lizzyfur
Registered Member
This thread is for the general discussion of the Item 1984 M1009 "The Beast". Please add to the discussion here.
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1984 M1009 "The Beast"
- Thread starter lizzyfur
- Start date
lizzyfur
Registered Member
I got this baby almost a year ago now, with the hopes of making it daily driver worthy eventually. Up until fairly recently, I lived in an apartment so I was pretty limited on what I could do out in the parking lot. Most of the work I’ve done so far has been either electrical or small cosmetic things but I’ve got a house with a garage now so the more involved mechanical repairs are finally starting 
When I first got the truck I was able to drive it 2 hours home in the middle of a Carolina summer with no issues. The body is mostly rust free with the exception of the driver side rocker. There’s a few dents but overall it’s not too bad. I think the driver side door came off a different truck because the data plate is from an M1010 ambulance. The undercarriage is pretty rusty which is surprising considering how much fluid leaks out of EVERYTHING on the truck. The only things that do not seem to leak are the brakes and the transfer case. I’ve found a lot of sheared off or missing bolts, and a lot of the hardware that is there is pretty mismatched. The wiring was pretty scary as well - lots of frayed wires and things not working. The glow plug controller had been removed and the relay was bypassed with a seriously sketchy pushbutton setup that jumped the switched terminals. None of the lights on the instrument panel worked, LF headlight didn’t work and the wipers didn’t work. But overall it ran pretty good, brakes worked good, and steering felt good. Here’s some pictures of the condition it was in when I got it:
When I first got the truck I was able to drive it 2 hours home in the middle of a Carolina summer with no issues. The body is mostly rust free with the exception of the driver side rocker. There’s a few dents but overall it’s not too bad. I think the driver side door came off a different truck because the data plate is from an M1010 ambulance. The undercarriage is pretty rusty which is surprising considering how much fluid leaks out of EVERYTHING on the truck. The only things that do not seem to leak are the brakes and the transfer case. I’ve found a lot of sheared off or missing bolts, and a lot of the hardware that is there is pretty mismatched. The wiring was pretty scary as well - lots of frayed wires and things not working. The glow plug controller had been removed and the relay was bypassed with a seriously sketchy pushbutton setup that jumped the switched terminals. None of the lights on the instrument panel worked, LF headlight didn’t work and the wipers didn’t work. But overall it ran pretty good, brakes worked good, and steering felt good. Here’s some pictures of the condition it was in when I got it:
lizzyfur
Registered Member
First things I took care of were some of the electrical issues. Did the Doghead starter relay mod right away. Next was the glow plug system which like I said needed some serious help. The truck came with the glow plug controller removed and a pretty sketchy pushbutton setup installed. The wires were undersized, and were just jammed under the nuts on the relay coil terminals. The truck would usually start with this setup but the wires would get pretty hot.
I removed the resistor bank and ran 12V straight off the front battery with an inline 110A resettable breaker. I replaced the cheap Chinese relay that was on the truck with a White-Rodgers heavy duty relay rated for 24V and 200A (overkill I know but that should extend its life by a lot). The relay is switched by a new pushbutton that I installed in the radio dial cutout on the dash. 8 New AC delco 60Gs were installed, with braided sleeves over the fusible links to protect them. The truck starts perfectly now every time and I feel a lot better about it.
While I had the dash apart to install the button, I decided to take the instrument cluster apart. None of the lights on it were working other than the turn signal flashers. Cleaned up all the connections, replaced the bulbs with LED’s (except Gen1 and Gen2 lights) and repainted everything. A few of the copper tabs on the circuit board where the connector attaches had come up, so I carefully superglued them back down.
Also while I had everything out, I cleaned up all of the connections in the fusebox, interior ground points, and contacts on all of the connectors. Replaced the electrical tape wire wrap with some nicer braided loom. I absolutely HATE electrical tape used as loom so eventually all of it on my truck will be gone. Pretty happy with this before/after:
After I reinstalled the instrument panel and fired it up, the lights now work! It’s still a bit hard to read at night but I have a plan for that down the road anyways so stay tuned…
On the engine compartment side of things cleaned every electrical connection and ground point I could access easily, and inspected the wiring. There were a LOT of frayed wires and my battery cables were in pretty poor condition, so I ended up making some new ones. Most of the connectors were filled with dirt so those all got cleaned out, and I replaced the plastic loom with aluminized heat shielding loom. There’s still a lot of wire management to be done but I’m going to hold off on that until I install the new headlight harness and auxiliary fuse box I’m making.
I removed the resistor bank and ran 12V straight off the front battery with an inline 110A resettable breaker. I replaced the cheap Chinese relay that was on the truck with a White-Rodgers heavy duty relay rated for 24V and 200A (overkill I know but that should extend its life by a lot). The relay is switched by a new pushbutton that I installed in the radio dial cutout on the dash. 8 New AC delco 60Gs were installed, with braided sleeves over the fusible links to protect them. The truck starts perfectly now every time and I feel a lot better about it.
While I had the dash apart to install the button, I decided to take the instrument cluster apart. None of the lights on it were working other than the turn signal flashers. Cleaned up all the connections, replaced the bulbs with LED’s (except Gen1 and Gen2 lights) and repainted everything. A few of the copper tabs on the circuit board where the connector attaches had come up, so I carefully superglued them back down.
Also while I had everything out, I cleaned up all of the connections in the fusebox, interior ground points, and contacts on all of the connectors. Replaced the electrical tape wire wrap with some nicer braided loom. I absolutely HATE electrical tape used as loom so eventually all of it on my truck will be gone. Pretty happy with this before/after:
After I reinstalled the instrument panel and fired it up, the lights now work! It’s still a bit hard to read at night but I have a plan for that down the road anyways so stay tuned…
On the engine compartment side of things cleaned every electrical connection and ground point I could access easily, and inspected the wiring. There were a LOT of frayed wires and my battery cables were in pretty poor condition, so I ended up making some new ones. Most of the connectors were filled with dirt so those all got cleaned out, and I replaced the plastic loom with aluminized heat shielding loom. There’s still a lot of wire management to be done but I’m going to hold off on that until I install the new headlight harness and auxiliary fuse box I’m making.
Last edited:
lizzyfur
Registered Member
On rainy days when I couldn’t get out and do much (living in an apartment with just an open parking lot sucked for working on cars), I worked on repainting some of the trim. My door panels were pretty faded and scratched up so I decided to paint them. I used just hammer finish Krylon spray paint from the hardware store and I wasn’t sure how good it would turn out but I’m actually really happy with it, and so far it’s held up really well. I didn’t attempt to fix the scratches because I think it adds character.
Turns out if you don't have access to a paint booth, a bathroom works really well lol. Turn on the fan for ventilation, hang parts from the shower curtain rod and line the inside of the shower & bathtub with an old shower curtain or plastic and carboard and there you go - DIY paint booth
Old faded door panel vs freshly painted:
Before/after of the dash trim:
I didn't get a before pic of the dash pad but here's the finished product:
Turns out if you don't have access to a paint booth, a bathroom works really well lol. Turn on the fan for ventilation, hang parts from the shower curtain rod and line the inside of the shower & bathtub with an old shower curtain or plastic and carboard and there you go - DIY paint booth
Old faded door panel vs freshly painted:
Before/after of the dash trim:
I didn't get a before pic of the dash pad but here's the finished product:
lizzyfur
Registered Member
Fast forward to now and the truck is in my garage with the brush guard, front bumper and grille removed which was a huge PITA to do and required a grinder, vice grips and several beer. Last night the new shocks went on along with new mounting hardware to replace some of that mismatched stuff I mentioned. Don't think either of these were military issued...
Tomorrow the steering box is coming out and I am going to attempt to rebuild it. Will post pictures if I am successful...
Tomorrow the steering box is coming out and I am going to attempt to rebuild it. Will post pictures if I am successful...
lizzyfur
Registered Member
Well life got busy so it’s been a while since my last post!
The steering box rebuild was a long process which consisted of removing the box, disassembling it, cleaning up all the internals and removing the rust on the case, replacing all the internal seals and bearings, then letting it sit partially rebuilt for a few months out of frustration. Everything I read said that the ball bearings were the most annoying part of the rebuild, but I didn’t find that too bad. Installing the input shaft/spool valve assembly was by far the worst for me. Overall I’m glad I ended up doing it myself instead of shipping it out or buying a rebuilt one, but I do hope I never have to do it again.
Steering box before the rebuild while it was leaking everywhere:
Just after removing the box. It was super rusty and caked in oil
Post disassembly, degreasing, and rust remover soak:
Painted it yellow so that any future leaks show up better. And it looks pretty
All the internals after dissambly:
Rebuilt box back in the truck:
The steering box rebuild was a long process which consisted of removing the box, disassembling it, cleaning up all the internals and removing the rust on the case, replacing all the internal seals and bearings, then letting it sit partially rebuilt for a few months out of frustration. Everything I read said that the ball bearings were the most annoying part of the rebuild, but I didn’t find that too bad. Installing the input shaft/spool valve assembly was by far the worst for me. Overall I’m glad I ended up doing it myself instead of shipping it out or buying a rebuilt one, but I do hope I never have to do it again.
Steering box before the rebuild while it was leaking everywhere:
Just after removing the box. It was super rusty and caked in oil
Post disassembly, degreasing, and rust remover soak:
Painted it yellow so that any future leaks show up better. And it looks pretty
All the internals after dissambly:
Rebuilt box back in the truck:
lizzyfur
Registered Member
While I was avoiding putting the box back together, I replaced the old worn out rag joint, installed new power steering pressure lines, and the bolt on box brace from ORD. Also replaced sway bar bushings, installed H4 headlight housings, replaced the CDR valve and painted my grille.
Next up was addressing some of the leaks. The threads for the drain plug were completely stripped out and the pan was dimpled around a lot of the bolt holes like it had been over torqued so I chose just to replace the pan. I was nervous about what the bottom end was going to look like but was pleasantly surprised at how good of shape all the parts were in. Replaced the rear main seal while I was in there because it had been leaking.
While doing the oil pan replacement I also had to fix the wire for the starter solenoid which was in pretty scary condition. Also the flywheel cover had 4 bolts shared off in it, which I had to drill out and then tap or helicoil.
I still have some leaks now – still at the rear main and one at the front of the pan. Since this was my first rear main seal replacement and first time sealing an oil pan I’m not too surprised, but I know what I’ll do differently the next time around. I’ll be replacing my transmission pan with one that has a drain plug and installing new trans lines soon anyways so it will be a good time to redo the rear main.
Next up was addressing some of the leaks. The threads for the drain plug were completely stripped out and the pan was dimpled around a lot of the bolt holes like it had been over torqued so I chose just to replace the pan. I was nervous about what the bottom end was going to look like but was pleasantly surprised at how good of shape all the parts were in. Replaced the rear main seal while I was in there because it had been leaking.
While doing the oil pan replacement I also had to fix the wire for the starter solenoid which was in pretty scary condition. Also the flywheel cover had 4 bolts shared off in it, which I had to drill out and then tap or helicoil.
I still have some leaks now – still at the rear main and one at the front of the pan. Since this was my first rear main seal replacement and first time sealing an oil pan I’m not too surprised, but I know what I’ll do differently the next time around. I’ll be replacing my transmission pan with one that has a drain plug and installing new trans lines soon anyways so it will be a good time to redo the rear main.
lizzyfur
Registered Member
Took it camping fairly shortly after everything was back together and it ran great until something bound up on the way home while making a right turn. This had happened several times before, which was partially why I rebuilt the steering box. At this point I was pretty confident it wasn’t the steering box so I suspected a seized u-joint. Figured I’d do wheel bearings, spindle bearing, brakes and u-joints while I had it apart and it all needed to be done anyways.
When I got it apart everything inside the driver side hub was completely caked in mud, and the u-joint wouldn’t budge in one direction.
Wasn’t hard to tell what caused it to bind up!
One of the bearing caps was stuck on the passenger side u-joint and after hours of trying everything I could think of to get it off, I gave up and let it sit for months out of frustration (since that seemed to work for the steering box). The only thing I accomplished during this time was replacing the spindle bearings. I found the easiest way to get them out was to put the spindle on the upright backwards to hold it while I used the bearing puller.
Eventually my boyfriend wanted his workbench back so I took a grinder to the stuck bearing cap to shave it down and knocked the u-joint out backwards. After that, putting everything back together was pretty straightforward and went much smoother than I expected. I didn't get many pictures during assembly because of how much grease was involved. I ended up having to replace the locking hubs because the driver side had gotten really chewed up from the dirt that was in it, and it looked like someone may have driven it with the hub partially engaged.at some point.
While working down there I noticed the tie drivers side tie rod end had zero grease, and the stud on the passenger side was cracked, so replaced those too. I think I’ll invest in a toe gauge or make toe plates the next time I plan on doing an at home alignment because the string method was a bit too finicky for me, especially on a truck where nothing is straight
I had followed the instructions for torqueing the axle nuts from the military TM’s but it seemed like too much bearing preload because my hubs were HOT after the first drive. Pulled it back apart and backed off the inner nut so it was just barely contacting the bearing and that seems to have helped. When I initially pulled everything apart before the rebuild, the circlip on the inside of the hub housing was easy to get out with just a small screwdriver. With the new Warn hub assembly installed there wasn’t as much clearance behind the groove so I could not for the life of me get it out using a screwdriver, pick, or pliers but I figured out if you slide some fishing line under it it pops right out!
I didn’t get very good before pics, but here’s the after with all the new parts (minus the tie rod ends).
lizzyfur
Registered Member
Over the fall & winter the plan is to get to work on some of the bodywork that needs to be done. There’s a lot of bondo, dents and rust to fix, then paint and bedliner. I’m also going to try my hand at reupholstering the seats. The bench seat is in pretty good shape but the buckets are both dry rotting, and the driver side doesn’t match the passenger side. My boyfriend’s got a ’91 Mustang that we are going to try and revive as well so we’ll see how much I actually end up working on the truck. Might be another 2 years between updates 
