1952 M135 W/Winch

[Another Ahab]

Over the Memorial Day weekend, I spent Friday through Monday working on my truck. What was supposed to take 2 days turned into 4, but we made a lot of progress toward getting this truck done. I'll let the pictures tell the story.

That's normal. You rarely hear anybody talk about a four day project taking only two days.

The rig is shaping up real nice.

What kind of bed are you planning to fit on her?

 

[USMC 00-08]

After:

 

[USMC 00-08]

After I got the primer sprayed on and it had mostly dried, I began to notice a lot of little details I had never seen on any truck before. Things like a GM stamped here or a GMC there. Then there were markings stamped into the wheels. The truck model and S/N was also very clear.


I also noticed several small dents and dings in the cab. This caused me a little bit of distress, but then I decided, what the heck, this old war horse earned them. I'm not going for a factory fresh look, but more of an in service, motorpool ready look, so some of the dents are staying. My desire for perfection gets in the way of progress sometimes.

Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer was used along with the Harbor Freight airless sprayer. A Graco 315 tip was used in place of the 517 tip that came with the sprayer. I cannot give this sprayer a high enough rating. It worked better than the best review given to it. There are a few runs that I will go back and sand out. This was my first time spraying paint with a sprayer, but I quickly figured out how to avoid runs. (I know Plowboy will "run" with that last statement.)

This is the sprayer I used.

https://www.harborfreight.com/airless-paint-sprayer-kit-60600.html

For those that might ask, Yes I sprayed the tires. They are junk and will be coming off anyway.

 

[USMC 00-08]

What kind of bed are you planning to fit on her?

One of my parts trucks has the nicest cargo bed I have ever seen. It will be headed to the blaster next. Pictures of it will be posted later on. It is a cargo bed for an M135.

 

[Merle]

WOW--- Looking nice, I'm envious.

 

[Tracer]

USMC 00-08 the truck is looking good. It's nice to get down to bare metal and see everything that the paint was hiding. Part ID numbers, dents, bondo etc. etc.

 

[Zaddict]

Wow! Awesome job. It looks brand new. Yep it looks like you have been extremely busy. Lots of elbow grease

 

[m1010plowboy]

Did you paint the tires?

That's fast hey...or should I say that's fast eh'! I'm giddy with smiles man so I can only imagine how you're feeling. A new truck in 3 days is hard to beat. You'll really enjoy touching her nuts for anything you need to dismantle now because they'll spin right off. I'd need to check but I think we were blasting for 3 hours, primer took 6hrs but I had a little gravity feed gun with a wee paint pot on top. You made a good choice on an MV spray gun.

Having runs and a few dings is a good way of showing you're not over-restoring. That advice came from a solid Steel Soldier when I started working on mine. The value in that advice came at the first MV show when I gladly let a young Mom put her kid on the fender for a photo. It worked well because he hid the runs on the hood!

We took a close look at your hood......Where is that crack and crease that's supposed to run across the middle rib?

Beautiful work buddy, I gotta come see it.

 

[m1010plowboy]

If the hair is standing up on the back of your neck it's because I keep staring at your pictures.

What are we looking at in this pic? You might need to get your magnifying glass out, I saved it to paint for the red circle of wisdom and it looks like it might be small. It looks like a gear where I'd think an E-brake drum would be.

 

[1944mb]

Just curious is your new motto have paint gun will travel...got a truck up north that could use your expertise! Looks great, when's the OD going on?

 

[Merle]

just curious is your new motto have paint gun will travel...got a truck up north that could use your expertise! Looks great, when's the od going on?

ditto

 

[USMC 00-08]

Having runs and a few dings is a good way of showing you're not over-restoring. That advice came from a solid Steel Soldier when I started working on mine. The value in that advice came at the first MV show when I gladly let a young Mom put her kid on the fender for a photo. It worked well because he hid the runs on the hood!
We took a close look at your hood......Where is that crack and crease that's supposed to run across the middle rib?
Beautiful work buddy, I gotta come see it.

That makes me feel better on the runs and small dents. The crease and crack in the hood is hidden under some body work that I still need to finish up. It is under some masking tape. All of my hoods have that.
If you feel like coming down, would enjoy the visit. Tulsa International is real close to the house if you want to fly in. I'll pick you up. We have plenty of room for you to stay and we feed decent.

What are we looking at in this pic? It looks like a gear where I'd think an E-brake drum would be.

That picture is deceiving. Here is a close up. Man ...I missed a spot on the transfer case!

Just curious is your new motto have paint gun will travel...got a truck up north that could use your expertise! Looks great, when's the OD going on?

I can bring the paint gun if you need me to. I can practice on yours and Merle's before I do mine.

 

[m1010plowboy]

I'm still seeing places on Goose where I missed a few seams and I was shooting 90° at everything I could. There are a few folds on the box and cab where I didn't get down low enough to shoot up into the fold. We're seeing surface rust starting to show up so it's good to hit it again. I did a ton of brush work after I sprayed. Had a hard time getting in the triangle corners on the back of the frame, missed the bottom of one step and the fuel tank bottom so you done real good man.....and that camera you're using is wild. You have one shot of your spring-pak with GMC written on it and you've got it so close up it took a while to figure out what it was. Great pics, thanks for the clarification.

 

[USMC 00-08]

I forgot to show you guys this.

Found an Army button in the door when I took off the lower panel to vacuum sand out.

 

[1944mb]

I can bring the paint gun if you need me to. I can practice on yours and Merle's before I do mine.

As I was starting to read this line, I was thinking you were giving in too easy....I knew you had some angle to work!!

 

[Tracer]

I forgot to show you guys this.
View attachment 682776
Found an Army button in the door when I took off the lower panel to vacuum sand out.

Ah, only if that button could talk, what stories it could tell.

 

[USMC 00-08]

Does anyone have a source for these clips?


They hold the brake and vent hoses in this channel.

 

[m1010plowboy]

USMC find in Edmonton

I would never have thought that I'd be walking through a scrapyard in mid-northern Canada and find......not one, but two items that should belong to you.

I grabbed the can for you, it has USMC stamped in the top and not sure how to decipher the date....either 44' or 93' maybe.




.....and this beast. A big ol' Oshkosh, gear driven, rotating wrecker with your moniker on it! It's in tight quarters so tough to get a complete pic but here are her pieces.

 

[Another Ahab]

It's rusted, but not rusted THROUGH (yet).

There is hope still. You think?

 

[m1010plowboy]

July 4th Journey's

Oh ya, Don't post and drive, safe journey home. Here is one more pic of how smooth your fender should look when you get there!