A question on the daily drivability of cucvs?

[Dabba]

Reposted from ck5:

The story is i work in manhattan, i live on long island. So i take the train in now and that wont change at least for another 3 years when i make the jump from EMS to fire. I work 5 days a week basically, the only thing my 03civic is doing is getting my to the station and back. Im currently paying a loan off on it with full insurance, plus insurance on my blazer. Im looking to save up 4-5k and get a near mint m1028 cucv to replace my blazer. And then it dawned upon me. Why not just sell the civic since the most driving i do is around town or to the station? The only thing is the truck probably wouldnt be good on long trips. I mean top speed is like 50mph right? And im sure it has no noiseproof padding so itll be loud and ride alot harder than my civic for when i do need to drive. and no music. So the only thing is i dont think the cucv is suited for long trips? So really, think its worth keeping the car and the truck? Id be saving a little over 300 a month if i dump the car, but id loose the ability of long trips and a more comfortable ride. IDK anyone with cucv daily drivers?

My second question is, i never owned a diesel, only a gas k5. How do the pickups/diesels drive and what do i need to know about them thats different from gas? How do they ride on stocksetups, again for daily drivability? Thanks.

 

[gt1009]

From what I gather the pickups are slightly better on long trips if you put the humvee tires on them or an overdrive tranny. The m1009 blazer is ok on the highway, but still not great.

 

[Dabba]

yeah i forgot to mention i want the m1028. I dont have the skills to drop in an OD tranny, but maybe some bigger tires. Im thinking 33s or 35s BFG muds on a 4inch lift eventually, but thats down the road a bit.

 

[mangus580]

Do some looking through the CUCV section... this topic comes up every few months, and there is many a great discussion on it. It might be more useful than waiting for responses here.

 

[Dabba]

thanks

 

[Dabba]

well i found out that along with the normal unknowns for a 20 year old truck, it wont go over around 50mph, will be loud and it has no stereo. I figure i can buy a deck and speakers and use a whip antenea for the hell of it. But i never owned a deisel, any differences i should know?

 

[AJMBLAZER]

It's loud. Find one of these threads with me posting in it. It's loud...and really loud...

I love it and I would daily drive it if I had to (and am planning on for a while after we sell our house and move south - the current DD won't be leaving with us) but I am SOO glad I have a more comfortable vehicle to drive daily. These trucks weren't entirely meant for that sorta thing so it's sorta like using a 3-lb sledge to drive nails. It works but it's definitely overkill and crude.
You might consider a cheap beater as a DD and save the CUCV from the daily grind and the winter road salt and crap as I know from your K5 you know what rust does to these trucks. The only way to stop it is to really not expose them to it.

The front limited slip in a 1028 could also be interesting if trying to drive it in the winter in 4x4.


Oh, and you need at least a true 36" tall tire to really tame the gears in the pickups.

 

[msoumas]

M1009 is a bit better as a DD, especially when it comes to highway use. I've been driving mine on a daily basis for about 6 months now. It IS a bit like using a 3lb sledge to drive nails, but it can be fun too, if you know what you're getting into. Personally, if I already had a Civic and could afford both I would keep the car. It's worth it to have around for longer trips, and for the occassional mechanical trouble one is bound to have with a 20+ year old truck.

 

[Dabba]

hmm, true, as i said the only issue is that i owe alot of money on the car still and to pay 300 more a month for the car to just sit is insane i think. I frequently drove my truck around town and i dont mind the ride, but thats a k5. Train stations only 4-6 miles away methinks. Plus if i were to go upstate to visit my friend in school, id probbaly bring the truck for camping offroading heh. Though its true, having a nice car to drive would be nice. Perhaps getting a beater car as well would be the best of both worlds?

 

[Dabba]

oh yeah, assuming i find a truck with no rust underneath, what kind of prep and undercoating should i use to help protect it from that crap around here. I dont want to destroy a mint truck and i want to try to do what i can to protectit. IT will be going on the beach in the summer (and i do wash the undersides with fresh water when i get home) and it wll be going onto snowy roads when its deep.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

This has been discussed to death on CK5 in the past.

 

[Braunchitis]

I drive mine daily, about 10-15 minutes one-way to work/school.

Yes, it is loud. Especially in the morning when it's cold. I'm sure my neighbors love that at 5:30am Saturday and Sunday...

I've taken mine on 2 1/2 hour long trips, and I managed. No big deal.

I put a stereo in mine, it wasn't that hard. Here's the thread for it:

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=219803&highlight=#219803

 

[maritimer]

i run my m1009 as a daily driver, grocery getter, and everything else. it is defintly loud especialy witht he cherry bombs but its gives me a both the family vehicle as well as a tough mean 4x4 with crappy gearing lol

 

[AJMBLAZER]

He's looking at M1008's and 28's. With the lower gearing they have they're a bit noisier than the M1009's I'd suspect.

When I replaced the original mufflers on mine with Cherry Bombs I basically couldn't tell a difference in the noise level in the cab. Tells you something about how loud it is.

 

[Dabba]

haha, yeah i have a glasspack now on my blazer, i didnt think putting an new pipe on a diesel would make any difference. Thanks for the replys ill check out undercoatings on ck5. MY friend lives like 5-6 hours upstate, thats the longest id ever go with it.

 

[Dabba]

okay, so i guess im gonna go with this petroleum oil type stuff for undercoating. It seems people think oil undercoats the best so ill do that. The place says if i rhinoline the bed itll save me 50bucks, but im not sure i wanna do this on a cucv, opinions?

 

[CARNAC]

14 months ago and a former lifetime, I was driving a 1009 from Staten Island to Ft Dix nearly each day. I think it was around 60 miles on the NJTP. I had access to 6 CUCV's of which 4 were 1009's and 2 1008's. Only did the trip once in a 1008 and that was enough. I never want to do that again. After doing that for a month or two, I decided to buy a 1009 and never looked back. In your case you will probably have a lot slower speeds to worry about going to work with all the stop and go traffic. On the NJTP I normally cruised in the 1009's at about 65-70 and at least once did 90 in my own.

Yep the diesel is louder but I would also say that some CUCV's are louder than others. My own CUCV seems a lot quieter compared to the others I've used. I did put insulation under the hood but other than that, nothing. Exhaust is the same that came with the vehicle. Not sure why but I lucked out getting a quieter truck.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Why wouldn't you want to do Rhino Liner? Great stuff and no beat up/rotting bed.

 

[Dabba]

heh, i guess ill do the rhino then as long as theres no rust in there already (which there shouldnt be with the ammount i want to spend) I dont plan on driving to work in the 1028 unless i miss the train, and thats an hour and a half i guess at most. Though i may drive upstate, but that might be a one time trip, 5 hours each way haha. All this info is helping alot guys. thanks so much

 

[CCATLETT1984]

eh, driving one for long distances isnt bad.

I've drivin mine from MI all the way to aberdeen and back, and would do it again (1000miles each way)