M37CDN "Gertrude"

[Cal_Gary]

Rob, nice to hear from you-been too long! Congrats on the new tires, and the progress you're making on your truck. It sure has been a brutal Winter here in the US as well, enough to keep me moving snow up to a week or so ago, and no time to work on my truck.

Let's not make the next post so far in the future!
Gary

[RCrombie]

Thanks Gary, it is nice to post on here and have a bit of a record of the work that goes on. I’m generally on here just checking what’s new at least a couple times a week, but I rarely post. As for my own truck, progress has been very slow. Life seems to find other plans that keep you busy fixing appliances or doing household maintenance when I would rather be out in the shop. I always tell myself that winter time is when I can get all the work done because I’m not going to be driving the toys, but truth be told it’s often too cold to get motivated! Anyway, it’s warming up now, and just very very rainy, so good days to be in the shop.
Today I spent a little time adjusting and bleeding the brakes on the truck. I fixed a leak at one of the flares I made on the front axle, and adjusted the shoes at each wheel as best I could. The pedal is not as solid as I would like it, but I will have to see how the brakes perform once the truck has wheels on it again.
I still haven’t gotten the old tires dismounted yet. I have been waiting on the local truck shop to come by and pick up the wheels, but I guess they are pretty busy at the moment. In the meantime I attempted to take a shot at one of the tires using some 2x2 steel, a 12 ton bottle jack, and a pry bar to help work at the bead. I broke the prybar, so I figured that was a hint that I should give the tire shop another call.

[Cal_Gary]

Yeah, breaking the beads can be back-breaking w/o the proper tools. Your Winter sounds much like mine-too cold and wet to work outside but less than motivating to get into the cold basement or garage to make much progress on our trucks; combine that with the household needs and I'm right there with you!
Gary

[NAM VET]

I count myself very lucky with the restoration of my own truck the past near three years. First, having been under cover and owned by the same owner for over 20 years, who had driven M37 trucks in his army days, it only had surface rust and one small perforation on the cowl. I had retired several years prior, so was able to work pretty much full time on my truck, and being in UpState SC, I could work on my truck outside, or sometimes in my garage. I had plenty of garage space for storage of my work. I also live a hundred miles from Charles Talbert, and took some of my parts up to him for rebuilding, and when I had not done some things correctly eventually took my truck up to his place for a correct restoration of my engine and brakes and such.

I drive it a lot, even most days around town, and am just about finishing my spring maintenance for a soon trip to 200 miles down and back to the beach. Good compression check yesterday, RaggTop on my canvas, some touch up OD paint here and there.

I am pretty accustomed to driving it now with a careful attention to safety.

So wishing all of you a great spring, and enjoyment of your own vehicles. Hal Copple, aka NAM VET

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[RCrombie]

It certainly makes all the difference having comfortable working conditions. It kind of takes the fun out of working on these trucks when you can't feel your hands or your wrenches freeze to your gloves! I am very happy to see spring arrive.
That's a good looking truck, Hal. I bet it turns a lot of heads when you drive it around town, especially with the 30 cal mounted on it. I read through your thread on the work you did on your truck, and it certainly was a nice solid M. Really interesting stories you had too.

Well the old wheels were picked up this morning and the fellow didn't seem to think there would be any issues with them. They are more of a commercial truck outfit, so they are accustomed to dealing with heavy tires like these. We'll see what they have to say in a couple days.

Rob

[RCrombie]

So, the tires have been dismounted and the rims have been sandblasted. Looks like two out of the five wheels are in great shape and can just be painted and put back together. The other three have varying amounts of rust that has eaten around the hole for the valve stem. I’m a little undecided as to how to proceed. If I can find some replacement rims in my area, I would prefer to simply go that route, however... I haven’t found any yet. I may simply have to get these rims repaired if necessary.
In the meantime, I have been building a new wire harness for the rear of the truck. There was enough there to use as a template which is nice as the Canadian wiring is slightly different from the US trucks. Mainly, there is a small convoy light that shines on the rear differential, and two clearance lights on either side of the pintle hitch. The connectors and Douglas shells will all be reused, as well as the little tags for the wires. Turn signals will be properly integrated into the harness, and probably when I am finished I will either wrap everything with non adhesive electrical tape, or a suitable wire wrap. That’s the plan at least.

[RCrombie]

Hi Folks,
Time always seems to fly between updates...
Things have been moving along at the usual snails pace with the truck rebuild. I have now 5 rims that have been blasted, painted and are ready to go. I mounted tires up on 3 of them, and have two to go. When purchasing new tubes and flaps, I was instructed by the local truck shop to reuse the old flaps since they apparently don’t fall apart the way the new ones seem to. Only problem is that I had a lot of large rust chunks adhered to the old flaps which had to be removed. So, three have been cleaned and the final two are sitting in a bucket getting the rust dissolved. Seems to be a pretty slow process, but it allows me to focus on other jobs with the truck.
I have made a new wire harness to the rear of the truck, and it seems like it will do the trick. I will have to assemble the trailer connector, as I took it apart to reuse all the pins. Interesting that all the pins were soldered, so it is probably not the first time that it has been removed.
I dropped the gas tank as I noticed a slight amount of weeping from one corner. It was certainly a tight fit between the frame rails! I had to use a pry bar to flex the tank just a little to coax it out. Getting it back in there will be a treat. I think I will go the route of cleaning up and fixing the pinholes with a little solder, then coating the tank again. I couldn’t believe the amount of dirt that was sitting between the tank and the bed. No wonder these things rust out! The vent line was missing as well, which explained the persistent smell of old gas in the workshop.
Also, I have started to remove the rear bed crossmember which is badly rusted out. Every single bolt has been a fight to remove, and the four holding the tailgate on were cracked. Two of those broke off and will get removed once the cross member comes out.
That’s the current plan at least! I will post a few pictures when I am at my computer and not a phone.
Regards,
Rob

[06boblee]

Hi Folks,
Time always seems to fly between updates...
Things have been moving along at the usual snails pace with the truck rebuild. I have now 5 rims that have been blasted, painted and are ready to go. I mounted tires up on 3 of them, and have two to go. When purchasing new tubes and flaps, I was instructed by the local truck shop to reuse the old flaps since they apparently don’t fall apart the way the new ones seem to. Only problem is that I had a lot of large rust chunks adhered to the old flaps which had to be removed. So, three have been cleaned and the final two are sitting in a bucket getting the rust dissolved. Seems to be a pretty slow process, but it allows me to focus on other jobs with the truck.
I have made a new wire harness to the rear of the truck, and it seems like it will do the trick. I will have to assemble the trailer connector, as I took it apart to reuse all the pins. Interesting that all the pins were soldered, so it is probably not the first time that it has been removed.
I dropped the gas tank as I noticed a slight amount of weeping from one corner. It was certainly a tight fit between the frame rails! I had to use a pry bar to flex the tank just a little to coax it out. Getting it back in there will be a treat. I think I will go the route of cleaning up and fixing the pinholes with a little solder, then coating the tank again. I couldn’t believe the amount of dirt that was sitting between the tank and the bed. No wonder these things rust out! The vent line was missing as well, which explained the persistent smell of old gas in the workshop.
Also, I have started to remove the rear bed crossmember which is badly rusted out. Every single bolt has been a fight to remove, and the four holding the tailgate on were cracked. Two of those broke off and will get removed once the cross member comes out.
That’s the current plan at least! I will post a few pictures when I am at my computer and not a phone.
Regards,
Rob

Midwest Military has those rear crossmembers, I got one and it is great.

[m-37Bruce]

My tank was wedged also, the rear cross member was almost twisted in half, I guess from hauling or pulling tree stumps maybe? Sounds like your making head way, looking forward to the pics too!

[RCrombie]

A few pictures...

[RCrombie]

A couple more pictures, lets see if the size is better...

[RCrombie]

I think I will have to go the route of buying a new crossmember, but shipping is going to be $$. I was planning on cutting and welding patches in but it really looks too far gone. I'll know for sure once I get it out. It certainly surprised me how deteriorated it actually is. It is probably 3/4 full of rust flakes.
At this point, I am thinking the bed will have to be disassembled and the rust taken care of before I go much further. I was really hoping to get the truck on the road first, but I think I should do it right and deal with the rot.
I do not like rust.

[Cal_Gary]

Hey Rob, John at Midwest has those, and he's in Minnesota so shipping might not kill you. About a thousand miles according to Google maps (attached).
I got one of those bed cross members from John and it's a top-quality piece. (Edited to add an old photo of the newly installed cross member).
Gary

[Elwood]

Hey Rob, John at Midwest has those, and he's in Minnesota so shipping might not kill you. About a thousand miles according to Google maps (attached).
I got one of those bed cross members from John and it's a top-quality piece.
Gary

I have one of John's repro pieces, too; well-made part.

[RCrombie]

That’s good to know. I am starting to make a list of things I am going to need. Special bolts for the bed, rubber pads etc.
I also picked up some new nickel copper fuel line to put in when the bed comes off. The vent line had rusted away, and the fuel line wasn’t in much better shape. Not cheap stuff, but I am planning to only do this once on this truck. I am also intending to install an electric fuel pump on the frame near the tank as well.