Got the M1009 Home!

[axshon]

So I got the old girl home on Tuesday. Although it needs more work than I expected and I know now that I should have paid more and gone local, I'm still pleased with it. RV gas alone was $650 to go from Baltimore -> Jefferson City -> Baltimore. Yeouch! But it's water under the bridge now. Getting a trickle charger from Pep Boys tomorrow to recharge the refilled batteries. Hopefully they hold a charge. They look decent. Tires and brakes are also very good as is the rest of the body. Spare is new. With a jump it cranks twice and starts right up. Needs belts but that's to be expected.

The first order of business is going to be to replace the passenger side door. It's a much deeper wound than I expected from the GL picture. Then off to the body shop to realign the hood, bumper and front fender (and bang out the edge dent). It looks like it was caused by low speed convoy bump and then a crowbar to open the passenger door. I know my limits and there is just too much fiddling around getting those lined up right for me to do it. My body guy will do it cheap since he doesn't have to paint and it doesn't have to be picture perfect.

Next order of business will be the glow plug and starter relay upgrades.

Then it's on to the back seat. Suburban seat with head rests are the order of the day and I'm going to have to figure out a way to get shoulder belts in before the wife will allow the kids to ride in it.

Then it will be time to purchase a welder and rebuild the rockers. The drivers side is very very bad and the passenger side has one hole all the way through about the size of my thumbnail. I was very surprised at the drivers side but the price of new metal is reasonable so I'm not too worried. Just got to try and afford the 110V MIG rather than the flux core wire feed welder for 1/4 the price. If I have to go flux core then it will be ugly but that's life and grinding disks are cheap.

Finally, a bit of door alignment or new pins on the drivers side since it drops about 1/8" or so. It's enough to require a slam to get it closed tight.

Pictures soon.

 

[twlinks]

Congratulations axshon on getting her back home. Sounds like you have some fun time ahead and if it's anything like mine has been, it will be pure joy. I'd be in the poorhouse if I was getting paid by the hour on this, but it's been the most fun project I've done in years. It ain't a horse race as far as I'm concerned so that takes all the pressure to get it done off my back.

Of course, you what is coming next I hope...

 

[rsh4364]

dont delay on starter relay upgrade,I learned the hard way, now that its back on road i love this truck,and i keep upgrading stuff,congrats and good luck..

 

[ThunderCracker]

Congrats on the addition to your family.

 

[CUCVSRK]

Congrats sounds like you have a nice project on your hands!

 

[Recovry4x4]

Do you have any pics of the said ride? Pics from the trip. It's nice to join in on an MV trip in abstentia.

 

[axshon]

So here she is on the trailer getting ready for the drive home. I didn't take any pictures on the road since I was solo and it wasn't nearly as fun as I had hoped. Running this trailer behind a 29' RV, it's pretty easy to have the trailer drive you. Snow in the Appalachians made it much more interesting. 10 foot overhang means that getting into and out of the gas stations was 'interesting'.

They left the gov't plates on it and it didn't bother me at the time but the more I think of it the more likely I think that I'm just going to mail those back.

Whoever said on one of my other threads that it was the bumper pushed back dislocating the fender was exactly right. That will go to the body shop as I stated earlier.



The latest is that I'm an idiot and it's already costing me. I have a 1 amp trickle charger that I hooked up after filling the batteries. When it was hooked to the front battery for a couple of days I got dash lights but not enough juice to warm up the glow plugs. So in the process of doing other things and not really watching what I was doing I switched the charger over to the rear battery and left it on for a few days. Then I checked to see if it would crank and got nothing at all on the dash. Looking at the charger I had reversed the leads and had been charging it backwards. Probably blew the ignition solenoid but I doubt the starter solenoid since it never had enough juice to engage it at all without a direct jump from the car. Looks like 2 new batteries are in my future. Relearning all that stuff I knew 20 years ago..

We had some major house expenses this month and with that, the expense of getting the truck home, and Christmas, it looks like I won't be able to do any serious work on the Blazer until about April. I'll hook it to my car battery and see if I can start it soon. If it fires up I'll keep doing that every week or so just to keep fluids flowing. If not, I'll have to spend some time diagnosing what I trashed.

I've been trying to tell people why I want this as my daily driver. In the end it comes down to looking at my vehicle not as transportation but as a tool. When you buy a tool you get the best, strongest, most durable tool you can find for the money you have. This is MV for me. Looking forward to continuing the process.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

Congratulations!

RV gas alone was $650 to go from Baltimore -> Jefferson City -> Baltimore. Yeouch!

I'm having trouble processing this data. Jefferson City, Maryland? That's about 60 miles from Ft. Meade. How can you spend $650 on fuel for a 120 mile trip?

The first order of business is going to be to replace the passenger side door. It's a much deeper wound than I expected from the GL picture. ...

Finally, a bit of door alignment or new pins on the drivers side since it drops about 1/8" or so. It's enough to require a slam to get it closed tight.

I've got the same problem on my 1028. Passenger side door is hanging loose on the hinges, banged in a bit on the outside, and has no guts at all. No window mechanism.

Driver's side door needs adjustment, but it works.


I picked up a couple of doors from an 84 civvy Chevy, so I'll be swapping those out. Hope to get that finished this week. There's a wee bit of rust on the bottoms of both doors, so I'm going to replace both. The civvy doors are clean.

My passenger side dent isn't too bad - maybe you could use it? I can post pics if you think you might want it. Not looking for any payment. If you don't want it, I plan to offer them to anybody here on SS who wants them.

 

[axshon]

I'm having trouble processing this data. Jefferson City, Maryland? That's about 60 miles from Ft. Meade. How can you spend $650 on fuel for a 120 mile trip?

Don't I wish! But no, Jefferson City Missouri. 940 miles one way. That was a calculation that seemed fine on paper, I don't mind a long drive, but the reality was quite a different story.

I've got the same problem on my 1028. Passenger side door is hanging loose on the hinges, banged in a bit on the outside, and has no guts at all. No window mechanism.

Driver's side door needs adjustment, but it works.

I picked up a couple of doors from an 84 civvy Chevy, so I'll be swapping those out. Hope to get that finished this week. There's a wee bit of rust on the bottoms of both doors, so I'm going to replace both. The civvy doors are clean.

My passenger side dent isn't too bad - maybe you could use it? I can post pics if you think you might want it. Not looking for any payment. If you don't want it, I plan to offer them to anybody here on SS who wants them.

So the door minus guts is what you have? From a bit of research it seems the entire line of c/k front doors are interchangeable. That would be really helpful to me! I'd like to see pics so I can see if the rust feels like its within my hacky ability to patch up. If you like you can PM me your location. I've been thinking of offering pickup and hold services to SS members since I'm only a few miles from Ft. Meade as a community service but was holding off until I got the 09 on the road. My little 5x8 landscape trailer can hold a lot but not when pulled by my piddly little minivan.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

Don't I wish! But no, Jefferson City Missouri. 940 miles one way. That was a calculation that seemed fine on paper, I don't mind a long drive, but the reality was quite a different story.

Yeah, reality has a way of doing that to us, doesn't it?

So the door minus guts is what you have?

Yep.

From a bit of research it seems the entire line of c/k front doors are interchangeable.

That's what I understand.

That would be really helpful to me! I'd like to see pics so I can see if the rust feels like its within my hacky ability to patch up. If you like you can PM me your location.

I'll get some pictures this week for you. Might not be til Saturday - I don't get home until after dark these days.

I've been thinking of offering pickup and hold services to SS members since I'm only a few miles from Ft. Meade as a community service but was holding off until I got the 09 on the road. My little 5x8 landscape trailer can hold a lot but not when pulled by my piddly little minivan.

Okay, I think I've got it now. You are in Maryland, but you picked up the 1009 in Missouri. Did I get that right?

 

[Whitfield]

Nice Score Axshon! Congrats!

on the bateries... I picked up (2) first week of November

First was a 6-month old NAPA group 31 (USED battery) from my local starter alternator shop for $40. Then I had Wifey pick up a 3-month old DEKA group 31 (used battery) from our local INTERSTATE Battery distributor (which was still 50 miles) away for $65.

My local Starter / Alternator shop only had the one. Interstate Batteries distributor for Central VA had 50+ (used / blem / second) group 31's.



This was for my new to me / not running M1008. I felt like the truck needed to earn the NEW parts so the $100 in used batteries was a good angle until I could prove my purchase worthy. Turns out the batteries were a much better deal then I expected and should last me a few years.

These + a new Ford 6.9L glow plug sylinoid part # GPR7, New Glow plug card from CUCV electric + ( 8 ) new AC 60 glow plugs, and my CUCV now lights right off every time even @ 25 deg.

 

[axshon]

Okay, I think I've got it now. You are in Maryland, but you picked up the 1009 in Missouri. Did I get that right?

Yep, you got it right. 1800+ miles. *sigh* So regarding the door, you're about 2 hours from me so I'm not sure that would work financially at the moment but send the pictures anyway. My doors are clean of rust so I could just carve out the bottom of the existing passenger door and patch it into a new door I think.