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Rebuilding FMJ's M1031 SECM

Terracoma

Member
334
14
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Location
Albuquerque, NM
Wanted to wait until the transaction was complete and the truck was back home... But I am the new owner of Ed Davis' (FMJ) old M1031.

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I'm not one for "build threads", but in light of the truck having been in the SteelSoldiers family, I decided that this truck would be worthy of an exception... The seller had the truck listed locally on Craigslist several times over as many months, but eventually relisted the truck with a more reasonable price. He'd posted the ad on a Saturday evening, and I called him up the next morning. Now, I didn't know that this was one of FMJ's trucks until the seller let on that he'd purchased it from a widow in Las Cruces who was liquidating her late husband's collection. This added a new layer of depth to the truck, and I quickly made plans with the seller to look it over that same afternoon. I hit the road and made the three hour drive south, and shortly after arriving, we inked a deal... Four like-new Cooper tires, both batteries are less than a year old, clean title and currently registered, and located closeby enough that I can drive the truck home? Sold.

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The seller needed some time to remove the snow plow mounts and control wiring that he'd installed, so the next weekend a good friend of mine got, uh, voluntold that he was tagging along as my wingman, and we brought the truck home. Odometer showed 22,740 miles when the seller and I shook hands, and the truck made the ~200 mile trip home without issue... I wasn't able to find much mention of the M1031 in all of FMJ's posts, and only found a single photo of it that he'd ever posted. I reached out to another member and hopefully we can fill in some of the backstory. Below is FMJ's photo from back in March of 2015.

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The truck and the AGO-10 box are nearly complete and in good shape, but the compressor unit, air reservoir, and the vise are all missing. Both cab corners will need some surgery down the road, the glow plug control card has been bypassed, the governor linkage was disconnected (and appears to be bent), and the front shackle brackets need to be reinstalled. The seller also removed two inoperable strobe beacons from the rear roof, replaced the original fuel filter base with a simple spin-on unit, and told me that it's got an intermittent coolant leak from the driver's side of the radiator... Plus the typical CUCV wiring "fun" that we all know and love.

Due to a lot of other projects on my plate right now, this "build thread" is going to be a slow one for a while... But hopefully one to make Chief Petty Officer Davis proud!

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Last edited:

m38inmaine

Well-known member
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Every CUCV I own and have ever owned including my past M1031 have had a lower left corner radiator leak, good luck with the rebuild.
 

doghead

4 Star General /Moderator
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one to make Chief Petty Officer Davis proud!
Such a nice thing to say/do.

If you want to get the glow plugs operating automatically and need a GP card, pm me your address.
 
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Recovry4x4

LLM/Member 785
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Let me add that Ed was certainly a great guy and worthy friend. I'm glad to see you honoring him with this build. If you plan on retaining the factory bench seat, I'll be happy to send you a new seat bottom cover. This repaces the original seat material.
 
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