M2/M3 Bradley: Basic Maintenance Keeps Your Mission on Track

Photo by Thomas Alvarez

Crewmen, even when you’re pressed for time, doing basic maintenance on your M2/M3 Bradley will save you time in the long run. Not to mention it will help you avoid a lot of headaches due to your vehicle being out of action. Here are a couple things that crews sometimes overlook:

One of the biggest pitfalls for Bradley crewmen is failing to take care of their vehicle’s batteries. They should be charged and ready at all times. Dead or damaged batteries have stopped many a mission in its tracks. Here’s how to keep that from happening:
 

• Move the Bradley’s MASTER POWER switch to OFF after shutting down the engine. Not doing so is a costly mistake that can kill the batteries.

• Avoid battery drain by following the engine shutdown procedures in TM 9-2350-411-10 (May 18) for the M2A2 Bradley and TM 9-2350-438-10 (Nov 19) for the M2A3 Bradley. And don’t forget you can damage the electrical system if you turn off the MASTER POWER switch while the engine’s still running.

• Secure the battery box covers by bolting them down. Don’t keep the covers loose. While that makes it faster and easier to get to the batteries, loose battery box covers tend to bounce around during operations. And if one of the covers comes into contact with a battery terminal, the batteries can short out. That’ll leave you and your Bradley stranded. So bolt those covers down. Leaving them loose isn’t worth the time it saves.

Checking oil levels is important because a low reading is often the first sign that a vehicle has a serious oil leak. You definitely need to know if your vehicle has a Class III oil leak or if oil levels are below the ADD mark.

It’s actually quick and easy to check the various oil levels. All you have to do is follow the PMCS tables in your Bradley’s -10 TM .

If you see the engine, transmission, final drives or right-angle fan drive needs oil, add some just like the -10 TM says. And if the oil level is above the FULL mark on the dipstick, or the oil looks milky or bubbly, tell your mechanic right away.