Best mods for M1008

XJfreakHO

XJfreakHO

Triad Trail Junkies
Joined
Aug 26, 2008
Location
Greensboro/Clemmons
We picked up an M1008 CUCV on monday, it runs and drives no problem, everything is in great working order, so we have been discussing the plans for it, it will be my fathers offroad toy, it will be used to tow on occasion, and be driven to and from the trails most of the time.

The previous owner swapped the 16.5" wheels for 16's already, thought about the recentered h1's but not sure how good a double beadlock would be street use from time to time.

He asked me to put together a list of things he should get.

My first thoughts are:

ORD Shackle Flip Rear
4" lift Springs up front
Crossover steering
36-37's
Maybe find an LSD front from an M1028 and swap it over.

I mentioned bobbing/swapping the bed, but he is a huge fan of the longbed for day to day function.
 
36-37s will get your speed around 65-70, which is about perfect for that truck. I just did a 4" block in the back, heard shackle flips weren't the best for towing and I didn't figure that the 6.2 would make enough torque to make then wrap. Make sure you get stiff springs for the front, I had plain Rough Countrys and they sagged after a few weeks. The 24v charging system can be a pain, but isn't bad. If you ever have to change an alternator, MAKE SURE TO RESEARCH ON WHAT YOU NEED. I had a M1008 and ran into every problem that happened on those things, especially electrical, so if you need any specific help/advice feel free to PM. :beer:
 
Tons, cummins 6BT, 96 & up NV4500.
 
The cummins swap would be great, but its just not in the budget right now, the 6.2 has enough power for the mild towing we would do.

Makes sense about the shackle flip and towing, I am going to try to find a few write ups tonight and do some reading, just figured the Nc4x4 crowd usually has the info I need.
 
I signed up about 30 minutes ago, but I can't post anywhere, just been reading for a while now, figure that works out just fine for the purposes I have now.

Not looking to make some big monster out of it, weekend warrior more or less, never need to go bigger than 37's.
 
CUCV4.jpg


That's what my old one looked like on 4 inches and 36s. Still had some low end torque, but got up to speed pretty decently too.
 
Yeah, with the 33's the truck gets up and goin impressively quick (for what it is) but once we hit 60 you really can hear the rpms goin and I figure since we don't wanna change the gear bigger tires are the best option.

It looks good, Ive heard bad things about the bias plys ridin rough, and being too soft for towing, whats your view there? Leaning toward the 37" radials...
 
Definitely go with the 37s if you have the choice, the 36s don't ride that good...at all. I just had the 36s on there because I got them for a steal. I daily drove it with the 37s and it rode pretty good for what it was. Tires seemed to wear pretty well too.
 
Did you have any problems dropping the beads? Ive heard horror storys, even seen a few of em in action, I figure for pulling and driving, they would be fine, but airing down below 20-25 probably would be a bad idea?

Probably going to run the 33's for a while just for around town and what not, but would like to have the 37's within a month, I have only heard of 1 place around here to get em, Berg Tires in Fayetteville. Know of any better places?
 
I don't see a problem with the shackle flip in the rear. The trucks are tuff and can always reinforce the new shackle. Give it a thought because towing in blocks just sounds dumb. Plus they aren't very expensive and the mod is very easy. I almost went shackle flip,new springs up front, new steering on my suburban and called it done. How comfy can a solid axle chevy really drive???

ORD design knows their gear, I talked with them on the phone and they were very friendly.

What gears did it come stock with? 4.56?
 
oleblue said:
I don't see a problem with the shackle flip in the rear. The trucks are tuff and can always reinforce the new shackle. Give it a thought because towing in blocks just sounds dumb. Plus they aren't very expensive and the mod is very easy. I almost went shackle flip,new springs up front, new steering on my suburban and called it done. How comfy can a solid axle chevy really drive???

ORD design knows their gear, I talked with them on the phone and they were very friendly.

What gears did it come stock with? 4.56?
Click to expand...

In my opinion, if it's heavy enough for the blocks to matter, you probably shouldn't be towing it with the CUCV in the first place. And yeah, 4.56 gears.
 
XJfreakHO said:
Did you have any problems dropping the beads? Ive heard horror storys, even seen a few of em in action, I figure for pulling and driving, they would be fine, but airing down below 20-25 probably would be a bad idea?
Click to expand...

What do you mean "dropping the beads"? Like getting them to seat right? On the 37s it was no problem, but the bias 36s it took the tire store forever to get them seated. They were so stiff that they couldn't get the sidewall to spread out enough to seat. So yeah, I'd keep the pressure up.
 
oleblue said:
I don't see a problem with the shackle flip in the rear. The trucks are tuff and can always reinforce the new shackle. Give it a thought because towing in blocks just sounds dumb. Plus they aren't very expensive and the mod is very easy. I almost went shackle flip,new springs up front, new steering on my suburban and called it done. How comfy can a solid axle chevy really drive???

ORD design knows their gear, I talked with them on the phone and they were very friendly.

What gears did it come stock with? 4.56?
Click to expand...

Thats my thoughts too, I hate blocks just from bad experiences with them...

6.2/400/208/60/14FF Detroit/4.56 gears

DixieBogginTJ said:
What do you mean "dropping the beads"? Like getting them to seat right? On the 37s it was no problem, but the bias 36s it took the tire store forever to get them seated. They were so stiff that they couldn't get the sidewall to spread out enough to seat. So yeah, I'd keep the pressure up.
Click to expand...

I mean the tire coming off the rim, 16.5's are notorious for the tire coming off the rim at low psi... (trailriding)
 
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