in the 80s.
If you wonder how serious the mail police could actually be back in the day, they recieved the Tommy gun before the Marines.
Everyone gets sht before the marines.
@@badgerwildgaming6908
that's because those crayon eaters keep breaking shit.
They're still pretty damn hardcore
@@badgerwildgaming6908 sounds like you are one. LoL
dear god if that doesnt say something about the mail police idk what does
I'm a postal carrier, and I think you're giving the truck a little more shit then it deserves. The LLV was only designed to run for 20 or so years, and its been 40. What we drive now are 75% duct tape and wishes. So these things are 20 years past their expiration and are still running every damn day non stop. I just think it deserves some credit for that.
He did say they were tough, it's certainly the most durable military project I've ever seen
You've never seen the list of items replaced at a 100k PMI service have you?
I remember my 7th grade AP history & government class & discussing the postal inspectors and their authority. Because of the supremacy clause a postal inspector with lights and sirens going at a 4 way stop would have the right of way if the other vehicles were a local PD, the state HiPo, or even an ambulance running code.
im a mechanic... i work on these (they even wanted ME!!! to still work on them, after i changed shops and moved 50 miles away)
.
the pontiac 2.5 "iron duke" just sucks.... NVH is really bad... low power... sucks gas.... wears out fast
the tranny sucks.... the rear end sucks..... the frame sucks (S-10)......
.
the body is fine.... but requires AIRCRAFT GRADE FLUSH RIVET MACHINE to work on..... which NO SHOP has
.
.
idk..... i love and hate working on them
simple... usually
but then you get old 262 in the shop.... ya put in 4 ICMs and it STILL blows them up (wire is fine, ECU is fine, harness is fine.... just bad parts)
As a fellow carrier I'm pretty sure we could MAKE a new vehicle with duct tape. And wishes send a bit optimistic haha
Fun fact: the USPS still operates a route in the Grand Canyon that is delivered via donkey/mules.
Still delivered by jeeps in rural Idaho.
That’s thing about a monopoly. You have to be complete. It’s not all upside.
@@karls4777 I'm curious, are they using new jeeps? or older jeeps like the cherokee xj?
That's exactly why the USPS is necessary. Because, by law, they must deliver to every registered address regardless of conditions. If it's not actively deadly to do so (or it's a Sunday or a government holiday), your mail will get delivered because it is required by law
There's even a place where it's delivered by ferry boat, all the people who live on the river have docks with mailboxes on them.
Some place like Amazon or UPS would look at the people in the Grand Canyon and go "nah, it's not profitable to deliver to you, so we won't... Either get a PO Box or move somewhere else". Which is why Amazon actually has contracts with the USPS for the Postal Service to deliver their packages to locations that aren't profitable for Amazon to deliver to
@christopherchambers2424 wrangler jk most right hand drive
A side note, the LLV is also the cheapest vehicle to maintain out of everything they have ever created!😊
I mean, only if you aren't counting gas as maintenance.
@@InstrucTube I mean, its got milage than the f14 lol....
@InstrucTube no gas is an outside element necessity for operation not maintenance... please think before you type next time
@manjisaipoe517 on God?
Oughta be. Its based on a chevy S-10 chassis and they made probably millions of them. 😬
I just talked with my local mail carrier about this and it is officially now and forever called The Mailcat around here. May we all do our part to fix this heinous name crime.
I would've called it the Tabbycat but mostly because, unlike the big cats of prey, this thing is meant to deliver bills and eviction notices much like Mittens, the local feral cat, delivers birds and rats to your doorstep.
Lol I'm a city carrier and I am adopting the mailcat
I am here for unhinged Chubby Electron Man.
We come for the history lessons, we stay for the unhinged rants we all agree with.
me too
Typically same
But I am here for God's derpiest Blazer.
The Rotund Current Fellow
Why else would I pause my Doctor Who mid binge for?
My Dad is a mailman (close to retirement thank god). I played this for him and he just sat here laughing and saying “yep!” 😂 And at the end when you thank mailmen, he yelled out “You’re welcome! Hooah!” and flexed his muscles and started laughing more. He’s been a carrier for about 40 years now and he’s really been through it with that job. They really don’t get paid enough.
Totally agree. My aunt was a mail carrier for years. It destroyed her body, and playing their stupid games before they allowed her to retire with anything like what she'd earned destroyed it further.
Mad respect to your pops!
That story proves to me you have one hell of a dad. Tell him thank you for making my day :D Also have you shown him the video about the mailmen that held down their postal building during the war. That is another good one.
Sucks how we cant buy them new because all that thing needs is a turbo diesel
If you want to work for the USPS... be the janitor. Great benefits (that's how congress gets theirs) and you get less chewed up physically. The janitor is the coveted position. Delivery man... if you don't die, your body will be used twice as hard as anyone else at that age. Getting rid of the automatic sorting machines by the postmaster who said he hated the USPS before he was appointed by that bull in a China shop.... that was just mean to get rid of those.
Legend
Knowing the Postal Service has their own armed security forces, the phrase "going postal" makes a _lot_ more sense.
This was my exact thought as well. 😂
They walk in inclosed cat walks above the workstations in the sorting center. Looking out through mirrored windows lol no matter what time of the year it is there are time deadlines to keep it short. That's what makes people go postal!
The real reason is even crazier! Per Wikipedia, 'the expression derives from a series of incidents from 1986 onward in which United States Postal Service (USPS) workers shot and killed managers, fellow workers, police officers and members of the general public in acts of mass murder. Between 1970 and 1997, more than 40 people were killed by then-current or former employees in at least 20 incidents of workplace rage. Between 1986 and 2011, workplace shootings happened roughly twice per year, with an average of 1.18 people killed per year.'
🤣😂@@Personofjid
I'm pretty sure it's from Nov of '91
All this really tells me is that all of our mail carriers deserve call signs and to have their names stenciled above the doors of the Mialcats.
I second that motion!
If more of them were worth a damn I'd agree, but I am so constantly disappointed by USPS that I want to keep calltags sacred and not waste them on Parcel Delivery Dropouts.
@@Dan_Danger_Brown sadly that seems to be a new thing. I am pointing fingers at internet commerce. I remember in the 1990s and upto 2005 not only having the same mail carrier for a while, instead of what seems a new carrier every day. I used to bring our carrier, Mr. McGarrick, water in the summer and offer hot coffee for his thermos or hot coco in winter.
@JosephDawson1986 as a current mail carrier I can promise you that your carrier appreciated you. I remember the first year of the heat waves. I kept finding bottles of water that had been frozen the night before. I would like to see someone do a video on the different policies for delivery companies in regards to dogs. From what I've heard the USPS seems to be the one most concerned about their employees. Because of this customers get confused as to why others will go to their doors and we won't.
With some nice artwork on the side. 😂
As a retired Post Office mechanic (we actually have our own motorpools packed with coffee and hate fueled crazies for these things) your video is 100% accurate except taking these things on the highway is like re-entering the atmosphere....on fire...straight into a hurricane, and hoping the one your driving knows where to go because you have no say in the matter. 😅
I was an independent mechanic in a rural area. It was an absolute nightmare to call in and verify that it was okay to change the oil.
I had an engine stalling problem that was caused by the bulkhead connection deteriorating. It was at the shop for 2 weeks before I called them and told them I drilled holes in the firewall and ziptied it together. I was expecting an ass chewing, but the guy was actually relieved he didn’t have to take the entire electrical system off a different, broken truck.
I feel terrible for giggling over re-entering the atmosphere on fire in a hurricane. I could barely breathe. One of my besties is a mail carrier and I can't wait to hear her reaction to this video and comments like yours! 😊
Best. Description. Ever! 😂
I'm starting to get the impression that those things weren't the highest quality . . .
As someone who drove one of these pieces of shit I fully agree
I feel like congress should be required to watch 100% of these videos.
Given the required mininum amount of work days they have, they certainly have the time.
Congress will findna way to do something tyrannical somehow
On auto replay with their eyeballs taped open
USPS Supervisor here. The last LLV was made in 1987! Every vehicle you see is now almost 40 years old.
Pretty sure ur wrong the first run with the 2.5 ended in 8?
There was another run with the 2.2 that one ended early 90s
Long life is an understatement. Christ.
Usps mechanic here. First one was in 1987. Last one in 1994
Basically a 1994 S-10 with a death trap strapped to the frame
The first one was made in 1987. The last one was made in 1994 with a couple of private ones in 1995 I believe. I was there when they dropped the 1987 ones off and I am still driving one of those year LLVs today. The first digit of the truck number is the year that it was produced btw.
Not a mail carrier, but i am a mechanic at a chevy dealer and our local post office brings their LLVs to us. I've had the displeasure of working on these as well as driving them. Ive driven things that seem like they arent safe, but ive never been more afraid of driving a vehicle than when im behind the wheel of an LLV. Its like riding around in an oversized, underpowered go kart that is held together with bubblegum and a prayer.
I use to work on a bunch of these too and can confirm everything you said is true. We also did the chains in the snow.
😂😂😂😂
Sounds like a government vehicle to me!
😂😂💯
As someone who who drives one everyday, theres no bubblegum involved.
Fun fact- The Grumman wildcat had the capability of carying Tiny tim rockets which where the largest ungided missile to ever grace the belly of an aircraft at 11 ft long and 1300 lbs
It would be super cool if u could make a vid on this weapon its truly a joke how silly and badass it is
Why not Tiny tim mail carreing rocket lol
Think the Hellcat was able to do that too
The Hellcat did that too
If only my postal truck had those
I once had a retired postal delivery jeep (dj-5c). It was NOT the BEST vehicle I have ever had, but definitely one of the FUNNEST!!! I used to confuse the people at the drive thru window when I would go through in reverse! Having right hand steering, that was easier than reaching across, to make my transaction.
My friend used to LOVE sitting on the left, with a newspaper in front of him when I was driving down the highway, hoping to freak out the other drivers! 😂
I imagine the LLV at highway speeds is quite reminiscent of the space shuttle Columbia on re-entry 😅
Na its S10 blazer frame with either a 2.5 or 2.2 cylinder
Oh they definitely are...
It dances, it floats, it likes to change lanes at random on its own... Oh yeah, every single piece of gravel feels like it's going to shatter your spine because the suspension closely resembles granite...
And then you try to exit...
as a previous rural carrier this shit don't do highways you take this fuckin thing on a highway and you go from feeling ok to feeling your life is in fuckin danger within seconds knowing damn well if you get hit by anything at highway speeds you will become fuckin confetti.
hi there junkyard digs
I will forever call my LLV the Mailcat from this day forward! Appreciate the love brother. Would have never expected to see an LLV video from The Fat Electrician 😂
Mailcat how about TomCat, delivering mail tomorrow. Mail = male cat = tom cat
@@james13666Tomcat is taken already. F14 Tomcat.
SAME!!
Does the Mailcat Mk2 come with the GAUSS and LRMs upgrade package? I dare the dog to ignore my Batchall!
@CapnTytePantz no it's just a DropShip that's used for communication when the telephone company says that you've been naughty even though you paid your bills
As a forner letter carrier, this made my day. There's nothing like turning the defrost on and to be able to get that about half inch clear strip that you might be able to see something with. Never knew Grumman made these. I'll take great pride now in telling folks I'm a former "Mailcat" pilot. :)
The LLVs are death boxes. I was a rural carrier. To drive in the snow they required us to get out tanks filled up before hand. To add weight at some point the drilled in cinder blocks above the wheel wells. In the summer what ever the temp was outside add 10 degrees and that was what it was inside.
I wouldve quit
There was a mail carrier that still drove the old Willis jeep. Guy was at least 60 and wore a Vietnam Veteran hat and pretty sure he had a 1911 in the old green field jacket he wore year round, even in the hottest Alabama summers. No matter the weather, this guy delivered. Everyone else hiding from possible tornadoes with no one on the road but police, us (public works department) , and him delivering mail. 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲
"Gimme the fucking mail and let me do my goddamn job. I got a route. People are getting their letters. I don't give a fuck about no fucking tornado! I was in 'Nam. The trees don't talk on Sycamore lane. I'm doing my job and you ain't fucking stopping me."-THE Mail Man
Proving yet again. If you want something done. Call an old veteran who just don't GAF.
This sounds like a script of a very good movie
Can confirm, reaching 70mph in an FLA is both an exciting and horrifying experience. You got one hand on the wheel, one hand on the radio mount (to keep it from flying at you), foot to the floor till its cramping, and ears bleeding from the sound of the roaring engine, rattling like you're the space shuttle and through it all you pray no deer or sharp turn comes up, knowing full well that ACH aint protecting shit
It's worse when the steering is garbage and center is never center twice. God that shit is exciting and terrifying.
I accidentally got mine to 75+ last week...
@@AinokeatoProductions Oof, those A1 and A2 models were the worst, no AC, not even a turbo so you're hoofing it just to catch a soft top. A3 can at least keep up and gives you SOME creature comfort
So you’re an Ork in 40k
@@AinokeatoProductions lol...that's a RAC issue. (needs replaced)
As a USPS carrier and a still-serving veteran, this video is spot-on about how similar the LLV is to any light-medium military vehicle. And yes, the red-tape to get anything done is ridiculous.
they have 2 repair cycles a year i used 2 work on them
Thank you Sir!...for your service, and continued toleration of the 🤬🤬🤬 that employ you.
can we all just take a moment to appreciate the humor and just overall genuine love that is nic and his wife. we should aspire to be like nic and his wife
This dude educates more people more efficiently than the public school system.
That's...not a high standard.
Too bad half what he says is wrong or missing critical context.
And thats the problem @@KurtisKlunder
@@nobodynoone2500 Still a higher standard than Public Education.
@@nobodynoone2500 Except.... it isn't?
For Y2K, I worked as a contractor for the Postal Inspection Service. I wrote a program that allowed the agents to share information about someone they were investigating. For example, one inspector in DC might be investigating a person in LA who is doing mail fraud, and another in LA might be investigating the same person for CP in the mail; one has the address and the other has his phone number, etc.
With my program, they were able to share what info they had with each other, and combine investigations and prosecutions. We got some really bad guys this way.
Another program I wrote tracked mail sent to foreign locations that never arrived. You'd be surprised, but the location with the most reported missing mail pieces was not some African backwater, but was actually Vatican City...Rome. That's right, the POPE'S HOME had more thieves than ANYWHERE ELSE ON EARTH!
Not that surprising. Everything they get at the vatican is basically ill gotten.
Gee, wonder why lol
Dude this is awesome you rock
@@nuclearTANKthere’s more
Calling bs
So last month I did a CCW class and among the usual former/current military and LEOs there was this guy well on the road to being a Homeland Security Investor. He said, "The craziest MFs I will NEVER want to fuck with are the Postal Inspectors. They roll up to the fed shooting range in their LLVs just PACKED with guns and proceed to drill the tightest groups I've seen since I left the Corps. Never mess with a mailman."
Wise words to live by.
Don't mess with a mailman. They know where you live.
My first car: pontiac fiero.
And that engine certainly deserves the name iron duke. When I got that Fiero the engine needed work.. people who supposedly knew engines swore it was screwed. So 16 year old me goes to disassembling it, take the head to the machine shop, and all that was found was a tiny crack between the valves on one cylinder. Machine shop's like that's going nowhere slap it back together and send it. All it really needed was a head gasket lol.
My grandpa spent 4 years in the Air Force. Went straight to the post office after and just retired after 55 years. He’s the hardest working man I know. ❤
Ex-carrier. In training, they tell you that these things shake violently if you’re going over 45. Aaaaand they also train you to get them going on the highway. My old LLV’s horn was just a live wire inside the steering column. To use it, I just had to bump the wire into the metal housing of the steering wheel. If I ever actually did though, all the lights would dim, and the fan would shut off.
Also, no AC or heat. Gotta love USPS.
I had a similar setup in my welders truck😂
The horn on mine did the same thing. Kept tagging it for service and every time after 3 weeks the horn would go off whenever you made a right-hand turn. Finally I just pulled the cap off and used the wire.
Thankfully I only had to drive these POS's a few times. I had a choice and could drive my own vehicle and I bought a 1980 International Scout that was factory right hand drive from the second rural carrier owner.
Having spent 15 years in the ARMY, I am no longer surprised at just how screwed up the Government actually is.
How is anything of this screwed up? monopolized mail services are pretty standard practise
@@Mister_Rat_ I think the point may be that UPS/fedex does more for cheaper with less red tape?
@@danielcurtis1434, um they don't?
@@rslover65 Um where I live they definitely do!!! Package with tracking a decade before USPS AB’s even then it was 2 days faster for $2 less.
Now it’s still a good savings.
Not sure what ended to say you provided no context?
Retired mail carrier here. Granted that the LLV had a lot of faults but compared to the jeeps and box vans we use to drive this was like getting in to a Cadillac after driving a pinto. I was the first carrier to have one in my city and I really liked it. You have to consider that these vehicles were abused like hell. Stop and go all day and never getting over 5-10 mph. Brutal environment for any vehicle.
Hi, I am a rural carrier. I love the LLVs they’re so iconic. They’re so roomy too. Problem is basically everything you just said haha. It’s a rolling metal box with basically zero safety. No heat, no air… it’s hot.. and bitter cold..You get dusty lukewarm air 😂 and if you get into an accident VS a bigger vehicle (semi) you’re toast. But man can it deliver some freaking mail.. and it will drive until the wheels fall off and more.
They don’t let us go on the highway really. Our scanners block out the highway. Going above 55 mph causes the LLV to rattle so hard it sounds like a huge earthquake and tornado at the same time. You can’t even hear the traffic around you. That’s really bad as the blind spot is HUGE. it’s like driving a semi truck. That’s how big the blind spot is.
They trained us on an obstacle course for a full day in order to drive the LLVs and do an pretty extensive driving test. You have to be able to maneuver the LLV like it’s an extension of your own body, which I can do now. They turn like a dream. You can turn so sharply it’s amazing! Man was it a long day learning to drive the LLV the safe and effective way. Bonus info: the post office does not allow you to back up unless you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO. Like I said before the blind spot is huge behind the LLV and there are multiple other blind spots all around the vehicle that you must always be aware of!
Lately I’ve been driving another mail vehicle that the post office has adopted. It’s a Mercedes Metris. These are pretty fancy compared to the LLV. AC, heat, radio, backup cams.. but they suck butt in the snow. You’ll get stuck on literally nothing!!! It’s so silly. The LLV is way better in the snow (but not that good). Problem with the metris is they’re supposed to have premium fuel but USPS doesn’t wanna pay for that so that make us put regular which is slowly killing the engine 😅 they also don’t really “train” you to drive the metris. They sat me in it, said “here is the metris.. don’t open the door when moving it will throw itself into park and destroy the transmission.. anyways…” and then we moved on lmao.
Long live the LLV. I wanna buy one when they retire and camp in it or something.
So true. Retired city carrier. They sent me out in a minivan a couple of times before I decided I had enough seniority to refuse. For all the LLV's flaws it's still the most perfectly purposeful mail truck. I'm kinda glad I retired before my LLV did.
They'll never retire them. They were designed so that, when you wear out the chassis, you can just drop the body onto a new one.
Just finished llv training 2 weeks ago!!!!!yeah!!!
So true about the metris. I drive for a towing company that contracts with the post office. They won't let us tow the metris with dollies (the little wheels we use to get the other set of tires off the ground) because it costs to much. Mercedes requires all metris to be towed with dollies if we don't have a flatbed. Sure, they're RWD, but it screws up the break sensor and requires a visit to VMF to fix properly.
I recently had my "Mailcat" traded in for a ram promaster. It makes me realize how awsome the llv was. It was perfect for delivering mail, as long as you are properly dressed for whatever the weather is outside.
That’s a fact Jack!
I work in a place that get a bunch of promasters in and we fix and resell them and boy are they the biggest pieces of cheap crap on the road I am sorry you have to drive one all day
MAILCAT! I like that. USPS employee here. 1 thing the USPS does REALLY well... We get our money's worth out of vehicles. We put tons of miles on every vehicle we own. I've seen the LLVs rebuilt. Here in Iowa the frames rust away. No problem, we get a new frame. The Aluminum bodies do not rust. The Mechanics will and do completely rebuild these things. A few years back we bought some Chrysler Mini vans, they rusted apart so fast. When I see a LLV I think of a boat, Grumman also make boats.
I love the HMMV for its ability to go through almost any terrain. The only time I ever got one stuck was when I parked it in heavy snow to do training and in the mean time the heat of the tires melted the snow and sank it to the frame. Even then, it was easy to dig out. Did you know that every HMMV has a self wrenching mechanism built into the every rim. All you need it a tire iron, a rope, and something close enough to tie onto. You could use a chain or a strap, but once you tie onto something, place the tire iron into the hole outside of the rim and latch onto it, you could pull yourself out of anything that your binding could handle.
My grandmother was a postmaster for about 20 years. She had some stories about the postal inspectors. They are hardcore. Not just fines, they levied charges that sent people to prison for decades over seemingly small infractions. You don't screw with US mail.
You dont mess with the mail man
Postal death squads lol
Exactly. Screwing with the mail is the US government's job.
Lol my Sunday school teacher was a postal inspector. I remember one weekend he was absent, the next class he explained he had been away because he was participating in a bust. He started telling us about it, paused mid sentence when he realized he shouldn't be talking to a bunch of kids about busting up a child P ring...
My dad's mail truck spontaneously combusted a few years ago. Apparently this is a thing they just randomly do?!
He made the news for saving all the mail and was most upset about the fact that he wasn't able to save his coffee mug 😅
*camera cuts off* ".... and fuck that shitty thing, I'm glad it burned"
I only worked for USPS for 3 months and managed to have two of these trucks die on me.
True dad moment 😂
I used to be in Contracting with the DLA - the problem is that the award goes to the contractor that meets the "minimum necessary requirements" at the lowest price. If a far superior design costs a penny more, it loses. The goal is to be fair, but it results in standard rather than excellent equipment.
@@Morgaineand sometimes, the government will require parts not exceed the minimum requirement, even if it costs more.
So we pay extra to get worse product.
I remember an issue where a product had an improved feature that the government’s users liked. Unfortunately, it wasn’t on the drawing, so we had to spend time and money to make sure it was never included again.
The shop I used to work at had a contract with the USPS to service and tow LLVs when they broke down. I worked on a minimum of 4 a week, every week. They break down all the time, and unless it was a motor/transmission, we could usually get them back out the door in under an hour. So easy to work on.
How bout them fuel pumps 😂
They are a dream for the tow truck too. So light that you could almost get them up the deck without the winch and the T slots are between the tires which is a real nice spot to reach for, nice and simple.
We live on a rural-ish route. Several years ago we had outgoing mail stolen, including several outgoing checks. Little gal with a big gun on her hip shows up and vows to hunt them down like an old west sheriff. (payoff - she did indeed hunt them down, they found a house about 2 miles away with over 50,000 pcs of stolen mail)
Hot damn that's a lot of loot
Oh, they might have went on thieving but they made one fatal slip
Angering the mailwoman with the big iron on her hip
Big iron on her hiiiiiiiip
I worked at Grumman LLV from '85-'89 and helped build many thousands of these trucks. My father was on the team that built and tested the prototypes.
I live within eyesight of the facility. It's awesome to see the LLV still drawing attention. The truck plant has never been anything but that. Always non-military, wheeled vehicles. Bread trucks, aluminum truck trailers, kneeling buses etc. They still make trucks but with different owners
#Navyvet #Quackbang.out!
p.s. Grumman-Olswn was the original truck plants. Sturgis, MI and Montgomery, PA respectively. The Northrop merger didn't occur until after the LLV trucks were rolling off the assembly line.
Drop a racing 4 cylinder and some turbos in it.😂
I just bought an 89 to use as an ice cream truck! 10k$ a deal!
Grew-up two towns by you and worked security there for a short time.
Pretty sure Grumman has a history making commercial mid size delivery trucks going back to the late sixties if I'm not mistaken. They also made fire fighting apparatus aka fire engines (various engines, ladder trucks etc) for a time as well.
@@jericho1-4 Absolutely correct! Trucks were from Sturgis, MI and Montgomery, PA. Firetrucks were Roanoke, VA.
I’m law enforcement and have worked side-by-side with the US Postal Inspectors serving warrants after people were caught on camera stealing packages and mail from a USPS semi trailer. They lived in my area and the USPI’s needed additional units. We served the warrant, knocked down the bay door and found 2,000+ pieces of mail and packages. They were some badass guys and gals! Rolled up with a Bearkat, rifles and ballistic shields. Stuff was tight and fun to do!
Fun fact, Texas is deregulated and we can typically choose between 3-10 different power companies. They usually all purchase from the same provider, but you have different options. At least the illusion of choice.
Haha I added the same thing about power companies. I used to sell reliant service door to door.
And I think they should deregulate the delivery company too.
@@michaelmiller6050
Why?
What industries have been improved by deregulation?
@@Zomby_Woof hard to say with all the regulation. I know that’s not the answer you’re looking for. But just so we’re on the same page, the delivery company for electric market in Texas I’m referring to is the company that maintains the wires to get the electric to your home. If you live in Texas and look at your electric bill (assuming you don’t live in a coop), you’ll see the delivery charge in many cases is just as much as the energy charge. Different regions in Texas have different delivery companies (but you still can’t choose which one). If it wasn’t a monopoly, we could drive down prices, making your energy bill cheaper.
@@michaelmiller6050 or Texas could join the national grid, and be able to provide residents more reliable power without outages, or the kind of surge rates that would make Uber blush.
Or if Tx wants to remain separate, build out your grid with weatherized wind turbines. The terrain is right for it in much of Tx. Sell the excess to industry as cheap, low priority power that gets shunted to residential as required.
But more generally...I'm sure there have been industries that were better off after deregulation, but I can
The LLV is by far Northrop Grumman’s crowning achievement. Not only has it been in service longer than it’s predecessor mail Jeep, it’s been in service longer than some of Northrop Grumman’s aircraft.
Morgan olson, who bought Grumman, still makes a shitton of parts for LLV, I should know I run the punch, making them parts.
And some of them have covered more distance than the Grumman lunar module…
I can just imagine Leroy Grumman giving an afterlife tour of the Grumman Museum. "So now that you've seen the fighter jets, stealth bomber, lunar lander and missle systems, let me show you our crowning achievement: the LLV, or as I affectionately call it, the Dishwasher Milkwagon."
Mail carrier for 24 years. My assigned LLV was built in 1988 when I was in 7th grade. No idea how many times it’s rolled over a hundred thousand miles, cause it only registers 99,999 then it zeroes out. Im nearing its second hundred thousand in the last 12 years since I’ve had it. 9 miles per gallon is a pipe dream. I fill the 14 gallon tank every three days with approximately 65 miles between fill ups. Just yesterday I had the postmaster laughing at my ingenuity as a finished my route using a bungee strap I picked up from the roadside to hold the seat back in the vehicle. Apparently the rattling, jarring, and vibrating had taken its toll completely snapping the seat frame. As much hatred as I have for the iconic LLVs I fear that the ridiculous monstrosity they’ve chosen to replace them will be an even bigger failure.
@@benwilkerson3762 Any vehicle that lasts 45 years and is still running isn’t a failure, it’s just old and tired.
After 45 years on the job you would probably feel like retiring too…
My first car, still have it, still runs like an absolute unit, was/is a 1985 S-10. I got blursed with the 4x4 carburated v-6 model, otherwise identical mechanically. Can confirm, scary past 55 mph, but as indestructible as the Toyota Hilux from that one episode of Top Gear where they dunked it in the ocean, hit it with a wrecking ball, and sat it atop a hi rise that was being demo'd.
Been driving it, mostly to the landfill, but occasionally some light off-roading, for 20 of it's 40 years on Earth, grandad pulled boats all over the South with it for the 20 before that, and has never burned a drop of oil because it was equipped from the factory with the self lubricating chassis feature GM was so proud of.
As a rural mail carrier who’s made some laps in the LLV you pretty much nailed the experience of taking it on the highway. And at 6’2” I can’t get far enough away from the pedals to keep from getting leg cramps. No ac, may as well not have a heater. Handles like a newborn fawn on an icy pond. And when it snows it is stuck before it gets out of the parking lot!
When I was a kid, my mom used to buy bottled water (mind you, we weren't exactly wealthy people, to put it lightly) and refrigerate it, then make me and my siblings hand out the bottles to the mailmen when they drove by on hotter summer days. I always felt a little bad for them, but I never met a mailman who lacked in smiles and abounded in complaints. Very kind people. So, thank you
Lol I've pulled my mailman out of the ditch on my road nearly ten times in the rare snowy times in rural TN. 😊
Our oldest son is in college to become a history teacher and swears he's putting your video's into his lesson plans! Keep up the great work, we appreciate it and you.
"He is our last hope."
" No,.there is another. "
Did you post this comment before, or after, the anal beads comment? Just curious 😅
I've always respected mail carriers but as you said, it kind of goes up a few levels when you learn all the bullcrap they have to deal with, both in their day-to-day and in trying to improve their service in the longer term.
Thank you for the content as always man. I hope your day is uneventful and unstressful!
You have no idea how right you are. The USPS is the KING of "diversity promotions." They didn't just read the Peter Principle, they leaned into it HARD. When someone decided to move into "management," we called it "drinking the Kool-aid." The second they put on a tie, they forgot where they came from. I've really only "hated" a few people in my life. They were ALL postal management.
Oh god. I worked for the postal service for 5 years, and it's rotten to the core. Not just the system that runs it but the average workers there are dogshit people. And don't give me any excuses for their actions, I know everything they have to put up with, it's not bad, I've definatley had way worse jobs than USPS. Worst part about working at the P.O is your co-workers hands down.
As a current mail carrier driving the LLV in the summer is like jumping into a furnace and closing the door the only blows hot air and so does the fan
As a former carrier who delivered in the southeast, I can tell you that the heater works well. Even when you don't want it to in the middle of the summer.
And who doesn't love a fan blowing hot air off of the windshield DIRECTLY into your face on a nice 105-degree day... while you hump mail on foot 6-12 miles a day, six days a week. Good times! (86-19 Sacramento)
It doesn't work well when it is -20 outside in the winter I can tell you that from experience
Our poor mailman has two fans blowing on him and he’s still soaking wet in July-August
Oh I know that kind of heater it’s basically just a bit of the water on its way to the radiator having a fan blowing on it into the cab works good when the engine is warm but when it’s cold enough to give a polar bear shrinkage it’s doing nothing because that water in the engine is as warm as a cold beer on a hot day and weirdly enough on that hot day that’s when the heater is hot enough you could cook a meal with it and there’s no way to turn it off because 10 years ago some lead paint chip eating moron somehow broke the fan speed control so it’s either blowing or it’s really blowing or it’s auditioning to become a helicopter
@@Departmentofnaturalresources It's basically like trying to keep cool with a blow dryer.
As a Rural Carrier in Ohio, this video is fucking spot on! These trucks are so old and going on double their expected lifespan. Were originally planned to be used for 20 years, most vehicles being made in the late 80’s. Love your videos and this one I’m definitely sharing to my coworkers! Keep up the awesome content!!! ❤
I grew up and still live in rural Ohio. The local post office didn't have an LLV until long after I grew up. Until they got one, all of the carriers used personal vehicles, usually cheap, older sedans. Buick LeSabre, Toyota Camry, etc., with a few using SUVs like Jeep XJs in the winter. Now, they only have one LLV, that is used by one person, who's route is in the immediate vicinity of the office. Outside of that area, the personal vehicles are still used.
The NEWEST and last ones, are 1994, if that's saying anything at all......
@@joevk6274yeah we don’t have them in my part of rural ohio either
To me the single most iconic thing about the LLV aside from its looks, is its sound. You can almost guarantee that most americans born within the last fifty years or so, for most of their conscious life. They hear THAT exhaust note. And they immediately know what it is.
My folks live in the sticks and our house is a couple hundred yards from the road, bumpy gravel driveway and such. And she's always made a point of talking to our mail drivers and given them drinks, snacks, and stuff from our garden. Hats off to the people at the USPS.
At my grandmothers I was trained to run to get the mail every day for almost 15 years. I could be in the backyard shooting the shit or “watering” with the “built in hose” on the neighbors flowers that had sprouted under our fence and the moment I hear that truck pull up I’m already at the door just waiting for them to move on.
Nowadays I find myself looking out the window for the mail truck because I never hear it at the house I’m at.
I love this man's videos bro, I'm not even American but the comedy always hits home. I'm not so proudly South African and when my man's said "the government would rather see the whole country burn to the ground than give up control" reminded me of my own situation. It's facts. Any government anywhere would rather let their country burn to the ground before ever doing anything that actually benefits their people.
Greetings from Germany guess what we are fucked up beyond believe here too. And the country where I was born Poland is short of political anarchy and God I really hope not but barely few steps from a civil war. Of course because of the government...... It really does not matter where you from we the little people are always fucked.
Amen to that my bro.
Same shit, different stank in Oz.
The USPS paid to have air conditioning removed from every FFV, the replacement for the LLV. The FFV was also available in AWD, and sent them to desert states instead of places where AWD is needed
Desert states? I take it you've never been out west during monsoon season.
None of our vehicles (LLV/FFV) have air conditioning. A good portion do not have functioning heat. They have no ventilation in the summer. And No insulation for winter. It's not good.
Some rural roads in Az nearly look like roads more like washes, waddies.
.
You haven't encountered desert sand. I've seen what happens to vehicles that lost track of the road out there.
@@jed-henrywitkowski6470ever been up north during entire season of WINTER!!!
6 years as a rural carrier before dipping out and starting my electrician apprenticeship. The LLV is a rolling soda can held together with rivets and bubble gum. Military grade is spot on, as stated by a friend and former coworker who was in the Army.
Well this explains why the two large local USPS offices near me have moved almost entirely to renting U-Hauls and contracting with private contractors driving personal vehicles for mail delivery.
As a current mailman this video had me cracking up at the office. I've tried to explain a lot of these issues to my coworkers and now I can just reference your video! Thank you for putting this out.
I love that your wife has become a recurring character XD
Also, I will never look at a mail van the same way...
❤❤😘😘
Great thong 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Great team work Guyz
Hell yeah ! She is (needs to be probably) just as funny as TFE and clearly they love and respect each other. Love it when they tease each other makes me all Happy Happy Joy Joy for the day and with chronic pain I need all the chuckles I can get. Love and hugs TFE Huge the Wife for me!
I am a mail carrier in Central Florida. The post office I work at is considered a rural office, not a city office, so we were never given LLVs. We were responsible for providing our own vehicles, and were paid a meager allowance for gas and maintenance which was never anywhere near enough. For long time carriers, who had been earning higher pay than new employees, this wasn't a huge issue, many would be able to order right hand drive jeeps. They were expensive, but fairly reliable and durable. Then Amazon came onto the scene, and the entire human race seemed to forget what it meant to go to a physical store to buy anything, and jeeps just weren't big enough anymore. I was just starting at the post office, so I wasn't what they call a "regular" or full time carrier, I was what is known as an RCA or rural carrier associate, which basically means a slave. You would be assigned a route to deliver usually covering a regular carriers day off, then when you were finished, they would many times make you take another route or a half of a route, or a truckload of priority express packages to deliver as well. My first vehicle I used to deliver was a ford winstar minivan. Due to the short console, I was able to sit in the passenger seat, steer with my left hand, reach over and work the pedals with my left leg, and use my right hand to maintain a deathgrip on the oh shit handle above the door in case you hit a pothole and lost control of the vehicle. No matter what vehicle you used, you had to be able to drive it from the passenger seat because, well, that's where the mailboxes are. So, I used that vehicle for about 2 years until it was basically nothing more than a rolling deathtrap, and over the next 6 years, I went through 4 other vans/suvs with my final one being a Honda CRV that me and a welder buddy of mine made a set of pedals I could work from the passenger seat, making it at least a little safer. Those ugly vehicles you showed that had been chosen to replace the LLV were never made. About 3 years ago, we finally got vehicles, and talk about the government not being able to do anything right, what we got will explain a lot. I went into work one day and saw a line of flatbed tow trucks dropping brand new Mercedes Benz tetris vans off in the parking lot. That's right they went with probably the most expensive van made by any auto maker. The most expensive to buy, the most expensive to repair, and the most expensive to maintain. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, they drive decent, have heat, air conditioning and even a functioning radio, back up cameras they entire set up. But they don't maintain them at all, and will be breaking down in astronomical numbers within the next few years. I have had to drive LLVs, and they were horrendous. 0-60 in about 7 minutes, no heat, no air, just a metal fan mounted on the metal dash the pulled the heat from the dash and windshield and blew it in your face. So I'm thrilled that we finally got new vehicles, but I fear they won't be lasting nearly as long as the old rattletraps known as the LLV.
Thank you for your service....and I mean that.
The OshKosh NGDVs are rolling out this year. Saw a pic a few days ago of unmarked ones being loaded onto a flatbed semi. The Metris was a horrid stopgap and every carrier I know only likes the creature comforts of them, but prefer the LLVs for working out of because they were actually designed to deliver mail.
I'm a rural carrier in Washington State and I bounce between a Metris and LLV quite a bit. I like the metris for the radio and AC but you can't even get windshield wipers in a reasonable amount of time and the visibility out the left sucks even more than the LLV in my opinion. I do like the LLVs sliding door and higher stance. It makes it easier to get in and out when you have parcels that don't fit in the mailbox.
Sounds like Your admin ok'd that stupid Mercedes order.. Not saying our government does anything right, but that's your bosses job and he dropped the ball man
Citrus county? That's the only rural county I know that didn't have LLVs, I've seen them in Sumter and Hernando
This man went in on mail truck lore. I respect the hell out of this.
This is too hilarious because I was just visiting the states last week and saw one of these and commented to my wife that it might be the most hardcore vehicle ever made, that is one beautiful vehicle, and she really did have the same opinion lol
Imagine there's a parallel universe where the LLV is what's charging into battle while Northrop Grumman's planes are what's delivering your groceries
Mail delivery by Tomcat? Fuck yes!!!!!
@@Whiskey11Gaming Or a B2 mass airdropping packages XD
imagine groceries delivered via canister munition.
---- sonic boom ---
---- swish THUMP ---
HONEY! THE GROCERIES ARE HERE!
"Where?"
"IN THE HOLE IN THE BACK YARD!"
"oh, I see it. Got it!"
@@EchelonBlue That would be absolutely badass. Bonus points if I get to keep the canister.
@@EchelonBlue We'd all have bigger yards, or dedicated 'receiving' ports for them.
I still don't see a downside to this.
As a mail carrier I appreciate this video, and they barely have a long life, being a marine vet I've never seen vehicles in worse conditions.
Army vet and city carrier. I second that
jesus im picturing a vehicle that nothing actually works in and probably is missing half the floor or half the roof.
@@skurdibbles7913 If you look at the dashboard and don't see like 3 warning lights on, and it doesn't rock the vehicle just getting in, there might be something wrong with it. Also that's rubber bummers on them, not solid ones.
@@skurdibbles7913 It's an aluminum body vehicle, it can't really rust away like a steel body vehicle but it will absolutely make the most god awful noises when you get into and out of them and they are not remotely waterproof at this point. I've received mail and packages by hand from mail carriers rain or shine and hearing them hop into one of those big bastards sounds like a rusty screen door in a windstorm, never mind the sound the body makes when it's going over bumps, the shocks might as well be non-existent in most of them.
I live across from my local post office and they have a rotation for their llv’s 3 trucks leave a weeks and 3 get dropped off every week
Former Rural Route Carrier....I recorded temperatures of over 115 degrees inside my ride during the summers. Still have nightmares of that vehicle.
As a current mail carrier with over a decade of experience, I appreciate the coverage of the LLV. I am a fan of your content and your humor. The LLV is absolutely terrifying when forced to go above 45 mph and it handles VERY poorly in snow. Rear wheel drive and all the weight is in the front. You are right about bureaucracy being a big part of the Post Office and there being too much. Take time off? Fill out a form. Sick? Fill the form. Injured? Fill out the form BEFORE going to the hospital. Want to have a lunch? Form. The worst part is that the forms do get lost and you sometimes do have to write everything in triplicate just to make sure the forms are seen.
Some fun information on the LLV, they stopped making parts in 2016 when the Post Office wanted new vehicles and so now they are cannibalizing wrecked LLVs. If your truck stops working, sucks to be you. The LLV was also made in the 80's and every mail carrier hates that version. It doesn't allow you to walk into the back of the truck and the "features" that were for comfort and to help the carrier are actual hinderances. I am lucky that I drive a LLV that is older than I am and has "working" heat.
One final thought: Look up FFVs for a good laugh. lol
Thank you for your service...I mean that.
The other thing that makes the LLV suck in the snow is it has different widths for the front and rear axles. The front tires are closer together than the rears so each tire has to plow through the snow.
My grandfather was in the third Army under Patton as a mechanic, after the war he got a job working as mechanic with the post office! I still have his rollaway toolbox, patent date 1881.
Never underestimate the postman going postal. Poland had a contingent of postmen who delivered some serious mail to the Germans who set up on a rather rambunctious Holliday in Warsaw.
I carried from '86-'19. Whenever someone asked if I was "afraid someone would go Postal," I'd just reply "Nope, I'm the best shot in the office." Once the Nam vets were gone, it pretty much mellowed out. Thank you, PTSD, for an....interesting career.
The fat electrician covered them in a video not so long ago.
@@jhnshep Yup.
As it turned out, executing a bunch of military trained combatants who happened to work for the post office was a war crime, even the first time.
Driving my same LLV for 20+ years, I will give it the respect it deserves. These "long life vehicles" were supposed to have a lifespan of 24 years...mine is now 35. Sure there's no heat, no a/c, no defrost, incredibly loud and drives like a jiffypop on wheels, but no other vehicle in the world could do what the LLV does. I say, strip them down, new engine + transmission, new wiring, new rubber and use them for another 35 years.
We can make better ones built to last 100 years but clearly they dont want to put in the budget for the quick swap bulleproof windsheilds and the extra thick frame and now you need a cdl to deliver mail. They just made a metal tin can on wheels its a filingncabinet built like crap. Swear tesla gotta have the same designers
"The more history I read, the less I trust the government."
As a historian, who comes from a family of military members and historians, you have no idea how accurate that thought process is.
Let's just say, holidays and birthdays inevitably devolve into a house full of us all drunkenly shit-talking politicians. Constantly.
Sounds like my kind of party.
I have a lot of siblings-in-law. All of the brothers have served in the military and share your sentiment; some of the sisters have always been civilians and work jobs in local government, and they feel the exact opposite. It makes for pretty comical holiday gatherings. My wife and I are more inclined towards the former; we just sit back quietly and laugh. Gotta love it
I've heard the line "The government wouldn't do that to us" at family gatherings. It's usually followed by myself or one of my brothers shotgunning a whiskey and saying "Oh yes they would, and did."
Unfortunately, there's an effort to erase history in today's age, and it's going to result in an overly-compliant population in 100 years
@@792slayerthat crap blows my mind when ppl say this. The same ppl who cheered for all the insanity 2020 and cov nonsense. They just love the feeling of controlling others and cannot imagine leaving others alone bc being left alone is for them not you.
My dad was Army and then became a Postal Carrier in the 1980s. He was one of the last of the Jeep drivers and one of the first LLV drivers. When he told me that it was made by Northrop Grumman, I was duly impressed, I know my planes.
My dad said he hated that the wheelbase on the front was narrower than the wheelbase on the rear, which meant he had to chain up all four tires in the winter to deliver. The winters were brutal due to the heater NEVER working in the LLV. The summers were hell being in an un-insulated tin can. And those fans they mounted inside the cab never worked anyway, they just added a breeze to already stale hot air. And, going around with the door open? There was no point in closing the door, so that did nothing to help with temperature control. For a while, my dad even served as fleet mechanic and had first-hand experience with those engines. It was just lucky that the Chevy engines were one of his favorite engines to work on. In short, he appreciated the vehicle's toughness, as highlighted in your report, but he hated the vehicle on the whole.
I live in Central NY. We get blast with tons of lake snow every winter. They don't put chains on the LLV's around here. Somehow they never get stuck, and only rarely end up in the ditch.
As a mailman that also drove a humvee, it’s basically the same. I’ve be shot at and the single scariest experience in my life was in a LLV. I was delivering in a city I’ve never been in, my phone overheated because it’s a 140 degree hotbox in the summer, and the scanner would only tell me to take the interstate back to the office. I have a picture I took of the speedometer on a straight stretch, it says ~78 but I highly doubt it goes that fast. Speedometer jumping up and down like 15 mph, the shaking of the steering wheel, all the sounds, felt like i was back in the Humvee. I took a slightly curving part of the road at like 60 and I was certain I was about to die 😂 USPS also has about the same amount of stupid shit that makes no sense like the Army did.
The scariest time I ever had driving an LLV was shuttling all the cans collected during the Food Drive from our local branch back to the main office. 1000 pound limit? Yeah, right. Once I got it to 45 mph, I realized the brakes were only a "suggestion."
I worked on ups conveyor belts for a few years on call, during those breakdowns I heard things I wouldn’t have considered otherwise. The divorce rate due to the extreme work hours etc man them drivers make a good buck not giving a
As a former RCA, I can attest to EVERYTHING in this video! I had to buy my own Jeep for RCA routes, but drive an LLV on others. 55mph? Maybe downhill with a good tailwind. There’s a reason we call them easy bake oven freezers. In the summer, there’s NO A/C. And he was right about the heaters being useless!
You are WAY better at educating us than any teacher in the public school system.
Hey! I resemble that remark!
dumb comment is dumb
@@mr.smithsgovermentclass4556 some are good don't get me wrong, however there are way to many teachers that are either dryer than the Sahara desert or seem to hate their job and make the students pay for it. This was my experience at least.
@mr.smithsgovermentclass4556 I know right?
As a current mailman, the LLV has my standard vehicle. I love this video and how barebones and resilient the rig is despite the constant abuse day-to-day and it keep trucking
In my area, the postal service has been slowly phasing in a ,RHD Mercedes Metris delivery van over past year. Instead of the HUGE Mercedes emblem in the grille, It has the postal service Eagle logo. I bet these German Turds won't be around in 40 years.
They are just a stop gap measure while they replace some of the older and destroyed LLVs. The new NGDV mail truck that they are rolling out right now has a contract through 2028. If they don’t extend the production contact then I bet that in 10 years we will see USPS ask for more bids just to replace all of these Mercedes Metris and Ram Promaster vans they recently purchased.
Fun story about the postal inspectors. I was living in Utah at one point and my girlfriend at the time was a massive stoner. At one point her mom who lives in california tried to send us HALF A FUCKING POUND of flower in the mail. Long story short my appartment got raided by the US postal inspectors and the local sherif, and my girlfriends mom had to fight off a felony.
Postal Inspectors were like 'F**k off DEA, this came through OUR jurisdiction'.
Fun fact: In Magnolia Springs, Alabama (near the coast), the US Mail is still delivered by boat to people’s homes. I believe that’s the only town in the country where that is done. Or at least one of the few.
They do this in Maine as well.
They do this in Maine as well.
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin does this as well... on the lake, that is.
Various communities on the American River in California use a mail boat because it kind of turns into a swampy delta before hitting the bay.
They also use a mailboat on the Snake River south of Asotin, WA. This goes up (or down) Hells Canyon.
As a cop I worked a case with their inspector. He was one of the smartest LE I ever worked with
Shout out to mail man Larry that was the Letter carrier at my last job. He was ALWAYS super happy and friendly, let us know ahead of time when he was going on vacation, and would sometimes even stop by a second time to pickup outgoing packages in the afternoon if he was nearby. Hell of a guy, I think he’s about to retire.
I truly appreciate your passion for our mail service.
I grew up in very rural circumstances (we had a party-line phone, if that helps paint the picture)
Mail was one of the few ways we had contact with people beyond a phone call or an hour drive.
I can't imagine a private company giving enough of a damn about my neck of the woods to run service there for me or my relatives.
I'm extremely grateful for our mail carriers and I hope the Post Office sticks around and actually gets the tools they need to do their duties.
I use to be a mechanic at a shop that was contracted by the usps mechanics shop to repair the mail trucks because 90% of the union mechanics they had were too old to keep fixing them and the bureaucratic BS we would have to go through just to get the parts needed to actually fix them was a nightmare. And having to drive them from their shop to ours and back was horrible. Working on them it makes sense they were made by an air craft manufacturer because it’s heald together 90% by rivets. Long story short I now own a $400 electric rivet gun I never use any more… but I can pull the back door out of a mail truck replace both tracks and have the door back in in about 20 minutes now… what a useful skill
Hey the one on mine doesn't always roll smooth want to swap it out for me 😋
If you can get through all the BS of getting the parts I’m always down for some side work 😂 good luck getting them to sign off on it though
@@joemarrah8660just write it up that the back door is broken and you can’t secure the mail. That’ll get them out there to fix it quickly.
He did it again. He managed to make a video about the US Postal Service and make it interesting and entertaining…this man needs to teach a class on charisma
Having driven one of these on a highway, I can a test that it sucks hard on the highway. Also you're welcome and thank you for your service.
MailCat is absolute gold man, they need to make another one and hire to you to name it
From a veteran to a post man
"From the bottom of my heart, thank you for yer service"
4 years USMC. Then 38 years as a USPS Letter Carrier. You nailed it! But you forgot to highlight the fires that breakout from under the “dash”!😮
Love your videos!
I agree, I worked for a company that used “surplus” mail trucks as primary transportation, it SCARED the heck out of me on the highway.
On behalf of the connection my family has with the Postal Service, thank you for your statement of appreciation and this video.
Nobody cares
@@pancakesrule7541 🙂
FUN FACT: Grumman Mailcat delivered more explosive ordnance than the Tomcat between 1976 and 1996....
I'LL LEAVE THIS RIGHT HERE
Most underrated comment right here. Bravo. Bravo.
The Unabomber was a very busy boy.
@@ronjones-6977 Imagine if Maverick And Goose had one of these. OOoh the damage they could do.
I think TFE needs to do a video on that.
A couple of fun facts from an Army and Postal veteran. The LLV is so light weight that they had to install concrete parking curbs over the rear axle for traction. Also, the U.S. Post Office Department was the first government agency to purchase Thompson submachine guns. And, in addition to Postal Inspectors there are also uniformed Postal Police. Love your stuff, bro
As a letter carrier, I really appreciate not just this video, but all of your content. You've been in my ear through many a hard day.
You should definitely do a video on the postal inspectors, there are some wild stories and they have a lot of power, not guys to mess with. They can also issue a mail ban if you upset them, meaning for x time you have to physically go to the post office and cannot get mail delivered to your house.
Hell most of my area has been on one for the last decade apparently then more often than not you have to go track down your stuff at post office or someone’s house
Shared this story with my father who was a long time contractor for Gruman.
At the end of sharing, he’s goes you think that’s good I designed those P.o.s shitboxes you see driving around!!
For the record he had the full design done within 2 weeks and sent off for production* Extremely fast turn around for a project such as this. Thanks for this iconic Shit box Pops!🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 Great video as always brotha!-Strong💪
No kidding, thank your dad for me. I drove one for decades and it was so perfect for what I needed it to do. I joke about them like every other carrier, but they really are iconic.
I'm glad my truck has become B-Roll for your video 🎉 Ironically I drive that LLV on the highway daily, it was over 6 hours of highway driving up and down the mountain for that shoot alone! If you ever want to experience driving one, you're more than welcome to give mine a drive. I've been told by other former military humvee drivers before that they used the same handbrake lever. Something there to be said about lowest bidder 😂
Fun fact: the LLC used a Chevy S10 frame, engine, and transmission.
The only thing really different was the body kit and suspension.
Edit: Ford also had a contract to manufacture 'Jeeps' for the military.
OMG, I hit 1:03 and laughed out loud! The first Gruman vehicle I ever drove was a step van. We called it Popeye because it was missing a headlight. It also didn’t have a functional clutch so we stopped at stop lights (we rolled stop SIGNS) and hit the starter in second gear. Oh the memories!
hey Nick, i love your videos they are awesome i have genuinely learned more about usa history from you than everything i have learned in school
Thank you glad you like um
I used to work on these. We did maintenance and also replaced motors and trans missions on them. The great thing about replacing the engine was the body is literally held on by screws so you could just take off the front grill in 5 minutes and have plenty of room to rip the motor out of them. As for maintenance, the worst wear and tear on any vehicle is sharp acceleration and hard braking. Which is all this thing does for 8 hours a day. Literally accelerates for 5 seconds then slam on the brakes at the next mailbox. And they are constantly hitting curbs and dropping off the asphalt to get to the mailboxes. The brakes, tires, and front end steering parts were always worn out from this. To save money the tires were all retreads that we could never get to balance right, so that's why getting over 60 mph felt like you were going to die.
They did switch to a ford explore based one for a few years but it was terrible and i dont think they made those for very long before abandoning them because they were so bad
I used to work for Goodyear and we had a contract to do alignments on these mail trucks. We had to scan in VIN numbers so we could calibrate our machine to set the alignment correctly. We were so surprised when the VIN came back as a Chevy S10 and other times it was a ford explorer...but yeah these things were built tonka tough.
Built Tonka Tough‽‽‽ That's great!!!
@the_fat_electrcian: you know Tonka....from MINNESOTA! BWAHAHAH
Built Tonka Tough and Uses nearly the same suspension.
The Ford Explorer ones aren't built by Grumman and were a 1-2 year thing by Utilimaster named the FFV
The FoMoCo ones are the FFV. It's larger. Interior layout is worse for mail delivery, but they are heavier and some have 4WD which makes them much better in snow.
I build tires at the firestone plant in des moines, ia. It was initially built to provide tires for all the jeeps in the war. Crazy enough some of our bias ply machines from those days are still there and operating. Because the tires they built were for jeeps all the forklifts in the plant are referred as jeeps as well. Now we build all AG tires. Keep up the good work from a fellow Iowan