The CUCV Build-1986 M1031 Mobile Field Maintenance Assault Vehicle
- Thread starter PlethoraOfGuns
- Start date
PlethoraOfGuns
Adventurer
Great to see a contact maintenance truck being built up!! I bought an M1010 ambulance a few months ago to build up, but I've always really liked the concept of an expedition-ish M1031. Can't wait to see what you do with her
There are just a handful of people on here that have done the M1010. Pretty cool stuff what they did. The electrical system is a whole monster of its own. Never seen someone do anything with a M1031. A M1010 you can surely almost live completely inside the vehicle like a camper. This M1031 will have to be a hybrid utilizing both the inside and outside compartments. How I use manage the space for being on the road and off the grid for a few months at a time with 2 people might be rather interesting. This rig will also pull double duty as a support truck for my Jeep. So the original maintenance aspect of the truck will still need to be there.
PlethoraOfGuns
Adventurer
Well, the truck enjoys the new tires. Here's a video of her driving down the street.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Baz0aZBdAPs
Yes, she needs some exhaust work...
Well the one downpipe surely needed to be replaced. The whole exhaust will most likely need to be replaced, but for now, to get her on the road, we just gonna patch her up. Will get whole setup from military swap meet.
Sometimes on these old truck you run into these issues. Oil and heat dang it!
Needless to say, only the first one broke.
Ah, the old weld-a-nut-on trick.
Much better. Now it should sound like a diesel. On a side note, call me crazy, but I always take a sharpie and write down the mileage onto the oil filter when I do oil changes. Is that weird?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Baz0aZBdAPs
Yes, she needs some exhaust work...
Well the one downpipe surely needed to be replaced. The whole exhaust will most likely need to be replaced, but for now, to get her on the road, we just gonna patch her up. Will get whole setup from military swap meet.
Sometimes on these old truck you run into these issues. Oil and heat dang it!
Needless to say, only the first one broke.Ah, the old weld-a-nut-on trick.
Much better. Now it should sound like a diesel. On a side note, call me crazy, but I always take a sharpie and write down the mileage onto the oil filter when I do oil changes. Is that weird?
bknudtsen
Expedition Leader
Nope. Seems like a good idea to me.
toyrunner95
Explorer
So. I think I'll chime in here. I had an 87 M1028. (same truck with a fleet bed) I loved that truck to death. I adjusted my vacuum regulator valve on the side of the throttle connection so mine shifted a bit smoother. It didn't slam into gear at high RPMs. Also keep in mind that if you change batteries go to CAT or CASE and get the 990cca batteries. It will kick over so much faster. These also take different alternators. It will not charge correctly if you just slap an AC Delco one in. so watch that. Make sure the bulbs in the GEN1 and GEN2 lights work. They act like fuses. If the lights don't turn on when you turn the key to "on" there may be an issue.
Hit me up if you have any questions. ill be glad to help.
Hit me up if you have any questions. ill be glad to help.
PlethoraOfGuns
Adventurer
Thanks for the advise. Question, how did you adjust the regulator valve? Are they meant to be adjusted? I hate automatics, even simple ones like these. If it weren't for the awesome generator setup, she'd have a manual swapped into her.
The wiring on these trucks are a little weird, but if get the tm's and take your time, it's pretty simple to understand, even if you don't agree with how they did it. The alternators are the old original ones with the isolated grounds. I will surely just rebuild them if they give me a problem. Will surely be upgrading the electronics. It's an expedition rig, so surely it needs solar panels and stuff right? That nice flat roof is begging for all kinds of stuff...
PlethoraOfGuns
Adventurer
So I was out at some yard sales and came across a few goodies. Hope they fit, well, we'll make them fit.
The M1031 was originally equipped with giant 3 phase stick welder. I didn't have it, didn't want the weight, and didn't feel like spending $3000+ for a welder I wouldn't be using all that much. I have a Miller Syncrowave 350 that could run on the 3 phase, but that would take up the entire rear of the truck, haha. So this lil 120v Lincoln I got for nothing with work just fine.
Well, since I have all this unnecessary generator power, might as well use some of it with a microwave. This old lady didn't want to part with her old piece of junk from the 1980's, I really had to haggle with her.
And these old tool boxes can organize all kinds of stuff!
And of course my neighbor needed help ripping out some old fence posts, so I gladly gave him a hand.
The M1031 was originally equipped with giant 3 phase stick welder. I didn't have it, didn't want the weight, and didn't feel like spending $3000+ for a welder I wouldn't be using all that much. I have a Miller Syncrowave 350 that could run on the 3 phase, but that would take up the entire rear of the truck, haha. So this lil 120v Lincoln I got for nothing with work just fine.
Well, since I have all this unnecessary generator power, might as well use some of it with a microwave. This old lady didn't want to part with her old piece of junk from the 1980's, I really had to haggle with her.
And these old tool boxes can organize all kinds of stuff!
And of course my neighbor needed help ripping out some old fence posts, so I gladly gave him a hand.
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Hartigan
Let's go!
It sounds like your hybrid use will fit the maintenance body perfectly... I'm excited to see it come together.
You're spot on, my M1010 is an electrical nightmare. The sheriff's department that ran the truck before made extra sure of it when they started cutting
PlethoraOfGuns
Adventurer
Thanks for posting pics of your fine:Wow1: rig Plethora. I love the aluminum box on the back and everything else about the truck. I am sure you are going to have fun with this rig. Please keep us up to date with lots of pics. Cheers, Chilli...
Thanks. What would a build thread be without lots of pictures?!?!?
PlethoraOfGuns
Adventurer
It sounds like your hybrid use will fit the maintenance body perfectly... I'm excited to see it come together.
You're spot on, my M1010 is an electrical nightmare. The sheriff's department that ran the truck before made extra sure of it when they started cutting
Those M1010's have that silly Duvac thing. And having been a dept vehicle of some sort is always a bad thing because they get Joe Shmo in there because he knows what a wire nut is and bam, you got a cut up nasty mess. It be hard to make that electrical system work for anyone. If it was me, I'd rip out most of the wiring/componants and start from scratch. But that's most likely a huge hassle due to stuff like alternators, heat, and a/c. But there is no denying that the M1010 body is awesome and a great platform for an expedition rig.
Hartigan
Let's go!
I've been at it for a few weeks doing just that. I've gutted most of their wacky light and aux circuits, and been trying to figure out how the crap their extra under-hood wiring works... All the same color, of course. They actually did a halfway decent "Plan-B" DUVAC removal, but I'm taking all the 24V out. The heater and AC didn't work anyway. I really like electro-mechanical troubleshooting, so the "nightmare" has actually been pretty fun for me
I'm putting a build thread together, so I'll take the M1010 talk off of yours... Keep us posted though!!
PlethoraOfGuns
Adventurer
Ok, so we can't collect all this stuff that will be going into the vehicle and just store it in the garage, there just isn't room for that. So I guess the best place to store this stuff is in the vehicle itself.
The bottom section of this tool cabinet fits almost too good. It fits, but so tight that it stays up elevated on it's own so we can vacuum and setup wood supports underneath.
While we're at it, before we get too ahead of ourselves, we need to scrub out a lot of dirt and grease that's in the back of this thing. I think there was spilled paint back there too.
Wood supports underneath and a snug fit probably won't hold this thing in place once there are a few hundred pounds in it while going down some nasty 4x4 trail, so we'll just weld some brackets to it and bolt it to the maintenance body.
Some spray paint and bam, the truck came stock like that!
The top section of cabinet will need wood support too. The idea is to position the cabinets as long as possible but just high enough so that the drawers have just enough clearance to open up.
Even with the supports underneath, it still needed to be bolted to the body. So the left side we just through bolted at the top to the body and the left side we made up a bracket.
The bottom section of this tool cabinet fits almost too good. It fits, but so tight that it stays up elevated on it's own so we can vacuum and setup wood supports underneath.
While we're at it, before we get too ahead of ourselves, we need to scrub out a lot of dirt and grease that's in the back of this thing. I think there was spilled paint back there too.
Wood supports underneath and a snug fit probably won't hold this thing in place once there are a few hundred pounds in it while going down some nasty 4x4 trail, so we'll just weld some brackets to it and bolt it to the maintenance body.
Some spray paint and bam, the truck came stock like that!
The top section of cabinet will need wood support too. The idea is to position the cabinets as long as possible but just high enough so that the drawers have just enough clearance to open up.
Even with the supports underneath, it still needed to be bolted to the body. So the left side we just through bolted at the top to the body and the left side we made up a bracket.
PlethoraOfGuns
Adventurer
So we made some room in the garage, and the truck runs and drives. Stopping is a different story. Never overlook the most important system in any vehicle, the brakes.
What kind of fluid in here? The military uses DOT 5 brake fluid. It is very different than DOT 3 like you see in most auto stores. If you mix the two different fluids together, the mix can turn to a gel, which I don't need to explain how that could be a bad thing for a brake system.
So one way we can determine which fluid we have is to fill a bottle with 50% water and 50% mystery fluid. DOT 3 is glycol based and will mix with water. DOT 5 is silicone based and will not mix well with water.
Looks like we got DOT 5. Both fluids have their pros and cons. DOT 5 has a higher boiling temperature. DOT 3 is easier to bleed. DOT 5 is nice to paint. DOT 3 is cheap. As an expedition vehicle, you would probably want your vehicle to be easier to get repaired if a problem should arise. DOT 3 can be bought anywhere, auto store, Wallyworld, gas stations, and even some motels. Run to your local auto store and try to get 2 quarts of DOT 5. Oh, and if you can some, I hope you don't cry too much when you see the price.
So because of the ease or access and price, we're gonna go with DOT 3. You definitely can't just add DOT 3 to DOT 5. And you can't just drain the DOT 5 out and replace with DOT 3. The proper way I believe is to drain all the DOT 5 out of system, blow the lines with compressed air, replace all seals and gaskets, and finally flush alcohol through system ahead of the DOT 3.
Halfway through the process, I began to regret my decision to switch fluids, eh, whatever. :ugh:
The master cylinder and front calipers can be disassembled, cleaned, and rebuild. The rear brakes are drums, and the cylinders are cheap enough to just replace.
While in here, might as well do some upkeep and lube everything up. I dislike drum brakes. Really thinking about disc brake conversions. Just gotta find an old Cadillac Eldorado to get parts off of...
And don't forget to pack your bearings and torque those hub nuts!
What kind of fluid in here? The military uses DOT 5 brake fluid. It is very different than DOT 3 like you see in most auto stores. If you mix the two different fluids together, the mix can turn to a gel, which I don't need to explain how that could be a bad thing for a brake system.
So one way we can determine which fluid we have is to fill a bottle with 50% water and 50% mystery fluid. DOT 3 is glycol based and will mix with water. DOT 5 is silicone based and will not mix well with water.
Looks like we got DOT 5. Both fluids have their pros and cons. DOT 5 has a higher boiling temperature. DOT 3 is easier to bleed. DOT 5 is nice to paint. DOT 3 is cheap. As an expedition vehicle, you would probably want your vehicle to be easier to get repaired if a problem should arise. DOT 3 can be bought anywhere, auto store, Wallyworld, gas stations, and even some motels. Run to your local auto store and try to get 2 quarts of DOT 5. Oh, and if you can some, I hope you don't cry too much when you see the price.
So because of the ease or access and price, we're gonna go with DOT 3. You definitely can't just add DOT 3 to DOT 5. And you can't just drain the DOT 5 out and replace with DOT 3. The proper way I believe is to drain all the DOT 5 out of system, blow the lines with compressed air, replace all seals and gaskets, and finally flush alcohol through system ahead of the DOT 3.
Halfway through the process, I began to regret my decision to switch fluids, eh, whatever. :ugh:
The master cylinder and front calipers can be disassembled, cleaned, and rebuild. The rear brakes are drums, and the cylinders are cheap enough to just replace.
While in here, might as well do some upkeep and lube everything up. I dislike drum brakes. Really thinking about disc brake conversions. Just gotta find an old Cadillac Eldorado to get parts off of...
And don't forget to pack your bearings and torque those hub nuts!
PlethoraOfGuns
Adventurer
Truck stops much better now. Time to take a look in the cab to make it more, drive-able. The windows leak, don't go up and down like they should, and boy it's gonna get old hearing nothing but screaming engine for hours per day.
Some new weatherstripping is in order here.
And some of the teeth on the old crank windows were broke, so we're gonna change those too.
And to combat that droning engine noise? Music, it makes the world go round! And at the same time, help this vehicle get around the world.
Being a military vehicle, there are no provisions for anything to do with an audio system. No spot in the dash for a head unit, and no cutouts in the doors for speakers. So, we had to make our own speaker boxes. To make these, some 1/2" MDF board will work. Most audio stuff is done with 3/4" MDF, but these are going behind the bench seat and space is limited. And we're just going to have two 5"x9" speakers and one lil 6 1/2" subwoofer, so quality isn't really a priority. Some sound is better than no sound.
Some random paint we had laying around and installing some donated speakers and connection blocks and these are good to go!
Behind the seat there were brackets and stuff welded to the body for the vehicles OEM jack and tire changing stuff. Well, that stuff never came with the vehicle and we're gonna get a better jack to store in one of the rear cabinets. So we ripped all that useless stuff out to make room for the boom boom!
We're gonna need to mount the amplifier too. To do that, we just tack-welded some small bolts to the body. The amplifier will just attach to these bolts with rubber washers and nuts.
That's about that. Just gotta wire everything together and crank the tunes. If you look closely at the bottom of the photo under the speakers in the floor, there is one end of a flexible conduit that runs to the rear generator cabinet. This will be used later for any future wiring needed to go between cab and contact body. Now we're not using a head unit. Was thinking about making some sort of box to hold one, but don't really need one. The vehicle doesn't have an AM/FM antenna. What's a cassette tape? And who still uses cd's? Well, there's the Ipod and cellphones. That's probably all that will be needed so we'll just plug that into the amplifier and away we go. Nice and simple way to get some tunes for the long road ahead. :smiley_drive:
Some new weatherstripping is in order here.
And some of the teeth on the old crank windows were broke, so we're gonna change those too.
And to combat that droning engine noise? Music, it makes the world go round! And at the same time, help this vehicle get around the world.
Being a military vehicle, there are no provisions for anything to do with an audio system. No spot in the dash for a head unit, and no cutouts in the doors for speakers. So, we had to make our own speaker boxes. To make these, some 1/2" MDF board will work. Most audio stuff is done with 3/4" MDF, but these are going behind the bench seat and space is limited. And we're just going to have two 5"x9" speakers and one lil 6 1/2" subwoofer, so quality isn't really a priority. Some sound is better than no sound.
Some random paint we had laying around and installing some donated speakers and connection blocks and these are good to go!
Behind the seat there were brackets and stuff welded to the body for the vehicles OEM jack and tire changing stuff. Well, that stuff never came with the vehicle and we're gonna get a better jack to store in one of the rear cabinets. So we ripped all that useless stuff out to make room for the boom boom!
We're gonna need to mount the amplifier too. To do that, we just tack-welded some small bolts to the body. The amplifier will just attach to these bolts with rubber washers and nuts.
That's about that. Just gotta wire everything together and crank the tunes. If you look closely at the bottom of the photo under the speakers in the floor, there is one end of a flexible conduit that runs to the rear generator cabinet. This will be used later for any future wiring needed to go between cab and contact body. Now we're not using a head unit. Was thinking about making some sort of box to hold one, but don't really need one. The vehicle doesn't have an AM/FM antenna. What's a cassette tape? And who still uses cd's? Well, there's the Ipod and cellphones. That's probably all that will be needed so we'll just plug that into the amplifier and away we go. Nice and simple way to get some tunes for the long road ahead. :smiley_drive:
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