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M1010 for my daughter the field biologist

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Member
611
15
18
Location
Boston, MA
Have you pulled the fuse box and checked it out? They get hot and corroded in there.
Looks like I'll have to do that. The ignition fuse isn't making reliable contact. I have to wiggle it a few times/week to get the truck to start.

What parts should I have on hand when I open up the fuse box? I know I'll need contact cleaner and dielectric grease. Do I replace the contacts, or just clean them and bend them to fit tighter?
 

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Member
611
15
18
Location
Boston, MA
I learned something new about the M1010 today. The openings for the rear door lower strike plates provide the only openings into a space that will hold a few gallons of water, at least for a while. A leaky trash container leaked some nasty liquid that ran down into one of these holes. I flushed it thoroughly with the hose, and found I could fill the space beneath the hole with water. The water leaked out eventually, but that leakage was far slower than I expected. You wouldn't think an ambulance would be designed with a hole in the floor leading to a space that would catch and hold nasty liquids. Who knows what kind of stuff might be down there? So I poured in a generous dose of bleach while the space was full of water. Whatever might have been in there is dead now.
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Member
611
15
18
Location
Boston, MA
Well, my starting problem had nothing to do with the fuses.

I got a click from the solenoid, and no crank. I went to the TM, and it said check the IGN fuse. I did that, and it fell apart in my hand. I replaced it, and the truck started right up. So I figured the problem was the fuse. I was wrong.

It happened again. I pulled the fuse, it was good, so I re-inserted it. It started right up. I noticed with the key ON, I could wiggle the fuse and hear relays under the dash opening and closing. So I figured my fuse socket was bad. Maybe, but that wasn't my problem.

I drove for a while, wiggling the fuse whenever it failed to start. Then that stopped working, so I crawled under the dash with my meter to try to find the fuse problem, but I found none.

Then I tried to start and I got a ringing noise like you get when you try to start a running engine. Clearly the starter gear was making the flex plate ring. Not good.

I crawled under the truck, and the starter bolts were loose. The rear 15mm bolts took 3/4 turn to get to torque. The front bracket was so loose I could move it around with my finger. The nuts and bolts are all there. I've yet to figure out how to get a torque wrench on the front bracket bolts, but at least the mystery is solved.
 

Another Ahab

Well-known member
17,999
4,556
113
Location
Alexandria, VA
Well, my starting problem had nothing to do with the fuses.

I got a click from the solenoid, and no crank. I went to the TM, and it said check the IGN fuse. I did that, and it fell apart in my hand. I replaced it, and the truck started right up. So I figured the problem was the fuse. I was wrong.

It happened again. I pulled the fuse, it was good, so I re-inserted it. It started right up. I noticed with the key ON, I could wiggle the fuse and hear relays under the dash opening and closing. So I figured my fuse socket was bad. Maybe, but that wasn't my problem.

I drove for a while, wiggling the fuse whenever it failed to start. Then that stopped working, so I crawled under the dash with my meter to try to find the fuse problem, but I found none.

Then I tried to start and I got a ringing noise like you get when you try to start a running engine. Clearly the starter gear was making the flex plate ring. Not good.

I crawled under the truck, and the starter bolts were loose. The rear 15mm bolts took 3/4 turn to get to torque. The front bracket was so loose I could move it around with my finger. The nuts and bolts are all there. I've yet to figure out how to get a torque wrench on the front bracket bolts, but at least the mystery is solved.
This post here reads almost like a Sherlock Holmes story.

You were sure dogging it to get to the key of the mystery. [thumbzup]
 

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Member
611
15
18
Location
Boston, MA
Tightened the rear starter bolts to spec (33 ft-lbs). Each took about 3/4. turn. Tightened the front starter bolts as tight as I could with a 1/4" socket wrench. No way to get a torque wrench or a larger wrench up in there. The nut on the center of the starter had backed off about 1/4", and the bolt holding the bracket to the frame turned about one full rotation.

The truck now starts reliably again. I may go back in there again some time and clean up the caked-on oil, and put some lock-tite on the threads. Everything in there was so oily I saw no point in trying lock-tite. The engine leaked oil for a while, before we fixed the crankcase vacuum. It doesn't leak any more, but the residue remains.

I like the cheap and easy repairs.
 

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Member
611
15
18
Location
Boston, MA
I've read scary stories about IBIS Tec failures. I've not seen a Hunter for sale. I was looking at a medium tow bar, one of the 150-lb steel ones. I know they're overkill for a CUCV, but are the lighter ones safe? I've heard units cut them down for CUCVs, making "shorty" versions. I've never actually seen a tow bar, so I'm new to all this. All I know about them is what I've read here on SS.

Thanks,
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Csm Davis

Well-known member
4,166
393
83
Location
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
I've read scary stories about IBIS Tec failures. I've not seen a Hunter for sale. I was looking at a medium tow bar, one of the 150-lb steel ones. I know they're overkill for a CUCV, but are the lighter ones safe? I've heard units cut them down for CUCVs, making "shorty" versions. I've never actually seen a tow bar, so I'm new to all this. All I know about them is what I've read here on SS.

Thanks,
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A IBIS TEC medium towbar is more than strong enough to handle a CUCV, it's rated at 44,000 lbs, they had a few problems early on with the light towbar not the medium, there is one story on here about a failed medium pulling a five ton. I can show and tell of many hunter medium towbars that failed but it wasn't pulling CUCV'S. The light hunter is a good match as is the medium IBIS TEC. I wouldn't recommend a towbar that I thought you might have a problem with, I have moved thousands of trucks with a towbar, may not be the most of anybody on here but probably top 5.

sent from my decrepit fingers
 

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Member
611
15
18
Location
Boston, MA
M1010 box vent obstruction?

Does anyone know about the vents in the upper rear sides of the M1010 box?
Mine let very little air pass.

There are louvers on the outside, a course screen on the inside, and a fine screen
in the middle (#1 below). On mine, that fine screen seems to be obstructed by a
solid barrier that leaves only small openings around the perimeter. You can see
the light coming through that small opening in the darker image below. It's as
though there were a square piece of cardboard covering most of that inner screen.

Before I drill out the rivets and tear into this, I thought I'd ask the group if anyone
has a better ideal

photo 5.jpgphoto 4.jpgphoto 3 (1).jpgphoto 2 (3).jpgscreen.PNG
 

Attachments

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Member
611
15
18
Location
Boston, MA
The beer nystery

I accidentally pulled up to the full serve pump, and the attendant made a mess, which appears above the horizontal molding.
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A few days later, the drips appeared below the horizontal molding. The source of those drips remained a mystery, and then I started to smell stale beer. Sure enough, my son had left a full bottle of beer in a corner in the back, and it went unnoticed until it broke. Some of it leaked out through the horizontal molding, leaving the marks in the image below. After lots of scrubbing, I've gotten most of the stale beer smell out of the back. For a while there, it smelled like a frat house on Monday. My son is off at college, or I'd have him doing this.

My son is 21, and he and his friends use the truck for tailgating sometimes. He's scrupulous about having a designated driver, so I'm OK with this. I've found empties before, but never a full beer. Somebody must be slipping. My recollection of life at that age does not include full beers lying around after an event.
 

Another Ahab

Well-known member
17,999
4,556
113
Location
Alexandria, VA
My son is 21, and he and his friends use the truck for tailgating sometimes. He's scrupulous about having a designated driver, so I'm OK with this. I've found empties before, but never a full beer. Somebody must be slipping. My recollection of life at that age does not include full beers lying around after an event.
My recollection of life at that age was:

- Adolescent males (full of beer) lying all around on the ground after an event.

I was never 21 myself, but I read a lot.


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