My M1009, what to do...

[ke5eua]

I got my hands on a M1009 in lieu of my M818 and M750 trailer. Today I striped the inside and pressure washed the inside. I want to get the communities idea of the rust repair I'd be looking for if I brought it to a shop.

Here is my Picasa Web album if you want to see the full size pictures.

https://picasaweb.google.com/101559...authkey=Gv1sRgCPSZtKL88JKbzAE&feat=directlink

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[NDT]

If you take it to a shop, they will slather bondo over the rust and it will look nice for a while. Suggest YOU get the rust blasted off before taking it to a body shop.

 

[painter paul]

A good shop can fix it right but it could cost thousands. Please don't sandblast any flat outside panels with much pressure or you may permanently warp and ruin them. I hate to see a vehicle stripped without a clear repair plan. Too many get abandoned when restoration costs are revealed. By that time its discouraging and people give up. Much better to do a little at a time and still be able to use it.

 

[painter paul]

The only way to fix a rusted out hole is to cut the rust out and weld in new and that takes lots of time to do it right.

 

[ke5eua]

A good shop can fix it right but it could cost thousands. Please don't sandblast any flat outside panels with much pressure or you may permanently warp and ruin them. I hate to see a vehicle stripped without a clear repair plan. Too many get abandoned when restoration costs are revealed. By that time its discouraging and people give up. Much better to do a little at a time and still be able to use it.

That's why I want to get an idea of what I'm looking at before I dive further into it.

I can get pretty much all the replacement pieces from lmc, it's welding them back in is my issue.

 

[ke5eua]

Also, if I blast it is going to be a wet sandblast job at the farm.

 

[85CUCVtom]

If you can weld I'd cut out and replace panels as needed.

 

[98G]

Wish you were closer. I'd MIG it for you for free if you did the prep work.

Sandblasting the 5ton trucks is no problem. They're thick and hard to deform. But the cucv will warp on the wide flat spots. Sandblast with care... ospho may be a good idea as a final pretreatment prior to paint.

 

[cucvrus]

That upside does not look that bad at all. It is the underside at the back cross member and the mounts and floor in the underside back that always scares me. That roof jam is really rusty. But you can patch that and reinstall the back roof and hide some of your work and it will not be seen again. It would cost thousands at a reputable body shop. They get $50. an hour and that is only 20 hours per thousand. So you do the math. How are the doors, fenders, inner fender aprons, radiator support, and the rear gate? They are costly items to replace and repair if you pay someone to do them right. Be careful blasting. I stopped blasting CUCV's body's because the sand gets into everything. That is your choice. The knotted wire wheel , grinder does a nice job with out all the hazards of blasting. Just trying to help you out. I am working on 3 rusty damage CUCV's at this time.

 

[painter paul]

My best advice as a body shop owner is to find a body man willing to work after hrs who can teach you to do some of the work and he can do the rest. Otherwise you could easily spend $5-10 thousand getting it done right. And if done by some one who thinks he knows how(but doesn't), maybe $3 thousand and it wont look good and could need redoing in 3-4 years.

 

[nyoffroad]

I agree with Paul, I did body work for years and to tell you the truth If you came to my shop with that I'd hit you with such a high price you'd run away screaming ! Thats a lot of work and there's no way a reputable shop wants that kind've work, it's a loser all the way around for everyone. No matter how good of a deal they give you it will be a LOT of $$ and when you spend that kind've money you will expect so much and that's the problem. Sooner or later that rust will be back it may be in the exact same spot or right next to where it was repaired. Anyway you look at the shop will be at fault for not doing a 'good' job, meanwhile the shop may have given you a treamendous deal and possibly didn't even break even on the job and just used it to keep the help busy and make payroll.
If I still did side work in my garage I wouldn't touch that for less than $4000 and would kick myself when it came in the door.
What ever you do DO NOT SAND BLAST IT TO GET A ESTIMATE!!! As soon as you blast it, it starts rusting again also you'll get stuck with it and never get it fixed.
Do you have a place to work? You can get a cheap flux core welder from HF for about $150 and you have the perfect vehicle to learn on! Just plan on painting it a flat color to hide imperfections.

 

[ke5eua]

Thank you all for the words of wisdom.

I have the cheap flux core harbor freight welder and I'm learning. I'm just hesitant to use it on body work. I'm going to give lmc a ring Monday and order all the pieces I need and replace whats needed.

I want the body to be right before I paint.

I already know I need to have the transmission gone through as the little 3 mile trip I drove it the other day it didn't want to shift into 3rd. I also disintegrated the front drive shaft and blew out the spedo port on the transfer so I want to focus my big money deals on the drive train.

Ok, so you're probably now wondering how that happened. Basically I didn't take the advice of the guy I got it from and flat towed it with the rear drive shaft still connected. I made it the 100 miles from where I picked it up from to the farm with no issues. I knew I would have to drive it around the next couple days moving trucks and loading for the trip back to Texas and I forgot about the drive shaft again. We made it almost to the Louisiana Texas border when the wife called me and said something tan just flew out from under the truck. When I pulled into the welcome center I promptly looked under the 1009 and to my surprise I was short a front drive shaft. Looked at the transfer selector and I guess the smooth roads of Louisiana jarred it into 4 low, and even with the front hubs unlocked it was able to have enough force to shear off the u-joint on the diff and then rip off the rear u-joint. Well, pulled the rear drive shaft and made it the rest of the way back to Bryan, TX then flat towed it with the mini van another 90 miles to Temple. We put it on a car carrier bringing it back to Louisiana.

A side note, I've got to make a trip to said guy to give him some more parts for the 818 I gave him.

I'm going to look at getting replacement foam and covers also for the seats, add a tach, high idle, change the alternators for my inverter. Going to replace gen 1 with a 70 amp 24v, and replace gen 2 with a 250 amp 12v. I have a 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter that is going to go in it so I need a bigger alternator, and house batteries. I also don't want to convert it to 12v as I like the option of being able to slave off it needed. The truck already had the glow plug resistor bank bypassed so I'm going to put a 24-12v converter / equalizer on the 24v bank in case I need a slave I will still have glowplugs. That is subject to change as the battery setup is going to change from stock to a typical setup you would see in a rv, house / starting banks. Since I'm converting all the lights to leds I can keep the amp draw down and be able to keep the 24v bank equalized with the equalizer and have gen 2 dedicated to the house bank.

Going to make the 1009 a daily driver, and put my ham radios in it. Going to put a rv air conditioner on the fiberglass shell. I toyed around with getting the a/c kit but the rv air conditioner will allow me to cool it with the engine off. Makes it nice when doing events and field day not having the engine running all the time.

I'm giving myself 6 months to complete body work and paint. I feel as if that is a realistic target and should have no issue obtaining. Today was spent pondering on what direction with the wife and I sitting at the truck going over options. Doing it myself provides us with two things, lower overall cost involved, and keeping me busy, plus the pride in knowing you accomplished something meaningful.

That pretty much raps up the overall plans for this 1009. I've been reluctant on posting about it but I guess it would have gotten to the point where I would have needed some obscure part and people would wonder why I need a cucv part.

I already know I'm going to be looking for a few 1009 parts, but I'm going to wait before I really dive into needing those as it's mainly an antenna bracket, bumpers, and blackout lights. Stuff that can wait till later, body work now to stop the rust.

 

[painter paul]

I'm not certain given the way the CUCV charging system is setup if that will work well . Both alternators are 12 volt stock. Also I still say its wise to have a body man show you some rust repair basics.

 

[jpg]

I have the cheap flux core harbor freight welder and I'm learning. I'm just hesitant to use it on body work. I'm going to give lmc a ring Monday and order all the pieces I need and replace whats needed.

I'm no bodywork professional. I put a lot of effort into repairing rust on an old chevy pickup. The main thing I learned is that the rust you see is adjacent to the rust you'll see soon. It's downright discouraging to see your lovely repair surrounded by rot a few years later. If I ever do it again, I will not patch rusty sheet metal. I will buy entire fenders, beds, etc, and install new parts. I'll thoroughly coat them with the best rust prevention I can find, especially in the rust-prone areas. (Those are the areas where LMC sells patches.)

If you're going to fix a rusty truck, I'd recommend not patching sheet metal if you can possibly replace it with new parts.

 

[cucvrus]

Since most of his rust is in the super structure he will be left with no choice. Years back M1009 stripped out rust free super structures were a dime a dozen. I grabbed up 2 of them and stored them but they are gone now. I am sure someone out there has a few and they want to sell them. That would be the easiest cheapest fix on this M1009. That roof arae is really a hidden rust haven. And I am not being discouraging. I am being honest. Rust never sleeps. I also fight rust on a daily basis and see it all the time. It is relentless and bites you in the end. Be prepared to do further rust repair on none new panels that you fix. Camo is easy to touch up. Good luck and you may want to look into the panel adhesive bonding method. It makes no heat and bonds like a weld and will not make rust ares from burning the paint on the underside. I use Rage body filler it sands easy and seems to hold up well.

 

[dependable]

An alternative to welding is using rivets and 3M 08115 body panel adhesive.

Cut out all the rust, cut down repair panel so there is about a 2 inch overlap. Grind overlapping parts to bare metal. Secure in with Cleaco fasteners to check fit. Apply and spread adhesive on both overlapping areas. Rivet in with 3/16 stainless rivets in the holes you drilled for the Cleacos. Rivets every 8 inches or so.

Ihe 3M product is similar to JB weld. You need a special two part 'calking gun' that mixes the parts as you apply it. The stuff is not cheap, but works very well. The above process is at least as strong as stitch welding and much more rust proof.

I have some pictures of the process on my shop computer I'll post later if interested.

 

[Recovry4x4]

I think I would do a cost/benefit analysis of the project. The rust has established a good foothold and will be all but impossible to arrest. Considering that you are working on a truck with a limited structural lifespan, I would reconsider adding a long list of mods unless you have no problem undoing them in a few years. Were it mine I would patch it up, enjoy it for as long as you can and put the feelers out for a better candidate to add all your goodies to.

 

[swbradley1]

If I had a choice between a non-running 818 and that CUCV I'd take the 818 every time.

To say that is a lot of rust would be an understatement and I'm not even a body man.

 

[hndrsonj]

If it was mine, I'd be making a run out west for a rust free tub and swap it. Way cheaper and easier to fix! (and I agree with SW, I would have kept the 818.)

 

[ke5eua]

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

As far as the charging system, it's been done before, there are a few threads about it. I'm just changing it up a little by using an equalizer and gen 2 for house bank solely.

I'm more of an electrical person than mechanical. Although I am proficient with weapons and the turbine on a M1.

I'm going to find all my wire brushes for my angle grinder and remove the paint on the inside, and coat it with some rust inhibitor and take more pics.

Trying to weigh cost to benefits is really hard for me. My second deployment our shop truck was a 1009 for running around on the fob.

For replacement parts I've been looking at lmc for those. Doors, fenders, hood, if it can be replaced as a whole I'd rather do that than patch a spot on it.

Here is the page with the body stuff, just going to get everything and go from there. My neighbor is a welder so I might ask him to give me some pointers on body work welding. I wish I could get a spot welder in there but I'd have to modify it to get it in there as the arms aren't long enough.


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