Seats and stuff.

Seats

There are two different Avenger seats and you need to know which one you have in order to know where to put your foot when you climb in the turret. To find out, just raise the seat cushion and look.

Many units have had success reinforcing aluminum seats with a 161/2x 18 1/2-in piece of 1/4-in plywood. Glue strips of fastener tape, NSN 8315-00-001-3587, to the plywood so the seat cushion will have something to stick to. Put the plywood between the cushion and the seat. That cheap piece of plywood could save you the cost of an expensive seat.

If the seat is fiberglass, though, it can hold your weight. Put your foot directly in the center of the seat because that will help the seat cushion last longer. The cushion costs several hundred dollars so you want it to last.

Before you head to the field, make sure the seat locking pins are in place and the seat belt is attached. Otherwise, you could have a very rough ride.

Antenna

Keep the left antenna tied down as much as possible. If it's left whipping back and forth, the bolts for the antenna can work loose and the inserts for the antenna mount can be pulled out.

But when you do need to untie the antenna, be sure to tie up the antenna tiedown. If the tiedown is left swinging free, its metal hooks bang against the turret and gouge it. Just tie the tiedown around the projections the rope is connected to.

IFF 

The nut for the J4 connectors on the IFF interconnector box often works loose and comes off. Then the connector can actually be pushed inside the box when you plug in its cable. Sometimes the only way to fix it is to replace the whole box at a cost of more than $1,000.

To keep the nut tight, you have two choices: tighten the nut every week during PMCS or lock-wire it tight to one of the screws on the front of the box. The nut has a slot to run the wire through and your armorer has lock-wire pliers.