M37 bed rebuild

[big1096]

'Tis that time of year at my place. The time when winter slumbering plans are awakened by a few warmer days and the approach of Spring. Of course today being the first day of Spring, it's snowing. But that give me time to post pics of our M37 bed rebuild.

We've been working on the M37 for a while now, and the mechanicals are all rebuilt front to back top to bottom. The bed is in some sorry shape, so that's the next project. We're also going to replace the rear cross member, because it has been bent out of shape by some previous unknown mishap.

We started by disassembling the back end, removing the bed mounts, and then the bed. We took off the headboard and started the process of removing the seemingly endless amount of bed bolts. After a combination of grinder and blue wrench techniques, the bed floor was detached. We cut it in pieces to make it easier to get out. When we got the bed out we found that the front crossmember was full to the top with packed in damp dirt and sand. It was in understandably poor shape. So far we've gotten the rear bed brace back in, and we're working on getting some sheet metal pieces made to replace all the angles for the inside of the bed, and the front brace. Following are some pics of the process:

 

[big1096]

And some more pics:

 

[mhassett]

Excellent picture of your progress.
MHassett

 

[maddawg308]

You guys are doing a fantastic job bringing my ol M37 back to life! The rear crossmember was bent before I bought it in 2010. The only thing I can think happened to it was a previous owner tried pulling out something, like a stump, that didn't want to budge. You know all those people who think military trucks are impossibly tough as the Hulk and "can pull a barn down"? Yeah, I think one of those guys previously owned this truck.

Keep up the great work! You're making us look bad and we're happy about that!

 

[Keith_J]

Bringing back memories of the total frame on restoration of mkcoen's M37. The bed was in similar shape, minus the bends. Lots of rust so we took another partially rusted bottom and pieced a repaired one together. Lots of cutting and welding. Lots of other holes patched. It was great once finished but I never thought it would ever get there.

of course the screws were a major pain.

 

[RodUSMC1962]

Nice work, you will be glad you did this when you are done. Like I always say
it drives me nuts to see these old trucks left out in the weather.

 

[TGP (IL)]

Nice Job.
Carry on.
Tom

 

[Storm 51]

Great job repairing that truck! It will be like new when you're done.

Always makes me glad to see these trucks brought back to life (or to "good health").

Storm 51

 

[big1096]

Here are another round of pics. We got all of the old support angles cut out and the areas cleaned up, and the bad parts of the toolbox cut out and replaced. We got new stock fabbed up, cut, and ready to go back together. We got one side of the new floor put down to line everything up. Things are moving along pretty well.

Jim

 

[Roller]

Nice job! That will look great when done.

Frank

 

[mhassett]

Nice work. Way beyond my skill level.
MHassett

 

[big1096]

Here's another set. We have replaced the front crossmember with a new fabricated piece; fully bolted in and welded the entire floor; fitted the new headboard and bolted it in; and fixed a pretty sizable rust hole in the front side support. Here are some pics of that work.

 

[big1096]

And then we got into the frame crossmember. That took some effort. We cut out the old crossmember and surveyed the damage. We ended up straightening the frame from the fuel tank support back, including the fuel tank support crossmember. We put in the replacement crossmember and applied large amounts of force to straighten everything out. It was almost unbelievable how much was twisted out of shape. When we got it straight the fuel tank fit like brand new, and everything was squared up. It was a ton of work, but well worth it in the end. We also had to repair the fuel line connection on top of the fuel tank. A quick clean up and solder, just like new! More pics....

 

[maddawg308]

Yay! She is gimpy no more! (no offense to gimpyrobb intended)

Where did you source the replacement rear frame crossmember?

 

[big1096]

It was a take off part that we sourced through Vintage Power Wagons. He put us in touch with Ryan Greenvelt out of Vermont. We got a few hard to find things from him.

 

[T. Highway]

Very nice work on the bed repair and frame.

Bert

 

[TXFirefighter]

Where did you find the bed floor material?
I am woring on an M715 and the bed floor needs LOTS of help, like total floor replacement...

 

[big1096]

We got the floor from vintagepowerwagons.com. They have remanufactured factory spec floors made for the M37. I don't know if they would have anything for the M715.

Jim

 

[Tinwoodsman]

Great job Big. Don't you just love rust? The bed looks super and I hope we see it at the GA Rally this year.

 

[mikey]

Great job! Coming along really nice!

Mikey