Over the weekend I had some time to look over the new-to-me '85 M1008 that I bought a few weeks ago. I knew it had some odd-ball stuff on it but I had no idea how odd-ball it would really be.

 I found the normal number of minor broken and botched parts, most of which are easy fixes. One of the locking hubs wouldn't unlock and the other wouldn't lock at all. So I pulled 'em apart. Turned out one was missing the slide gear and the other was assembled wrong. Great, needs new locking hubs.

The VRV valve on the engine (it helps control the transmission shifting points) was broken so it shifted a little high in the RPM range, and as expected the dash was hashed.

But this military truck has A/C! It's kind of an odd feature for this kind of truck. It looks like an older aftermarket kit from Vintage Air. The A/C compressor turned on and the fan motor worked (I could hear it running) but no cold air came out of the vents. Turns out the blower wheel was stripped. I simply pulled it apart, added a set screw and cold-blowing A/C was mine. Oh and the heater works too.

Then I moved to the axles. I found that the rear did not have the Detroit Locker that nearly all M1008 trucks come with. To my surprise it doesn't have 4.56 gears either. As best I can tell it has 3.73 gears front and rear (I counted tire/driveshaft rotation at least a dozen times). So it's a little more freeway friendly, not something I really care about since the 4.56 gears would be a better match for the tires I have planned. Oh well, all the hard parts are there, and some I didn't expect. I'll just have to add gear swap and lockers to the build list now.