M1009 meets Saab - Guess who won?

[Grantshire]

Well, the other night in the pouring rain and rush hour traffic my daughter has to stop on the way home to pick up horse feed. Coming off the Interstate onto one of Virginia's tight cloverleaf interchanges (deceleration and acceleration ramps are on in the same) to the highway below she suddenly realizes the traffic in the exit ramp is backed all the way up to the overpass and stopped. Lots of brake pedal locked the 33x12.50's up and front wheels hydroplaned so that she could not swerve back into the right lane of the Interstate (probably a good thing). BANG! Passenger's side front bumper and grill meets driver's rear bumper of a relatively new hatchback Saab (why did she have to hit a Saab!).

Result? Both driver's OK although Saab driver went to hospital "to get checked out" (I smell a law suit coming), Saab is history and had to be hauled away, Oh-9 had a broken headlight, headlight trim piece and slight bend in brush guard. Once the paperwork was complete and my daughter calmed down (first accident) she drove it home. It may not have airbags but these things are tanks!

Anyway, Virginia law does not permit you to drive a vehicle with a broken or missing light so I need to find some parts. Anyone know where I can find the headlight surround trim piece and the running light that mounts below the headlight?

Speaking of headlights, has anyone done a conversion headlight on theirs? We live kind of rural and coming home after dark from the horse stable it is pretty dark out. The old style headlight leave a lot to be desired.

 

[JohnFire]

Good to hear that everyone is ok. The metal rings can be gotten at most automotive stores. I had done the conversion headlights on my 1009 and was happy with it. You can also get brighter bulbs if you wanted too once you have converted it. I just sold my kit to another member on here. To me even the standard bulb with the kit was better than the regular headlights that you can buy for these trucks.

 

[airmech3839]

wow...sorry to hear about your truck.....sorry it was a Saab. some safty rating they have!! if tey can't be trusted to hold up agianst a small truck...hehehehehehe

 

[Grantshire]

Good to hear that everyone is ok. The metal rings can be gotten at most automotive stores. I had done the conversion headlights on my 1009 and was happy with it. You can also get brighter bulbs if you wanted too once you have converted it. I just sold my kit to another member on here. To me even the standard bulb with the kit was better than the regular headlights that you can buy for these trucks.

The broken part I need is the OD plastic trim that goes around the lights (headlight and marker/turn), technically it may be considered part of the grill.

I will look around for the conversion kits for the headlights, just did not know if anyone had a favorite.

 

[Cucvnut]

LMC truck has everything you need to make your oh-9 like new again in the head light and grill area

 

[319]

First try any salvage yards in your area. If you don't have any luck then i'd suggest you try LMC Truck for your needs. I have used parking light housings (the light below the headlight). PM me if interested.

 

[Warthog]

I have a parts 1009. Which side do you need? Passenger side? I'll ship the parts out to you for the cost of the ride.

Warthog

 

[Grantshire]

I have a parts 1009. Which side do you need? Passenger side? I'll ship the parts out to you for the cost of the ride.

Warthog

You Da Man, Warthog!

Yes, it is the passenger side. Just need to OD trim piece that goes around the headlight and turn signal and the turn signal itself. Spent yesterday at the junk yard looking for parts, even found an 86 Blazer, but no luck on those parts (did find the side marker light and headlight).

I will send you a PM with my mailing address and just let me know what I owe you.

BTW, there were several set of 62" Chevy springs and I almost pulled a set but I don't really need them.

 

[Dodgeman1941]

For bulbs, we put silverstar bulbs in my boys 1009, and man they rock!

 

[Scarecrow1]

I'm so glad no one was hurt . Everything else is just stuff and is replaceable ....

 

[HardCorps79]

For bulbs, we put silverstar bulbs in my boys 1009, and man they rock!

Was just going to recommend the same thing. Part is a H6054ST if I remember right. Makes a big difference. Something like $20 per at O'Reilly, Wal-mart, Autozone, etc.

No conversion necessary and big difference in light. Glad to hear your daughter is okay. It's hard for the newer tin-foil cars to stand up against good old-fashioned American steel.

(My mid-80's Chevy sedan met a late-model Dodge SUV at 40mph when I was in college. The SUV was totaled, and I popped my little dent out with my hand )

Pretty sure I saw a grill guard for sale online a few weeks ago. Don't remember if it was in our classifieds here or on craigslist or ebay. Shouldn't be too hard to find. Good luck with your repairs!

 

[Warthog]

Did you get the replacement parts installed that I sent you? We are still waiting on pictures....LOL

 

[croftonaviation]

new cars are crap. I hit a 100 lb deer this winter in my 2002 hundyi elantra doing 35 miles an hour. Totaled the car. Had to finish the deer with my carry gun. At least on the plus side I took the money and bought a cucv. Glad everyone was ok.

 

[jimm1009]

I had a similar incident when a 93 Ford F150 decided that he wanted to turn left while I was passing him.
My M1009 pushed him into the ditch but I needed the trims well as a new parking light and side marker.
I used LMC Truck and replaced both parking lights and side marker since they were original to my '84 and weather check pretty bad.
I acquired a genuine GM fender from a 89 Suburban that was in a You-Pull It yard for 40.00 and put it on too.
LMC's stuff is foreign made but fit without any problems.
Slightly thinner than OEM but it got me out of a bind and it was brand new so
no problems with old plastic.
You can also get the headlight parts too but I sure like my Hella H4 lights.
More light from the 60/55 watt bulbs and more precisely focused too.
jimm1009

 

[Grantshire]

Did you get the replacement parts installed that I sent you? We are still waiting on pictures....LOL

Sorry, Warthog, I have part of it back together but not the trim pieces so I did not take and post pictures yet. I will get it finished next weel and post the pictures. The parts you sent are great, the hold up is/was the headlight adjuster screws. When we attempted to put everything back together but the plastic nuts that the headlight adjustment screw goes in kept pulling out. I rigged up a nut temporarily so she could drive it but left the trim pieces off until I got the adjuster kit. The local NAPA, Auto Zone and Advanced were all out (how weird is that?) so I had to order them. Parts are in hand but I have been cutting firewood on the weekends and not working on vehicles. For some reason wife likes heat more than my working on our vehicles - go figure.

I will soon!

 

[Grantshire]

Picture update

Finally got some pictures taken of the damage to to Oh-9 from the Saab accident.

Don't have any pictures of the Saab but it was totaled.

On a different note here is a picture of my daughter "plowing" the yard after our recent 15" snow. It is all grass where we park so I cannot use the backhoe bucket to plow. We just run one of the trucks/4x4's back and forth to pack the snow.

She managed to do the whole yard without hitting any of our other vehicles (or one of my Jeeps!).

 

[Croatan_Kid]

My M1008 has sucessfully totaled two vehicles thus far and never sustained any damage that couldn't be fixed the same day wihtout buying any replacement parts!

The first one was a pizza delivery guy that stopped and ATTEMPTED to back up in front of me, no more than a mile from my house on the same road I live on. Destroyed the poor Mazda B2000 truck.

The second time I got rearended by a Toyota Corolla. His driver's side A-pillar hit the right side of my rear bumper, gouged his hood, fender, and took out the mirror and windsheild. I got payed for that one...like 720 bucks...and I straightened my bumper with the winch on my dad's truck and a few whacks with the splitting maul.


Now then, if you want to brighten up those headlights and you like wiring and have a good knowledge of electrical things, you could do the relay modifications. It adds relays into your headlight circuits and greatly reduces the draw on the wiring and what not.

Here's a pretty good write-up on doing it so you can decide for yourself if you want to tackle it or not. I think this along with a good set of Silverstar lamps would make for some hellacious lights!

Headlight wiring and relay upgrade - WheelinDixie.com

 

[spitfire_pilot]

Saabs must be junk! I have a big crew cab dually 4x4 f-350 super duty...was stopped at a light and a Saab 9000 hit me at 40 mph. My reese hitch took the full hit and sheared the top of the saabs engine off of the car. My truck suffered 0 damage.
Glad everyone is OK.

 

[stampy]

Glad she is ok ditto on the silverstars!

 

[ABN173]

Glad your ok Grandshire, luckily I never had a moving accident but some kid ran into my parked M1009 one night. It looked like he drove through a giant cheeze grater. Some of you will remember the thread but just in case we have some new guys:

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/cucv/29528-accident.html