Finally bought a M37!

[chapmajs]

Long time no post, I finally bought a M37! Picked it up in NH, trailered to VA via Poughkeepsie, NY. Turns out a forklift is the greatest thing ever for unloading a trailer by yourself, I lashed the fork frame to the rear bumper. Total control coming off, including leveling the truck!

 

[glcaines]

M37s are neat trucks. I drove them in the Army and have driven several since, including one in an underground mine that had a Ford tractor diesel engine installed.

 

[Karl kostman]

I have owned a few 37s and they are a good easy to work on little truck. Very reliable and their prices keep going up. Yours looks like just about the right amount of work to be done, I see the paint doing some things because of rust but doesnt look to bad, clean it up get rid of the bad paint sand it down to good metal and treat accordingly and you should be good to go!

 

[chapmajs]

M37s are neat trucks. I drove them in the Army and have driven several since, including one in an underground mine that had a Ford tractor diesel engine installed.

Pretty cool! I suspect it's pretty easy to swap stuff in, as long as it's not too tall. Kinda want to find one of those Hercules 3.7L turbodiesels that drops in, but I also do like these old flatheads a lot, and it's the same engine that's in my Clarktor-6 tractor.

I have owned a few 37s and they are a good easy to work on little truck. Very reliable and their prices keep going up. Yours looks like just about the right amount of work to be done, I see the paint doing some things because of rust but doesnt look to bad, clean it up get rid of the bad paint sand it down to good metal and treat accordingly and you should be good to go!

That was my thoughts on this one. It's actually been undercoated at some point in its life, and is pretty much "rust-free" as far as northeast trucks go! The price was right enough to make it worth the time to go get it, and I was able to do a job moving a forklift from Albany to Poughkeepsie in the same trip. The engine is free and someone was wrenching on it kinda recent, as the title was last transferred in 2013 and it has LED headlamps.

 

[G744]

The entire G741 series of tacticals was undoubtedly one of the best engineered vehicles ever fielded. One can see the transition from the WW2 trucks, thru the T195 test bed trucks, to the final product.

Properly militarized from the earliest production, worlds advanced from the WDX/WM300 PW's.

Not a cheap truck to build, either.

Take care of yours, there are fewer existing every day.

 

[SCM35A2]

Nice looking project!

 

[chapmajs]

The entire G741 series of tacticals was undoubtedly one of the best engineered vehicles ever fielded. One can see the transition from the WW2 trucks, thru the T195 test bed trucks, to the final product.

Properly militarized from the earliest production, worlds advanced from the WDX/WM300 PW's.

Not a cheap truck to build, either.

Take care of yours, there are fewer existing every day.

My brother has a WW2 Dodge...WC series I think. Definitely looks more like a COTS job than the M37s -- he's had me help sort some of his wiring problems via pictures and videos. The "not COTS" aspect is definitely part of the draw of the M37 for me.

Plan is to actually run and drive this one some, most of my driving is around town or backroads, or out to and around the farm in WV. I currently get to choose between a VW Jetta or Mack Midliner, so it'll be nice to have something in between!

 

[G744]

A stock M37 with 9.00's will have a "Sweet spot" speed of around 47 to 50 mph.

 

[chapmajs]

Put brake fluid in this morning to let it sit, smelled like DOT-3 so that's what I put back in it. Looks like the front brakes may be disconnected. Master cylinder pumps up and feels like it's pushing air now, so I'm going to let it sit, figure it's better for the seals. Someone has done the brake lines once, the ones on there aren't stock, but it'll get all new before it really goes out on the road. Yard brakes are nice though

I had a spare group 31 battery and it looks like two will fit nicely in the battery box (tray's long gone), so I picked up a second one.

 

[chapmajs]

Put batteries in...it's the weirdest thing...all the lights work! Someone must've gone through and redone them.

Cranks fine, have spark, no run. Occasional *putt* or carb backfire. Guessing the timing is totally screwed up! The plugs were wired as if the distributor spun counterclockwise and was 180 degrees out. Switching them to normal order didn't improve the situation, so I will pull the #6 cylinder timing plug, find TDC, and pull the ignition assembly.

Ignition assembly is a military sealed unit, so *supposedly* that can only go in the right way...of course if the oil pump is indexed wrong, that'd screw it up, and there are tales of aftermarket/modified military style ignition assemblies with the oil pump shaft key centered, instead of off-center, so who knows what's in there.

 

[chapmajs]

Turns out 1950s army gauges are radioactive:

Radioactive Military Vehicle Gauges!

While going through the Dodge M37, I noticed that the gauges appeared to have luminescent paint on them. It's a 1953 model, so of course they're radium doped...

www.youtube.com

 

[G744]

Don't change them out, they are rare.

Being sealed units, there is no danger to you or anyone else around them.

You'll get more exposure levels with one airline flight than driving that truck for weeks.
I have a ex-USN counter with an "Operational check source" on it, lots of clicks but very low rems, really.

 

[chapmajs]

Don't change them out, they are rare.

Being sealed units, there is no danger to you or anyone else around them.

You'll get more exposure levels with one airline flight than driving that truck for weeks.
I have a ex-USN counter with an "Operational check source" on it, lots of clicks but very low rems, really.

Yeah, no worries they're definitely staying, I used to wear my WW2 ordinance watch every day, all day, until the concussion from firing a pistol knocked the second hand off! Sure, every decay event that results in a particle or gamma ray passing through you has a nonzero chance of breaking that one exact piece of DNA that ends up causing cancer...but so does basically existing

As with almost all low-level sources, unless you eat it or otherwise get it inside your body, it's probably not the worst thing you're currently doing to yourself!

 

[chapmajs]

Miswire confirmed:

1953 Dodge M37 Runs!

The distributor drive gear is off by a tooth, it was wired what would've been 180 degrees out from normal, and the firing order it arrived with assumed count...

www.youtube.com

The distributor is off by a tooth, I tried to use the tried and true method of sticking my finger over the #1 sparkplug hole while my wife hit the starter, but kept coming up with the rotor between positions. So, I disconnected all the plugs from the distributor and moved the #1 plug wire around until it fired off, then the normal 1-5-3-6-2-4 once we knew where #1 lived.

So, as it arrived, it was wired 180 degrees out from TM normal, and was also wired with a firing order that only would make sense for counterclockwise distributor rotation...which of course isn't how these flatheads run. The oil pump does not have the same green paint as the rest of the block and pan, so I'm betting someone changed it out, didn't read the TM, and didn't know to turn the distributor drive gear back a tooth!

Now the next thing is, it's got an electric fuel pump which is of course...dead. Man, I hate aftermarket electric fuel pumps, that was one of the things which led to the runaway M49 clutch explosion! I see there are 24V aviation electric pumps available...do I do that or buy a mechanical from Midwest or VPW or something?

There's currently a blockoff on the hole for the pump, which is painted very close to the same color as the block...that's kinda curious. This truck does also have a power steering upgrade with what looks like a professionally made bracket. Wish I knew more of the history behind it!

I also need to hook up at least an oil pressure gauge before I run it anymore. There's no life out of the dash gauge, but I'm pretty sure the sender is unplugged. It looks like someone started doing their own wiring harness replacement on this truck...it's not terrible, but it's also not "right" and doesn't match the TM diagrams even a little.

 

[John Mc]

I've used this Facet 24V el;ectric pump, mounted back near the fual tank with good results. No need for a pressure regulator, since the pump is rated at an appropriate PSI for the stock carb.

https://www.amazon.com/Facet-476088-Cylindrical-Style-Volt/dp/B00IO4EIA2/

 

[G744]

It seems the alcohol in today's gas eats up the rubber diaphragm in engine-driven fuel pumps, thinning the oil.

There are a number of good electric pumps available, I've had good luck with Mallory.

Just make sure to mount it back by the tank, not under the hood as new gas vapor-locks easier. Pushing it is better than pulling it.

BTW, the original oil pump has an offset drive slot so the dist can't be put in 180 off.

 

[chapmajs]

It seems the alcohol in today's gas eats up the rubber diaphragm in engine-driven fuel pumps, thinning the oil.

Yeah on the Clarktor-6 I'm running it gravity feed from the tank, since the tank in that particular model is over the engine. That was my #1 fear there, blowing a pump diaphragm, killing the oil, and spinning a bearing.

That Facet pump looks like a good choice, there's a regulator on the firewall ahead of the carb but I wouldn't mind being able to remove that! Not planning on running vacuum wipers since the truck came with no wiper motors, so I won't miss that part on the mechanical pump.

So if we know that ethanol eats the rubber in rebuild kits...why don't the rebuild kit manufacturers spec a better product? On diesels that use Bosch VE rotary injection systems, it's a common issue, having the ULSD eat the seals on the distributor head...but Bosch just sells compatible reseal kits, and that's what all the Bosch authorized shops use!

[the ethanol issue is less of an issue here since we have three stations around the area that dispense ethanol free, but you never know when you'll have to gas up somewhere else]

BTW, the original oil pump has an offset drive slot so the dist can't be put in 180 off.

It's looking like it may have been replaced, I don't know if someone could've changed the distributor shaft, it's the military sealed ignition unit so it *should* also have an offset drive tang. I've heard stories on the Internet about remanufactured sealed units having civilian non-offset tangs, but never seen a picture to actually confirm.

 

[G744]

I can't resist...

My Diesel M37

I built this over two years, starting back in '73. What I wound up with: 3-53N Detroit 3 cyl engine. Spicer 3053 5-speed OD trans w/PTO. Full air-over-hydraulic brake system w/gladhands for trailers. Johnny-bar for trailer brake actuation. 11.00-18 Goat tires/wheels on homemade adapter plates...

www.steelsoldiers.com

 

[chapmajs]

I can't resist...

My Diesel M37

I built this over two years, starting back in '73. What I wound up with: 3-53N Detroit 3 cyl engine. Spicer 3053 5-speed OD trans w/PTO. Full air-over-hydraulic brake system w/gladhands for trailers. Johnny-bar for trailer brake actuation. 11.00-18 Goat tires/wheels on homemade adapter plates...

www.steelsoldiers.com

That's awesome! Always thought a 3-53 would swap well in a M37. A guy in town has a Chevrolet 3100 he put a 3-53 in and it's a pretty reasonable engine for something that size.

If the flathead blows up, it's definitely getting a diesel.

 

[Soupermike]

I've used this Facet 24V el;ectric pump, mounted back near the fual tank with good results. No need for a pressure regulator, since the pump is rated at an appropriate PSI for the stock carb.

https://www.amazon.com/Facet-476088-Cylindrical-Style-Volt/dp/B00IO4EIA2/

I have had good luck with this same pump