I think my wife likes it.
CK5
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1985 Chevy M1009
- Thread starter kennyw
- Start date
Squarebody CHOP Shop
*edit* I have a name for the shop now, Chevy Hoarders Original Parts. We made an offer on this 5 acre property with a small house (1100 sf) and a nice shop (1800 sf)... should hear back today.
ck5.com
This weekend I pulled the fresh K5 seats down from storage and looked at what was needed to install them in the M1009. The M1009 seats are different than civilian seats in seat height, width, seat brackets and bolt patterns so it wasn't going to be a simple as bolting the original brackets to the civilian seats like I had hoped. However, even though they added extra floor mounting points for the M1009 seats, the floors have all the necessary mounting points for the civilian brackets except for the in floor latch striker.
I tracked one down and cut it out of a friend's rusty parts truck with enough metal left over to use as an template to locate it.
The driver side seat bolts in without any issues other than the seat height is a bit low. I'm going to pull it out and add spacers between the seat and brackets to raise it up an inch.
I tracked one down and cut it out of a friend's rusty parts truck with enough metal left over to use as an template to locate it.
The driver side seat bolts in without any issues other than the seat height is a bit low. I'm going to pull it out and add spacers between the seat and brackets to raise it up an inch.
From what I have seen M1009 seats are S10 Blazer seats. I could be wrong, probably am.
That would make finding replacements much easier and explain why they were narrower.
I hope that points you in the right direction.
It turns out the M1009 had the latch for the 81-85 seats after all. I just needed to cut the hole in the floor mat and bolt everything down. So these seats will do for the time being until I can rebuild the originals.
The m1009 seats look a lot like the Camaro seats of that era Also.
These are the 84 Camaro seats I had in my blazer for awhile.
Those are actually '82-'83 Camaro seats. They unfortunately only used those seats for two years out of the eleven years they built third gen Camaros. The '84 seats were a real downgrade.
Martin
The one thing about the early K5 buckets, they sit too low. I went back and added 1" tall spacers (transmission crossmember spacers) between the brackets and driver bucket along with longer bolts. Now it is better.
Huh. My M1009 had that latch slot in the floor, but I didn't realize the whole seat pivoted up out of the way. Mine had 6 bolts to the floor, rather than four. Probably the same as what you pulled out. It seemed overbuilt. My Suburban's entire bench seat shared 4 bolts for 3 people!
My guess is the army required both seats to fold to allow access to the rear so they used the S10 Blazer seats with new brackets to get them higher. The civilian seats for 1984 do not fold at all and access is only easy from the passenger side. It is better for my dogs to climb in though.
That's the way my '83 is. Neither back moves, they are both fixed and the passenger side flips forward. My retention cable is not bolted to the floor so it goes all the way to touch the windshield.
Had a conversation with my wife about the name of the M1009 because she didn't think it would be Frog longterm but couldn't come up with it yet. I suggested "kissed the frog" and "Princess" ended up sticking.
I think the radio tray the military had behind the passenger seat was part of the reason for different seat mounts.
When my wife totaled her daily driver Suburban a few years ago. The only vehicle I had to put her in was a M1009. Her first day driving it she called me at work. “You are in trouble….I love driving this thing, great visibility, up high enough to see everything and it turns so sharp. This thing is great!” Then normal hot weather returned and she decided something with A/C was needed. I added A/C to that M1009 but without insulation it wasn’t enough.
Your truck looks good.
When my wife totaled her daily driver Suburban a few years ago. The only vehicle I had to put her in was a M1009. Her first day driving it she called me at work. “You are in trouble….I love driving this thing, great visibility, up high enough to see everything and it turns so sharp. This thing is great!” Then normal hot weather returned and she decided something with A/C was needed. I added A/C to that M1009 but without insulation it wasn’t enough.
Your truck looks good.
My wife took this to make a Costco run last Saturday. I ended up running down after she called because it wouldn't start. Looks like the glow plug controller card is acting up and glow plugs are not functioning properly, if at all. I was able to get it going with a shot of starting fluid, swapped vehicles with her, and ran a couple errands on the way home. It starts fine while warm.
Glow plugs worked perfectly today when it was dead cold.
That's handy.
Martin
Martin
