I’ve been enjoying the Dirt Every Day series of videos that have been appearing on the MotorTrend YouTube channel. Fred Williams of 4-Wheel and Off Road magazine is the lead man on these and he has really come into his own over the last few episodes. This show finds Williams in Alabama where he’s purchased an old Chevy Army truck and plans to get it running and get a first impression of it before he upgrades it all to make it just like the Chevy Army truck he built in the magazine years ago that got stolen out of his shop.

The cool thing about this video is that you get a pretty in-depth look at how to trouble shoot and fix a non-running old 6.2L GM diesel. The guys swap the fuel pump, starter, crack the injector lines, blast it with starting fluid, and do virtually anything else they can until some old farmer tricks are employed and the truck fires right up. As I was watching this I didn’t think fast enough because once they used the method that they do to get the truck started, it took us right back to working in the college diesel garage and being told to do the same thing by one of the salty old mechanics. Then as now, it worked like a champ. Old guys know stuff.

Once he gets the truck fired up, Fred takes it out and gives it the what for in stock condition. These trucks are cool and built pretty strong. They have a big 14-bolt rear end and as Fred says, most have a Detroit locker in the rear. Up front is a Dana 60 and the transmission is a Turbo 400. I get grief every time I say this, but the 6.2 naturally aspirated engine is not anything close to the modern powerhouse diesels of today. That being said, assuming they start, they are like a trusty dog and won’t let you down.

Seeing this truck makes us want one really bad. Plus, it is camo colored so I could hide it from my wife in the woods…right?

PRESS PLAY AND WATCH FRED SAVE AN OLD TRUCK AND THEN BREAK IT IN RIGHT OFF ROAD!