new guy in Lima,OH

Hey,
My name is Tom. I am 17. I am going to school at the University of Northwestern Ohio for automotive/high performance motorsports in Lima OH. I have recently learned about these awesome vehicles. Just wish I had the money to get one. Oh and if anyone knows of any auto related jobs in the area. Could you hook me up? please. Thanks, also, Just wondering what would be the best vehicle for me for when I get the money. I need to be able to tow light and medium duty trailers for auto racing back in my home state, RI, and have some off- road use, nothing extreme tho and be able to cruise good on the highway decently. I have been looking at the m1008 and m1009. I like the m1008 more but the highway speed is what kills me. Maybe you guys can help me out? Also what is the best way to buy these things?

Well thanks for everything, the site looks great and theirs lots of knowledge to be learned on here.

Tom

If your in the automotive field, buy a 1008 and put an OD trans in it! Welcome to the site.

yeah thats what i was thinking. the 700 r4 right? what is a good cruising speed with the overdrive tranny?

Carefull with those 700R4's I've pulled a ton of em for assorted reasons. Most common is the rear pump in it. When it goes the tranny won't shift into 3rd or 4th. Factory installed pumps are the worst. The aftermarket seems to have solved the issue but still worth noting. Another route to look at might be hooking up a NP205 transfer case to the NP208 thats in the M1009's. Might have to do some math for gearing but the double hi for pavement and double low for mud should round out the truck nicely while keeping that tough TH400. Either way for a 700R4 to rebuild check the junkyards your looking for 1988 - 2000 GM trucks/cars/vans pay attention to the shape of the tranny pan it'll tip ya off to what it is. As for an NP205 transfer case you can find one in almost any 4 wheel drive GM truck. It'll be stamped into the side of the transfer case. Good luck lemme know if you have any questions.

welcome from tx,,,

You know I found the article awhile ago. Some guy took the chain drive 208 and mated it to a np 205 and changed the hi range gears in the 205 to up highway cruising and left the low end alone. The result was pretty sweet created a sort of overdrive gear out of the transfer case while upping the total reduction in the low end. Wasn't a doubler just mounted both transfer cases. Did funny thing with the driveline and so forth. Can't seem to find that article now. Oh well NP205 and NP 203's are common enough and will mate up to the TH400. Not much expirence with the 208's. You'll quickly figure out that I deal mostly with junkyard parts and modify from there. People throw away alot of useful car parts. You might beable to find a 700r4 to rebuild pretty cheap. I just never seem to have any luck with em. Jeep guys tend to like the NP208's so you should be able to sell it pretty easily if you decide to go another route. I'll keep looking for that article for you. I should have it saved somewhere.

How hard are these trucks to acquire from the military? I have wanted a K5 truck for a long time and always seem to be rusted out or way to high in price. Stumbled on to this site and seen that a guy can get them from the military. They seem to be in nicer shape then one you find for sale around here. Maybe a little cheaper. Anyone help me on how hard it is to get from the military?