Easter find M1008 2015

[cucvrus]

and the Easter find M1008. Today is the day. I will be pulling this fine ride into the garage and going at it hard. Torch and air tools going wild. i will post pictures later. Stay tuned for further updates as the develop.

 

[reaper556]

looks like a nice one!

 

[REDWOLF]

Nice would love to get on of those.

 

[cucvrus]

looks like a nice one!

This is a truck I bought in 1995 and it came from New Mexico NG. It had 16K miles on it. I did a complete repaint on it and it was like new. I sold it and was in bad non running condition. The man that bought it saw me and offered it back to me for less then dirt. He said he was done with it and it was a good truck. He never had many real issues with it. It still has less then 50K on it and it runs great. Same issues as most had with rust. I will post my progress tonight. I have been cleaning my shop after my Cadillac rebuild. I was at the YOUPULLIT and I found some nice Cadillac door seals that I am going to install on Mr Crusty. They look great and are a bit puffier then the GM truck door seals. They will work great. Freebies. And I also installed a new shift indicator in Mr Crusty.

 

[reaper556]

Are you sure you didn't put homing devices in all those cucv's you sold? They sure seem to make a full circle back to you

 

[cucvrus]

Today I made excellent progress. I have the bumpers, brush guard and doors stripped from the truck. I removed the cargo bed last summer and put it on an M101 trailer frame for storage. The cab, fenders and doors are fairly straight and the cab corners and rocker panels are in need of some work. I think the rockers will make it but the cab corners are a definitely in need of replacement. I am going to remove the entire rear axle assembly with the leaf springs and needle scale the entire frame. It is not even 1/2 as bad as Mr Rusty. But with everything out of the way it will make the cleaning and coating much easier. I am thinking all 4 new spring packs 3500 lb rear and 4 ply snow plow front springs. The interior floor of the cab is not rusted thru so I will clean it good and send the entire truck up for the Line X in the cab up to the vents and the entire over the rail in the cargo bed. That saves a lot of time and makes a nice job. Check out that perfect GM dash pad. I used to buy these and spray them and replace them in every truck I bought and sold. This one held up well. The right door is excellent the left door is salvageable. The inner fenders are junk and the front fenders are nice. i did not see any rust thru in the inner fender structures. The front seat will need reupholstered. Tomorrow is another day. I hope to have the cab stripped out by the end of the day. It is HOT and that is making it a challenge to progress. I removed the bumpers with te aid of the HOT wrench. Heated the nuts only. NO sparkly stuff.

 

[cucvrus]

I did go down and look. I remember it had less then 20 K on it when I sold it. It has 41 K on it now and still has the same Goodyear Work horse LT23585R16 E range stock size tires on it that were on it when I sold it back in 1996. I did need to slave it every time I moved it today and the starter relay stuck for me. Low voltage will do it every time.

 

[reaper556]

Nice progress Rick. I can relate with the hot part, its been in the high 90's the last 3 weeks with a feels like temp around 105 everyday. The humidity here sucks

 

[cucvrus]

Tonight after working 11 hours at my full time job I decided to tear into the M1008. The weather was not as hot. I did get a lot of stripping done. Every thing came off. I did have to heat a few bolts and nuts with the torch. But all went well. The list is growing a bit. Both fenders are scrap and the drivers door is scrap also. Not really scarp but not fit to use on this rebuild. I will be pulling the cab from the frame over the weekend. The transmission and transfer case I am sending out for resealing. Thanks for looking.

 

[cucvrus]

So I spend about 3 hours on the truck tonight and tore off a lot of scrap parts. I removed and scrapped 4 shocks, both inner fenders, both fenders, and the drivers door. The radiator is the original one. I seen the previous owner today and he ask me about it. I ask if he ever had the wheels off of it and he said no. I wondered why I had to use the torch to heat up around all 4 wheels to get them off. He said it only had 20K or so when he bought it and it only has 40K on it now and it never needed tires or brakes the whole time he had it. Good deal. I removed the wheels the tires are 1/2 tread but 20 years old. They will be scrapped also. I will also be removing the transmission and transfer case and sending them out to be resealed. Thank you for looking.

 

[ssdvc]

Rick, your work is always impressive. The lengths you go to make it right are obvious. Quality and attention to detail. Very nice.

 

[cucvrus]

Today it was 102 degrees out in the yard. I was at the YOUPULLIT and picked up a trunk-lid pull-down for my Cadillac and a few odds and ends that I needed for a few other projects. It cost me $2. admission and $5.00 for a 5 gallon bucket of parts that were never going anywhere but to the shredder.I did take notice at 102 you do not even sweat any more. It is too hot and dry to sweat. I removed the fuel tank and all the cab bolts from the M1008 I am in the process of pulling the cab. It has been a few years since I removed a cab but I am going to remove this one and wheel the frame out the door. Then I am going to strip the frame bare and have start from the ground up on this one. I have a lot on my plate as this build continues. I spent several hours working at getting the cab bolts out with out heating them and just spraying and working them back and forth. I have a wheeled cab stand that I built for redoing cabs in the past. It has wheels and is nice to wheel around and then I will be picking up an old mattress to lay the cab on the back so I can totally redo the bottom side. It is not real bad but the cab on its back is so much nicer then working over head. I cut the E brake cables and removed them. I need to tow the truck out of the shop and back it in. I will do that tomorrow after church. The fuel tank was full and I put the fuel in Mr Crusty. I scrapped the tank and tank brackets. I still have a few sets of GM brackets left. I do have the option of sending the tank frame mounts to be blasted and powder coated and then add a new strap kit to them. That worked out well on Mr Rusty last year. This fuel tank is now on the ever growing scrap pile. I may build this truck and then auction it off and see what I can get for it. I still have a few other CUCV's sitting here that I am chomping at the bit to get working on. Time will tell. I will post pictures later. Project was cancelled for today due to high temperatures and lack of motivation. 10 hours today was enough. I am slacking.

 

[reaper556]

Looking good as always Rick. I wish at 102 it was too dry here to sweat. I for sure understand the lack of motivation due to the high heat I have been fighting that for the last 3 weeks at least. I'm ready for September so its not so painful to work outside

 

[Abbylind]

This is a truck I bought in 1995 and it came from New Mexico NG. ....Hey thats where mine came from too!

 

[Digger09]

Coming along nicely.

 

[cucvrus]

Last night I turned the M1008 truck around in the garage bay. That way I can hoist the cab from the frame and set it on the cab cart. And then I can pull the frame outside and strip the frame down to the bare frame rails. I was detoured by one cab bolt that after removing it got locked in the left front cab nut and broke the cab nut loose in the floor. That is a poor design. They should have welded the nuts into the body assembly. But a minor set back. I will torch off the bolt and then weld the nut fast after I have the cab setting up on end. The cab supported by 4 ratchet straps is a light load on each strap divided by 4. The right side is loose and by Friday night I will have it off and on the cart over the weekend.

 

[cucvrus]

Tonight after supper i went out and removed all the wiring and other attachments to the M1008 Easter Find CUCV cab. We rolled the frame out the door and attached the cab to the much used CUCV/Chevy truck cab cart. It bolts to the front cab mount bolts and sits nice and high for ease of replacing cab corners and rocker panels. It is not real bad on the underside. Tomorrow I hope to have the entire frame stripped.

 

[dougco1]

Rick
Are you doing all this restoration just to sell it to me, or are you hording all CUCVs you can get your hands on?

 

[cucvrus]

I think I will redo it and auction it off. I seen the junk people are buying and what they are paying at the sales I looked at. I junked a lot of CUCV's over the years and I am now fixing rougher ones then I junked. Example was Mr Rusty.And Mr Crusty.These vehicles had been given the death sentence and I brought them back. Mr Rusty was rusted to near death and total scrap. And Mr Crusty was beat to near death and destruction. it still bears a few holes and scars from the big dumb lift kit someone installed. It is now on the 24 bolt HMMWV 37" BF Goodrich Baja Claws and has a new lease on life. My Son says he will never mud it again. I hope not. From scrap to beauty. Have a great day. i have a frame to strip.

 

[cucvrus]

Today was not a total wash. The rain was welcome here as we are in a drought. I went inside and worked on getting the cab ready and the ocker panels and cab corners are rough fitted and ready to be welded in place. I also strip part of the firewall and removed the windshield. I will be removing the near perfect dash pad. This truck has never been touched other then when I repainted it and put the new door panels and dash pad in it 20 years ago. I had hoped to have the frame stripped but I was rained out. That is fine. No hurry here. I just have another M1009 to pull in and do the same thing to after this one is done. Same old same old. Everything went well no problems. The cab cart is as I remembered it very nice and handy.