M923 Many Small Improvements

[TheQuaker]

I've been slacking on posting up many of the small updates I've been doing to my big, beautiful girl over the last couple of years so I'll blast several of them out at once.

I added small mud flaps for the front tires. My intent was to control some of the rock-slinging from the front G177's and to keep the mud and crud from building up on the bottom of the tool boxes and fuel tank. I was not trying to keep the running gear clean, but a side effect has been the amount of mud caking on the rear axles, rear brake cans, etc. is reduced as well.

I call them "Underbrows" as they are the opposite of the "Eyebrow" mud flaps used on tractor rears but are approximately the same size . They are only about 7" long as I did not want full-length flaps on the fronts and this was the right length for my purposes.

The forward brackets for the steps and tool boxes are just right to hang a flap and already have most of the holes drilled for the flap hanger brackets from the factory.

I cut the size I wanted from an old mud flap I had laying around, quickly fabbed up some hangers from flat stock and angles and Voila!



In the interest of safety (too many late night returns to the pitch black farm guessing where the cab steps are) I added a combo marker light/step light to both sides of the cab.

They are actually amber-colored LED license plate lights from Amazon so they illuminate both down to light up the steps and the ground but also are visible on the side as additional marker lights. I originally wanted to use mil-spec side markers but they don't work for both side and down illumination. I didn't want to drill holes to mount them so I used 95lb pull magnets to secure them and used Y connectors to splice them in so I did not cut any of the harness.

You can also see (in the first picture below) a spare jerry can holder I mounted long ago to store my wheel chocks when not in use - another small but helpful thing having them on the driver's side and quickly accessible so no need to dig through the tool boxes or storing them up in the cab...



I purchased a surplus tool box off Ebay and mounted it on the large toolbox aft of the jerry can holder to provide a quick-to-access storage for cargo straps, binders, etc. Added a hasp for a padlock (not installed yet in the pic) and good to go. These also happened to be the first parts of the truck I painted Sand Camo way back when...

 

[kendelrio]

Great job!

Small this, but adds a lot of visibility for the driver I did was install a backup camera that I run like a rearview mirror...

 

[TheQuaker]

Small this, but adds a lot of visibility for the driver I did was install a backup camera that I run like a rearview mirror...

Oh yeah...forgot I added a rear-view camera as well - but without the fancy TMG overhead

 

[kendelrio]

Oh yeah...forgot I added a rear-view camera as well - but without the fancy TMG overhead

View attachment 852914

It was a father's day/birthday gift from my sweet lady.

 

[TheQuaker]

Looking back at some old pictures and reminiscing I realized there were a couple more small upgrades to my big girl I forgot to mention earlier...

Probably the second non-mechanical thing I did to her was to rehab her bed. Adding the array of extra exterior work lights was #1.

The front section and front corners (where water inevitably pools no matter how the truck sits - flat, nose high or nose down ) had a lot of rust eating away at it and a lot of mostly surface rust on the main part of the bed. 37 years of sitting out in the rain and snow will do that...

I removed the rust in the area as much as possible, treated and primered it then coated it with a spray-on bedliner. I needed any coatings to be impervious to water for that area and the spray-on bedliner fits the bill for me. I prepped the floor and sides as well and rolled the rest of the bed with coats of low-gloss black enamel Rustoleum Farm and Implement paint (rattle-canned the cargo tie-down pockets and hard to reach places). Let it all cure for two weeks and good to go - hardens like granite.

3 years later the front area still looks like the day I sprayed it (not much winds up that far forward) and the bed and sides do have the inevitable scuffs, nicks and damage from farm life but it is all very minor and I will clean up and re-coat it in the spring. Still looks great today even after hauling dirt, gravel, rocks, palletized items, trees and assorted equipment around for 3 years!



Also needed some general interior lighting in the cab and thought I would try to keep a military feel. While searching for an idea I liked, I happened upon a pair of red interior Cats-Eye lights and picked them up (They must be from an ambulance or command/shop truck - I am sure someone here on SS will have the model or at least toss out some ideas.)

I had some scrap aluminum flat and angle stock laying around so just used that to fab up a bracket. I decided to mimic the hundreds of small bolts/nuts, screws and rivets used throughout the cab and hard top so I used a ton of small hardware bits to hold it all together. Painted the whole thing up and mounted it to the roof spars with my favorite industrial-strength magnets to avoid poking more holes in her and here is the finished product...

 

[Mullaney]

Looking back at some old pictures and reminiscing I realized there were a couple more small upgrades to my big girl I forgot to mention earlier...

Probably the second non-mechanical thing I did to her was to rehab her bed. Adding the array of extra exterior work lights was #1.

The front section and front corners (where water inevitably pools no matter how the truck sits - flat, nose high or nose down ) had a lot of rust eating away at it and a lot of mostly surface rust on the main part of the bed. 37 years of sitting out in the rain and snow will do that...

I removed the rust in the area as much as possible, treated and primered it then coated it with a spray-on bedliner. I needed any coatings to be impervious to water for that area and the spray-on bedliner fits the bill for me. I prepped the floor and sides as well and rolled the rest of the bed with coats of low-gloss black enamel Rustoleum Farm and Implement paint (rattle-canned the cargo tie-down pockets and hard to reach places). Let it all cure for two weeks and good to go - hardens like granite.

3 years later the front area still looks like the day I sprayed it (not much winds up that far forward) and the bed and sides do have the inevitable scuffs, nicks and damage from farm life but it is all very minor and I will clean up and re-coat it in the spring. Still looks great today even after hauling dirt, gravel, rocks, palletized items, trees and assorted equipment around for 3 years!

View attachment 853880View attachment 853881View attachment 853882View attachment 853883View attachment 853885

Also needed some general interior lighting in the cab and thought I would try to keep a military feel. While searching for an idea I liked, I happened upon a pair of red interior Cats-Eye lights and picked them up (They must be from an ambulance or command/shop truck - I am sure someone here on SS will have the model or at least toss out some ideas.)

I had some scrap aluminum flat and angle stock laying around so just used that to fab up a bracket. I decided to mimic the hundreds of small bolts/nuts, screws and rivets used throughout the cab and hard top so I used a ton of small hardware bits to hold it all together. Painted the whole thing up and mounted it to the roof spars with my favorite industrial-strength magnets to avoid poking more holes in her and here is the finished product...

View attachment 853886View attachment 853887

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I like the lights! That would definitely be a nice upgrade and I guess from my navy years - a red light would be just fine by me!

The bed looks pretty amazing after 3 years of wear and use.

 

[TheQuaker]

Thanks @Mullaney!

Red vehicle interior instrument and task lighting still feels "correct" to me...even now after all these years since it really mattered...

Yes, the bed has held up well. We like the Rustoleum Farm and Implement paint and with the proper prep and dry time, it always goes on well, protects whatever we paint and wears like iron.

 

[srodocker]

Love your upgrades!