M1010 for my daughter the field biologist

[jpg]

Here's a brief update: After discussing options, my daughter decided to approach this build in stages. Stage 0 will be a stock '84 M1010 plus

• Doghead relay mod.
• New industrial strength batteries.
• Rear trailer hitch.
• Seat belts for 8 in the rear benches.
• Rust-proofing treatment, both undercoating and injected into the body cavities. (It's rust-free now.)
• Check & top off all fluids. New oil and filters. Convert A/C to modern refrigerant.
• New glow plugs and controller.
• Thorough inspection by CUCV experts.

We'll outfit it with a couple of stretchers and stretcher stands, to provide workspace when parked, plus lab gear, first aid gear, basic truck tools, camping-style cooking and sanitation. I got her a 24V 3/4" impact wrench, so she won't have to struggle with any lug nuts, and a ready-welder plugged into the 24V outlet will weld any steel that needs it.


I could use some advice regarding winches. I want something light enough that she can handle it. The 12V warn 8000-s weighs 55 lbs, with synthetic line. They offer a 24V version with steel line that's 20 lbs heavier. I know 8000 lbs is on the light side, but I figure she can always double that with a pulley, and an extra 100' synthetic line should give her reasonable reach.

Am I right in assuming that a 24V winch would be the appropriate match for the M1010 electrical system? Or would 12V serve just as well? I wish they offered the 24V version with synthetic line...

 

[Csm Davis]

Sounds like a great plan. As to the winch a 24v would be the best way and just add a NATO slave port to the winch and use the slave cables to power it, and would definitely add the synthetic line.

 

[firefox]

I would suggest going with the 35 inch tires or she will be stuck going 55 mph and
tempted to go faster resulting in blowing the 6.2 l engine. Also if
you upgrade the tires, then put new or upgrade kingpin springs and bushings.
You really want to minimize the possability of her having to deal with "death wobble".

 

[firefox]

You may not want to go that tall, but at least increase it a bit. It is very easy
to forget about pushing it too fast, especially if you run into time sensitive problems.

 

[aczlan]

I could use some advice regarding winches. I want something light enough that she can handle it. The 12V warn 8000-s weighs 55 lbs, with synthetic line. They offer a 24V version with steel line that's 20 lbs heavier. I know 8000 lbs is on the light side, but I figure she can always double that with a pulley, and an extra 100' synthetic line should give her reasonable reach.

Am I right in assuming that a 24V winch would be the appropriate match for the M1010 electrical system? Or would 12V serve just as well? I wish they offered the 24V version with synthetic line...

Get the 24v one, replace the line with synthetic and sell the steel to offset the cost of the synthetic?
If she ever has to use it, she will thank you...

Aaron Z

 

[saddamsnightmare]

March 15th, 2015

jpg:

Pity you didn't know your daughter was going to be a wildlife biologist 8 years ago.... Before I went to Texas in 2007, every GM or Chevrolet dealer in W.Va. ended up having to sell several new U.S.Army M1010 Ambulances with all the gear except the lightbar, the mileage on them was only from the factory to the dealer, $27,000 drive away-it was yours. Seems the Army ordered more then they could use in Iraq, and so the Army's $97,000 list ambulance was going for about $70,000 less then sticker and came with a GM warranty......
This had to be the only Army truck I had ever seen with factory air, radio and CD player...in the cab and air and heat in the rear..... It even had the reversible "Geneva" crosses on the box sides and rear with "Ambulance" above the cab.

 

[jpg]

Get the 24v one, replace the line with synthetic and sell the steel to offset the cost of the synthetic?
If she ever has to use it, she will thank you...

Aaron Z

The only reasonably light 24V winch I can find is a Warn that costs $2K. Am I missing something? Maybe 12V wouldn't be such a bad idea...

 

[jpg]

Retrieved an '84 M1010 this week. It started right up every time as I ran around town doing errands before the long haul from Augusta, GA to Harrisburg PA. First time I stopped for gas on the ride north, the batteries were too low to turn it over even once. I just got the rapid-fire clicks from the starter relay. Bummer. I was several hours away from the PO.


A jump box got it started again. I never realized you could jump a CUCV using 12V on the front battery alone. Called PO and he thought it was tired batteries, so I stopped at Wally's and got 2 of the biggest ones they had. Nothing else was open at that late hour. I'd been driving for several hours on the interstate when it failed to start, so I was pretty sure it was a charging problem, but I figured 2 fresh batteries would get me started a few times, even without a working charging system.


I didn't install the new batteries. I figured a sick charging system would be hard on them, so I put them in the back in case I needed them later. I never did. I never even used them to jump, though the jump box was getting tired before I decided to leave it running for the rest of the trip.


I thought about trying to clean the connectors of the charging system, there in Wally's parking lot, in the dead of night. I had bought a Sears Auto Mechanic's tool kit with 230 tools, 58 of them automotive specialty tools. Not a single item was of any use in cleaning corrosion off electrical connections. Some of the fasteners holding the wires in place looked like I might shear them off it I turned the bolt too hard. I decided to leave not-really-well-enough alone.


I had figured if I had a tool kit, I was much less likely to need one. Kind of like bringing an umbrella so it doesn't rain. Maybe I should have gotten bigger tool kit...


Besides, if the alternators were the problem, no amount of cleaning connectors was going to help. And I had no way to diagnose that.


So I left it running the entire drive north. No problem. I just fueled up at places where there was enough noise around that no one remarked about my leaving the engine idling. Bathroom breaks were al fresco, and dining was drive through. It was all good.


At one point on I95, the traffic made a sudden panic stop, with people swerving onto the shoulders to avoid hitting each other. I had enough cushion that I didn't have to brake too hard. The M1101 stayed right behind me like it's supposed to, and the guy behind that went onto the shoulder to avoid putting his nose under the trailer. Then, the Low Oil idiot light came on. I was in the left lane, of course, and traffic was stopped dead, so it took a little assertiveness on my part to make a hole so I could get to the shoulder. It's OK. I drive in Boston.


I'd never tried to put oil in a running engine, and I'd never noticed how that big top alternator blows a lot of high-velocity air right across the fuel fill. For my second attempt, I made a funnel out of a water bottle, thoroughly dried out of course, and that allowed me to get the oil into the engine. My first attempt was actually me rust-proofing the outside of the engine with a fine spray of engine oil. Yeah, rust-proofing, that's the ticket.


At low RPM, the lights were kind of dim, the turn signal was downright anemic, and the wipers needed a push to get going. At highway speeds, everything worked OK though. Not well, but well enough.


Tomorrow I drop it off at the Hillbilly Wizard's for a thorough going-over by a CUCV pro. I like wrenching as well as the next guy, but I don't want to make any novice mistakes on a vehicle for my daughter. I've read enough about this electric system that I'd rather pay an expert to diagnose it the first time.


Once Hillbilly Wizard is finished, I'll stop by CUCVSRUS on the way home to pick up some missing items. I need the patient assist boom, the knob that goes on the handle that controls the A/C, a ceiling latch to hold up one of the stretcher hangers, and maybe some cushions.


The fuel-fired heater in the back has probably never been used, since this was a southern truck. The push-to-test light illuminates, and the blower blows, but the light never comes on. I need to research that a bit. Any pointers on this would be most welcome.


The speedometer lies. The volt meter lies. The GPS usually indicates higher speeds than the speedo, often by 5-10MPH. I had no trouble keeping up with highway traffic, though I stayed to the right. It can cruise at 75MPH on the level, though it really guzzles fuel at the high RPMs. It does struggle a bit up hills, especially from a dead stop.


It's loud.


I bought the truck with 1911 miles on it. John Moses Browning is my hero, so that has to be a good omen.


So far, so good.

 

[jpg]

 

[Csm Davis]

Please don't run 75 mph in it unless someone changed the stock gears out, it will blow the motor apart.

 

[jpg]

Please don't run 75 mph in it unless someone changed the stock gears out, it will blow the motor apart.

I drive it much more gently than that, but I have a question. I read that the 6.2L was designed for max RPM of 3600, and in the CUCV it's governed to max at 3600 RPM, which with 4.56 axles and 32" tires yields 75.2MPH. It would probably get less then 10MPG at that speed, but it would be within the design envelope for the engine.

I'm not inclined to push any 30-year-old equipment at it's design maximum, but I wouldn't expect it to "blow up" at that speed. I'd expect it to perform poorly and wear quickly. Do they really "blow up"?

 

[Csm Davis]

They don't explode but they will sling a rod out of the engine.

 

[Another Ahab]

They don't explode but they will sling a rod out of the engine.

That's scary enough.

 

[saddamsnightmare]

March 27th, 2015.

Almost none of the CUCV diesels were designed for road speeds much above 45-50, as Army convoy doctrine rarely required any extended running above that speed, and if it throws a rod, well that will pretty much trash your investment in the truck's engine. When a deuce overspeeds (which this is not a deuce), it can be pretty dramatic when the engine blows up, and running above 80% Max RPM does dramatically shorten a diesel's life expectancy.

 

[Drunkle Scuzzy]

I recently purchased my first M1010. It has been regeared to 3.73. I would consider doing the same if it will see much highway time.

 

[Drunkle Scuzzy]

Excited to see how your daughters M1010 turns out

 

[jpg]

Made it home. Does any successful recovery ever end in daylight?

The 37" tires on the trailer are too heavy for a young lady to handle alone in the woods. So rather than put 37s on the truck, we'll put 32s on the trailer. That will level things out. Matching paint may happen some day, but mechanical issues take priority over cosmetics.

Parallel parking this M1010/M1101 rig was interesting. That will take practice. I think I'll need to mount a back-up camera before my daughter will be comfortable doing that, especially in urban situations.

My favorite part was when I came out in the morning to find a shiny new lexus had squeezed in immediately behind the M1101. Its nose was actually under the M1101 bumper. Some people have a lot of confidence in their fellow man. Sitting in the driver's seat, the Lexus was totally invisible. Fortunately, they were gone before I needed to move the rig.

 

[Another Ahab]

View attachment 550238
Made it home. Does any successful recovery ever end in daylight?

She looks great!

 

[Drunkle Scuzzy]

Great job! I used to have nightmare parking scenarios in Seattle WA. I actually had to push an old junker in 4low so I could make it to work. Joker was parked against my bumper so hard it moved my tire off the curb it was stopped on. (Parked facing downhill) Rang every doorbell around trying to find the owner. Took everyone's advice and pushed it far enough I could get out. Left a note.


"Next time don't block me in. I'm not Buddha."

 

[jpg]

Question for winching experts.

I have a question for those experienced in using winches. We want to be able to store the winch inside, out of the weather, and to be able to mount it front or back when transitioning to off road. 24v winch pickings are slim. Should I go for the lighter RT40 (35lb/4000lb pull), for ease of handling, and plan on using a doubler? Or should I go for the heavier M8000 (80lb/8000lb pull)? We have to add about 20 lbs for the mount plate that plugs into the 2" receiver.

The RT40 pull weight is lighter than I'd like. The M8000 winch weight is heavier than I'd like. They each cost about $650. For an extra $400 , I could replace the M8000 wire rope with synthetic, saving 20 lbs.

Or perhaps I should just use a 12v winch? There are far more options available. I know they draw twice the amps, requiring heavier cables. In the end, how much does that matter?