M1028 from Hell finally home!

[RallyRebel]

Well, I got my towbar fabbed up Thursday after work and then drove up to Stockbridge after work Friday to get the wayward CUCV. After a good nights rest went over to the body shop and hooked everything up for the long tow home, which ended up taking a little over 12 hours to cover about 450 miles at an average of 40MPH. The towbar worked out very well and would be great for a tow vehicle that weighed more than the load. In my case the CUCV would "push" the F150 around a bit which is why I kept the road speed low. Patience pays! Now the search is on for a new front clip so I can the beast back on the road as my daily driver.

Here's some pics for those interested...

Towbar hooked on the rear to pull CUCV from its parking spot:

As found at body shop:

Had to strap the steering wheel to pull backwards into a 180 for hooking to the front:

Closeup of shackle modded into "towbar adapter" by welding in spherical from Deutz tractor link:

Towbar strapped up to hitch solo:

All hitched and ready to get going:

Driveshaft disconnected and strapped up to crossmember:

On the road again, can't seem to stay off the road again...

Thanks everyone for all the advice, encouragement and words of wisdom! I'm thankful to have found this forum and community, and will be looking forward to updating y'all on my progress and any other old OD stuff that wanders into my greasy hands.

 

[maddawg308]

RE: M1028 from heck finally home!

Wow - that's a heckuva rollover that truck has had. That's going to be fun getting 100%. Makes my project look easy. Thanks for the pics, and keep up the good work!

BTW - that shackle towbar adapter is pretty slick!

 

[Recovry4x4]

RE: M1028 from heck finally home!

Was wondering about how your weekend went. Glad to see it's finally home. I'm in West Palm if you need anything I can help with. Also, let me know if you go back this coming weekend and don't mind packing my junk back.

 

[CCATLETT1984]

RE: M1028 from heck finally home!

congrads on getting it home, and good luck with sourcing a new cab.

 

[steelsoldiers]

RE: M1028 from heck finally home!

Wow, that sucker was flattened! That cab shouldn't be too hard to come up with, especially if you go with a civi one. At least you live outside of the salt-belt!

 

[ida34]

RE: M1028 from heck finally home!

Looks like a chop top style from the 70's.

 

[RallyRebel]

Just a quick update for the interested: After hunting around off and on for a replacement cab I finally got the bright idea to post on craigslist in the area for a straight rust-free cab. Ended up scoring an entire '86 Silverado for $400 from a guy in Oviedo who removed the engine from it. Absolutely cherry truck with a freshly rebuilt 700R4 and recent BFG A/T's on it too, not to mention all the glass and FACTORY A/C! Yay! So it's nice to have a complete truck, and I may go ahead and use the 700R4 so I can pick up the OD. Things are starting to look up!

 

[FMJ]

Just a quick update for the interested: After hunting around off and on for a replacement cab I finally got the bright idea to post on craigslist in the area for a straight rust-free cab. Ended up scoring an entire '86 Silverado for $400 from a guy in Oviedo who removed the engine from it. Absolutely cherry truck with a freshly rebuilt 700R4 and recent BFG A/T's on it too, not to mention all the glass and FACTORY A/C! Yay! So it's nice to have a complete truck, and I may go ahead and use the 700R4 so I can pick up the OD. Things are starting to look up!

I have a 1008 cab, but NM is a fair stretch from Fl.....
Sorry, just remembered that someone walked around on the roof....

 

[CARNAC]

Time to make it a convertible.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Nice score.


Going civilianish with it or keeping it militaryish?

 

[RallyRebel]

Nice score.


Going civilianish with it or keeping it militaryish?

Since I'll have both cabs off for the swap the rig will get a complete re-spray with desert tan and I'll duplicate all military markings and stenciling. May swap the beds too as it has factory dual tanks, one on each side. I'm also leaning towards keeping the Silverado's 4-headlight grill though and upgrade with E-code H4 units from rallylights.com. The interior will be made just a bit more "comfortable" but still very utilitarian with improvment stuff like Dynamat, cruise control, power windows/locks and a Dakota Digital gauge set (just cause it's COOL!). Once I get the bits together to do it correctly then I'll set up as a dually too since I got a lot of beffy stuff to tow. At least the stuff that's not quite beefy enough for the M35 or my '70 IH Transtar.

A couple pics after getting it home...
http://www.planetarydomination.com/M1028/silv_01.jpg
http://www.planetarydomination.com/M1028/silv_02.jpg

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Beware those Dakota Digital clusters have a reputation for being "washed out" in bright light. I was considering one but after hearing that I'm thinking aftermarket gauges in a new cluster.

 

[54reo]

Nice truck!

BTW...What kind of dragline is in the background?

 

[RallyRebel]

Beware those Dakota Digital clusters have a reputation for being "washed out" in bright light. I was considering one but after hearing that I'm thinking aftermarket gauges in a new cluster.

That used to be very true with their older products but they've really improved their vacuum-flourescent displays in the last few years. I've been able to see the new green displays in some vintage class-8 trucks and the motorcycle pods, all in full Florida sun, and there weren't any of the old glare or washed issues. Still don't like the original teal displays, make me feel like my VCR was hacked into a dash.

Nice truck!

BTW...What kind of dragline is in the background?

That's my '52 Lorain TL-25K, another expression of my collecting disease.

 

[54reo]

'52 Lorain, ...Cool!

Not to hijack your thread, but do you have any other front ends for it? i.e. shovel, clam, etc. I happen to own a '51 Bucyrus-Erie 22B Corps of Engineers machine, with a 377 c.i.d. Chrysler Industrial inline 6 gasser. When I found it, the only front end left with it was the cable hoe front. I've been looking for a shovel front for some time now. I have an N.O.S. military 3/4 yard dipper, just missing the rest of the front!

Enough rambling, I guess. It's just nice to see another member that is into historical construction equipment!

 

[RallyRebel]

Historical construction equipment? Oh my, you've opened a can of worms! I'm currently the president of the Sunshine State Chapter of the Historical Construction Equipment Association and am also the founder of the Antique Caterpillar Machinery Enthusiasts, plus admin the web site and forum for the Antique Caterpillar Machinery Owners Club. My Lorain is former Corps or Engineers as is my '43 Cat D4-2T, '44 Cat D4-2T and '49 Cat D6-9U. We also have a '34 Cat Twenty-two but my main interest is diesel crawlers from the 40's.

For your B-E 22B register on my forums at www.antiquecaterpillar.org and post there as several of the folk have 22B machines. On mine I pretty much got the stock 30' of boom with three 5' inserts for a total 45', the 3/4 yd. drag and a HUGE clam that's too much for the machine. Don't know yet what it's for, but came with it. If you're ever in central Florida around November, January or February come check out our heavy equipment showgrounds at www.floridaflywheelers.org where we do daily power demonstrations with a variety of equipment.

Now back to our regularly scheduled MV discussion...

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Original teal displays...so they have gone to another color now?

Gotta recheck their site. I was sorta amazed at what a full dash would cost me but then a bunch of gauges and hooking them up wasn't cheap either!

 

[RallyRebel]

Sorry, my mistake as the only standard color they have besides teal is blue. I've been building out a gauge panel for my vintage semi tractor and have been looking a Nordskog and Cyberdyne digital gauges, and Cyberdyne offers blue, red, green and amber versions of their gauges but Dakota is the only one with a model specific panel to fit the CUCV and they also have all sorts of integration goodies if you want to really trick out the electronics.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

No body ever has the diesel start lights...

 

[FreightTrain]

eww,someone collects heavy construction stuff?There is a Army crane here I want to go check on.Hasn't moved in decades.Looks complete from teh road.Tires have sunk into the ground it sat so long.Looks like like the same type setup my Grandpa used in WW2.Real short chassis with a 50 or 60 foot latic boom(could be off on the length).Oh that would go over like a turd in a swimming pool!