Terminus M1009

[cucvrus]

A few nice hills and mud holes. I can honestly say I did NOT need pulled out 1 time this trip. Almost but that does not count. You are only stuck if you require assistance to be extracted from the situation you are in. MR Green tagged along at several places I seen these Tiger beetles. Have a great day. Good luck with your projects. I am thinking about a July trip again if anyone is interested.

 

[BradL84D30M1008]

Terminus was not worked on today. Mr Rusty and my Easter M1008 project held me up.View attachment 588143View attachment 588144View attachment 588145I towed this M1008 to the exhaust shop. They like me at the exhaust shop. I send them lots of work. i hate exhaust work with a passion. I like sawzalls and torches. They work best on old exhaust. Cut it off and send it for new. I know that some thought $450. for a complete set of dual exhaust was expensive. I think it is a bargain. I don't have to do it. If it rattles they fix it. They warrant the time and materials for 2 years and that is fine with me. Pay and fly. I must say towing with the new truck is much nicer then towing with the CUCV. The Stabilatrak is awesome. On back roads it helps maintain any pushing and the hill assist is great when you stop at an intersection that has a hill. I towed straight thru from Augusta GA to home without even getting tired. The trips I towed with the CUCV north from Augusta I could only make it to Blacksburg VA and I needed a hotel room. I was that beat from the sway and pushing. It was like driving a train on rails. Pulling a pickup with an M1009 is the most stressful situation. The new pick up you can hardly tell its back there except for the pintle ring slop. I am thinking of changing that to a 2 5/16" ball. Thank you for looking.

Where did you get the tow bar? I'm debating towing my '84 M1028 to the deer lease vs trailering it.

 

[cucvrus]

I bought it in 1995 from SECO in Augusta GA. I bought 3 of them and still have all 3 of them. 1 I am missing the towing adapters for a CUCV and it is like new. Long way to ship such a heavy object to you. Someone removed the adapters at Gilbert 1 year while I had my CUCV M1028 truck in the coral/show area. I would rather have the adapters. I am going to weld up a pair someday. Just never needed the 3rd tow bar. They are available. I paid $300 each for them back then.

 

[doghead]

Do you use safety chains when using your towbar?

 

[cucvrus]

Do I ? Are you asking me?

 

[doghead]

Yes

 

[cucvrus]

Of course I do. I use a chain wrapped from the D rings zipped tied back the length of the tow bar and snap linked to the 2 center uprights of the brush guard and hooked into the back side of the brush guard. It is not going anywhere unless I want it to. I towed these CUCV's thousands of miles without incident. Only once on a hard U turn at a truck accident did the safety chain get hung up and pressed the pintle on an M1028 straight down and destroyed the bumper. Not aware of the damage till I arrived at my destination. No body damage and all was well. I would not travel without a safety chain. I used pad locks when I am parked over night. I pad lock the trucks, tow bar, and safety chains as tight as I can and turn the wheels hard on both vehicles and lock the brakes. Prevents removing the tow bar and any tampering with the rigging. Always double check every time I stop and before I depart. Always put the safety in in the pintle to lock in open or closed. Never use a tow strap on an unlocked fully closed and locked pintle. It will destroy a good strap in 1 pull. Just for the sake of a safety pin.

 

[cucvrus]

Can anyone tell by looking at this poor picture what type of tow bar this is. I seen some adapters for sale in the parts for sale classified and wanted to know if this would be a good CUCV tow bar. And if the adapters that are for sale will be compatible. I know it is not the best picture. But I am trying to help someone else out.

 

[cucvrus]

I pulled a few bushes and some tree stumps out today with Terminus M1009. The work is easy if you have the right strap. The Bubba Rope works wonders. Beats a chain hands down. I just bought another new one that is much heavier then the other one I carry in Terminus M1009. Picture it like a 3 ton slide hammer. And it takes a lot of shock out of the impact. It just stretches and pulls. I am getting ready in a few weeks to give Terminus M1009 a new paint job. It will be a quicky. Pressure wash and sand tape it up and paint it.(outside) I bought a brand new back window from the glass supplier. Not sure if I am going to install it. I am planning a week end mid summer off road trip. I have 2 set of different tires, 31 10.50 X15 and 23575R15 snows. I am designing a simple inexpensive air cleaner extender. Nothing submarine style. Just something to keep the air filter element dry. I am thinking of pulling air from the cab area. Pretty straight and simple. I go thru to much heavy brush for any exterior pipe to be effective and not be an issue. I have thought about 3" exhaust tubing also. I still have a weak cross member at the transmission. When I had the flat tire on the rocky trail at Rausch it fit a few times and bent it up again. I think a full 1/4" steel belly pan would be simple as well as reinforcing the cross member only. The transfer case is against the floor again and knocking to come in. Not sure at this point what I will do. But I must get doing. It runs well and everything works well except the horn is still inoperable. I will post pictures when I start making some progress. But I do have a mid summer trip planned. So I must get working. Rain and grass mowing have not let up this spring thus far.

 

[cucvrus]

Today after my regular job. I came home to my irregular job. I wanted to do some damage assessment on Terminus M1009. Top side still good. Runs and drives fine. Right rear tire flat again. Dry rotted. It is still and original 1984 Uniroyal tire that was in an M1009 as a spare. It is junk now that I ran it a bit. Engine area nice and dry. No leaks detected in the dusty dry area. All is well. Every thing is nice a dry on the dusty dirty underside. Which is great. The U Joint cups spin freely in the rear drive shaft. Not good. I had a new driveshaft made up and will replace it. I have a big off road weekend planned for Mid July. I can slide the drive shaft side to side in the rear driveshaft yoke. I think the U joint may have locked up and then spun in the drive shaft yoke. The differential yoke is tight. The front U joint on the rear driveshaft is worn out also. The front shaft was new 2 years ago. I will remove it . Clean it up and grease it. The outer axle U joints I replaced last year also. All the ball joints and tie rod ends are new. I do have some damage to report. Next post. Complete with pictures.

 

[Another Ahab]

Runs and drives fine. Right rear tire flat again. Dry rotted. It is still and original 1984 Uniroyal tire that was in an M1009 as a spare. It is junk now that I ran it a bit. Engine area nice and dry.

Original rubber from 1984 and you ran up some actual mileage out of the thing?!

For my two bits, you got your money's worth out of that tire.

 

[cucvrus]

The transfer case is tight against the flor as a result of striking the cross member on a big rock.
Once again I managed to bend and destroy the cross member. I am going to do some measuring and think a 1/4" wall 2X4 steel tube may work best. I may try to beef up another stock one. But I like the rocks a lot when I go wheeling. The flat tires did not help. But I never got stuck and that is my goal. That cross member is a catch all on rocks and tree stumps.

 

[cucvrus]

I found a few HD cross members while digging around thru a few of my sweet stashes. I will post pictures of my finds. I think I have this figured out. I think a smooth bottom is the way to go. I still like the stock wheeling challenge of the M1009. I wheeled big trucks and small trucks. I guess the no worries about scratch and dent also add to my confidence. And I know others that saw this truck wheel were actually surprised it could go where it did. I have to get bushy on this project. I have lots of projects in store this season. Home again after 2 days and I will be back on my Easter find project tonight. I still want to do some clamping and measuring on an M1009 frame I have in the field. Just to see how things will work out. Later. Have a Great day.

 

[Another Ahab]

I found a few HD cross members while digging around thru a few of my sweet stashes. I will post pictures of my finds. I think I have this figured out. I think a smooth bottom is the way to go. I still like the stock wheeling challenge of the M1009.

So you're talking like a skid plate of some kind bridging the cross members, is that the plan?

 

[cucvrus]

So you're talking like a skid plate of some kind bridging the cross members, is that the plan?

Not sure. I do NOT want to build a mud basket up under there. I am approaching this project with my thinking cap screwed on tight. I want to explore all options. https://www.performanceonline.com/images/T/TCM7387_250_NEW.jpg I was looking at this as an option. It does not specify 4WD. I need to do something that the cross member does not crush and twist each time it hits something. Of course I could stay off red and black trails. But where's the fun in that? I will get it figured out and test it next time out. Thank you for asking. Have a great day.

 

[cucvrus]

Cross member study, research and design

So I dug out these cross members and just looked at them. I did some side by side comparison. I am thinking the one on the hood may be better I can bolt it on the sides of the frame and the bottom. Close the open channel with 3/8" X 3 flat bar and form some round stock on the outer flanges. Give it some crush / squeeze strength and the round stock will give it a rolled edge in lieu of a flat edge. That cross member took a beating. Along with the steering stabilizer. I think I can run off road with out that stabilizer. Other than the 2 items I have posted. I see nothing else wrong on the underside. The new exhaust is a must have. The 6.2 does not have a good sound when the exhaust is leaking and loud mufflers. Thanks for looking. I will post some progress as it happens. Just looking and thinking now. I may just stick with a stock cross member that I reinforce and beef up. Undecided.

 

[The FLU farm]

I do NOT want to build a mud basket up under there.

That's one reason I dislike skid plates. Another is that they tend to get in the way when performing routine maintenance.
But if you actually do need one, which seems to be the case here, how about making it out of flat stock? If made to be like a grate, it wouldn't necessarily catch all that much mud, and could still allow a grease gun hose to get to where it needs to go.

 

[cucvrus]

I put one of my worn out Goodyear MTR Kevlars on the right rear of Terminus M1009. How do I tell how old the Uniroyal tire is. I removed it brand new from a spare tire carrier in an M1009 20 years ago. Strange thing is it has raised white letters.

 

[The FLU farm]

Up until 2000 the DOT code was three digits, the first two are the week, the last is the year. The problem is that unless you know when a certain tire was available, that one digit doesn't mean all that much.
Let's say the code is "346". That tire was then made the 34th week of...'96? '86? '76?
From 2000 and up it's a four digit code, with the last two being the year. Far more meaningful.
For what it's worth, tires from before '85 can be much better than, say, '96. How can a 33-year old tire be better than one that's "only" 11 years old?
Something changed around '85, I suspected that environmental rules had banned some kind of adhesive. Years later a tire manufacturer rep pretty much admitted that this was what had happened.
All this pertains to radials, by the way. A bias tire is nowhere near as susceptible to aging. As long as the sidewalls aren't too cracked, they're usually still good.

 

[cucvrus]

The tire has a code BF60 RLU 163. I was thinking 1983.