The CUCV Build-1986 M1031 Mobile Field Maintenance Assault Vehicle

[PlethoraOfGuns]

All kinds of new add ons!


Picked up some more of those military Jerry can holders. Two cans were nice, but we can fit four!


The aluminum was a tad bit thin up high on the body, so I drilled and tapped these aluminum bars across the inside to add support and give something for the can mounts to really bolt to.


The rear sleeping area got some added comforts. Foam board insulation on the walls and ceiling. That will keep the heat in during the cold nights and the heat from the sun out during the hot days. A few coats of polyurethane on the birch plywood should help with any moisture problems. And what better to add than some LED lights, which reflect off the inside foil side of the insulation and really light it up in there!


We're going oldschool and using actual paper maps. Needed somewhere to store them in the cab up out of the way. Had some scrap aluminum laying around so I came up with this.


Need somewhere to keep your Stetson as well. :costumed-smiley-007 Also have a light bar mounted on the inside of the cab ceiling for additional interior cab lighting.


Picked up a nice 1962 Coleman 425. :chef: One step closer to converting over from propane...

 

[chilliwak]

I like the new add ons on your truck Plethora. You can never have enough jerry can space for fuel and water so the ability to handle 4 cans looks like a good option. The Stetson hat storage is a perfect idea as is the magazine rack. I can remember cooking on those old school Coleman stoves. They are bullet proof and work perfectly whenever you need them. Good score. Just wondering why you want to move away from propane? Thanks for posting up. I love watching your build. Cheers, Chilli...:wings:

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

I like the new add ons on your truck Plethora. You can never have enough jerry can space for fuel and water so the ability to handle 4 cans looks like a good option. The Stetson hat storage is a perfect idea as is the magazine rack. I can remember cooking on those old school Coleman stoves. They are bullet proof and work perfectly whenever you need them. Good score. Just wondering why you want to move away from propane? Thanks for posting up. I love watching your build. Cheers, Chilli...:wings:

Can never have too many jerry cans!


Ok, maybe you can have too many. But is that really a bad thing?

And I love these old stoves. They run super hot and are built like tanks! They probably still make them new, but they are most likely made in China and who knows what corners were cut there. But I grew up in the Boy Scouts, and all we used were propane stoves for cooking and propane lanterns for light. They were quick, easy, and lightweight. For backpacking, we used white gas stoves. I've always questioned why we used one over the other in those different scenarios. From what I've heard from certain elders, it turns out the Boy Scouts used to use the old white gas stuff for everything. But in recent years they have deemed them dangerous for kids to use or something silly like that. I'll agree with the fact that anything that runs on white gas takes a few more steps and one needs to be a tad bit more careful with them.

That being what it is, we still used white gas backpacking stoves for backpacking. Why? Because it was more economical. White gas has a whole lot more btu's per pound, so one can run a two burner white gas stove for a few days on 1 pound of fuel versus a two burner propane stove only running a few hours on that same amount of fuel. So now one needs to carry a whole bunch of these little green propane tanks instead of one small tank of liquid white gas. Once the propane tank is empty, now you got all these empty tanks that everyone just throws in the trash. Now that's just not very environmentally friendly. another benefit to white gas is that you can use it in sub-freezing conditions. Propane actually loses pressure the colder it gets, which means less btu's and longer cook times.


I got this white gas lantern at an auction for like $5, I said whatever, lets try it out. It was after using that a few times that I realized how much better for me the white gas was over the propane. It used so much less fuel. So I packed my propane lantern away and used the white gas lantern. I still used my propane stove though. So now I had to carry propane, and white gas in the truck. Wait, what? No, we only need to carry one type of fuel. So we also ditched the propane stove for the white gas stove. Now we only have one fuel in the truck. One two burner stove, one lantern, and one backpacking stove, all white gas. End rant...


Also have this 1972 military lantern that uses white gas. Very robust, but is not as user-friendly or bright as the Coleman 220 I got from the auction. One really awesome thing about these lanterns is the four piece glass setup. I liked it so much, I tore apart all these lanterns and swapped the four piece glass frame onto the Coleman lantern. The glass is very thick and hopefully more durable than the thin one piece that go onto the stock Coleman lanterns. I've cracked a few of the one piece glass due to water hitting the hot glass and just general abuse.


Bonus points if you can guess what kind of backpacking stove this is that we use!

Here's a hint...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg61t9FGMf4

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

The old stock pintle hitch on the back of the truck is great and everything, but it can only haul big trailers behind the truck, which the truck doesn't have the power to pull! So we need to make some modifications...


Picked up this hitch tube from the interwebs and just welded it to the bottom of the 3/8" bumper plate. Behind the bumper there is a bunch of giant brackets that brace every which way so it should be plenty strong to haul a log splitter or 12' rowboat, or flat tow Jeep etc. The original pintle hook was too tall for small(normal) trailers, so this works great.


And now we can two two things at once!


But let's see, what else can we use this hitch receiver for?


Picked up this nice vise at a swap meet. That should come in handy.


Well, already got use out of it. Now I don't have to hold things in my hand when I'm welding them out in the field!


And look what we found in the garbage. Hmmm, will it fit? What to do with this contraption... :smiley_drive:

 

[chilliwak]

Looking good Plethora. I like the multiple use of the reciever hitch. Thanks for posting....

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

Looking good Plethora. I like the multiple use of the reciever hitch. Thanks for posting....

Thanks Chilli, it's getting there. A reciever hitch can be used for so much more than just hauling trailers. I wanna texture the corners of the black baseplate for the vise for grip because I find myself using the thing as a step to get up onto the tailgate and stuff. The vise is not the lightest thing, so I just leave it there unless I need to tow something.

Another possibility was getting one of those bumper dumper things for the hitch reciever. But that means we would be relieving ourselves behind the truck, where we cook and live, which doesn't go with our flow, so we need to figure out something else for convienient restroom breaks.

 

[jamesgrizzlyadams]

!

Awesome build so far, really well thought out and well executed modifications.

Nice to see I'm not the only one spending my time and money trying to turn one of these old CUCV's into a reliable expedition vehicle.
The M1031 version is pretty slick, gotta admit.

 

[Cooose]

Definitely enjoyed the read thus far and look forward to what's to come. Keep up the good work.

 

[Gravel Slinger]

Well I just sat here & read all 9 pages at once...now I wish had our M1031 back.
Keep up the good work. You've got great ideas & execution of them - love it!

 

[Doc Foster]

Love your build so far. That vintage coleman stove brings back a lot of family camping memories from the 1960's and 1970's with my brother, mom and dad. My fool brother sold it in a yard sale a few years ago and it still worked great!

View attachment 306053
Picked up a nice 1962 Coleman 425. :chef: One step closer to converting over from propane...[/QUOTE]

 

[mjmcdowell]

Your backpacking stove........

"SEVE" (not sure of spelling tho you get it) mjmcdowell

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

Awesome build so far, really well thought out and well executed modifications.

Nice to see I'm not the only one spending my time and money trying to turn one of these old CUCV's into a reliable expedition vehicle.
The M1031 version is pretty slick, gotta admit.

Thanks. There is a certain charm to these old pieces of iron. Like it's not their time to go, and they deserve better. The M1031 pretty awesome. It's geared more towards maintainance than anything else. It would be hard for me to rip out the generator and air compressor stuff just to make more room for silly expedition stuff. Having a mobile 12,000 watt 3 phase generator is just too cool! I wish I had the height in the rear body like you guys have in your M1010's.:bowdown: After you rewire the whole M1010, and maybe swap an overdrive trans into it, and probably swap in a NP205, it really is the perfect vehicle for anything and everything.

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

Definitely enjoyed the read thus far and look forward to what's to come. Keep up the good work.

Glad I can provide material to read. There is so much inspiration that floats around this forum, it's almost unhealthy!

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

Well I just sat here & read all 9 pages at once...now I wish had our M1031 back.
Keep up the good work. You've got great ideas & execution of them - love it!

That's what's so great about these old military surplus vehicles. They are affordable and can be transformed and molded to fit anyone's particular lifestyle. I've grown too attached to the old girl, don't know if I could ever even think about getting rid of her. Just need to keep throwing time and money at her. She's gonna need a new cab soon. Old Chevy's have a slight rust problem, especially on the east coast...

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

Love your build so far. That vintage coleman stove brings back a lot of family camping memories from the 1960's and 1970's with my brother, mom and dad. My fool brother sold it in a yard sale a few years ago and it still worked great!

View attachment 306053
Picked up a nice 1962 Coleman 425. :chef: One step closer to converting over from propane...

[/QUOTE]

Great pieces of American workhorses. I'm sure it served your family well and will continue to serve others as time goes on. You can't kill them. Do me a favor, ********** your brother on the back of the head next time you see him!:sport_box