What have you done to your CUCV today/lately - Part 2

[K9Vic]

A trooper at the ferry terminal this morning feigned interest in the truck but he really wanted to let me know that the off-road lights on the grille needed to be covered. He didn't write a ticket or anything just wanted to let me know.

That brings up a good question for Texas, do axillary lights need to be covered here in Texas?

Because I kind of have allot of them on my Suburban CUCV clone.

 

[86m1028]

Yes, but its not really enforced.

Looks good by the way.

 

[rust4days]

Those lights look awesome I got some official strobes from a cop car I plan on sticking in my taillights and turn signals

 

[Mainsail]

Here's a few more pics of the 2 meter radio install:

The antenna in the picture is a temp one- I have a Larsen 2 meter antenna with the spring waiting to go on as soon as I can find someone to tune it for me. It’s mounted on an 18” aluminum mast extension which is sitting on the standard military antenna bracket on the side of the truck. The mast extension gets the antenna above the roofline.

The radio body is under the seat and the control head is in the center console. The head is configurable with more options than I can use, but I have a button set for talk-around, another for adjusting the squelch, another for backlighting, five that go right to the desired system (bank), plus scan, etc.

 

[SRB1976]

Installed a cigarette lighter in my 1009 today. Now I can charge my phone.

 

[MasterSweeper]

Just ordered some Black Rock rims from Summit for the M1008, cant wait to get them. Getting the rear bumper sandblasted and powder coated.

 

[ODFever]

Mainsail - I just installed a NMO trunk mount on the passenger side of my M1009. I plan on putting a dual band antenna on it so I can use my Yaesu FT-7800R dual band in the truck. My concern is signal radiation being sent straight into the cab. I'm VERY interested in the antenna mast for your 2m Larsen. Did you fabricate it yourself? If so, could you please post or PM me the dimensions and materials used so I can build one? If you bought it, please let me know where I can get one!

THANK YOU!

 

[Mainsail]

Mainsail - I just installed a NMO trunk mount on the passenger side of my M1009. I plan on putting a dual band antenna on it so I can use my Yaesu FT-7800R dual band in the truck. My concern is signal radiation being sent straight into the cab. I'm VERY interested in the antenna mast for your 2m Larsen. Did you fabricate it yourself? If so, could you please post or PM me the dimensions and materials used so I can build one? If you bought it, please let me know where I can get one!

THANK YOU!

It's a mil piece, I'll look and see if I can find the vendor and PM you the details.

 

[rust4days]

Finally pulled out my passenger seat fabricate grand Cherokee heated motorized seats I bought 6 months ago will post pics soon

 

[sochuck]

well a new to me IP and some paint put the Pickle back on the road....Replaced the vac pump and the works great

 

[soulbrojosh]

Got tired of draining my batteries when using the truck to make multiple stops, so i wired in a manual GP push button. Had no idea that it would be that simple as well as a big help when the engine is too warm for the GP card to activate the GPs.

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

Today I installed the cargo cover kit on the m1028, but didn't take any pictures of it.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

Mainsail - I just installed a NMO trunk mount on the passenger side of my M1009. I plan on putting a dual band antenna on it so I can use my Yaesu FT-7800R dual band in the truck. My concern is signal radiation being sent straight into the cab.

The Chevy roof is a double layer of steel. Run the coax up through the rear pillars (where the shoulder belts mount) and mount your antenna center of cab about 4-6 inches from the back of the cab. Don't go too far forward - the two layers are far apart at the rear, but get closer together as you go forward. You'll run out of room.

Now you've got those two layers of steel between you and the radiating element. Between that and the antenna pattern (most of the energy is on the horizon) you'll have very little exposure. In fact, I'm pretty sure this will give you less exposure than Mainsail's mount. (Of course, his is mil-spec, so it will look cooler than a roof mount, so there's that to consider. )

Hook that up with some RG-142 and you should be good to go.

HINT: A length of standard electricians fish tape works well for fishing wires through ceilings and pillars. When I was installing (business radios and cellular phones, back when they were installed in cars) for a living, I had several lengths in my tool kit. I'd heat the ends and bend them into an eye, then braze them like that. I'd fill the trailing edge where the eye comes around and meets the rest of the tape, then file it smooth. Makes for a very smooth pull with nothing to catch on edges.

Once you have your hole drilled, run the fish tape into the hole and back towards the pillar. It should drop right down where you can grab it, and pull your coax through. I lost count of how many cellphones and radios I put in mid-80's Chevy pickups!


By the way, I've been following the issue of human exposure to RF closely since the mid 80s, reading everything I can find on the subject, including the scare mongers. There have been plenty of studies, going back to WWII. As long as I am not getting levels that cause actual heating, I'm not worried about it.

 

[Mainsail]

...I'm pretty sure this will give you less exposure than Mainsail's mount. (Of course, his is mil-spec, so it will look cooler than a roof mount, so there's that to consider. )

There's already a lot going on up on my roof.

So today I used an old Ram-Mount I had around to mount a small sized clipboard to the center console for note taking. Then I finished wiring the inverter. I cut the connecting strip on the 24v bus bar so the first two posts are still connected, the center post is connected to nothing, and the last two posts are connected. Then I wired a fuse between the #2 post and the #4 post, and put the inverter on the #5 post. Now I can wire any 24V accessories off the #4 & 5 posts and they'll be protected by the fuse.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

There's already a lot going on up on my roof.

Yeah, I noticed it looked a bit busy up there!


Nice install.

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

Here's a pic of my m1028 with the cargo cover rolled up, hauling some CUCV parts today.

 

[Ridgeback]

Porkchop - you get over 55mph with that much canvas on top, and you might even generate some lift!

 

[shkira]

Installed cab lighting...the middle lamp is LED and wired 12V to work off installed door pillar switches. It has a red, white and off position. The fixture has two outlets which can provide 12V if desired. I wired two more outlets to feed 24V for the cockpit lights. If you spent any time in mil aircraft you will recognize these. Expensive but provide the red, white, spot or flood, momentary on or dim to any brightness setting. Note the small pillar lights used to cover fishing holes used to feed power. The back is boring -- just standard stock GM light mounted on the side. But did wire it thru 3 pos switch (on, off, door).

 

[AN/ARC186]

Nice!!

 

[paraclete comes]

tailgate

I had purchased anew tailgate off of ebay from summit racing, arrived looking ok so I was excited. Then the drama started, 3/8 of and inch off in width compared to my old tailgate couldn't get it to line up at all. Had to tap every hole to match the correct thread pitch and chaos ensued at every turn. I finally gave up and pulled the old tailgate out of the trailer and rebuilt it and cleaned it up. I will let a body shop address the few spots of rust on the old tailgate, its still in good shape. Just thought I could start with a blank slate and have it completely solid, I was mistaken! Threw in a back up alt on the m1009 also as the rare electric gave out after two years. I wish I had a line on something real nice quality to drop in but in the meantime I have another en-route from rare electric. I plan to see if I can have the pull out re-built.

I didn't take any photos as my mental health at that point was in jeopardy after day three of working on the tailgate. Hope you guys have a great day and a good 4th!