Anyone ever buy a military vehicle?
 

I am looking for a new work truck and I was thinking of buying a government surplus truck like an old Chevy blazer

http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=1802865&convertTo=USD&tid=GLSPPR8912

I like the idea of having a truck where I didn't care about the finish. See some rust, no problem, a bit of sandpaper and touch it up with spray paint.

Can you still get parts for these?

I wouldn't, they are driven by people like me who beat them within an inch of their lives. Plus trucks these days are damn near worthless, you can get them cheap.

Once had a surplus International Harvester wagon . . . not pretty, but it made a decent beach car.

It says that one is a 6 cyl Diesel, is that right? I knew they were diesel, but I thought they were V-8s.

How about this one? http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=1746294&convertTo=USD

neat, its a diesel

1600 for that.. deal

I just posted the first one I found as an example.

I would want a common vehicle like a Chevy Blazer so I could still get parts. They probably made a mistake, I think they are all v8 gas or diesel

I want to find a reason to buy that!:D

nope, the govt got them with diesels

why else would they stencil "DIESEL" by the filler neck.. look to the right of TAC05

you can call it Taco

My brothers and I buy government surplus quite often and have found the vehicles to be quite sound and reliable. They are usually very low mileage and hour vehicles with lots of life left in them. If you need help buying one PM me and I'll be happy to lend you a hand.

I would avoid the Blazer. I've driven and worked on the pickup version and I can tell you that they handle like crap, brakes are problematic, and the 6.2 diesel is craptacular. They're geared really low, so they don't get particularly good mileage for a diesel.

I dig that duece and a half though.

M1009 cucv
 

I drove on of the those Blazers (M1009 CUCV) and M1008 pick ups in Korea twenty years ago. I remember that I would some times have to open the hood and press something (can't remember what) to get the damn thing started.

No air conditioning. Should have little grips to hold your M-16 in an upright position.:)

Horrible tactical vehicle. Prefer the underrated M113a3

Stands alone Sir!

Here's my friend Amnon with his M1009:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y71...uff/sp06-7.jpg

Problems I've seen on these are:

Missing bracket on the starter. Techs think they're redundant and leave them off when servicing the vehicle. What the bracket does is keep the racket from the Diesel from shaking the starter and cracking the starter mount.

Crappy glow system. There are retrofit kits to upgrade them or just rig a momentary switch in the cab to activate manually.

There is also some electronic component that overheats regularly but I can't remember the name. I've seen kits to re-locate the part to cooler areas under the hood.

Most military vehicles fall into the catagory of "barely adequate" in terms of road performance but since the M1009 is derived from a civilian vehicle, it rides and performs somewhat better than most others. However, the engine is loud as hell (relative to my F250) and you might end up having to wear hearing protection for extended trips.

You can email Amnon above. He's a nice guy and will answer your questions. I can give you his email via PM is you want to persue it further.

KarTek -- my buddy has the same truck. The ARE loud, but fun. His needs some fiddling with the transmission; it shifts way too late.

The duece and a half trucks are cheap as heck right now. The DRMO for our area just had some that sold for a few hundred bucks, but I have no idea what kind of mechanical shape they were in. We "got" to ride in one for an hour or so each way during flood duty in June. Not as bad as you'd think, but the new troop carriers (with the tilt cabs) are the cat's meow.

Don't most military vehicles have a 24-volt electrical system? Are the starter motors and other components (bulbs, etc.) somewhat unique (compared to those found on 12-volt civilian versions) as a result? Or do they have voltage step-downs that allow for 12-volt accessories?