road gearing

[hotrodrupp]

hey guys! Randy from Ithaca N.Y. here. I am a proud new M37 owner, FINALY!!.....this rig belonged to a fire department down in Finksburg Maryland. they took really good care of it. the only thing I would like to do to it is update to road gearing. being told by Mr. Stahl that these gears will be available in June I'm hoping to land me a couple...my question is. what are , if any, "tricks" do I need to tell my guy about who is going to do the work for me. He is a custom car builder and he drag races so he does know his "stuff".... I just want to be sure he has everything he needs to do the job and do it rite. I have read articles saying special procedure's are needed but don't go into much detail. As much as I would like Mr. Stahl do it, I just cant swing shipping the rig to him. any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks, randy.

[rtkjmk]

Bob Stahl is very knowledgeable person for your M37 . He helped me out with a Radiator recore a few years back . That being said , why not just ship him the "PUMPKINS" for the 4:89 gear upgrade ? BTW , there are a FEW tricks to installing new gears in your M37 , not a secret but somewhat different that your average differential . If you could find someone who is familiar with Power Wagons in your area that might work out a little better for you .

[Sal]

Fred at Adirondack Dodge might be able to help you out..


http://www.adirondackdodgeparts.com/

[JimC]

Why change the gearing? The truck will go scary fast with the stock gearing.

[RMS]

Why change the gearing? The truck will go scary fast with the stock gearing.

ya when you knock it into neutral on a big hill

[jimmy_stikx]

And at stupid high RPMs, even for a stock sbc.

[JimC]

On level ground, mine (400 hp bbc) tops out at a little over 111 mph with stock 5.83 gearing. I don't need to go that fast. The durn thing makes me uneasy over 70

I been driving it for 52 years with stock gearing -- guess I'll keep on truckin' that way.

I do support everyone doing whatever they want though.

[MSeriesRebuild]

hey guys! Randy from Ithaca N.Y. here. I am a proud new M37 owner, FINALY!!.....this rig belonged to a fire department down in Finksburg Maryland. they took really good care of it. the only thing I would like to do to it is update to road gearing. being told by Mr. Stahl that these gears will be available in June I'm hoping to land me a couple...my question is. what are , if any, "tricks" do I need to tell my guy about who is going to do the work for me. He is a custom car builder and he drag races so he does know his "stuff".... I just want to be sure he has everything he needs to do the job and do it rite. I have read articles saying special procedure's are needed but don't go into much detail. As much as I would like Mr. Stahl do it, I just cant swing shipping the rig to him. any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks, randy.

I think you have this backwards.

If you need to tell your guy how to install and set up this gearing, you need to stop worrying about him and find someone who can do a proper installation and set up for you. Special tooling is required to do the job right. Some knowledge is not meant to be shared. I'm not saying I wouldn't but if I had to tell someone how to do it, I'd really wonder what kind of job I was getting. Keep this in mind, an M37 differential is far and away the most costly gear box on the truck to properly rebuild, trust me, you don't want a novice screwing around with it; especially if you intend to spend over $500 a set for new 4.89 gears, you are going to want them installed and set up RIGHT. We offer warranted rebuild service here at M Series Rebuild, along with Bob Stahl at Veteran Vehicles. Personally I do not know of anyone else that I would trust to build one, and who has the correct special tooling in house to do the job right. It isn't hard to remove and ship the unit via UPS or Fed-Ex in a small wooden crate. We have gone behind other builders a number of times to correct imperfections done by someone who didn't have a clue. In a few cases, that got to be very costly. Some builders will quickly say, oh no problem, realizing all too late that these are a different animal, and they do not have tooling or knowledge to handle it. Instead of admitting short coming, most who get themselves into that situation seem to have too much pride to back away, which many times leads them to do something stupid. Sadly when this happens, it usually cost the customer big time.

[JimC]

Charles is spot on.

[hotrodrupp]

Fred at Adirondack Dodge might be able to help you out..


http://www.adirondackdodgeparts.com/

Thanks Sal.... ill give him a shout....

[hotrodrupp]

Thanks guys! you all really helped me out in this. I will go see my guy today, im sure he will be just fine with pulling the 3rd members out and shipping them. as much as I would love to do it myself, I just don't have the tools or a good place to do it myself. (result of divorce).....lol

[RMS]

Harry Eiserman (RIP) got his M37 from the Canadian military in 1958. in 68 he installed a 315 hemie and started making runs north along the Alcan hwy. Gas was cheep but the guys at Bens truck parts in Vancouver were losing their shirts because of the warranty they offered on their work. You see Mr Eiserman was in about every other month for warranty work on his third member. often they would have to install a new unit as his was not salvageable. Ben of Ben's truck parts would give his guys shit for not setting the diffs up correctly and apologize to Harry for not getting it right. However Ben did not know that Harry would often travel with his foot planted to the floor screaming along the highway doing 90mph @ 5000rpm. the diff would get so hot that it would boil blow out the seal and puke out all its oil. In 1973 Harry installed 4.89s, reduced his drive line speed and Ben never had another warranty issue with Mr Eiserman

[Kaegi]

Harry Eiserman (RIP) got his M37 from the Canadian military in 1958. in 68 he installed a 315 hemie and started making runs north along the Alcan hwy. Gas was cheep but the guys at Bens truck parts in Vancouver were losing their shirts because of the warranty they offered on their work. You see Mr Eiserman was in about every other month for warranty work on his third member. often they would have to install a new unit as his was not salvageable. Ben of Ben's truck parts would give his guys shit for not setting the diffs up correctly and apologize to Harry for not getting it right. However Ben did not know that Harry would often travel with his foot planted to the floor screaming along the highway doing 90mph @ 5000rpm. the diff would get so hot that it would boil blow out the seal and puke out all its oil. In 1973 Harry installed 4.89s, reduced his drive line speed and Ben never had another warranty issue with Mr Eiserman

thats a great story. I explain it to people this way sometimes. driving with 5.83s at 55 everyday like I do when I have one on the road is as abusive as driving a car with average gear ratio 120 everyday. that pinion shaft is screaming at 55. its a very tough design with the 3 bearings but its working harder than most trucks with weenie poser gears.

[hotrodrupp]

ok...sorry I haven't responded to all the post you guys gave, kinda got forgotten about, had little trouble with the shipper, then the big snow storm kinda put Mr. Stahl in a bind. well now it is august. I have been driving the ol' girl almost daily to work. that 10% speed gain is great. she humms along at 45 mph and I figure im getting around 12 mpg. don't know if that's good or not..........

[bill monahan]

I can vouch for Bob Stahls work. Actually drove up from NJ to his place in MA. Did a fantastic job and is a great guy as well.