• Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!

  • Microsoft MSN, Live, Hotmail, Outlook email users may not be receiving emails. We are working to resolve this issue. Please add support@steelsoldiers.com to your trusted contacts.

 

Aloha, ‘67 M725 no reverse

Shark

New member
10
0
1
Location
Wailuku, Hawaii
Hello all,

Picked up a weathered ‘67 M725 Ambulance up about 5 months ago. Has a 327 sbc conversion adapted to stock transmission. All forward gears fine but just won’t engage in reverse, like I can’t get it all the way in position. Any clues?
 

Attachments

Recovry4x4

LLM/Member 785
Super Moderator
Steel Soldiers Supporter
34,014
1,813
113
Location
GA Mountains
I would suggest that someone had the cover off and when they put it back on, the shift fork missed the collar. With that said, my experience comes from an SM465, not a T18. By the way, take a pic of the trans. If you haven't looked yet, it might have an SM420 or SM465. Both easily hook up to the SBC and from the cab would appear similar to stock.
 

NDT

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
10,106
5,704
113
Location
Camp Wood/LC, TX
Stock is T98. I would pull the transmission cover and look for worn or broken shift forks.
 

swbradley1

Modertator
Staff member
Super Moderator
Steel Soldiers Supporter
14,173
1,481
113
Location
Dayton, OH
T98 is also used in Ditch Witch trenchers just in case you go looking for one.
 

Shark

New member
10
0
1
Location
Wailuku, Hawaii
Thanks for all the replies.

Have no photos of engine or transmission. It has been sitting in back of a 40’ conex container, nose in, since the day I had it delivered to keep it out the salt air. I’d have to drag it outside container just to get to front of truck (only way in and out is through back door because of width, and it almost touches ceiling of conex).

It has the T98, that I’m sure. Found one a while back on the mainland, but held off buying until I was sure it possibly wasn’t just a small known issue.

Right now I’m wrapping up a restoration on an old El Camino and will be getting to this truck within a month.

Can anyone recommend a supplier for parts, such as master cylinder, brake shoes and drums?
 

m38inmaine

Well-known member
2,090
44
48
Location
Maine USA
There is also a safety device so you have to depress a spring loaded plunger to engage reverse, it may be stuck/rusted.
 

67Beast

Well-known member
963
445
63
Location
Silver Lake Sand Dunes MI.
Thanks for all the replies.

Can anyone recommend a supplier for parts, such as master cylinder, brake shoes and drums?
The 2 major players in parts for these trucks is Memphis Equipment and Vintage Powerwagons, but there are a ton of small vendors that have various items and ebay is often helpful on finding some of the odd parts. Being a M-series vehicle, means that there are several common parts that are the same as many other military vehicles. Good luck and have fun working on it, and post plenty of pics when you do. I have a 67' M725 that I've restored along with it's brother vehicle a 67' M715.
 

Attachments

m38inmaine

Well-known member
2,090
44
48
Location
Maine USA
Here is a picture of the shifter assembly I rebuilt, you can see the end of the plunger in the center to the left, the part the shifter hits against is hidden in the center. So what does this spring loaded plunger do ?, it prevents the shifter from moving the shift rail unless you lever that plunger out of the way, perhaps it's not reverse. My spring loaded plunger was stuck from a burr where the plunger sticks out, it's working correctly now.
 

Attachments

Last edited:

NDT

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
10,106
5,704
113
Location
Camp Wood/LC, TX
Here is a picture of the shifter assembly I rebuilt, you can see the end of the plunger in the center to the left, the part the shifter hits against is hidden in the center. So what does this spring loaded plunger do ?, it prevents the shifter from moving the shift rail unless you lever that plunger out of the way, perhaps it's not reverse. My spring loaded plunger was stuck from a burr where the plunger sticks out, it's working correctly now.
Sorry I mis-interpreted your earlier post.
 

Shark

New member
10
0
1
Location
Wailuku, Hawaii
Aloha again, didn’t want to start a new thread..... finally getting ready to move my ambulance to the house this weekend so I can put some work into it.

Unfortunately, the tires on it are so old that moving it even a few feet results in large strips of tread to fall off. Because of this, I need to flatbed it to my house. Can I put regular 16” truck tires on stock wheels with inner tubes for the time being? Not in a position at the moment to afford correct tires, mostly because of outrageous shipping costs here to Maui.
 

NDT

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
10,106
5,704
113
Location
Camp Wood/LC, TX
Sure I would. Technically you are not supposed to put tubes in tubeless tires but for what you are trying to do should be fine. Yes the 9.00-16s are very pricy now and surplus ones are ancient.
 

67Beast

Well-known member
963
445
63
Location
Silver Lake Sand Dunes MI.
Yep putting some regular 16" tires on for the time being to move around should be fine. If you plan on making it long term, you need to use radial tubes instead of the stock bias tubes otherwise the tubes can fail. I've had 36x16 Swamper radials with radial tubes on my M715 since 2004 without any problems.
 

Shark

New member
10
0
1
Location
Wailuku, Hawaii
Good to hear, have Swampers too.

Just curious, are there wheel adaptors somewhere out there available for fitting common 6 and 8 lug wheels?
 

Shark

New member
10
0
1
Location
Wailuku, Hawaii
Pulled out the Ambulance from being stored in 40’ container for a year and just have to swap out the brake master cylinder so can stop. How about that tire? From 1987, all of them, LoL





 
Last edited:
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website like our supporting vendors. Their ads help keep Steel Soldiers going. Please consider disabling your ad blockers for the site. Thanks!

I've Disabled AdBlock
No Thanks