tree vs. cucv m1008

[Lil Pete]

 

[cucvrus]

Get the Boyce frame. Much less work. I think the price is fair for a clean rust-free frame that is a direct fit. The 1978 frame for the same price. No. Not a good deal. Too much other work to do. Good Luck. Like I mentioned. It will be an easy job with the CUCV frame.

 

[Welder1]

Thanks, again. The 78 k30 frame is $1500. So my choices are to get an 85 c30 locally and bolt my crossmembers and spring mounts on it , or go to Boyce in Utah. They want $1500 for a frame also. Does that seem excessive? I guess if I go to them I can get the bumper and brush guard at the same time. I just picked up a front clip from a wrecking yard. Got a perfect chrome bumper with it (must sell it!!...NO chrome on Lil Pete! Ugh!).

If you can get an original frame I would do that

 

[Curtisje]

Thanks, again. The 78 k30 frame is $1500. So my choices are to get an 85 c30 locally and bolt my crossmembers and spring mounts on it , or go to Boyce in Utah. They want $1500 for a frame also. Does that seem excessive? I guess if I go to them I can get the bumper and brush guard at the same time. I just picked up a front clip from a wrecking yard. Got a perfect chrome bumper with it (must sell it!!...NO chrome on Lil Pete! Ugh!).

If you need a front bumper I have an extra laying around here somewhere. If it's close enough for you. Good luck.

 

[LT67]

cucvrus is is 100% on, that frame will never be right even if the best body man straightened it. The structural integrity will be gone and it will bend over time of just driving it.
Good time to start fresh with a good frame, clean blast and fresh paint.

Depends on the shop running the frame rack and how the frame is bent. Upon the frame being straightened out to factory specs, it will have to be braced where the bend occurred to reinforce the frame. Any reputable shop with a frame rack should know to do that.

 

[Chaski]

This is one of those deals where being patient will make it cheaper. Many a M1008's were parted out once liquidated. I'll ask around locally when I get back home from work about a frame. Regional prices on square body trucks and parts are wildly different - so shop around. Personally I think $1500 for a frame is crazy talk unless it was blasted clean and coated with something.

 

[Chaski]

Okay - I heard back from a buddy of mine that parted out an M1008 about 8 years ago. He still has the frame leaning on his shop wall (indoors). Located in Yreka CA. I don't want to be the middle man, but I will PM you contact info.

 

[Tinstar]

As mentioned, a frame swap will save the day.

It’s part of the family and can’t go without at least trying to save it.

If anything happened to mine, I would try everything to save it.
If that wasn’t possible, then a quiet resting place on the ranch would do.

 

[Lil Pete]

So, It's been a while. Thanks again for all of the good advise. Just when I was thinking that I was going to be driving to Utah, renting a trailer and paying $1500 for a 1008 with no drive train and no axles, I got a text from Weston, (the man I bought Lil Pete from). He knew where there was a donor truck only 30miles from my house. So, we met at the property to talk to the owner. The trucks were pretty rusty and had been entombed in 26 years of Coyote bush. Oh, did I mention there were two m1008s......yup! I almost wet my pants when the owner told me that I needed to take both trucks. Imagine my wife's delight at the news.....well at least one of us was happy enough for the both of us. When I asked the owner how much he wanted for these two "complete" steel soldiers, he calmly stated that " $1000 for the both would do, and maybe you can make one truck out of the two."
So, I called my friend Gary and cleared the next day for the payment and relocation of the two new additions to my addiction. With some good tires from Lil Pete, a Harbor Freight come-along, and a barely capable car dolly from U-haul we made two trips that day.
We lifted Pete as high as possible, ratchet strapped the cab and bed to the joists of my side yard cover and lowered the frame away.
In the front yard my buddy Tom and his boys helped with a bobcat and more straps to pull the cab and bed off of the donor truck (which I named Rat Fink after a spotted rat jumped out from the firewall when I was removing the thousands of stick installed there; no doubt by the same rodent).
The new frame was stripped, sanded, primed and painted with 2 parts gloss Rust-Oleum, one part flat black Rust-Oleum to make the perfect semi-gloss black. By-the-way, a wire wheel on a mini-grinder and the wind blowing your shirt are a great way to get punched in the stomach by a mini-grinder.
Some other very good advise that I followed by you guys. "Don't throw anything away until you are finished with the the rebuild." There were so many small bits that I removed from the wrecked pieces that I didn't know I needed, until I did need them. Also, the Harbor Freight sheet metal nut rivet kit was super helpful for mounting brackets in the engine bay and on the radiator core support.
So, in conclusion thanks to the members and creators of this forum. And, I owe Weston a steak dinner for helping me find the donors.
Maybe I should name the remaining donor truck Stinky Pete........

 

[M35fan]

So, It's been a while. Thanks again for all of the good advise. Just when I was thinking that I was going to be driving to Utah, renting a trailer and paying $1500 for a 1008 with no drive train and no axles, I got a text from Weston, (the man I bought Lil Pete from). He knew where there was a donor truck only 30miles from my house. So, we met at the property to talk to the owner. The trucks were pretty rusty and had been entombed in 26 years of Coyote bush. Oh, did I mention there were two m1008s......yup! I almost wet my pants when the owner told me that I needed to take both trucks. Imagine my wife's delight at the news.....well at least one of us was happy enough for the both of us. When I asked the owner how much he wanted for these two "complete" steel soldiers, he calmly stated that " $1000 for the both would do, and maybe you can make one truck out of the two."
So, I called my friend Gary and cleared the next day for the payment and relocation of the two new additions to my addiction. With some good tires from Lil Pete, a Harbor Freight come-along, and a barely capable car dolly from U-haul we made two trips that day.
We lifted Pete as high as possible, ratchet strapped the cab and bed to the joists of my side yard cover and lowered the frame away.
In the front yard my buddy Tom and his boys helped with a bobcat and more straps to pull the cab and bed off of the donor truck (which I named Rat Fink after a spotted rat jumped out from the firewall when I was removing the thousands of stick installed there; no doubt by the same rodent).
The new frame was stripped, sanded, primed and painted with 2 parts gloss Rust-Oleum, one part flat black Rust-Oleum to make the perfect semi-gloss black. By-the-way, a wire wheel on a mini-grinder and the wind blowing your shirt are a great way to get punched in the stomach by a mini-grinder.
Some other very good advise that I followed by you guys. "Don't throw anything away until you are finished with the the rebuild." There were so many small bits that I removed from the wrecked pieces that I didn't know I needed, until I did need them. Also, the Harbor Freight sheet metal nut rivet kit was super helpful for mounting brackets in the engine bay and on the radiator core support.
So, in conclusion thanks to the members and creators of this forum. And, I owe Weston a steak dinner for helping me find the donors.
Maybe I should name the remaining donor truck Stinky Pete........

Go, Lil Pete! This is an awesome story. I'm all for saving these old trucks, if at all possible. They don't build em like that anymore.

 

[jward1]

how's the tree??

 

[nyoffroad]

Thanks for the update and I'm really glad you didn't try to save that frame. In years past and money tight I might've tried even knowing it should be replaced.

 

[Lil Pete]

The tree is still alive; and hopefully it stays that way. My city will require me to pay for a new tree if it dies within 3 years of hitting it. Which is why I was really bummed when my brother-in-law pulled more bark off the tree just to write in sharpie "RIP Lil Pete".
I educated my "brother" and threw out the ill gotten bark head stone.....Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!!
Sometimes I don't know whether to spit or wind my watch...