M1028 owner new to the community

[ljbrochu92]

Good evening Everyone,
I am very new to this forum as well as this community. I just recently purchased a 1986 M1028 CUCV that is in amazing shape. I have been searching for any and all info on CUCV's and I came across steel soldiers. I was up later then I should have been last night reading many threads on this forum and I'm looking for some advice. Anyways, I'm not looking to abuse this truck what so ever, such as off roading/mudding, nor will I be driving the truck in the snow and salt. It will stay parked next to my other square inside during winter months. I was mostly looking for a 1 ton diesel truck that wouldn't cost me $70,000 to purchase haha plus I love the looks and simplicity of these old squares.
I'm curious as to what this engine can do. My truck is completely stock in the same M1028 configuration from the factory. I'm not looking for the kind of power you will find in a duramax or anything, just looking to pull a 26ft camper, maybe some trailers here and there, things like that. Not looking to pull 15,000 lbs or anything like that. I have been reading that with the 6.2 and th400 and 4.56 gearing all together makes for not a lot of get up and go or towing power. I'm also seeing these things don't like being on the highway much either. Going camping, the highway is mostly what we take to get anywhere around here. I have seen some folks on here like to swap out the 6.2 and th400 with 6.5 and 700r4. Can i make this stock configuration work for what I'm looking to do, or is going the 6.5 and trans swap a better route?
I'm sorry for the really long rant, I'm just really excited/curious about this new truck I have and looking to maximize the ability of the truck for my interests without spending a fortune. I will say though if it comes down to it I am willing to keep the truck stock for a good while and save up the money that is needed to make the truck better by doing an engine swap etc.. if that is my best option. Thank you all for your time and any info that may be provided.
- Luke -

 

[patracy]

The 700R4 swap is popular. Just understand you'll also need to swap the t-case or switch over to match splines. I've got a 6.2 in mine that I added a civilian 6.5 turbo setup to. I lifted mine and run 37" HMMWV tires. I still wish it had a OD though. But it will manage 60-65mph now. Just don't expect the 6.2/6.5/6.5TD to hold a candle to any sort of modern engine today. They're not power houses. But I've towed a 6k trailer with mine.

I have some of the parts needed to do a 700R4 swap. (I have a core as well as the hard to find TV cable setup) But I haven't pursued it, mainly because I rarely drive the truck. So take that into consideration. You could spend a thousand or two dollars. But you're going to need some mileage to recuperate that. Let's say you get 12mpg now. Adding a OD you end up getting 14mpg. A net gain of 2mpg. We'll keep it simple and say diesel is $3 a gallon. The 20 gallon tank got you 240 miles stock and 280 miles with the OD. That's a gain of 40 miles. About $10 a tank gained in efficiency. Let's say the OD swap costs $2K. That's 200 tanks to pay for it. Or 56,000 miles. If it's a daily driver and you'll rack up a lot of miles, sure. But it kinda made up my mind for me that in the 6 years of owning mine I've maybe put 12,000 miles on it.

I will say that I vastly have enjoyed the turbo install. Made it into a fun truck to drive. Not sure I'd have gone with 37's if I were to do it over again. But certainly 33's. I'm kinda rambling now myself. But just wanted to give you some feedback. Welcome to the site!

 

[SCM35A2]

Welcome to the site!

 

[ljbrochu92]

Well thank you for the good info. I guess I’ll do just the turbo setup because like you I won’t be putting a lot of mileage on the truck. As far as the turbo, banks says on their site that their turbo setup provides more performance then the stock my turbo for the 6.5. Have you had any experience with that? Also do I need anything for the turbo add? I see people are saying you can safely run about 5 psi safely.

 

[dependable]

Besides the 700R4, I know some have used a 4L80 to get overdrive.

 

[patracy]

Gale Banks is a great salesman, I'll give him that. But that's it.

Turbo selection for low end boost is something to consider. But the fact we're geared low negates that a great deal. We simply are gear bound for top speed and spooling isn't an issue due to gears. I run 10psi of boost with mine. 12psi is about max for the 6.2.

I used a 6.5 turbo setup on mine. (6.5 intake, upper plenum, boot, turbo, exhaust manifold, crossover tube, downtube, oil supply and return lines, electric fuel pump, mech fuel pump delete plate/return port, intake tube/airbox, and exhaust) The biggest hurdles were slipping the turbo manifold in between the frame and head and increasing the fueling in the pump. (Partial disassembly needed)

You can spend a couple thousand dollars paying for a aftermarket setup. Or you can probably do what I did and buy a complete 6.5TD for $500, rob it from the parts you need, and sell off the block or keep it as a spare.

 

[ljbrochu92]

I was looking around on Craigslist and found a guy parting out some chevys. He has a 96 6.5 turbo diesel and 4l80e auto and a manual shift trans. He also has another 6.5 out of a 1999 Chevy 3500 single axle. If I was to buy from him should I just swap the complete motor and trans at that point or should I just take the turbo and keep the 6.5 and trans as spares?

 

[patracy]

You can swap the entire engine. But you'll want to either do a harness swap or swap the IP.

 

[n8roro]

The 6.5 turbo will bolt on to the 6.2?

 

[n8roro]

Aahhhhh I see now:

https://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?43430-How-to-turbo-a-6-2-using-6-5-parts

 

[ljbrochu92]

No that I think about it if I do get a transmission with overdrive would it makes sense to get a new 700r4 that’s built seeing as robbing a 4l80e from another truck could potentially be bad depending on miles and how the truck was driven during its life. Same thing with an engine. I can get a cheap 6.5 but who knows how well it runs.

 

[Keith_J]

One thing to consider is safety. A 32 year old vehicle without ABS and SRS doing 75 MPH towing a 7000 pound 26 foot kite is going to be a challenge with automobile traffic. Best bet is to find the first JB Hunt rig and slide in 4 seconds aft of his six. In stock form, you will have the same power to weight ratio. Until the mountains where elevation will kill your speed.

 

[Flyingvan911]

Welcome from Kansas City, MO.

 

[ljbrochu92]

After looking into all the options, 6.5 turbo, 5.9 cummins, etc. I think I may just try to find a turbo and call it good for now. Although it would be great to have the power of cummins, to do the build correct seems to be around 8 to $10,000. And as far as the 6.5, to gain maybe 35 horse power over what I have now seems like a lot of work for not much gain. Also, who knows the condition of the engines I will fine second hand. Maybe I'm wrong about all of this, but I think like Patracy said, just adding the turbo to the 6.2 will make a huge difference in the truck. Hopefully it will help me out a little as far as pulling the camper too.

 

[dependable]

I know someone who has a 5.9 and 4L80 in a 1028. It works pretty well, but is very loud, tight fit on motor length wise. The 208 transfer case failed towing in 4wd, now has a 205. Truck still runs and used locally, but it turned out not to be go everywhere truck he had hoped. He bought a modern one for highway.

 

[Recovry4x4]

A 6.2 LS gasser would give you all you need except the diesel fuel option.

 

[Matt5]

Oh god the bad info here...

700r4 for towing? **** NO.

IMO buy a 6.5 truck if you want to tow (and want a 6.5)

These are not highway geared
They are not power motors (mpg designed)

700r4's are NOT truck transmissions... and sure as **** are not towing transmissions so that is not even an option if you want to haul more than your lunch. 700r4 is if you want to use the truck as a car... (no problem if you wanta have a nice cruiser truck... but lol your gona blow it up in no time trying to tow... the best built 700r4 talking 4-5k build... is like 7k towing rated)

Even a 6.5 TD with 4l80e is a SLOW pulling motor... (Much better than a n/a 6.2 however)

Cheapest easiest route... buy a 6.5TD truck for highway / towing.

Other cheap easy route... buy a set of 3.73 axles (will get you to around 3000 rpm at 70mph for a cost of almost nill (sell your 4.56s... you are still not towing with this however))

Money is no object (within reason) swap in a 6.5TD and a nv4500 5 speed (93-94 maybe newer as well does have a pretty big RPM drop between 3-4 or something? i don't recall but it works again 6.5 is still a IDI motor, not made for power it will tow... still pretty slow but the nv4500 is gona give you nice gear ranges and remove some of that around 25% power drain from the turbo 400)

Spend all the cashes... swap in a 12v cummins, nv4500... (this will give you more power and a motor you can bolt on mod to like 700hp, and keep the simple operation as its a mechanical motor)

Runner up... get a gear venders overdrive... will get you some highway speed and should help with pulling
You are *never* getting near duramax power... unless you slap in a duramax lol.

Adding a turbo to the will give you more power but lower its life... but keep in mind, your highway speed is GEAR limited...


*****just looking to pull a 26ft camper, maybe some trailers here and there, things like that. Not looking to pull 15,000 lbs or anything like that. I have been reading that with the 6.2 and th400 and 4.56 gearing all together makes for not a lot of get up and go or towing power. I'm also seeing these things don't like being on the highway much either. Going camping, the highway is mostly what we take to get anywhere around here.******

A turbo is NOT going to fix this... if you are mostly highway, you need to get the RPM down... also if you go banks turbo route (talking $$$$ btw 6.5 turbo is useless for these trucks, they are LOW rpm power turbos and starve the motor at high rpm... on a HIGH rpm reving motor) never go over 1100F (iirc)
I am counting highway as like... 60+mph... I honestly... worry about the interstates... and I run 33's in the summer cause (price was right) to help drop the RPM down... still, its bad... i mean if its an empty highway and you can cruise 60... not a real big deal but... a loaded interstate everyone going 70+... omg...

 

[Sharecropper]

Oh god the bad info here...
700r4 for towing? **** NO.
700r4's are NOT truck transmissions... and sure as **** are not towing transmissions so that is not even an option if you want to haul more than your lunch. 700r4 is if you want to use the truck as a car... (no problem if you wanta have a nice cruiser truck... but lol your gona blow it up in no time trying to tow... the best built 700r4 talking 4-5k build... is like 7k towing rated)
..

Hold on there Matt. Before you go trashing the 700R4, maybe you should do a little research. The 700R4 can indeed be built strong. In fact, the 700R4 can be reliably built to handle any power a 6.2 or 6.5 can dish out. And in many ways, the 700R4 is superior to a 4L80 due to its lower starting gear ratio and the fact that it is a "dumb" unit which does not require any electronics to operate. I am now in the process of assembling a completely rebuilt 700R4 behind my new GEP P400 6.5. The 700R4 was built by Bowtie in California and is rated at 450 HP and 450 FPT. Another advantage the 700R4 has over the 4L80, regarding swapping into our CUCV's, is length. The 700R4 is the exact same length as the TH400 therefore no driveshaft alterations are necessary. First gear ratio in a 4L80 is 2.48, while in the 700R4 it is 3.06. Also, final (4th) gear ratio of the 4L80 is 0.75, while the 700R4 is 0.70. Which means the 700R4 has better crawling ability and better overdrive performance.

It is obvious the OP is asking for advice and assistance, so please refrain from throwing unsubstantiated opinions out there unless you have the facts.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

Hold on there Matt. Before you go trashing the 700R4, maybe you should do a little research. The 700R4 can indeed be built strong. In fact, the 700R4 can be reliably built to handle any power a 6.2 or 6.5 can dish out.

Heh. That and quite a bit more. Lots of luck telling all the race car owners that run them that a 700R4 can't handle heavy use. Or the many happy owners that have towed millions of combined miles with no problems.


https://duckduckgo.com/?q=how+strong+is+a+700r4&t=ffnt&ia=web

please refrain from throwing unsubstantiated opinions out there unless you have the facts.

That ain't gonna happen.

 

[patracy]

I've had a 700R4 in a Suburban on 40's, dragged trailers with it too and beat on it. Never had a problem with it. Had a 90 pickup too with one, traded it in with 280K miles with the original transmission in it. Since we're making blanket statements.

That said, the early 700R4's were problems. But as time went on, they were corrected.

Now, let's address some "bad info here..."

"A turbo is NOT going to fix this..." and "6.5 turbo is useless for these trucks" A turbo isn't going to fix top speed. But it will by far wake up a 6.2NA. By this we're talking acceleration and maintaining speed. I just pulled a 20ft heavy trailer with my 1008 this evening up a long hill and maintained speed up the hill since I have a turbo.

"Adding a turbo to the will give you more power but lower its life" The only way this is true is if boost is excessive or improperly sized/fueled.

"they are LOW rpm power turbos and starve the motor at high rpm... on a HIGH rpm reving motor) never go over 1100F (iirc) " Yes, the stock GM turbo isn't sized well for high RPM. But this trade is worth it for the increase low and mid range. We're so gear bound, it really isn't a matter of not having more top end power on tap. Also keeping the boost to 10psi or so, you'll never see north of 1100F.

On a side note Matt5, please don't use profanity in replies.