1009 Build

[BGR]

Well I have been hiding my project (stage fright I guess) but I have been wanting to post for a bit now so here it goes. I drive this thing daily when it's not in the shop for something new and some of the mods have made it way more enjoyable.

Background: My wife totaled her vehicle in 2021 and as you know new vehicles were hard to find and over priced. "Lemons into Lemonade" I started looking and found what I considered to be a good deal on a 1984 M1009 in North Arkansas so I drove up there and hauled it back. It was advertised as not running and had been sitting up for a couple of years so my fingers were crossed. Lucky for me the seller was/is a great guy and we stay in contact. With the help of a neighbor we got it running fairly quick so my wife drove my Dodge and I drove the CUCV. Point of all this being that I started my restore but was unable to do a frame off due to needing it on the road.

So far have repaired all major rust holes
New Batteries
New Paint (by me Rapco Spray Can)
Chevy Seats Re Done
OEM Rear Seatbelts
New Retro belt Front Belts
LED Dash Lights (Green)
New Idiot lens filters
New speed and fuel guages
New fuel sending unit
Dropped and cleaned tank
33" KO2s with spare
New Front Grille
New Chevy Emblem
New four core aluminum radiator
Off-road Designs 2" lift with custom springs, shackles, and grazable boots
Off-road Designs frame reinforcement
Blisten Shocks
Warn Locking hubs
OEM Mirrors
All new rubber weather stripping
Dyed interior plastic
Ammo can console with plugs
Killmat interior
New vinyl floor liner
Fatmat under hood with replacement insulation
Replaced shackles (CUCVRUS)
New gear designator with repair mod (CUCVRUS)
All new Energy Suspension Bunp Stops, Motor mounts, Trans Mounts, Sway bar and Body bushings
Off-road Designs Sway bar drop kit
GI backpack cover (tire Cover
Both Alternators rebuilt, HillBilly Wizard
New washer wiper motor
new solenoid
New/ rebuilt injectors and lines
DIY4x Roll cage (working)
Driers Seat Base, HillBilly Wizard
New front BO lights (having issues with the rear)
New washer fluid reservoir
Retro sound dash speaker
New visors and arm rests
LED headlights
Aluminum battery hold downs
Tint
Rearview mirror
Autometer voltage gage
Rear mat threshold hold down (CUCVRUS)


Have but Pending install

JBL Front/ rear speakers and amp
Retro sound radio
Autometer temp gauge

Once the roll cage is done and the windshield has been put back in I plan on getting the gears changed out and lockers installed. Anyone else done a roll cage and have pics? I don't plan on doing any serious off-roading, I just wanted it for my daughters and passengers safety.

 

[BGR]

 

[Csm Davis]

Looking good bud! Keep up the hard work.

 

[BGR]

Looking good bud! Keep up the hard work.

Thank you

 

[BGR]

Little orange and burgundy colors and radio added.

 

[BGR]

Finally mounted the farm jack and found an acceptable filter head with pump. Shown with Cat filter.

 

[SCM35A2]

Subscribed!

 

[BGR]

So today we drained the oil from the diffs and I put the half spider on the front and a Yukon cover on the rear. Had I found the spiders before I ordered the Yukon cover I would have went it instead. I like the look and it allows you to keep the factory covers. That being said the Yukon has a drain plug and that's a plus. I don't know if mentioned it yet but I recently had the 308 gears pulled and had 410s installed with a locker in the front and rear. Takeoff is a good bit better but I haven't tested the 4wheel drive out yet.
We also mounted the fuel filter housing today but I will have to get a pic of it.

 

[ToddJK]

That's turning out nice! When you're done, you should have a beast on your hands, lol.

 

[BGR]

That's turning out nice! When you're done, you should have a beast on your hands, lol.

Thank you

 

[BGR]

Picture of the new filter and head mounted. We had to cant it slightly due to the filter rubbing the injector lines.

 

[BGR]

Swapped out the hood hinge water deflectors today. This also allowed me to remount the washer nozzles to the cowl as they were loose. I am going to do the door hinges next and hopefully the vent windows will be in from rebuild shortly.

 

[BGR]

Finally got the new door hinges installed, the old ones were worse off than I thought. Everything lined up for the most part. I may go back and shim the finders to make it perfect but I don't know if it's worth it. Also got the vent windows back and rebuilt from precision and they look great. They are installed but the passenger side has a slight gap between the glass frame and the rubber. I may try to bend it in some and see if I can get a little better. All new rubber around the door windows as well. I need to get a pic of the new vent windows. Still waiting on the new dash from USA1 and I do not know what's going on with it. I ordered it in April and they aren't giving me an answer.

 

[antennaclimber]

USA1 has no customer service. None at all. They simply take your money and then you will wait and wait and wait.
The parts that I was lucky enough to get were good items. If you get them....

Their answer to the long delivery time is " If you don't want to wait, cancel the order and go somewhere else"

Can you elaborate on where you had the vent windows rebuilt?

 

[BGR]

USA1 has no customer service. None at all. They simply take your money and then you will wait and wait and wait.
The parts that I was lucky enough to get were good items. If you get them....

Their answer to the long delivery time is " If you don't want to wait, cancel the order and go somewhere else"

Can you elaborate on where you had the vent windows rebuilt?

That seems to match my experience so far. I read about the wait before hand and was ok with that at first. Then they shipped my smaller items but not my dash. When I questioned it they didn't have an answer why so...

Precision weather stripping will rebuild your vent windows for you. It's not cheap but I just couldn't get mine right and found out later the rubber wasn't right. They will use you original parts if they are good shape. They blasted and repainted my frames but replaced everything else including the glass. I think it took close to a month but I am very satisfied with the end result. Especially after trying to fight it myself lol.

 

[CARC686]

Are you running the OEM TH400? How's freeway driving with the 4:10s?

 

[BGR]

Are you running the OEM TH400? How's freeway driving with the 4:10s?

I am, I thought about going to the 700 but it looks like everyone who has it goes to the 400. I mean it's still slow and and a bit louder but the take off is a lot better. I still don't think my trans is quite right since I had it rebuilt so it's hard to say. It feels like it doesn't down shift properly or skips second most of the time but I haven't had it looked at yet. I drive it almost daily so take that into consideration.

 

[CARC686]

I am, I thought about going to the 700 but it looks like everyone who has it goes to the 400. I mean it's still slow and and a bit louder but the take off is a lot better. I still don't think my trans is quite right since I had it rebuilt so it's hard to say. It feels like it doesn't down shift properly or skips second most of the time but I haven't had it looked at yet. I drive it almost daily so take that into consideration.

The conventional wisdom that the 6.2 destroys 700s and people swapped them for 400s because they could take the low RPM beating, but that conventional wisdom is decades old and based on early OEM transmissions while technology improved both from the factory and in rebuilt units over the years. Reading around this forum, I've seen that in general, people are pleased with the performance from modern 700R4 transmissions. I found this to be an interesting read on the topic.

TheDieselPage.com - Dr. Lee's Performance 700R4 Automatic Transmissions