Three pickups compared: M37, M1008, M880

[Milbikes]

I have been wondering about these three trucks. I have owned and driven a M1008 as a daily driver. I just started experiencing an M37, and I have not had the chance to drive an M880. I know that one is the most off-froad oriented, and one is the most road oriented, and one falls in the middle. If a person could have just one of the three, what would the best choice be?

Thinking about things like fuel mileage, actual usable road speed, reliability, reasonable trail performance etc. I always hated making vehicle choices.....I want one of each, but have to settle on one! H.

 

[ODdave]

1008

 

[hndrsonj]

If you can only have one, i'd throw in modifications to the question. I'd take a M-37 if it had the highway gears. M1008 would also be cool with 3:73's. Then again 880's are cheap and solid. Maybe get a 2nd job and get one of each!

 

[ralbelt]

M1008 first choice
M37 because they are a nice vintage truck.
M880 no power steering, lousy milage, never like it when I was in.

 

[Dodge man]

There's no such thing as "highway" gears for the M-37. They ALL came with 5.83 gears. SOME (and only some) of the Dodge PowerWagons had 4.89 gears installed and a few M-37 have had gears from a PW installed by later civilian owners. With 5.83 gears most people won't drive the M-37 over 45 MPH! The "rated" top speed is 55 MPH but none of the ones that I've seen of will reach that. Most only go about 50MPH so their owners hold them down to 45 MPH.

sorry but is impossible to recommend one vehicle over another without knowing what's most important to you. The M-37 has by far the best off-road capability and most classic looks IMO. But the others are probably faster, more road worthy, more comfortable, have heaters and parts are easier to find. Important if you're going to use it as your daily driver.

 

[xm708]

m37's

M37's were never offered with 4:89 gears but like the civilian trucks they are available.. So there are highway gears for the m37.

 

[hndrsonj]

There's no such thing as "highway" gears for the M-37. They ALL came with 5.83 gears. SOME (and only some) of the Dodge PowerWagons had 4.89 gears installed and a few M-37 have had gears from a PW installed by later civilian owners. With 5.83 gears most people won't drive the M-37 over 45 MPH! The "rated" top speed is 55 MPH but none of the ones that I've seen of will reach that. Most only go about 50MPH so their owners hold them down to 45 MPH.

That's why I said "I'd throw modifications into the question". I never said they came with 4:89's from the factory. Mine has 4:89's, a rear Locker installed, and I installed disk brakes in front. It also has a winch and heater. Love the truck.

 

[Warthog]

What??? No M715 choice?

 

[hndrsonj]

What??? No M715 choice?

A M715 with a V-8 would make a good daily driver too!

 

[flighht2k5]

There's no such thing as "highway" gears for the M-37. They ALL came with 5.83 gears. SOME (and only some) of the Dodge PowerWagons had 4.89 gears installed and a few M-37 have had gears from a PW installed by later civilian owners. With 5.83 gears most people won't drive the M-37 over 45 MPH! The "rated" top speed is 55 MPH but none of the ones that I've seen of will reach that. Most only go about 50MPH so their owners hold them down to 45 MPH.

sorry but is impossible to recommend one vehicle over another without knowing what's most important to you. The M-37 has by far the best off-road capability and most classic looks IMO. But the others are probably faster, more road worthy, more comfortable, have heaters and parts are easier to find. Important if you're going to use it as your daily driver.

The 1008 has a better off road capability because of the Detroit.

 

[FrankUSMC]

Drove both the M1008 and the M880 while I was a Marine, plus have owned more M37s than I can count.
I would go with the M1008 as a daily driver. I did not like the M880 at all, sorry, but to me it felt like a very cheap pick up truck painted camuflage, and it had no gas mileage. The ownly complants I had on the M1008s (for me it was M102, was the dash always cracked and the seats tore from getting in and out with war gear.
The M37, I am getting another one as we are speaking, with V8,4.89 gears, power steering, disk brakes and lockers. All the other M37s I had where great trucks, but were just to slow for todays highways.
One of the few, Frank USMC RET

 

[Danger Ranger]

I have never driven any of them but....

M1008: slow, diesel, fairly heavy duty, decent offroad
M37: ---slow, gas, vintage truck, harder to find parts, good offroad
M880:--faster, gas v8, tendency to rust, parts not to bad depending..., offroad???

 

[allstaterider]

I have a 1977 M882 that gets 17MPG on the highway. Love the truck. Had them when I was in the Army in the 80's. They got used and abused. We never broke any of them that my unit had. We were combat Engineers and had any thing from 5 ton dumps, jeeps, Uni-mogs,Gama goats, and the M880 series trucks. The only thing I would change is the manual steering. My opinion is that they are are very reliable . Down fall is parts are more expensive than most Chevy parts.

 

[ODdave]

17mpg? What's done to it?

 

[L1A1]

Subscribedopcorn:
Matt

 

[allstaterider]

There are no modifications done to my M882. It is all stock. Cleaned carb, new plugs , cap & rotor. Paid $50.00 for the truck. Had to get rear drive shaft and the main service/ black out drive switch. It has the original 9.50x16.5 tires. They need to be replaced. Thats all. I thought that 17 mpg highway was great! Confirmed the MPG several times. Wish it had higher gears or over drive.

 

[nattieleather]

I've owned all three trucks and I've driven all three trucks. I have to say as a daily driver I would choose the M880. It keeps up with traffic and can do 65-70 mph on the highway. I would switch it to power steering also. M880s don't seem as load in the cab as the CUCV. The CUCV M1008 is a good truck but with the TH400 trans it's top road speed is 55. Yes it can do faster, but then your diesel is reving high. Swap a 700R4 into the M1008 and add sound proofing then I might say the M1008. The M37 in stock form is what it is. Now if you enjoy only going 45mph and want to drive in a real army truck (jk) then go for the M37. But for a everyday driver you would need to do a lot of modifications to the M37 (new motor and trans, new modern axles and brakes, sound proofing.)

 

[rboltz]

What??? No M715 choice?

I agree!!!

 

[quickfarms]

Subscribed

 

[Milbikes]

Thanks for all the replies. I looked at a M880 today. It is still wearing the original paint. It does have power steering in it though. It was well used, the bed looked like it had lots of heavy stuff thrown at it over the years. Not too rusty other than the rear cab mount areas. How do you replace them? Cut out from above and weld in new? Or does the cab need to be lifted up? It sure looks like a LOT of room in that engine compartment. The drive train doesn't look as beefy as the M1008.

So how does that Dodge full time 4WD system work? I heard somewhere that they distributed the power to the wheels better, so that tires didn't spin, unlike GM lockers that apply equal power to both wheels?

I think my ideal truck would be a M1008 with 4:10 axles like the ones in my 1988 Air Force crew cab pickup. I drive it a lot, I top it out at 55 mph. Being able to do 65 without over-revving would be nice though. Maybe a 700R4 and 4:10 axles would be the setup? That should give decent off-road ability, and the ability to get there in a timely fashion.

I think a M1009 with the same setup would be fun too. I wish I had more time, more room, and more cash