my new addiction M1010 build

[87J]

Hello all, I happy to finally join the forum! I have been very busy working on my truck, but now that the daylight hours are short and wrenching outside is a struggle I thought I would post some info and pics of my in-progress M1010 build. Not 100% sure where I am headed with it yet. It started with just wanting a 4x4 truck I could sleep in when needed and still use like a truck , but things are getting carried away quick and I couldn't be happier I dont plan on doing a full camper conversion but would like it to be a multi-purpose vehicle. Plowing snow, offroad camping/hunting, haul wood you name it. Trying to set the box up to be universal for hauling things (fold up bedding, reinforced controls box, removeable seating etc). Truck was mostly gutted when I got it which was kind of nice but there are some things missing that I will hopefully be able to find through this forum. I have insulated the box with 1" foil faced foam and a few cans of great stuff. Removed the factory a/c unit and built storage in its place, disguised by my custom M886 roof cap installation. Sadly had to cut a hole in the ceiling for the new low profile rooftop a/c. After numerous hours of studying the schematics and re-routing wires for my set-up which keeps changing, I think I have the wiring figured out. Purchased lots of LEDs, most still sitting in a box waiting for install. Also in process of replacing the original heater with a diesel fired espar hydronic plumbed into both a 15k btu heat exchanger and the engine, which will double as a portable block heater. Cummins swap is in the near future as I have gathered most of the parts and already changed gear ratio's to a more 5.9 friendly 3.73 with lockers front and rear. (the 4.56's and detroit locker are available if anybody interested). Soooo many countless man hours I feel I dont have too much to show for it yet.... I'll try to post more pics soon.

 

[Drock]

Looks really good, I like the roof cap. Keep the pics coming.

 

[jpg]

I'm interested in details about the fairing over the cab.

 

[squaretaper]

Looks amazing. Built a Murphy bed in my M1010 to preserve hauling ability and it's wonderful having a camper that's both comfortable and still day-to-day useful. Looking forward to your build!

 

[AZK9]

.... Not 100% sure where I am headed with it yet. It started with just wanting a 4x4 truck I could sleep in when needed and still use like a truck , but things are getting carried away quick and I couldn't be happier ...

Welcome from Arizona!

Looking good!

Keep the creativity flowing!

 

[tim292stro]

Welcome from California - already looks like you have a good start!!

 

[87J]

Not sure the exact name for it fairing, roof cap, air foil????? Anyway it came off a 1977 Dodge M886 ambulance I found 2 miles from my house right after I got my 1010! The 886 was pretty rusty so I felt comfortable dismembering it for parts. I had to fabricate the base of the cap because the dodge attached it right to the cab, a mess I didn't want to create. I have more pics of that project if your interested.

 

[87J]

Looks amazing. Built a Murphy bed in my M1010 to preserve hauling ability and it's wonderful having a camper that's both comfortable and still day-to-day useful. Looking forward to your build!

I think I saw pics of your set up on here, we have a lot of similar ideas. What kind of mileage are you getting with your 3.73's? I am struggling to get 12mpg with mine 235/85/16 cooper at/3 averaging 55-60 mph Seems like it should be better.

 

[acmunro]

Looks like a good project. I would like to see the pics from your roof cap retrofit.

 

[Recovry4x4]

The 887 faring install is too cool. Would like to see that. How do you access the storage?

 

[jpg]

I think I saw pics of your set up on here, we have a lot of similar ideas. What kind of mileage are you getting with your 3.73's? I am struggling to get 12mpg with mine 235/85/16 cooper at/3 averaging 55-60 mph Seems like it should be better.

With stock drive train and tires, I get 12MPG@65MPH, 15MPG@55MPH and around town, driving gently. All those flat surfaces facing the wind mean increased speed costs lots of fuel, so the difference between 55 and 65 MPH is 2 MPG, for me. That's why I'm interested in the fairing idea.

You can lower your highway RPM with taller tires and/or taller gears. The 700R4 transmission is a common swap. Banks claims their turbo will give you a 15-20% improvement. The fairing manufacturers make the same claim. So a fairing, taller top gearing, and a turbo are all claimed to help your MPG. You could do it all for about $8K, but $8K would buy a *lot* of diesel... The way I figure, you'd have to drive at least 100,000 miles before your fuel savings added up to the cost of these mods. That's just to break even... And that's not counting any increased maintenance costs incurred by these mods.

I know folks like cucvrus get several hundred thousand miles out of a CUCV, but I don't think the average is anywhere near that high. And he runs them bone stock, mostly.

 

[squaretaper]

I think I saw pics of your set up on here, we have a lot of similar ideas. What kind of mileage are you getting with your 3.73's? I am struggling to get 12mpg with mine 235/85/16 cooper at/3 averaging 55-60 mph Seems like it should be better.

3.73s with 235/85/16 Coopers get us 15-16mpg if we keep it 55mph highway. Around town and short hops on the highway is more like 12-14. I think there's a lot of truth to what JPG is saying- while better mileage is a worthy goal, the M1010 is never going to be an efficient vehicle. If range is an issue, adding more fuel storage is the answer. The 3.73 gears do offer a more comfortable cruising RPM, though, and the next set of tires will be 255/85s.

 

[87J]

Sounds like the 3.73 swap doesn't gain you mpg only mph! Must be these are heavy trucks for a stock 6.2? I still should be getting better though especially with the fairing, The best I've seen is 12-13 mpg driving nice. Unfortunatly I only took 1 trip with it stock so not much to compare it to. My 6.2 enthusuist friend said most military rigs idle too much which is bad for the cylinders/rings, plus it has over 100k miles on it maybe its weak...

 

[jerry v]

welcome michigan

 

[natem]

Welcome from another M1010 owner in MI.

 

[Recovry4x4]

I think the issue with 3.73 gears and only moderate MPG gains is that 400 turbo has a dismal low gear ratio. The anemic 6.2 has to work super hard to get all that weight moving. The guys with 700R4 conversions are reporting better numbers. Look at it in this over simplistic view. 400 and 4.56 gears gives you 1-3 gears. 400 and 3.73 gears give 2-4. 700 and 4.56 gives 1-4 gears. In reality, the 3.06 low in the 700 really helps get the heavy CUCV moving.

 

[tim292stro]

700R4's can also feature a lock-up converter which adds tremendously to the MPG. Without a lock-up torque converter, the converter just slips all the time losing power (and MPG) to heating the radiator... Also the faster you spin the engine the more power the engine needs to produce to overcome its own friction.

The trick is to gear the truck to match the peak efficiency of the engine (usually towards the middle/bottom of the peak torque lobe to allow for acceleration and loads). This requires matching the tire size, final drive ratio, and transmission gears to the engine's power band. Everything is a "system" in a vehicle, can't just change tire size without affecting something else...

As for fuel economy - look at what the civilian hummer did with roughly the same drive train: 10-13MPG, so getting anywhere north of that is terrific!! A M1009 with proper gearing and a 700R4 can get into the low 20's highway - that even beats some current model year SUVs.

 

[87J]

I think the issue with 3.73 gears and only moderate MPG gains is that 400 turbo has a dismal low gear ratio. The anemic 6.2 has to work super hard to get all that weight moving. The guys with 700R4 conversions are reporting better numbers. Look at it in this over simplistic view. 400 and 4.56 gears gives you 1-3 gears. 400 and 3.73 gears give 2-4. 700 and 4.56 gives 1-4 gears. In reality, the 3.06 low in the 700 really helps get the heavy CUCV moving.

Makes perfect sense, truck is veeery slow to get moving now with 3.73.

 

[87J]

fairing/storage project

To answer your question Recovry4x4 the storage is accessed from inside the box where the a/c used to be. Fabbed everything painted white/dark green from scratch using mostly 16 ga and 1/8 steel. Wish there was pics berfore I painted everything, but was in a big hurry trying to beat a rainstorm that day. I need a taller garage!

 

[Recovry4x4]

That is just super cool. Thanks for the info.