83' M1009 Rebuild to Civilian

[DieselWarrior]

Found a rpm chart and it looks like it will be turning 1650 rpms @75 in OD. Looks a little too low. Better with the 31's @ 1750. I can still run it in 3rd and not use OD until I figure out if I'll go with a gear change. My 08' Duramax is turning 1800 at 75 with it's 17" wheels. Not much different but a lot more power with the DM.

Ill try to attach an Excel spreadsheet... if not Ill post a link.

Check the info up top, and change the gear ratios to see the
RPMs for the different setups.

Try to match with 3.73 and 31" tire RPMs for whatever tire size
you are wanting to run... and you will hit a home run!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE... forget everything you know about your '08 Duramax... none of that knowledge will transplant to your project. (with the exception, that both are diesels )

Andrew

 

[DieselWarrior]

Heres the XLS attached in a Zip file...

HTH,
Andrew

 

[Massboy]

Thanks for the chart. Using it and entering my info put me where I thought. If I run the 31's at 75 mph it's turning 1751. Pretty close to the 1800 recommended. With the 33's its at the 1650 mark and at 80 mph its 1756. With the new higher speed limits and the fact that I spend most my highway driving at 75 to 80 I shouldn't be too bad.

 

[DieselWarrior]

75 to 80? There are highway speeds posted with that limit in the USA?

Even so, Im not tooooo sure Id want to take a 20 year old truck 80 mph... but hey, its you and your truck... have fun!

 

[82355]

You are NOT going to like those gears. You won't find one person on here that will tell you it's a good idea. Just go buy some cheapo half ton axles. I had a guy call me the other day and offer me a set of half ton axles with 3.73's for $100. I turned him down.

As for the radiator support, why not use the 1991 radiator support and grille?

Martin

 

[DieselWarrior]

Unsubscribed...

 

[Massboy]

I travel a lot in TN and GA and they have a posted limits of at least 70 and some 75's I believe. I think most of us will drive at least 5 to 10 mph over what's posted. I can run in drive unless I'm on the highway anyway. If I don't like the gears I will change them, easy enough. Not sure why 82355 mentions a 91' grille and radiator support. Never had either. Just the motor is a 91'. The tub and chassis I'm using is a 84' M1009 that came from Alaska. The whole thing just has 34k on it and I'm not afraid of driving it 75 or 80mph. It is not 20yrs old, more like 28!

 

[82355]

I misunderstood you. I thought you had an entire 1991 K5 you were parting out.

Back to the gears, I dare you to make a poll and ask if ANYONE thinks it's a good idea to run 3.08's with that TH700R4. I can already tell you the answer. Why did you even bother asking for opinions on the subject if you are going to ignore everyone's advice???

I had a 1985 K5 with a 305 and a TH350 (in place of a blown up TH700R4...) with a set of 3.08 gears. It had 235/75R15's on it when I got it. It drove okay. Then I blew a tire so I swapped on a set of 33x12.50x15's on that I had sitting around. It was nutless down low, but had a lot of top end (if you could get it there) I never had any need for an additional gear in the transmission with those gears and tires. I then swapped on a set of 31x10.5x15's (mounted on 15x10" wheels, so they were shorter than a standard 31 normally is). I still never had any need for another gear past 1:1.

Martin

 

[Massboy]

From a earlier post:
The 700R has a much lower first than the TH400 (2.48 TH400, 3.06 700R) so it should start moving without much problem and even 2nd gear is slightly lower. Both 3rds are 1 to 1 with the OD being .70.
(for this reason the 700r with 33's should not take off much different than a TH400 with 31's like on my stock M1009)

I spoke with a tech from Bowtie Overdrives in depth about the 700R4, the proper TV cable, and the 3.08 gears. I told him most of my highway driving will be mostly level with virtually no towing. The stock M1009 uses 31" tires and does well but at 75 mph is quite loud and higher in a RPM range than needed. He felt due to his expertise that it wouldn't hurt to try it and I wouldn't blow up a good trans running it in the 1500's and up. He did say to accelerate quicker it will need to be kicked down but again, he felt I should try it. He has a customer running a 1/2 ton pickup with 700R with 2.? gears and he is getting 28 mpg without any trans failure issues. It is for these reasons after speaking with a 700r specialist that I am at least going to try running it with the 3.08's.

 

[Massboy]

With the chassis being done I've started on the body. I've got it on two dollies so I can roll it around the shop. Installed the civilian heater/ac box to the motor side and inside of the firewall. I put in a new heater core while I was at it. I laid an old rug on the floor to lay on while I started putting everything in under the dash. I've started putting the civilian wiring harness in the body and have tried to remember where everything goes. Luckily I've had some questions answered here as far as the location of some things. Put in the tilt column and test fitted all the A/C and heating duct work. I will need to cut off the dash re-enforcement that the military uses to mount radio gear on the dash because it blocks one of the AC ducts. I took a spare vacuum pump and mounted it in my shop vise. I put my high speed electric drill in the end with a short piece of hex shaft to drive it. I ran a hose from the vac pump to the feed hose for the AC/heating system so I could test the whole unit. I then realized that I had a vac motor with a plastic flap and didn't know where it went. Looking at the vac hoses I had one went to the right kick panel flap and the other one had a grommet on it so I thought it had to pass to the outside of the cab. I was finally able to figure out by it's shape that it went outside the right front windshield area under the grill inside the cowl. Had to drill for the vac hose to go through. It's the recirculation flap that closes when the AC is put on max. Drilled three holes in the firewall for the electric tailgate wiring, the cruise, and the trans wiring. Put all the wiring through the dash, set the grommets, put on the insulation plastics, and then the wiper motor. I've now started removing all the AC/heat duct work so I can mask off the wiring. I need to sand the dash and all the surrounding windshield area so I can paint it the color I'm using. Can't wait to get rid of the DPW orange it was painted.

 

[Massboy]

Drilled the door posts for the door window and lock wiring. Cut the hole for the tailgate window switch. Started mounting the seats I'm using to the old style seat legs/slider brackets. I actually like the old brackets better as they sit you a little higher the the later style box type mounts. Installed a NOS fill tube cover in the bed area. Started working on the roof area too as there are some dents that will need to be filled and then sanded down. There is no rust anywhere around the windshield area that is really a plus.

 

[496truck]

I'm amazed that the DPW went through all that trouble to paint the inside like that. Figured they would just paint the outside and call it done.

 

[Massboy]

Been real busy but finally getting back to my Blazer. Picked up my Greg Smith rotisserie and will need to get the body mounted. Started cutting out any rotted steel and like everything, there's a little more than originally thought. Not excessive by any means but now that I've this far I'm going all the way. There will be nothing rusty left on this. I've even drilled through all the spot welds across the rear floor and support so I could lift the floor enough to sandblast underneath it and on top of the cross member. Already got all the new sheet metal parts to go back in so once it's mounted on the rotisserie then we'll balls to the wall.

 

[82355]

You have way more ambition than I.

Martin

 

[imiceman44]

You have way more ambition than I.

Martin

I have a lot of ambition, but I just as you , have access to many cheap trucks that have no rust, and see no need to do any body work beyond a dent here and there.

 

[Massboy]

Well, I have to have ambition or this Blazer will never get done and I don't live in a rust free environment so I have this one to work with. For it's age and the fact that it came from Alaska I'm still lucky its very solid. A lot more solid than any Blazer that lived its whole life here in "salty" New England. Got it up on the rotisserie and man I've got to say this thing is the bomb! Easy to mount the body with just a couple of channel iron extensions and then with the built in jacks, its easy to adjust. Now I can just roll it to any position I want. I had already cut most of the areas or rust out and now I've started cutting the patch panels to fit. Much easier smoothing the cuts and fitting in the new panels when you can move it to any position. I will cut most the panels and then roll the whole body outside for sandblasting, acid etching, and priming. I will then weld in all the panels, then blast the welded areas, acid etch those areas, then prime. Once its all done it will get the spray on bed liner underneath. I hope to seal all the areas that have the openings where the rust starts like at the rear bed/body cross member. I build RC models from scratch and I believe my building skills are helping with my patch panel cutting and fitting. Most all panels like the rockers will be butt welded. I've had only one cut so far that will need a little filling but it won't be too hard to do with the Mig. I took a inner cab corner and reformed it to be the rear support panel behind the door jamb. It was a PIA to do but it came out well enough. I will be purchasing a 220 clamp type spot welder to do a lot of the welding like the rocker bottoms to the inners. I will also be using the new body adhesives as my buddy who owns a body shop tells me it's easier to rustproof and use the adhesive than weld the panels with the heat burning off the rustproofing. Here are some more pics.

 

[Massboy]

More pictures of the panel I made and it in place. Don't know why this piece is not available. If it is can someone tell me where. First picture shows the front of the rocker where I kept the mounting hole for alignment. The line scratched in the rocker is where it will be cut and welded in. The other pictures show the custom panel in position and looking at it from inside the rear wheel well looking forward. I also ended up making a inner rocker panel to continue the floor to the rear of the jamb as the inner rockers available are not correct for a Blazer. Possibly the rear floor sections they sell would be correct but they want $100 for that section that I would only use about 1" along the floor edge. Cheaper to make it. I welded it all up so it is solid.

 

[496truck]

Coming along nicely. You putting new quarters on or just patching in the access holes you had to cut?

 

[Massboy]

Thanks. I'll just be putting in the pieces as the body metal is super solid more so than the Chinese 1/4 panels you can buy. Going to rent a large gas air compressor and a second sand blast unit so my so and I can blast this thing together to go faster. Rental on the compressor is only $200 for the weekend so not bad. My electric compressor will never keep up with the demand of sandblasting.

 

[str8axle55]

Very nice, it will be wll worth it in the end.