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OT: Tow vehicle - Army Surplus Blazer (diesel)

Old 02-06-2002, 04:32 PM
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kook
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Question OT: Tow vehicle - Army Surplus Blazer (diesel)

Looking at an '84 Army surplus Blazer, 4x4, 6.2L diesel. 36K miles. Anyone have some details on these things? Towing capacity? Powertrain durability?
 
Old 02-06-2002, 04:42 PM
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Audiofn borrowed one of them to tow his Formula 302 from Long Island to north of Boston, He said it was one HELL of a tow vehicle

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Old 02-06-2002, 04:48 PM
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Where would I go to find out what a reasonable price is on these things?
 
Old 02-06-2002, 04:49 PM
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I looked into some Military Surplus vehicles once. In their view the vehicle was quote "not economically feasible to repair". And that about summed it up.
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Old 02-06-2002, 04:55 PM
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This one is being offered by a guy who owns a muffler shop - said he got it from the railroad. The guarantee it'll pass inspection no problem (in MD, inspection is a real *****, but it's a 1 time deal, that's it - after that, you run 'em till they fall apart).

I have yet to see the vehicle - will take a look at it 2nite.
 
Old 02-06-2002, 05:14 PM
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Kook:
I don't know how much you will be towing but
these are not great tow vehicles,No power in the early diesels,no brakes,all light duty parts{brakes,cooling,etc} also the steering tends to get very loose with a load on rear,
they are not the best choice! I still have a 83 Suburban 1/2 ton extra length helps but i had to upgrade so much to tow i don,t thinck it was worth it.It never realy was great at highway speeds.
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Old 02-06-2002, 06:25 PM
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Birdog is right ,the old chevys diesels were real pigs ! NO power at all ! I drove lots of them .How ever ,I know a guy that changed the cam and did a few things to it that realy made it move . I could be wrong but I think they were a small block chevy converted . If yo uknow what to do you couls get a nice 350 chevy cam for it . You should hear that baby run !But they are very light duty engines and the brakes and all that are light too . They did do pretty good on fuel though !
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Old 02-06-2002, 06:54 PM
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I did not use a Amy Surplus Blazer to pull back the Formula. It looked like it had been through a war but that was just the rust falling off . I was having trouble with my truck so I asked if I could barrow this one. About 30 min into the drive home I lost 2 cylinders as the spark plugs fould from all the oil that was blowing past the valve seals!!! It took me 4 hours to get to the boat. 3 hours to make the trailer worthy of the trip and 12 hours to get home!!! The things we do for our boats. I got home and I was so exhausted that I did not even care about the boat!!!
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Old 02-06-2002, 06:55 PM
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Boot, that was the 5.7 diesel. Man, what a pig those things were Back then GM was replacing them with the 6.2 under warranty. I had a friend who was a flat rate GM guy and he must have swapped out close to 100 of those grenades Your right, they suck!
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Old 02-06-2002, 09:13 PM
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If it has the 3.73 rear end it will pull the boat but it will be squirrely stopping. I used to pull my 23 foot cuddy with a full size Blazer and it was always an "adventure". I then bought a Suburban with the same motor and it was a fine, but a little slow on hills.
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