The hunt for the toughest rig possible begins from the ground up. Rugged off-road tires replace tear-happy street rubber, and before long, escalating antics yield a broken axleshaft, hub, ring gear¬, or worse. The upgrade buzzer rings. Catalogs pages ripe with beefed-up parts are torn from their bindings.
Off-roading abuse inevitably takes its toll. However, starting with a rig built tougher from the factory can often cut down on upgrade costs as well as provide a much better platform to begin a build. In our case, the perfect canvas was an M1028 CUCV. A square-body Silverado by any other name, the CUCV was Chevy’s military ride and served honorably in the armed forces for years. Near as we can tell, our unit delivered well over 400,000 miles of hard work before being retired from duty. While in need of a full rebuild to just about every major system (what 400,000-mile truck wouldn’t be?), the truck was the desirable M1028 model. It had all the right hardware boxes checked, including a Dana 60 front axle (ours actually had a limited slip in it, although the clutches were fried), a 14-bolt rear axle with a Detroit Locker, a TH400 transmission, and a 6.2L diesel engine (although that’s only a plus if 165 hp gets your blood pumping).
The truck needed a lot of work because you can’t build a house on sand. The axles were deemed the most reasonable place to start. We pulled them out and stripped them down. With the help of some G2 Axle & Gear 5.38 gears, an Eaton Detroit Locker for the front, and some friends with better tools than we own, we began piecing the axles back together.
To begin the rebuild, friend and head mechanic Agapito Arteaga removed the axleshafts and carrier and blasted the axle with a pressure washer.
