Our "new" M882

[michigandon]

Got the shortblock back. Time to start putting it all back together.

 

[jbingvtx]

Does your parts truck have lockout hubs?

 

[michigandon]

Does your parts truck have lockout hubs?

It has an early-mid '80s front axle underneath it, with those crappy automatic lockouts that never, ever worked right, at least not in my experience. Supposedly the gear ratios in it don't match the rear, and the front driveshaft wasn't hooked up when I took delivery of it.

I have never tried to move it under its own power.

 

[michigandon]

Got the engine back in last weekend and got everything all hooked up. We're all set to fire this bad boy! Uh, wait a minute, no we're not. Why is coolant leaking out of THERE? I was all set to tear the head back off and go back to my machine shop guy and rip him a new one, and then I managed to calm down a bit and got to doing a little searching and reading on the Mopar boards. Ended up learning something about the LA (and RB!) engines that I never knew before:

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=50573

 

[michigandon]

It's alive!!! Well actually, it has been for a while now. Sorry I haven't kept you fellas updated. Finally got it running good. But now of course we're finding lots of other problems. The brakes, while much better, still weren't working up to out standards. We determined that the front were glazed from folks riding the pedal too hard with that bum master cylinder. Also, the transfer case had a tendency to jump from Hi to Hi-Loc or from Hi-Loc to Neutral. Decided to take a chance and swap the one from the parts truck into this one (the shifter "felt" much better when you ran it through all the detentes, not only that, it had a late '78 build date on it, newer certainly cannot hurt!). Tore the front end down, and the large not on the passenger side stripped, so we had to pull the axle apart to replace the outer. Good thing too, as the u-joint on that side ended up being shot. Going to replace them both, turn the rotors, repack the bearings and replace all seals, and make sure that the zerk fittings on the retainers both work properly. Found one bad u joint on the rear driveshaft. Interestingly enough, the shafts on the parts truck all had brand new or nearly new joints on them, so we simply installed them in their place. Also replaced the transmission mounts and installed a new set of Monroe Gas Magnums to help smooth out the ride a bit.

 

[combat32]

Your progress is outstanding, I may be about to launch into an 884 project, should I get a second job? Been out of the Dodge game for a long time but I have owned several late 70's civie dodges over the years and I kinda got a soft spot for them.

 

[michigandon]

Dunno if a second job is really necessary. These are some of the most affordable MVs on the planet, and the majority of the replacement parts are DIRT cheap!!!

 

[Bob H]

Your progress is outstanding, I may be about to launch into an 884 project, should I get a second job? Been out of the Dodge game for a long time but I have owned several late 70's civie dodges over the years and I kinda got a soft spot for them.

Dunno if a second job is really necessary. These are some of the most affordable MVs on the planet, and the majority of the replacement parts are DIRT cheap!!!

Definately a lower entry cost and economical replacement parts cost MV, 2nd job not required unless.................





you plan on putting fuel in it! at a typical 10 mpg she won't go past many gas stations
although I like to say they get about 30 MP3G.............................................

 

[michigandon]

at a typical 10 mpg she won't go past many gas stations
although I like to say they get about 30 MP3G.............................................

Yes, there is that. Although I don't intend to drive this truck daily, so I ain't gonna worry about that.

What I'm hoping to do in the near future is repower an M886 with a Cummins, and pull this truck behind it on a trailer.

Bob, I don't suppose you want to sell the truck in your avatar, by chance?

 

[Bob H]

Bob, I don't suppose you want to sell the truck in your avatar, by chance?

Want to sell? no, but everything has its price.
I'd need $8,000 to part with it, Northern Michigan to North Carolina at 55mph and 8 mpg with a tailwind.
That could be a long and expensive drive, lol

 

[michigandon]

Want to sell? no, but everything has its price.
I'd need $8,000 to part with it, Northern Michigan to North Carolina at 55mph and 8 mpg with a tailwind.
That could be a long and expensive drive, lol

Well, it would make for a good excuse to head on up that way and visit my brothers and sisters...

All kidding aside, I'm planning on putting my deuce and my m105 up for sale next spring, and will be looking in earnest for an M886 once it sells.
Although I'm thinking it might be a lot less work just to get an M1010 body and graft it onto a 1st gen Cummins...

 

[michigandon]

Tried to get the front rotors turned Friday evening, only to be told that they are tood far gone. Now waiting on a NOS pair of hub rotor assy's from "militarysuplusparts" from fleaBay. Might just as well get those as opposed to going to the FLAPS and paying the same amount of money for just the rotor. Would not have bothered going through the rigamaroll to press out all the studs and take them apart had I known this was going to happen.

I did manage to score a set of '80s vintage F250 wheels on craigslist and get them cleaned up and painted, and get my TRN retreads mounted up. Kudos to the Pep Boys in Wake Forest for not only not charging for the abortive attempt at turning the rotors, but also mounting and balancing these on the house! Tire stores often want to charge stupid money for mounting up tires that you did not purchase from them...

 

[maddawg308]

The new shoes look great! Time to put them on and see how they fit...

 

[AN/ARC186]

Removing the Mad Max front bumper. Anyone have a decent original front bumper?
(I'll settle for one from a '71-'93 civilian truck if I can't find an M880 one)



View attachment 429413View attachment 429414

If you haven't found one yet, drop me a PM, my son is heading that way and wants to change out his stock bumper so he'll make you a deal.

 

[michigandon]

The new shoes look great! Time to put them on and see how they fit...

I had hoped to get the front end put back together this past weekend, but the rotor situation put the kibosh on that.

Current plans are to run it as a "spare" vehicle/"winter beater" for the next few months, then worry more about the cosmetics in the springtime.

 

[michigandon]

If you haven't found one yet, drop me a PM, my son is heading that way and wants to change out his stock bumper so he'll make you a deal.

Is he wanting to lose the brush guard? If so, I'm interested!

I have a bumper and brackets sans the brush guard from my M882 parts truck, if that's what he's looking for.

 

[Dieselholic92]

Just curious, what size are those tires you're putting on the Dodge?

 

[michigandon]

Just curious, what size are those tires you're putting on the Dodge?

235/85r16

 

[nattieleather]

Weren't the original OEM rims and tires 16.5s?

 

[michigandon]

Weren't the original OEM rims and tires 16.5s?

That they were. We decided to switch it over to 16s, since 16.5" tires are, for all intents and purposes, unobtainium (Unless of course, you don't mind taking out a second mortgage to buy tires!!!).