1984 M1009 "The Beast"

This is my 1984 M1009 project that my coworkers have nicknamed "The Beast". I've been working on this truck for almost a year and am just getting into some of the more major upgrades and repairs now, so figured it would be a good time to start a thread to document my progress.



The truck had at least 2 other civilian owners before me, and was a fire truck for the forestry service after it was decommissioned from the military.

My goal for right now is to make it reliable enough to be a daily driver. Then once that's done I will start thinking about possible performance upgrades.

Some of what I've done so far:
- Doghead starter relay mod
- New harmonic balancer
- New V-belts
- Complete overhaul of glow plug circuit
- New window seals
- H4 headlight conversion
- Instrument panel circuit board restoration
- Painted interior trim
- Replace shocks

What's up next:
- Steering box rebuild
- New power steering lines
- Service brakes
- Service axles, hubs and diffs
- Leaf spring and sway bar bushings
- Custom headlight harness and underhood fuse box install
- Fix a bunch of leaks
- Replace a scary amount of missing/incorrect hardware
- Body work
- New windshield
- Bedliner floor
- Paint
- Replace dummy lights with gauges
- Install a tach
- Interior lighting upgrade