Diesel Chevy Blazer

[Builder]

Even if it had a bad engine, it might be a fun vehicle to drop a big block in if you could buy it cheap enough....

Heck, even a 4 bolt 350 would make that truck run great.

 

[farmboy12]

Buddy of mine had one in college. No speed demon but we wheeled the bijeeziz out of that thing. It was tough off road!

I rode in a GMC 1&1/4 ton 4x4 ex-military and it had lockers front & rear. Even had an engagement knob on the dash for it. It had the 6.2L. Yeah, it was a dog, but what diesel in a light truck wasn't a dog back then?

If it's good enough for the military, it's probably good enough for me. If it has a manual trans, that's much easier to maintain on a vehicle that old.

I wish it had a manual...


Kyle

 

[atgreene]

I just sold my '82 1/2 ton diesel 6.2. Great little runner, no power, but great for plowing. They were a tough motor when properly set-up and maintained.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Heck, even a 4 bolt 350 would make that truck run great.

My father in law has that era Chevy 3/4 ton that had a 6.2 and that is what he had to do. Could not keep the diesel running. It was before my time but he still has the truck although it gets 30# lighter each year due to the rust.

Chris

 

[DieselPower]

Having worked at a GM dealership I to dispise the 6.2/6.5 engines. The owners seemed to have them in the shop more than on the road. Now having said that I also run across people who have them, love them and never seem to have problems. Being a mechanic you get to see all the bad ones. Stil seemed like there were numerous more complaints with them than praise. I just got done doing a engine swap in one of these trucks last month. Got a 4 cylinder 3.9 B series Cummins (just a 5.9 with 2 cylinders wacked off) out of a old chip delivery truck. Did a some tweeking on the fuel system, installed gen-set injectors and put a slightly larger turbo on it. That baby will smoke the rear tires now.

 

[newbury]

First of all the OP said military, so he means surplus.
These vehicles are being cleared from inventory. If you can get a half dozen and wrench them together you probably can get two or more vehicles, but at least one. My brother-in-law bought about a half dozen and has two good runners and a bunch of parts cars.
The basic quality of the vehicle was pretty good, the main problem was the nut that held the wheel. Very few drivers were concerned much about the vehicle, but then a lot of them spent their entire mileage on military posts with low speed limits.

 

[crashz]

I have had two 6.2L diesel pickups, one of which still resides with me, repowered with a 454 back when gas was 96 cents/gallon. I could tell you a myriad of horror stories regarding them, however once running, they ran like champs and got great fuel economy. 90% of the problems related to getting them started. The one I traded had a ton of miles (I can't remember now but it was well over 200K) and literally rusted away, otherwise I'd still be using it.

With enough time and money, these can be great trucks. One caution, the military trucks use a 24 volt system.