MO4xer

hello everyone I'm new here and to the whole mil. surplus vehicle market so naturally I have some questions that it would be awsome if I could get some answers for.

How hard is it for a 17 year old kid like myself to get a hold of say an M1009 or an M1008 at a fair price direct from the DRMO

and how hard is it to work on these trucks because it is my understanding that they have a 24 volt electical system.

like I stated above it would be great if these questions get answered and thanks to all of those that hwlp me in advance

Westech

well you have to be 18 and have a credit card.
Very ez to work on even with the 24V system.
I would try to get one off ebay or one listed here.

dc3coyote

What Westech said, the only better way is with Dads credit card....
24 volt is only two batteries hooked in parrallel...the only down side are switches and lights, Napa carries those.
Good luck with your searching for a MV, dont forget Craigslist, they show up on there from time to time
C.

mangus580

Ummm no.... SERIES....


Honestly, spend the next few days reading the CUCV section. All of your answers are there, and many more. You will learn alot!

__________________
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=2]Mike

1970 M35A2 W/W
1986 M1009
1952 M37[/SIZE][/FONT]

[quote]If you can read this, thank a teacher, If its in English, thank a veteran!!![/quote]

Westech

well the ONLY thing 24V is the starter. All other lights, horn, blower motor is the 12V over the counter GM junk. The black out drive lights are 24V but who cares about that. I did replace my black out lights but really don't need to. Craigslist is a good one too.. I have seen a couple on CL in your area for 2200-3k

hobie237

I personally would rather not go through GL, ever. I'd rather find a vehicle for sale privately (which is what I did) so I can poke around with it, test drive it, etc. to my satisfaction, and negotiate normally. For some reason, the GL sales have been ridiculously pricey lately.

There are a lot of differences between the 1008 and 1009, IMO the most important of which is the gearing. The 1008's 4.56 gears are awesome stump-pullers that can pretty near climb trees, but are really, really crappy on the highway. The 1009's 3.08s are awesome for the highway, but crappy for pulling/hauling/etc., at least compared to the 4.56s.

Next most important is are the axles. I forget what the front axle in the 1009 is, but the rear is a pretty light-duty (10 bolt?) unit with a GM gov-bomb unit, whereas the 1008 has the 10.5" 14-bolt with a Detroit Locker rear (front axle in the 1008 is a Dana 60).

After that, the physical size and attributes of the vehicles come into play. The Blazers, with a rear seat and shorter wheelbase, are easier to park, and more usable day to day. The trucks are good for work duties, not so much for daily driving duty (this comes from somebody who has been daily driving a 1008 for several months now).

As for the 24v system, it's not really a 24v system. It's a 12v system that's tweaked a little bit to have a 24v starting system and jumper hookup. The isolated ground alternators can be a royal pain sometimes, same with the starter if it goes.

The trucks are pretty easy to work on (most of the time, but changing a water pump sucks), and parts are pretty cheap and readily available at any auto parts store (well, except for the few specialty parts), but they can be a bit needy if you're putting a lot of miles on them. After all, they're 20+ year old vehicles that didn't exactly get easy highway miles from their previous owners. I needed to put glow plugs and a water pump in mine toward the end of the summer, I popped an alternator last week, fried a starter relay a while back, I've got some sort of intermittent fuel delivery problem on startup, and it just developed one **** of a vibration with certain combination of speed/throttle. Oh, and in the fall I had an alternator decide to arc to the fuel hard line, burn a hole through it, and cause the engine bay to catch fire. That was fun.

Mine will soon (as soon as I can locate a real car) be retired from daily driving usage. It's a great off road truck. It's a great work truck. But, it's pretty useless on the highway, in some tighter parking lots it's a PITA to park, it's loud, and it's just all in all not a great daily driver. No way in **** I'll ever part with it, but no way I'd have it as an only vehicle. Then again, the guy I bought the truck from daily drives a 1009 without major issues, but he also has a really, really expansive selection of spare parts (one or two complete parts trucks), and that makes things easier.

__________________
-Ricky
1986 M1008
1990 Mazda Miata

MO4xer

Well dear old dad doesn't want to pay for another truck because I already have three trucks and he paid for two so this is going to have to wait until march (when I turn 18 ) or after I get out of high school and before I head off to basic training but one way or another I'm getting one of these trucks

hobie237

You could wait until more of the CUCVIIs come out. They're all around better than the CUCV. I mean, go figure, they're newer, but they have 4.10s, which give a good compromise between pulling and hauling, better trans, 6.5 turbodiesel, radio, etc. Harder to find, at the moment, but since you're not exactly in desperate need of a truck, may be better off waiting.

__________________
-Ricky
1986 M1008
1990 Mazda Miata

pc3nmcb

What part of MO you from.

__________________
85 M1009
VFW POST 5691 Life Member
Collinsville IL

MO4xer

I'm in the Kansas City area