Chuc-vee questions

[LtDan]

I was assigned a m1009 in the navy. It was battleship grey and the paint was anti radar. After the navy I purchased one and sold it about a year later.
Now flash forward 13 years and here I am looking for another one.
My problem is I can't for the life of me remember what is 12 volt and what is 24 volt.
I remember the starter was 24 volt, but that is it.
Also what needs to be done to convert everything to 12 volt?
Back then those vehicals were much younger, and I don't remember there being any weak points. But I am sure by now there must be some. What are they.
I know that If I look at a m1009, it should be cold at start up as diesels hide issues when they are warmed up. Is there any problem areas that I should look for.
And where can I find camo patterns?
Thank you for your help

Bill

 

[gasser]

RE: Chuck-vee questions

Bill,
Pretty much the only major thing that is 24v is the Starter. Batteries and Alternators are 12v in a series. In the middle of that series, a line breaks out and feeds the 12v stuff, which is everything else.

I have bought two M1009's straight from GL and for the most part they have been good. I don't have much history so I am not sure about the common "trouble" areas. I guess make sure that the trans shifts good and it doesn't leak fluids. If you get one from a private owner, make sure the wiring is all there and not jimmy-rigged. I am sure there will be alot more comments about this .

In terms of the 12v conversion, I have been told that it's pretty simple and there is a great document on the 'net that talks about it. I will try to locate it and paste the URL (or someone may beat me to it).

Hope this helps,

-graham

 

[gasser]

RE: Chuck-vee questions

Here it is ... it's in PDF format.

http://www.roscommonequipmentcenter.com/news_notes/nn10.pdf

Take care,

-graham

 

[steelsoldiers]

RE: Chuck-vee questions

CUCV's are great trucks for anything from a collector item to a daily driver. The M1009s are a little more street friendly with their 3.08 gears vs. the 4.56s in the M1008s.

They are pretty bulletproof rigs. I had the same one for about 10 years. My biggest complaint was the podged together charging system. I'm sure some engineers a lot smarter than me came up with the 2 alternator system, but to me it was a PITA. If you do the 12v conversion, you will eliminate most of the headaches I encountered with mine. I never converted it because I wanted to keep the slave cable ability, the capability of making a radio truck out of it, and the 24v starter.

The #2 alternator took a crap on me several times. Mostly it was either the diode trio or the regulator. Once it was the brushes. The nice thing is, parts are readily available and they are easy to rebuild in your driveway. The glow sytem was kinda hacked when I bought it which sizzled a set of plugs. The control panel fried and took out another set of plugs. That was in the day before the new glow plugs which won't swell up and burn out even if left on.

My CUCV was an '84 and it had about 84k on it when I got it. The plastic shift fork bushings in the t-case wore out and it would pop out of gear. The rear starter brace was missing (big surprise) so the stress sheared a starter bolt off in the block. Huge PITA. It was a Desert Storm vet so the sand was hard on lots of stuff. Bigger than stock tires are hard on 10-bolt ball joints. The gov-lock exploded in my rear diff. The tailgate window crank snapped off several times. All the window rubber rotted off. It had cancer in the floors, the rockers, and the tailgate. The hard top leaked even with new gaskets. The TH400 was trouble-free! The 6.2L was pretty indestructable. The stock springs were sagging so I put 2" Skyjacker leaf packs on it. I put an Auburn limited slip in the rear. I put 3.73 gears in it to cope with bigger tires and a lack of HP.

One of the BEST things about a CUCV is that you can go to just about any junkyard and find an 80's Blazer with civi parts that will fit it.

I could drone on and on about my experiences. You won't regret a CUCV. Mine served me very well as a daily driver from 1995 to 2004. I sold it last year after lots of metal work and a fresh coat of 383 green. I miss it.

 

[Armada]

RE: Chuck-vee questions

From my experience, the first things I would replace as soon as I got one would be the starter relay (they fail by either not working at all or by not relasing current to the starter), the glow plag relay (they fail the same way), and the mechanical fuel (lift) pump (the OEM pump used a bronze bushing on the rocker that wears out faster than normal which will continually shorten the pump stroke).
The most important systems on a cucv that need to be in top working order, are the starting, charging, glow plugs and fuel delivery. If any one of those operate marginally, you will start to have problems.

 

[cobra]

Re: RE: Chuck-vee questions

From my experience, the first things I would replace as soon as I got one would be the starter relay (they fail by either not working at all or by not relasing current to the starter), the glow plag relay (they fail the same way), and the mechanical fuel (lift) pump (the OEM pump used a bronze bushing on the rocker that wears out faster than normal which will continually shorten the pump stroke).
The most important systems on a cucv that need to be in top working order, are the starting, charging, glow plugs and fuel delivery. If any one of those operate marginally, you will start to have problems.

i would have to agree with Armada in this one, i have a m1010, and sure enough in the order he listed them, they started to fail. After i had changed all these parts, no worries, no complaints.

 

[LtDan]

Thank you all for the replies.
I am going to look at an unmolested 09 sunday afternoon.
Where can I find camo patterns?

Bill

 

[warwick]

M1009 cucv camo patterns

http://therangerstation.com/tech_library/diagrams/suvoldpattern1.JPG

http://therangerstation.com/tech_library/diagrams/suvoldpattern2.JPG

 

[LtDan]

This is what I went to look at today. It is a 85 with 82k miles with very little rust.
I just have to hammer out a price with the guy.

 

[Armada]

From the outside it looks solid and everything looks to be there. How about the interior? Did you drive it too? The paint looks good wet.
Whats the white thingy on the front bumper?

 

[LtDan]

From the outside it looks solid and everything looks to be there. How about the interior? Did you drive it too? The paint looks good wet.
Whats the white thingy on the front bumper?

I did drive it and it was just like I remember. It was about 55 degrees and the engine was cold. I cycled the plugs twice with 10 second bursts and pumped the go pedal twice and she came to life. A little light conensation smoke then she cleared right up. The body only has two bad spots. The drivers side rocker and the front passengers footwell. The tires are near perfect goodyear wranglers. As for the white thingy on the front. It is a bag covering the plug for the block heater.

Bill

 

[LtDan]

14 years later I finally own one. LOL