Arctic Offroad Forums

My buildup of my 1987 1/2 ton may take a brief delay. I found a great truck that I may buy and it will take all my buildup money. It's a 1986 M1008 CUCV which is basically a K30 pickup with the 6.2 diesel. Equipped with a 14 bolt FF with a Detroit locker and a Dana 60 with a TracLoc, 4.56 gears. The truck has already been converted to 12 volt system. A lift and tires and this truck will be ready to wheel. Already complete with camo paint job

Any problems with these trucks I should be aware of? The seller said since he's performed the 12 volt conversion, I can buy any parts I need at NAPA if needed for repairs.

The seller also said no rust. Is there anything special about the military paint? Is it more like powder coating? My wife is not too happy about a camo rig in the driveway, so it might have to end up a base coat for some other color.

The mil paint is not like powder coating, it is just like a flat spray paint. Congrats on the find, those CUCv's are real workhorses. Heck the flat paint they have is kind if like a primer, just sand it a bit and have an Earl Scheib job done on it... heck your gonna pinstripe it with branches anyway.. just get the cheapest paint job that will keep her happy.

As far as problems, make sure she's cold when you arrive so you can make sure the glow plugs work. With the engine cold, also open the radiator cap to release any pressure. Start the engine for one minute, then check the cap again, if there is a lot of pressure after only one minute of idling, that is an early sign that a head gasket may be going bad. Another test you can do is to check for blowby, take the oil filler cap off with the motor warmed up and idling , a little vapor coming out is normal, but if it puffs like a freight train that means it has one or more cylinders with poor sealing rings. the only other probs with 6.2's are the blocks cracking, but this is more a function of tons of miles combined with a harmonic balancer that went bad along the way. Low mileage military rigs usually shouldn't be a problem, but you may want to install a main girdle in the future and always check your balancer.

Other than the 6.2 issues that Mr. Hummer already described, some came with 208's...not the most desired tcase, but definetly not that bad, it does have the lowest ratio between 203's and 205's...other than that they are some stout rigs, I'd jump on it if I were you...has all the goodies you've been looking for a builder.

I would love to have the military Blazer, the ones I found when I was in Tucson were beat.

4Wheel and offraod magazine's buildup of a CUCV has got me really interested. If you didn't read the arcticles, here's a link to them on their website. http://www.4wheeloffroad.com/projectbuil...y_one_ton/

I really like the NV4500 transplant they did with a NP205 4:1 t-case.

There is a good chance the paint isn't just flat paint. All of our vehicles when I was in the cav and at Ft. bragg, which included a few of these are painted with CARC paint. We had to send them off to get painted cause the paint is Carcinegenic, hence the name CARC paint. It is safe onec applied. But if you are going to do any sanding or cutting on it I would wear a respirator.

I always enjoyed riding around in these. The suspension was rough and you could catch air easily just the landing was hard.

akram Wrote:I always enjoyed riding around in these. The suspension was rough and you could catch air easily just the landing was hard.

Yeah, the suspension is rated at 5/4 ton, so should be a little stiffer than a 1 ton.

Hopefully the seller and I can actually get together. He's out of town right now and I have to leave soon.

I thought CARC stood for Chemical Agent Resitant Coating? Heck maybe it is both!!

93hummer Wrote:I thought CARC stood for Chemical Agent Resitant Coating? Heck maybe it is both!!

Yes it dos actually. but we always said it was due to it's carcenegenic properties. The paint cans have a label that says it is known to the state of California that this prodauct will cause cancer. Key word will not may. If it is the original millitary paint job then if it is CARC then it will have "CARC" on the body somewhere. If you don't see that then hopefully it wasn't.

Wheweie...! Good thing we're not in California. Sand away. :yes:

CUCVs kick @$$. I've also seen some with gas engines swapped in after the 6.2 goes belly up.

Posting up some pics of my CUCV. It's a 1985 M1028 5/4 ton with the 6.2L diesel. Dana 60 with Dana Tracloc and FF14 bolt with Detroit Locker with 4.56 gears. Turbo 400 and 208 transfer case.

This is right after I brought it home. I've since removed the decals and the spray painted numbers.
Here's the front view. I think I'm going to keep the brush guard. The seller banged up this one and gave me another one that is straight. Awesome recovery points also.


Here's the side view. Nothing special. The camo paint hides the few little dings.


Rear view. More recovery points and my favorite feature, the pintle hitch with 360° rotation. Perfect for pulling a trailer on the trail.


The truck came with a bunch of goodies. Two new batteries, new Warn hubs, glow plugs. Also came with new shocks, but those will get taken off for the new lift. Also got a spare hood, trailer hitch and grill guard. Tires are shot, but new wheels and tires are on order. Just got to figure out what lift I want.

I need to install the hitch to tow my Bobcat trailer. This is going to reduce my departure angle, but is a necessary evil. Not sure if I'm going to install a tailgate, may just brace the rear bed corners to prevent any excessive damage if I rub some trees.

Another nice accessory that came with the truck are the 2 M-16 rifle hold downs in the corners of the cab.

I also bought a new HVLP paint gun. Hopefull I'll get some free time to spray it in June, but may have to wait until July.

Sounds like a great start for a project. What paint color are you thinking of?

I'm not doing too much body work, just taking out the big dents, not the little dings. I'm thinking a flat color that will hide any existing and future damage well. Not sure on the exact color. I got one in mind, but need to find some color samples first to see how it looks. I started to spray paint some pieces of cardboard to use as color swatches next to the truck, but ran out of time before I had to go to work.

I was looking at purchasing a stud gun that spot welds little pins to the body that you then use a slide hammer to pull out the dents. I need it on both on the 1985 and 1987 trucks. More toys for the shop