How to tell actual mileage

[HikerMan]

I was wondering if there is any way to tell the actual mileage of these trucks? Mine reads 40k some odd but I really wanted to know how many overall miles are on them.

Did the military run them enough to have some turn over once or twice? Its frustrating how they only have 5 digit odos Especially for a diesel

 

[JSF01]

As far as I know there is not a way to tell if it has rolled over, but I would actually bet that the mileage your truck shows is its actual mileage. In my experience most military tucks tend to be used just to drive around base. For example at work we have a 2002 F350 as our primary vehicle that we use almost every day to move munitions around and yet has only 6k miles on it.

 

[porkysplace]

There is no real way to tell actual milage , if any part of the dash cluster fails the military will just swap it out with a new cluster .

 

[wreckerman893]

Depending on mission many units used the CUCV's only if they did not have a GSA (civilian motor pool vehicle) available. Some were only used when the unit went out in the field or were deployed.

If the vehicle was in a National Guard or Reserve unit it may have gotten even less use. There were usually records kept that would reflect if the speedo had been replaced but they were prob destroyed after it left the unit.

The best way to tell is to look for signs of wear and tear such as paint being worn off the floor (most CUCV's had no floor mats) or ruined upholstery.

You can also check underneath and see if the suspension has a lot of wear on it.

 

[ranchhopper]

Best way to tell is overall condition of the truck look under the hood if everything looks good as new than most likely it has little wear look for wear on the steering wheel or the pad on the brake pedal and the accelerater pedal that will be your best indicator.

 

[BKubu]

In the end, no matter what, you are only left with an educated guess. The CUCVs are 25 years or so old and could have a lot of mileage on them...or they could have sat unused. Mileage does not concern me. I am only concerned with overall running and physical condition and tend to ignore the odometer. I would be more concerned about the problems you'll have due to lack of use (seals, gaskets, hoses, belts, etc.) than potentially high mileage.

 

[greenjeepster]

We often see 2.5 and 5 ton trucks with low miles, but 1500-2500 hrs on them.... It is a pretty good indication that military vehicles rarely have a correct odometer reading.

 

[original]

I've driven military trucks that had low mileage, but sit idling for long periods of time at guard positions. Hour meters would be more accurate in military vehicles.

 

[rfischba1]

My old 85 M1009 had turned over to 106,000 my M 1008 said it had 35,000 but needed a new speedo 6 months after I bought it. No real way to tell.

 

[Sharecropper]

My M1028 sat on a National Guard base in Arizona for 25 years with the windows rolled up. 12,338 actual miles, which calculates to around 500 miles per year. When I got it, the engine compartment was still shiney and clean, and the seat covering was almost perfect. Dash was ruined from the heat, but everything else appeared almost new.

 

[M813rc]

Yours would be the exception to the mileage question, and there are a few. It is usually obvious when you look at the vehicle.

In general, I think most folks who buy a CUCV and think they are getting a 6k mile truck (a recent SS example) because of the odometer reading are fooling themselves! Because of convenience, CUCV's were generally driven a lot more than other field vehicles, so the ones that indicate 70-100k over 30 years are more likely to be accurate. Thats only 2300-3300 miles a year. I know we were putting mileage like that on them back in the day.
I can reasonably think my M1009s were probably right, one indicated 96+k when bought, the other something like 94+k. No way to tell though.

But perhaps they reconstitute at 100,000 miles, like a phoenix! If so, one of mine just became brand new again as it only has 1 mile on the clock as of last week...

Likewise, I've seen Deuces and other big trucks being sold with the claim of something like "only 2900 original miles". But they have an hour meter, and often if you do the math, they must have achieved those miles at something like an average of 178 miles per hour, with no idling time....
I really don't want a deuce thats been driven that fast for that long..

One big truck I watched at auction recently went really high because of indicated mileage around 1k. If you averaged the miles to the hour meter, it was achieved at something like .24 miles per hour. Thats a LOT of idling time....and it looked like it had been maintained by a family of raccoons. You decide.

All that said, the usual caveats apply to everything I utter- your mileage may vary, employees are not eligible to win, contents may settle during shipment, and there is a 10% restocking fee...

Cheers

 

[wdbtchr]

I'm surprized nobody thought of the obvious way to determine mileage, chop it down and count the rings. Excuse me I have to go duck and cover now.

 

[4x4 Forever]

There really is no way to know other than looking at the condition of the truck. And that would only be an educated guess.

 

[HikerMan]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I was expecting some secret I didn't know to find out but I guess I was wrong

I enjoy keeping an old vehicle on the road that might have gone to scrapyard in time, especially when it can do decent on diesel fuel and hopefully convert to WVO in the future!

 

[kipman]

Brake pedal wear, I think is the best indicator, but who cares, my 1009 has 177,000 on it I believe, done all the work a 25 year old truck needs to be dependable. it is my daily driver.

 

[rickf]

DANG! I thought I was going to sneak in the brake pedal pad wear thing myself. Look for wear on the gas pedal and the side of the brake pad where your slides on and off of it. Because of the low rear end gears the motors on the pick-ups took more of a beating than the 1009's did. I think for the same reason you will not see a lot of 1008's with over 100,000 on them. I maintained three different civvie diesel Blazers for customers and 2 were over 200,000 and one well over 300,000. They go a LONG time if taken care of. The bodies will fall off before the motors go bad usually.

Rick

 

[Sasquatch]

CARNAC does us a great service and can run your VIN, search for 2011 VIN and it should come up. Mine came back with a mileage from a unit. If yours comes back with a higher number than it has probably rolled over or has had the speedo switched out.

Certainly doesn't tell for sure the real mileage, but could give you a clue.