My M37 Restoration Thread

[JStinson]

Well, it looks like I'm finally doing it. After a year and a half of being away from the project, I'm starting back to work on it. This thread is to document my restoration as it comes along. My plan is to make the truck mechanically original while keeping the body a no frills utilitarian unit. Here's the start:



Papa working on pulling the engine:



Me getting into the thick of it:

[Matthew Ziegler]

brush guard

Looking at the bumper and brushguard, do you know who had the truck before you? forest fire maybe.

[Bruce]

Good News

Looking forward to your thread!

[JStinson]

Looking at the bumper and brushguard, do you know who had the truck before you? forest fire maybe.

I know the guy that had the truck before me. I think he had aspirations of using it for a quail hunting truck, but that never came about. It mostly sat.

This is not the first time I've ventured into this truck. I restored it from a pile of nothing after I got it in 2007. That build can be found here http://www.myspace.com/1953m37

It was as decent of a job that I could do at the time. However, it ended up being a project whose goal was to keep the beast out of the grave. Now, it's going to be done right. I've been living in Virginia for the last year and a half, and am happy to be back in GA where I can work on the truck. Along the way, we have worked on it as I came back to GA for visits a few times a year. Here are a few pictures of the sporadic work:

My dad and I trying to free the engine:



Getting there:



My dad and hippie friend finally pulling it out:

[Bruce]

Are you still needing my spare floor?

[JStinson]

Are you still needing my spare floor?

I don't believe I'll be needing it. Appreciate you remembering me though.

General question: the layers of paint on this truck tell some story. The the earliest coat I can find seems to be blue, and a yellow on top of that. Ideas anyone?

[Gordon Maney]

The truck looks like a great start.


How about an article at some point for the magazine? ....or several?

[Bruce]

I don't believe I'll be needing it. Appreciate you remembering me though.

General question: the layers of paint on this truck tell some story. The the earliest coat I can find seems to be blue, and a yellow on top of that. Ideas anyone?

Blue = Air Force, Yellow = Brush Fire or VFD?

[JStinson]

The truck looks like a great start.


How about an article at some point for the magazine? ....or several?

Absolutely.

[Gordon Maney]

Absolutely.

Wonderful!

[gusbratz]

looks like a nice truck allready. hope you have fun makeing it even nicer.

[JStinson]

looks like a nice truck allready. hope you have fun makeing it even nicer.

It's a pretty good truck without a doubt. Besides some seals and bearings that need replacing, it's pretty mechanically solid. It has some cosmetic issues though. I'll need to put in some patch panels and the like. The biggest thing I've been doing during my time away from GA is collecting parts. It needs a lot of tlc because it's basically been dirt daubered together over the years, long before I got it, and made run with paper clips and bubble gum. During the first "restoration" I did on it, I wired it myself without using a proper harness. It worked, without a doubt, but I want it done right this time. Here are a few more pictures:

The old engine finally out:



Loaded up and on the way to the shop:



Making progress:




Fun story: I went down to the shop where it's being rebuilt to check it out and talk to the mechanic. He was showing me the parts that he had accumulated from his various sources. He showed me an old wax cardboard "Genuine Mopar Parts" box with a new oil pickup in it. He told me that the old one was just kinda floating around in the bottom of the oil pan...

Have no idea why I didn't spin a bearing...or worse.

[JStinson]

Went down to the shop where the engine is being rebuilt today. I took some more pictures of it. I was hoping to get some progression shots, but they had made no progress on it. Which is fine because I've got plenty of other things to do with the truck before the engine becomes a factor.

Clearer picture of this angle:



This one was really blurry because my lens was fogging up:



Hopefully the last picture of a totally stripped engine I'll take:



The trouble with the shop is that it's primarily an auto shop, they do rebuilds by special request. They are very good at it, but not so quick. They only have three employees and plenty of vehicles to work on. All the parts are right there ready to be dropped in. I'll see if I can make some progress on the body and frame while I wait on an engine.

[JStinson]

So, with the engine in the shop and with me not having the motivation to tear major parts off, I started on the bumper. The bumper had a ginormous plate welded to it. I do not know why. It has bothered me since day one. Good news, it is no more:



Getting ready to patch holes and grind slag:



In the middle of it:

[JStinson]

It had holes cut in it in seemingly random places. I really wish I knew more about what this truck has been through. I know it was used as a tractor at one point. The gentleman that had it before me said that when he got it, it had a bottom plow attached. I don't know what purpose random holes in the bumper served, however.

I found some metal and cut some to fill the bigger holes. There were four holes total. The smaller two were easily filled in with the wire welder.



Shiny:



I primed the bare metal to avoid rust (I know, it's just a drop of water in an endless sea):



I flipped it over and smoothed out the rear of the bumper where the patches were made as well. The bumper will sit until I am ready to take a bunch of parts to the blaster. The smaller parts like the mounting bracket and recovery hooks I will be able to blast. Thankfully, we have one of those handy dandy sand blasting cabinets.