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M-1028 cucv?

r2d2

r2d2

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Haymarket Va.
My father is thinking about buying a 1986 m1028. I dont know alot about the cucv trucks and have a few questions. Any help would be much appreciated. First-how hard is it to find parts for the 24-volt electrical system such as starters alts ect.? Second is the 6.2L diesel strong enough to tow another truck and trailer? Third what is the vehicles top speed? And finally it dosent look like it has an ac. in it,is it suppose to?
 
For a trail rig they are awesome. bulletproof, lots of torque, great mileage compaired to a gas rig with the same drivetrain.

A/C - nope, none of the militar rigs had it.

24V parts - not an issue, i got all my parts right over the counter at the local dealership. only specific parts are the starter and glowplug relay. although, that was before i found out about rigging an alternator into an onboard welder. If I got to do it again, Id have done the 12v conversion and rigged up the second alternator as a welding power supply.

Towing - I would strongly suggest a turbo, But there are guys on here who tow with them bone stock, its certainly no duramax or cummins though.

Top speed - serious question???????? personally i dont want to know. the truck on 33in tires and stock worn out springs gets scary over 70mph. I assume youre concerned with highway driving. Let me put it to you this way.

My truck has just about the worst gearing for "performance" with 33in tires and 3.08 gears. But i have never had any problems merging or accelerating to highway speed. I choose to cruise at 60mph to get my 20+mpg, but could easily cruise 65-70 without issue. It wont win any drag races, or tractor pulls, but it does what it was designed to do, get good fuel economy, with decent torque, and last forever. the truck accelerates as i would expect a 5200lbs truck to accelerate.

the only complaint i have about the truck is the transmission, the shift points on the TH400 suck, and i am personally planning an NV4500 swap when parts and funds are available. Although even a SM465 or other four speed would be better than the TH400.

If money is no object there are other fun things you can do to really wake up the 6.2, but ill leave the search function for that.

If a tow vehicle is what youre looking for, Id suggest finding a 6.5TD dually with the 4L80-E in it. It would be more comforateable than the military truck, have far more torque, and get similar mileage towing.
 
mine had 456s and 265/75/16s and screamed at 60mph....with the 35s tho it did ok at 70-75....but looses power when you pull out from a dead stop...i haul about 8 1.5 ton loads of coal every year with it and it works perfectly and its all hills here. i changed it to 4:10s now tho since i drive it to work daily... overall i can say its a good truck, never towed with it tho...
 
incorrect, the top speed of the m1009 blazer is what you specified, the m-1008/28 is 55 with the stock drivetrain and 3s. the things a beast. the th400 has rougher shift points than the 700r4 but its bulletproof, the 6.2 is not a newer turbed super diesel, for its size and being non turbo its pretty good and i dont see much of a differnce from the gas engine in my old blazer ecept these things have a ton of low end power. i wouldnt trade it back for my k5, i like the diesel better too
 
If it is indeed a M-1028 then it will have a limited slip in the D60 Front so you are locked at both ends.
 
My 1028 will do 65 (indicated) on the "stock" 235-85-16's But I doubt it would go much faster its got to be close to the governor .

Thats why I said 65-70 MAX speed. the dash tag says 55mph but all Military trucks say that

IMG_0315-1.jpg


Yes 1028's have the front limited slip . and there are 3 or 4 versions of the 1028-A1,A2,A3, some of them are dually and some even have The NP205 instead of the NP208. Mine has the NP205.
 
i dont know but everyone on steel soldiers says they dont push the trucks over 55 and the way the engine sounds i wont either, i hate having it at 55 even, screams.
 
lol I dont worry about it that much I paid 600.00 for my 1028 and drove it like it was a 600 dollar truck . it handled it fine .
 
haha to each his own, i just cant picture that deisel screamin any louder. Take a video for me because im afriad to do it. Mileage must suck! i get pretty good mileage around town but at 55 on the freeway i can actually watch the gauge drop haha.
 
honestly its not that bad I get between 12-14 MPG . I mean these are Detroits and they loved to be reved !! LOL.

It doesn't sound much different between 55-65 not sure of the RPM difference because I dont have a Tach .


But according to my math 65mph equals around 3200 RPM figuring about 100 rpm for convertor slip 70mph figures in at near 3450 or so

which if I recall 6.2's are governed at 3600 RPM . Ideal? probably not. But safe? Yes I think so
 
38's make a whole different truck. Does 65mph without deafening you and still has good power around town. I do want to ditch the power sucking TH400 for a SM465.

The starter is 24v but there's plenty of them surplus and plenty of vendors with them.
http://www.odiron.com/store/index.php?osCsid=jj1gsgdv4tnal1gpi4mg3524e7
has them. The alts are 12v but they aren't the same as the civy trucks 12v alts.

It has the J-code 6.2L which has 30hp more than the civilian trucks. That combined with the 4.56 gears make the pickups rather "peppy"...but with the stock size(ish) tires you run out of rpm's really fast.

www.SteelSoldiers.com is very good for the military specific stuff but his forum is far better for the actual GM truck stuff.
 
oh 55 figures around 2730 RPM so 470 RPM difference between 55 and 65
 
lol its so weird for me to see 12-15mpg as "not that bad really" my TDI jetta gets 44mpg commuting to and from work.... 61 on the highway.

hell, even my M1009 gets 20+ mpg on the highway at 55-60. but thats with the TH400, and 3.08 gears. most guys on here would consider that thing a slug acceleration wise, suits me just fine....... for now. The ideal cruising rpm for the 6.2L is generally around 1800rpm. thats when you get the best mileage. with overdrive, bigger tires, and 4.10 gears, i hope to stick in that rpm cruising, and have MUCH better acceleration and crawling gears.
 
yeah lol BUT it is a 1-ton 4x4 pickup thats 26 years old!!!


I really want a TDI Jetta ........ I wish they made a "new" rabbit pickup with the jetta diesel I would definetly buy that
 
Yep, a BBC would get what, 8-10mpg and a SBC might get 10-12 maybe?
 
actually its more than 1 ton, it weighs a hair over 3000lbs :D although its not 4x4, and its only about 9 years old :rolleyes: funny thing is, with nozzles, tune, turbo, and exhaust mods..... that 1.9L four banger would put out as much power as my 6.2L V8.... and still get 50+mpg ;)

as for the pickup..... they are making the audi A3 in tdi later this year... its a longer wheelbase than the Golf chassis, so if fabrication wasnt a problem... you could always turn the "sportback" into a el camino of sorts........ bust out the sawzall and duct tape.

back to the topic at hand though.... for the OP looking for a tow rig... might i suggest something along these lines.....

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/cto/1233083550.html
 
Yep we got it. That thing does run pretty loud lol. I drove it home from NJ. and it seems to run good no leaks and if there are squeeks or viberations you wouldnt be able to notice them lol. The truck runs strong and will probly tow my jimmy behind it just not real fast. It does have a locker in back and limited slip up front which will make for an awesome recovery truck plus it has alot of space for a generator air compressor and alot of tools and spare parts. All I need now is a set of goodyear hi-miler custom Xtra grips or CXGs. About the top speed,me personally I dont know if I would run that thing past 60,it just feels chancy. Also I will post some pics soon.
 
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