M1009 Revival

[Honest Bob]

Hey guys I just picked up this pretty nice M1009. It needs a whole lot of little things addressed but runs really nice and has very little rust for my area. It seems to already have had an electric fuel pump, fuel filter, glow plug resistors and starter relay mods done. It came to me with a broken power steering bracket, dead batteries, non working wipers. a hand full of electrical issues, a replacement tailgate, and possibly a coolant leak. So far I have welded up the power steering bracket, charged the batteries (they seem to be holding but I doubt their capability for really cold starting), and gone over the gauge cluster which 75% of the bulbs were not lighting and its ground.

 

[dougco1]

Hey guys I just picked up this pretty nice M1009. It needs a whole lot of little things addressed but runs really nice and has very little rust for my area. It seems to already have had an electric fuel pump, fuel filter, glow plug resistors and starter relay mods done. It came to me with a broken power steering bracket, dead batteries, non working wipers. a hand full of electrical issues, a replacement tailgate, and possibly a coolant leak. So far I have welded up the power steering bracket, charged the batteries (they seem to be holding but I doubt their capability for really cold starting), and gone over the gauge cluster which 75% of the bulbs were not lighting and its ground.

Looks like a great project. I wonder if that could be the true mileage on the odometer. The photo of the fuel and brake pedals show very little wear so you may have an original underused low mileage gem. The antenna bracket mount in the rear tells me it's a 83 or 84 truck.
To bad that the PO did those mods, 'but you can always reverse them'. Is it still a 24V starter?
Also, you may want to double up the metal on that PS bracket. It most likely will break in the same place as it did before.

 

[joshuak]

Welcome aboard! Nice looking rig, sounds like your off a good start maintenance wise. Enjoy.

 

[cucvmule]

Welcome from Missouri!

1009's are really hard to find in the rust belt that do not have rust issues. If you see any area's of interest stop them as soon as possible. And preventative measures to the truck from rust is recommended as well. Visit the search feature and look up some threads on your 1009 and read up on the maintenance TM's as well.

Good Luck

 

[Honest Bob]

Looks like a great project. I wonder if that could be the true mileage on the odometer. The photo of the fuel and brake pedals show very little wear so you may have an original underused low mileage gem. The antenna bracket mount in the rear tells me it's a 83 or 84 truck.
To bad that the PO did those mods, 'but you can always reverse them'. Is it still a 24V starter?
Also, you may want to double up the metal on that PS bracket. It most likely will break in the same place as it did before.

The odometer has rolled over so its got 104k. Its still a 24v starter. I double it up next time it breaks!

 

[Honest Bob]

Welcome aboard! Nice looking rig, sounds like your off a good start maintenance wise. Enjoy.

Thanks! I was feeling a little lost without a large project.

 

[WWRD99]

Thanks! I was feeling a little lost without a large project.

Looks fun...your floor looks to be in great shape! Mine has several patch jobs on it now...That under coat kit is the way to go...I like that for sure....I had the same thing with the park neutral switch on the column too,,,,why do they take them off?? I put a tilt steering column in mine out of a 91 blazer...everything was the same except the plugs were backwards but still plugged in and worked fine...still don't have a horn though! I assume you put the tires on it? They 31's...thinking of doing a nice set like that too.

 

[Honest Bob]

Looks fun...your floor looks to be in great shape! Mine has several patch jobs on it now...That under coat kit is the way to go...I like that for sure....I had the same thing with the park neutral switch on the column too,,,,why do they take them off?? I put a tilt steering column in mine out of a 91 blazer...everything was the same except the plugs were backwards but still plugged in and worked fine...still don't have a horn though! I assume you put the tires on it? They 31's...thinking of doing a nice set like that too.

Not sure but why it was done but the reverse switch was stuffed in the back pretty good. My horn is not working I need to take a look into the diode, filter and fuse. It came with the tires! I also found out its got new brake master cyl and booster, brake lines, rotors, pads, and a complete nos rear axle (locker destructed itself).

 

[WWRD99]

I'll probably stick a button on the dash for a horn just to pass inspection...I gotta mount a tag somewhere too...it's the little things!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[dReed39]

Man, that really looks like a nice project! My uncle is looking at an M1009, too! Got to finish installing the new set of tires from 4Wheelonline onto the truck this week before we can take a look at it. Looking forward to your build progress.

 

[Honest Bob]

I have been checking off alot of small issues.

• The reverse light switch is back in its home and adjusted.
• Replaced the wiper motor and retrofitted to the electric washer pump tank.
• Reconnected the 4x4 light wires although it seems that I will need to check the switch in the np208 because its not turning on.
• Installed an RV license plate holder with built in light.
• Replaced fuel filter.
• Cleaned all the electrical connections on the firewall. Gas gauge started working!
• Newer batteries.
• Replaced the starter solenoid.
• Replaced the rear axle shaft seals and brake shoe that was soaked in gear oil.

I was able to drive it around today for a bit. The trans shifts later than I expect and the rear brakes need adjustment and I think I have some slipping belts as the gen 1 and 2 lights independently and randomly flicker on for a second here and there. I still have to look into the horn but I see there is no fuse installed for it. 4x4 works great!

 

[Honest Bob]

So this thing has been kicking and screaming but I keep forging ahead. The aftermarket external trans cooler started leaking and upon removing that I found that the radiator was a ticking time bomb so I replaced that and ended up twisting the lower oil cooler line off so I had to get one of those from hillbilly wizard. Removing the grill guard/bumper was an adventure in itself!

I fixed a bunch of little things.

• Changed all locks and ignition keyed to something other than the standard CUCV key.
• Lubed the window crank workings.
• Installed new rear window crank and tailgate latch.
• Fixed the horn by installing the fuse for it. (go figure!)
• Mounted the spare tire in its carrier.
• Replaced the center link to fix the sloppy steering.

I thought it was road worthy so I took it to work only to have it loose all power as I was pulling into the parking lot. I was able to limp it home 10 miles at a time. I kept finding that air was building up in the fuel filter and opening the water drain and letting it out would buy me a couple more miles. I found a loose hose clamp on the inlet of the electric fuel pump, I am hoping that was the issue. I let it idle for 30 mintues and there was no air in the water drain only fuel. Lets hope its fixed.

 

[Sganderson]

Do you remember where the electrical connections were on the firewall that got your gas gauge working again?

 

[Honest Bob]

Do you remember where the electrical connections were on the firewall that got your gas gauge working again?

It seemed to work for after I cleaned all the connections but its back to not working again.

 

[Sganderson]

It seemed to work for after I cleaned all the connections but its back to not working again.

What’s funny is that I was messing around and cleaned up that “grounding tree” that’s mounted on the emergency brakes and my fuel gauge started working all of a sudden. Pleasant surprise to say the least.

 

[Honest Bob]

Ive been slowly working on this truck. New mirrors (originals were loosing the reflective bits), tail light lenses (rockauto had a clearance for $12 for a set!), and I had a new rear driveshaft made after noticing it was slightly tweaked while doing the ujoints. Bonus junk yard photo!

 

[Honest Bob]

I got tired of the fuel gauge not working and the exhaust leaks. The manifold collector bolts came right off, I was pumped thinking I was in the clear. I had to remove the rear bumper as the fuel tank shield was welded to the trailer hitch by the po, those bolts fought me for a couple hours. The fuel sender was pretty crusty and tested bad. I also cleaned the little fuel wire disconnect connection. I painted the fuel tank with por15 while it was out, tested the fuel gauge and its now working great. The exhaust kit I got was for a v8 blazer from LMC which fit perfect using the original exhaust hangers (except the little muffler brackets that I deamed unessesary) until I got to the tailpipes which ended up way to low, I got them all tucked up with a bit of fab work.