my first m1008

Just bought the truck from an auction in Jackson, MS. The truck is a beast, we love it!!! Drove 500 miles home to Mt. Home, AR. in the Ozark Mountains. Now we are having glow plug issues (like many others), but we think we know how to track it down and fix it from all the info we have gotten from this site. Thank you guys for all your info and help. It has really made things alot easier, especially being a first time diesel owner. Now my question is, How to do an inexpensive lift to fit 36s under it for moderate off roading? Please explain in detail of how to go about getting longer springs from junkyard inexpensively. Have some what of an idea, have done a 3 in. lift on a 99 Cherokee. This will be my second lift. I am a little confused on shackle flip or reversal, could someone please explain. Or is that the best way to do it? And would it be better to go to a 15 in. rim, or stay with the 16 in.? Would like to know the up side and down side of that. This will be a daily driver also. So would like to keep it mostly original, but with bigger tires and more flex out of it. Any info would be GREATLY appreciated!!! We are a family of 4 (with 2 boys) sitting on pins and needles waiting to take it to the trails to have some fun. Plus the 5 yr. old has claimed it as his and says it MUST have bigger tires! lol..Again thanks for all the help, this is a wonderful site. Never thought we all would love a truck as much as this!!!

I WANT ONE!!!

sorry, i will get some pics in a day or two. we have 10" of snow right now, just dumped on us right when we got back lol, but im still out there testing things and working on it...i think im hooked !!

Ok i had to take some now. it was $3000 and it has 78000 on it, so it said, but its in good shape

Nice looking truck.

Truck looks good, but I only see 3 or 4 inches of snow.

Congrats!

I found a set of used rancho 4" fronts for cheap & they flexed well under the weight of the 6.2 on my m1028 and seemed a lot easier than a 52" swap which I think is the swap you are referring to.
I ended up bending one in some rough country & now cant decide whether to do the 52s or just get another set of stock length lift springs. I would like to do the 52s but don't want to hassle with moving the front hangers or the shackle hanger, however my shackle angle is not very good so I will have to address that any way. Plus I think you have to lengthen the drive shaft with the 52s.
I did the shackle flip with an ord kit you basically make the rear shackle point down instead of up and took 4 leaves out of my rear 56" springs, great ride & really flex but it's strictly a wheeling rig.
Pick whatever set up you feel is right for you there are a several ways to do it and your already way ahead of most guys in the drive train dept. These rigs are great off road in stock set up and will wheel all day on less than a half tank of fuel.

any flex pics?

Funny you should ask I do have a few but nothing too extreme. Here you go along with a pic of the shackle flip.

More various pics including a shot of the winch, the box bob and my M1031!

thank you gwag, i think i will go with the 4" like you did. your truck look's very nice!!! i love the bed. so i wont have to do anything to the drive shafts with that setup?.. and yours has 37"s on it with the 4" ? ....oh and will 15 in" wheel's be better for this set up,and what kinda of back spacing will i need? sorry for all the questions, I'm just learning

15 inch wheels might have problems clearing the dana 60 brake calipers.

Ok, thank you I'll just stay with the 16" what is the best back spacing for the 16" for a wider tire.... and how wide is the best set up for this truck with a 4" lift and 36"s or 37"s ?...again thank you!!. you guys are helping more than you know!!

Like Cucvfreak said you will have clearance prolems on the dana 60 calipers. I went with 17" rims with 3.75" backspace. Your 16s will work till your tire gets so big then you may have too much backspace on the front and rub when turning.
I figure I'm just shy of 4" on both ends and did have to trim the fenders behind the front tire alot then beat the inner fender in a couple inches. I can still get the fronts into the rear of the fenderwell when it stuffs.
This would be the big advantage to the 52" swap as it moves the axle ahead also but then you would need a longer driveshaft. I think if you are gonna run 36s you should find a set of used 4" fronts & shackle flip the rear. Longer brake lines & longer front shocks.
In the rear I also did the u bolt reversal so they are not hanging up on everything you go over & cut off the rear shock mounts & rolled them up the axle tube so they would not drag & reused the stock rear shocks.
If you get creative you can save some money here & there and not look all ghetto-fab.
The hardest part of the bed bob was getting the cut lines the same on both sides and making straight cuts so it would go back together without a bunch of filler. Probably less than 10 hours in it.
Thanks for the compliments & interest!

I am going to do the same thing to my M1008's bed !

I would think the stock wheels with 36" 10.5-12.5 wide would be ok for this set up but you may still have to trim if you are going to flex it up. I need to lower my bumpstops to limit uptravel then I think I can keep the fronts out of the rear of the fenderwells.

You can see where it rubbed in this pic

Like I said the bed was easy I took 14" out of the rear between the crossmembers & welded it back together. Ground it down & made a couple passes over ot with bondo, primered & rattle canned!
On the inside I cut a 2' strip off the piece I removed & welded it in. In the sides I cut off the end pieces to get the radiused pieces & welded them in the corners. I could have taken some more time & got the inside cleaner but I'm happy with it.
Heres some pics of it plus the one is of the rear shock mount after I rotated it up the tube for ground clearance.

one more of the piece of bed that was removed