Sarge's rattle-can rebuild

[68Timber]

This is my '85 M1009 CUCV, bought it sight-unseen online and haven't really done much with it except drive it and enjoy it. I've usually got some little something going on with it, but it's usually just cleaning something up and painting it while it's off the truck. It's starting to look somewhat decent so I decided to start a build thread to post progress.

Here's what I drug home. It was advertised as non-running, but it started right up and drove on the trailer.


Here's a pic a few weeks later after a good bath.


This picture is after spending a day under it with a pressure washer and then painting the underside and suspension with semi-gloss black.

[68Timber]

The CUCV grill guard is obviously gone, DBLSPRT68 and I did some horse-tradin - his 80's vintage bull bar for the CUCV grill guard. I haven't done anything with it yet, but I want to sand it/paint it and hang some off road lights on it. Before I do all that, I decided to take the grill off and clean it up.

Stripped down:


After a bunch of primer and sanding:


Final paint:


Here it's mostly back together. My parking lamp lenses were shot, I got a really nice set from Tx Firefighter - thanks Kevin. I upgraded the head lamps to Sylvania Silverstars while it was apart. And to make sure its as obnoxiously rednecked as possible, I added the Caddy horns. They're loud and all, but somehow not right. It's like Larry the Cable Guy (Mater?) talking with a Barry White voice. I'm sure I'll get over it.

[Willowrun]

Interested to see what you've got planned. Did they fork it on both sides?
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[68Timber]

My headlight bezels were broken on both sides, so I bought a new pair from Classic Parts. I also bought a media tumbler from Harbor Freight, the $50 model. I had two fist-fulls of nuts and bolts and screws that needed help so it seemed like a good time to try one. I let it run three days with play sand, it cleaned everything up good. I stuck them all in cardboard and gave them a coat of satin black. Larger items needed a visit to the blast cabinet.

Here are the head light buckets after one has been through the cabinet:


Here is the grille "before":


And after. I painted the trim that surrounds grille with satin black. I'm not sold on it after the fact. If it doesn't grow on me I'll paint it green to match the grille.


Next up will be getting the bull bar on and some lights front and rear.

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by Willowrun

Interested to see what you've got planned. Did they fork it on both sides?
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Hard to tell for sure but I don't think so. Both doors are dented but the drive shafts are good. I don't have anything wild planned, it's my weekend driver. I've spent a bunch on my other truck so this one will be my budget ride.

[Jonboy]

I like the way the grille trim turned out. It would look good with all of it painted dark argent (charcoal) too.

[DBLSPRT68]

John, I'm glad I finally saw pics of yours with the grill guard installed. I see that it is angled back some..... It looks great on my Burb. I was only going to test fit it, and try and pull it out. Looks good to me, but now I have to pull it back off and paint it black..... I did look at this truck while at your house, really nice truck. I've got to do the same things to mine, front end and underside. Mine is kinda rusty underneath. Hope we can meet up one day. David

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by Jonboy

I like the way the grille trim turned out. It would look good with all of it painted dark argent (charcoal) too.

Thanks - it probably would look better in charcoal. I'm going to give it a few weeks before I decide whether or not to change it.

Originally Posted by DBLSPRT68

John, I'm glad I finally saw pics of yours with the grill guard installed. I see that it is angled back some..... It looks great on my Burb. I was only going to test fit it, and try and pull it out. Looks good to me, but now I have to pull it back off and paint it black..... I did look at this truck while at your house, really nice truck. I've got to do the same things to mine, front end and underside. Mine is kinda rusty underneath. Hope we can meet up one day. David

David, I saw the pics of it installed on your truck and it seemed much more vertical than it was on mine. Thanks for the compliments! Satin black is a miracle cure for the chassis. I'm sure we'll get to meet up in LA before too long.

[68Timber]

The junkyard gods smiled on me last summer, I found a K5 at the pick-n-pull that hadn't been gone over yet and it had a Rancho 2.5" suspension on it. I recognized it because I put one on a K5 I had back in the 90's. A little work and $75 made it mine, and I got some other goodies off that truck as well. But I've had some other stuff going on that have kept me from wrenching much at all in 2013, so it sat, but I've rounded that corner and can play with trucks again.

Today I put the wire wheel on the grinder to freshen up the front springs and shackles. I obviously didn't blow apart the spring packs, but hey, they'll look better. I should be able to install this shortly.

[68Timber]

Beautiful day today, and I was working from home, so I painted parts. And I got most everything done but I need to get a few more coats on the leaf springs. I am using Rust-oleum camo paint from Walmart to give the shocks and hardware some detail that fits the truck. I bought new shocks, just some budget Pro-Comp ES1000's. They were white, but I've fixed that. They came with black boots, so they should look good on the truck. I also bought new poly bushings, but went with black, and also have new spring and shackle bolts ready to go. The bad news is a cold front is coming through tonight and I'll have to wait for it to warm up to finish painting the springs.

[mpierce9]

Look'n sharp.

[68Timber]

Thank you sir! New shoes are waiting on me.

[Willowrun]

What size tires did you go with? Are you lifting the rear also? Edit...just noticed the rear lift.....

[68Timber]

The wheels are Pro Comp rock crawler 15x10's. The tires are 33x12.50's. The wheels are one of the few new parts I've bought, this will be as budget friendly as I can do it.

[DBLSPRT68]

LOOKIN GOOD JOHN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[truckfan]

Looking good.

[68Timber]

Thanks guys. The weather is killing me right now. I work out of town a lot during the week, between that and the cold weather this is dragging out longer than it should. Maybe I can get this installed this weekend. We'll see.

[motornut]

looks good,
I know the bumper outline detail changes ,
I had my 78s guard on the 88 and it leaned out funny,check the guard shape to the bumper shape

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by motornut

looks good,
I know the bumper outline detail changes ,
I had my 78s guard on the 88 and it leaned out funny,check the guard shape to the bumper shape

Thanks John.

This is the best I can do for now, crazy weather down in Alabama but it is supposed to be in the 60's Saturday, so maybe I'll get all this bolted on.

[68Timber]

Well, crap. The spring bushings I ordered do not fit the Rancho springs, they're too wide. So I decided to at least install the rear blocks, no dice there either - the u-bolts I ordered weren't long enough. Sooo, I've ordered longer u-bolts and Rancho bushings.

[48cj2a]

Great work!

Your labor is bringing back some ambition in working on mine again but we've got nearly a foot of snow on the ground in Central Illinois and temps have been in the teens.

Can wait for Spring here and keep up the good work!!!

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by crashz

Looks good! The lift and tires will really change the personality of the truck.


BTW - love the concrete test cylinder wall!

Thanks, and yeah, cars aren't the only thing that come with weird PO mods.

Originally Posted by 48cj2a

Great work!

Your labor is bringing back some ambition in working on mine again but we've got nearly a foot of snow on the ground in Central Illinois and temps have been in the teens.

Can wait for Spring here and keep up the good work!!!

Thanks man. I'm looking forward to "top gone" weather myself.

I'd previously got busy with the pressure washer under the truck and followed up with a bunch of cans of satin black rattle can. It was a big improvement at the time, but I'm trying to detail it a little better while I'm working under the truck. Today was a little too cold to paint anything so I went to work with the grinder and wire wheel. I also smoked my old grinder and finished the day with a new one. Tomorrow will be warm enough to paint some more. I'll get some pics then.

[68Timber]

Small update. Got everything installed. My front hubs didn't look so good so I scuffed them up and repainted them. I'll let the paint harden a week before I put the tires back on, so no shot with the new shoes on. It's coming along though.

[68Timber]

I'm going to work on it some this afternoon, but I had to take it for a drive this morning. Rides good but needs an alignment.

[joe231]

Looks good!!