Picking up a M1008 in St. Louis this weekend, couple of questions

[M1008BOV]

Gents,
I posted a couple questions in the new members area, but got lost in the shuffle. I'm going to pick up a nice M1008 this weekend in the St. Louis area and I plan to drive it back to Indy with my wife following me in her SUV (I'm sure she'll enjoy driving 55 all day) Looks like the trip is about 380 miles and will take every bit of 8 hrs. I am going to stick to state roads/highways and stay off the interstates. Normally I would take my truck and throw it on a trailer and tow it home, but I just sold my truck last week which is why I'm buying this one.

The guy I'm buying it from said I shouldn't have any problems. He would occasionally drive it 75 miles one way to work with no issues. It has new batteries and fresh oil. I'm going to check all the fluids, air, brakes, lights, etc and hit the road. I'll bring my toolbox, jack, some extra fluids, tow strap, etc.

I've been reading over common starting issues with the trucks, how to jump them (or not, still learning this) and try to familiarize myself with the specifics of the M1008 over a regular civvy truck. Sounds like a great truck that runs down the road good, so I'm not expecting any of these issues, but want to be prepared just in case. Any extra pointers would be appreciated.

I'm going to try to get a hold of a couple people I know and see if they could be on standby with truck/trailer just in case.

Note: The truck is all original and came from Barstow last summer. It has 39k miles.

 

[Warthog]

Sometime posts do get overlooked or bypassed.

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?115303-Checking-in-from-central-Indiana

Good luck with your recovery.

A few of pointers.

1 - Never trust a MV fuel gauge. They do lie.
2 - Check you fluids before starting out.
3 - Keep you speeds down until you get used to the truck. You will find the max is 55 mph. Above that and it will sound like the engine will explode.
4 - For the first hour or so check the temp of your wheel bearings. You want them warm and not hot.
5 - Buy an extra fuel filter before you leave. Most stores don't stock them and have to get them from the warehouse. Watch the videos on how to bleed the system.
6 - If you have an issue on the road, post a HELP thread and we will help with whatever we can

From you other posts it sounds like you have the skill set to get you thru most potential issues.

Warthog

 

[M1008BOV]

Sometime posts do get overlooked or bypassed.

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?115303-Checking-in-from-central-Indiana

Good luck with your recovery.

A few of pointers.

1 - Never trust a MV fuel gauge. They do lie.
2 - Check you fluids before starting out.
3 - Keep you speeds down until you get used to the truck. You will find the max is 55 mph. Above that and it will sound like the engine will explode.
4 - For the first hour or so check the temp of your wheel bearings. You want them warm and not hot.
5 - Buy an extra fuel filter before you leave. Most stores don't stock them and have to get them from the warehouse. Watch the videos on how to bleed the system.
6 - If you have an issue on the road, post a HELP thread and we will help with whatever we can

From you other posts it sounds like you have the skill set to get you thru most potential issues.

Warthog

Thanks Warthog, some good pointers! It looks like my local Napa has a Gold fuel filter in stock for it for $26. I need to stop in there for oil and filter for my wife's vehicle anyways so I'll grab one (and watch the video).

On the speed, is it governed or just because of the 4.56's in it?

Also, if I post a Help thread, would I do it in this CUCV area?

 

[Warthog]

It is the tires and axle gearing. It raises the rpms too high for speeds higher that 55. You could go 80 but not for long.

Post a HELP in the CUCV or Conversation forums.

On this site, when a we see the HELP in a thread title, everyone jumps into action. That is why we only want the HELP title to be used for 911 emergency type posts.

 

[V8Astro]

I'm in St.Louis. I'll be around on Saturday for a bit. PM me if you need anything. Unfortunatly my truck is the garage in a gazillion pieces....

 

[M1008BOV]

Thanks Astro

My wife and I are leaving the kids with the g'parents and plan on stopping at the Arch on our way through and spending the night here. It's about half way to the where the truck is from St. Louis. We'll grab dinner, spend the night there and pick up the truck Sunday a.m. Unfortunately, it sounds like we're going to be driving through heavy rain all the way home I'm going to take some new wiper blades with me.

http://www.thewildwoodhotelmo.com/

 

[V8Astro]

Thanks Astro

My wife and I are leaving the kids with the g'parents and plan on stopping at the Arch on our way through and spending the night here. It's about half way to the where the truck is from St. Louis. We'll grab dinner, spend the night there and pick up the truck Sunday a.m. Unfortunately, it sounds like we're going to be driving through heavy rain all the way home I'm going to take some new wiper blades with me.

http://www.thewildwoodhotelmo.com/

Nice place. Just a few miles west of me. When they built that development it made a nice playground for the Supermoto bikes Hope your trip goes well and rain holds off for a while

 

[M1008BOV]

Thanks, I hope so too. I just told my wife it's going to be a long slow drive home Sunday, she was a little un-impressed

 

[still standing still cyco]

One other thing you may want to buy before going to pick up the truck is a Diesel return line repair kit. The return lines have a tendency to rot and crack, resulting in a fuel leak. If you're not aware of the leak, or you know about it but don't fix it, it can lead to you sitting on the side of the road with an empty fuel tank. Ask me how I know...

 

[M1008BOV]

I was throwing in extra fuel lines in my kit. What I had around the house is 3/8", 5/16" and 1/4". Do you know what size and approx length I should carry? Thanks

Another question, I've read on here quite a bit that some people have trouble restarting these trucks for various reasons when they are hot. Once I get on the road and get going should I just keep her running the whole way (i.e. fuel stops, etc.)?

 

[M1008BOV]

Made it home! Truck was even better than I expected. Almost 400 miles on the trip home at 50 mph. I'll post up some more pics later this week. If any of you were watching the weather saw that IL and IN got hit hard by these storms. We had a heck of a time getting home in it. We had a tornado drop right out of the sky on the highway in front of us near Lebanon IN (1 mile away maybe less), about 25 miles from home. We were trying to get home to our kids who were in the next town to get hit. Long story short, we made it, they are safe. Our home isn't damaged, but several friends places are just to the north of us.

This pic was somewhere in central IL

 

[Warthog]

I was wondering about the weather issues. Glad to hear you made it.

 

[M1008BOV]

Thanks, it was interesting that's for sure. Took the truck and chain saw up to my buddies house and helped him cut up four downed tree's and get tarps on his roof. His house took a direct hit, good possibility it's a total loss.

I need to find a set of shackles for the front, a rearview mirror and get a new set of rear lenses for the tail lights. A little maintenance (tighten a belt, go through the fluids, etc) and get a mount setup for the rear plate. I think I'm going to use a trailer bracket setup in the rear bumper, looking over others setups on here now.

 

[truck1]

Nice looking truck! My 1028 recovery was about the same- 500 miles. First thing I would install is a TinyTach. That way you can monitor your RPM's . I drove from SoCal to NorCal chugging along at 55 with big rigs on my tail in the slow lane on I-5 . Not an experience I'd like to repeat. Good luck with your truck. Lots of info here on SS. Just got back from the mountains in my rig. Great trucks. Upgrades will keep you busy.

 

[M1008BOV]

Yea, we stayed off the interstate and took the good old fashion highways and byways! US 40 mostly.

I was going to do some homework about putting a tach in here, is a tiny tach our only option?

I definitely need to decide which route I'm going to go to get the rpm's down, but I want to leave the truck as stock as possible. OD trans might be the route I go.

 

[V8Astro]

I got this tach. It requires two tiny little magnets to be glued to the back-side of the harmonic balancer.

http://www.genosgarage.com/ISSPRO-R5503-EVA-TACHOMETER-GAUGE-0-4000-RPM/productinfo/ISS-R5503/

 

[M1008BOV]

Thanks for the info. Did some maintenance to the truck last night, greased the front end, tightened alt belt, reoriented the front battery, topped off some fluids, checked the brakes, etc. While cleaning out the inside I found one of the shackles under the front seat, so now I only need one.