Ok....so I lied!

[Croatan_Kid]

Well a little while back, I had told yall I bought an M1008 from GL. Turns out, I was wrong. It's an M1028! Even better! I'll relive the story of its' rescue for yall, it went like this here.....


We (dad and myself) got up and met a friend of ours at 7;30 outside the front gate of Cherry Point. Went and got his pass to get the F-550 on the base (I know, a FORD). Drove on over to DRMO and went in to talk to the GL man. My dad signed the paper and we proceded to follow him to where the truck was sitting. It was love at first site! I hopped in it and he handed me the key and said, "Give it a try!". I turned the key forward and the dash lights came on, I waited for the WAIT TO START light to cut off and it rolled over once and very, very slowly. So I grabbed the handy dadny multi-meter and tested the batteries. Front one was at 12.20, the rear one was 2.3. So, naturally I swapped out the rear batt with one of the two I had brought along for just such a case. I checked the oil and other fluids, ginned it over, and low and behold it fired to life! You wanna talk about a grin! So I drove it up on the trailer and brought it to the house, gave my buddy 40 bucks, and went and drove it around some. After some inspection this afternoon I found that most things works. Lights, blinkers, wipers, blower motor, etc. Tires are in good shape, needs a little bit of trans fluid, 4wd works good, trans shifts fine, the only real thing that was wrong is the radiator leaks around the fill neck and you can see where an attempt to repair it was made. Needless to say it didn't work.

I'm going to go change the oil and take a look underneath it and see if I can get the glow plug relay to kick back on. I'll take pics and post them later this afternoon.

 

[Armada]

Congrats!!!!
And since you haven't posted the pics yet.......

 

[AJMBLAZER]

What he (and the smilies) said!

 

[Croatan_Kid]

geez! get off my back, lol. I had to run to AutoZone to get a few little goodies for it, so I didn't take pics...oh and I changed the oil. I'll get some pics in the morning when I'm out messin with it. Also, the M1028s were the ones that had the front traction aid too right? Powr-Lok or Lock-Right or sumthin of that sort? Or were they both Detroits? BTW, this truck is BADASS! It just desperately needs overdrive....so it's either getting an NV4500 swap, or a 4L80E conversion with a stand-alone controller

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Bah, just put a 700R4 in it. The good ones will stand up to a 6.2L all day long.
Either that or just put 38's on...that's where mine seems to be going. Won't go anywhere fast but it will get those rpm's down.

SHOULD...should...have a limited slip in the front. Dana something-er-other...Power Lok, Trac-Lok, something... Definitely not the Lock-Right, that's a locker.

 

[acetomatoco]

Yup same with me.. My M1008 has a receiver hitch below the bumper, a brake controller, a CB, a yellow beacon, a cross body tool box (black) with a OVM rack on it and a floor mat...it goes fast enough stock here in VT.. but 55 is about sounding max for economy...etc...

 

[Armada]

I'll take pics and post them later this afternoon.

I'll get some pics in the morning when I'm out messin with it.

Still no pics?????

 

[Croatan_Kid]

well dang, i had to go to school today....sorry! lol i would really rather be posting pics than sitting in school, but i only have two classes, so i cant complain too much

ok....pics....right...let's try this.

 

[Croatan_Kid]

Like yall aint never seen one of them things before...haha. Here's another.

I'll run over the list of stuff I've done since I got it.

- changed the oil
- air filter
- windsheild wipers
- ignition lock
- ignition rack
- batteries (next thing to do)

I've only got about 2600 bucks invested in the whole thing as it sits right now. That's the purchase price, buyer's premium for GL, hauling it home, puttin some fuel in it, and what I listed. Not too bad, definately beats buying a new truck cuz they don't make em like this no more! I'm looking for some rims and tires to go with the lift I'm getting for it. Hopefully I can have it done before Christmas...maybe. ORD shackle flip, HD 4" front springs, gas shocks, SS brake lines, rear disc brakes, 16x10 ProComp steel wheels, 35x12.50 or 37x12.50...can't make up my mind.

 

[Armada]

Cool! That's a really nice looking m1008!
And no, I've never seen one until now... lol

 

[Croatan_Kid]

It's actually an M1028

 

[Armada]

Did it still have the S250 shelter on when you got it? Is it an M1028A1 with the np205 t-case and pto? Any parts of the communications kit remaining? More pics please!

 

[AJMBLAZER]

37's at least to tame the gearing and no OD.

 

[Croatan_Kid]

No....sadly there was no shelter, communication gear, or NP205 to be found. It's just an M1028, I wish it was the A1. I really want a PTO winch. I just took my buddy for a ride and yeah, I agree I need at least 37s. They'll fit with a 4inch lift right? A little trimming never hurt nobody. Oh, what else do you want pics of?

 

[AJMBLAZER]

They will fit if you lift it right. A lot of guys just slap a lift kit on and then are surprised when their "appropriately sized" tires still rub. There's a lot of little tricks that can make big tires fit a lot easier on these trucks.

www.ColoradoK5.com is home to a wealth of info on modifying, maintaining, and owning the SFA GM trucks.

 

[Croatan_Kid]

You're right...there's a bunch of little things you can do on these. I'be been a subscriber to FourWheeler magazine for 7 years, been on several on-line forums, owned a 74 3/4 ton, 79 1/2 ton, an 85 1/2 ton, and now this 86 1-ton. I know a few little tricks I've always looked to CK5 for write ups on products (mostly ORD's stuff) and never have joined the forum. I probly should, but for now I'll just keep on lookin. What do you think about the HD front leaves/ORD rear flip idea? I've always wanted to do a shackle flip on an old Chebby and this is the perfect one to do it on. I will of course buy some new shackles from ORD (the 1/4 inch ones) and some longer ones for the front. I also have a write-up from Peterson's 4wheel on my favorites and they used a SkyJacker 4 incher with new rear leaf srpings and ran 37x13.50-17 x-terrains on 17x9 ProComp Rock Crawler series 51 wheels. They trimmed a little, but the military trucks have bigger fender wells. Anything you would add to all that?

 

[AJMBLAZER]

The majors for front tire clearance are to center the front axle in the wheel well and to make sure you don't go nuts on the wheel width or backspacing.

The front axles in these are actually about an inch-inch and a half towards the firewall. Hence these things always rub the firewall as you lift them and put bigger tires on. Rarely is the bumper or front of the fender the issue.
You can redrill the center pin hole in the spring pack, run ORD's 1" zero rates offset, or go totally custom with custom springs or move the spring mounts.
My plan for now is to just do the ORD 1" zero rates and then when I have a real garage and can actually lift it either a 2" or 3" spring pack on top of the zero rate.

The wheels are simple. If you want fewer tire fitting issues stay with a 8" or so wide rim and keep the backspacing close to stock. Avoid the 80's-esque super deep wheels and the wheels with 2.5" or so of backspacing. The closer they are to the factory wheel size the less likely you are to be putting tire onto metal when you turn.

The military trucks have the exact same fenders as the civilian trucks, no difference.

I'd definitely do the shackle flip in the rear and then combine it with a 1" zero rate to re-center the rear axle. The shackle flip alone moves it forwards about an inch.

Get a steering box brace ASAP!

DEFINITELY start perusing the boards over on CK5. I haven't even touched the surface on the possible mods. Daily driver, weekend warrior, or over the top truggy there's guys there that can answer any of your questions about modifiying it.

 

[Croatan_Kid]

Zero Rates were definately on my list of things to do/get. That's the only thing that ever looked goofy on an old Chevy was the front axle being back a little bit. Hadn't thought about the rear being moved forard, but that's where the lift comes from is the rear of the spring dropping down, so I can see where that might affect something. I was thinking 16x10 ProComp rock crawler series 51 (d-shaped holes) and they have 4 inches of backspacing and the 16x8s have 4.25. Originally I had wanted to run 15s for cheaper tires, but I don't want the tires to stick out any more than needed. So 16x8 or 16x10? I like the look of a 12.50 tire on a 10 inch rim, but the 8s will work just as well. Now on the steering department, ORD will be sending me a steering box brace before I do anything with the suspension, lol. I'd put one on a stock height truck. However, the stock steering design will only be used until I can gather the pasts to do a cross-over, bigger tie rod, and maybe hydro-assist of some sort.

As for other mods....big ol' mud flaps, some lights facing forward, rearward, and inward cuz it's dark in there! A radio might be put in for use when sitting around the truck, maybe a CB, I need a fire extinguisher, tool box, bed mat, possibly a bedliner like RhinoLiner or something, and I'd like to fab up a headache rack.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

I highly recommend the radio. Put one in mine and some speakers and makes driving those long distance commutes much more enjoyable. Still loud as he...ck...but at least there's something ELSE to listen to.

I vote the 16x8's. Keep the tires on the bead better, off the fenders, and under the fenders more. Require less trimming as well.
Tires for 16's are higher load rated, especially important under our 6k or so trucks.

Rhino Lining is on my list of things to do. I had my Ram and my Ranger done and man, that stuff just flat out rocks. Dump stuff on it, skid stuff across it, just plain abuse it and it takes it. I actually once left my tool box sitting half on the tail gate and half in the bed with the tailgate down. Drove 4 miles around many curves and corners to the local store...still sitting there on the tail gate.

I'm going with the steering brace and nursing the stock push-pull steering along until I lift it enough to fit high steer cross-over. Sort of annoying that you can't really run cross over on these trucks with 2" of lift.
Oh yeah, and a ORD 1" body lift and new poly body bushings.

 

[Croatan_Kid]

Ok, 16x8s it is...besides they're cheaper and I can run a wider variety of tire widths As for the radio thing, do you have any pictures of how you did yours? I was kind thinkin of mounting it beside the t-case lever or somewhere easily accessable. I like easy. A few speakers from the local Wal-Mart and I'll be rockin Also, I want to run Rhino-Liner and a rubber bed mat. I have one in every truck I own (4 total) and I love them. Keeps stuff from echoing when it hits the bed of the truck which is especially important at the hunthin lease and it's just another layer of protection. Oooh, almost forgot. I think I'll put a new seat in it or have something done with the one I have. Typical Chevy wear where you slide your butt across the seat edge when you grab the steering wheel to get in the truck, lol.