More mystery mountings on mighty M37, my my my

[maddawg308]

Was over at ShieldWolf's place on Sunday, he finally got his M37 running, and running well (a little tick in a valve, but hey, it's 56 years old!). Found out that his M37 was one of the first off the line, production began in Jan 1951, and his is dated the end of Jan 1951. Sweet!

He found these mounting points on his truck, didn't find them in the manual anywhere. The first two pics show what looks to be an antenna junction box under the hood. The third pic shows a funny looking four-pointed mounting system on the firewall in front of the passenger's seat, also not in the manuals. Any idea what these things are?

 

[Blake]

fire wall box is radio supression box for radios (interference) on early trucks

 

[acetomatoco]

Ignition resistor to prevent radio interference. Similar to that used on WWII Jeeps, etc.

 

[acetomatoco]

In the floor panel, what is mounted on the studs on the engine side of the bracket..??

 

[maddawg308]

Nothing, like the studs don't go through to the other side.

 

[M-37Bruce]

Interior Studs

I'm thinking that those mounts are for the "fire wall insulation"? There are about17/18 buttons that hold the panel to the fire wall interior.

 

[Bill W]

RE: Interior Studs

As mentioned, thats a ignition suppression filter on the firewall which was used on early M-37s ( till early 1952 ) then they upgradeed to a smaller filter that mounts in the base of the ( upgraded) distributor. I bet somewhere in its civie life someone mounted a in cab heater where you see the four holes, are there any knockouts on thefirewall missing from where they could have run the heater hoses from the engine? If you post the vin # I can tell you what # off the line she was, its rare to see a early 37 that still has the old ign filter still mounted, does she also still have the zenith fuel filter mounted by the voltage regulator?

 

[FrankUSMC]

My friend has a January 1951 M37 also. His is the 13 th one made, and it is in super shape.
One of the few, Frank

 

[tstephenson]

My 51 had one of those noise deals just like the one in the photo, and it would go open sometimes, drove me nuts for a few days, then I figured it out. My Dad (86) said they came on trucks in WWII that were comunications Trucks. He said he had seen them on equipment in the late stages of the War. If anyone needs one mine is available, It also had resistors on the backs of all the guages. They were 96 ohm and fit iinto a neat little bakalite spring loded right angle conector. Most of mine were broke but I did salvage one and put it back original on the temp gauge.
Tim

 

[tstephenson]

I have been told that my 51 is the only one they had ever seen with the resistor deal on the back of the gauges. I will get the number off it and see when it was produced. I may have a unusual truck.

 

[citizensoldier]

That floor panel has a hump in it like the ones used for the Arctic Heater duct.. They might have mounted something on that for a heater like mentioned above.
That floor panel should be flat all the way accross behind the fire extinquisher.. Hmmm.. Are the knockouts on the passenger fender still there?

 

[maddawg308]

No, the passenger fender is plain. I am thinking that this raised part was for an early heater, but it not there now.

 

[citizensoldier]

Early heater? Maybe didnt know there was one. Garbee woud know for sure. I have only seen fuel fired and hot water heaters mounted on the drivers fender. Any holes in the hood or grill for arctic covers? Is it a hard top? I have one of those panels and the duct is much more jagged.. Does it have a standard battery box in it? If it was a M42 radio truck it would have a bigger battery box for the 6hn batteries. Any ductwork around the oil pan or into the battery box? Cool to have such a early one in good shape.

 

[Bill W]

Tstephenson
Somewhere around the first 300-500 M-37's off the factory line had 6v gages with resisters. I guess Dodge was using up their leftover WWII WC stock.

 

[CGarbee]

The knockout for the ductwork for the Perfection Arctic Heater is actually between the fender bottom edge and the passenger door... The instruction manual for mounting the kit are on my website (MWO/Technical info page) and may be of assistance in comparing differences between this truck and others.

Firewall insulation is held in place by large head split rivets, I have yet to put the pattern for the pieces on my website (anyone want to convert tracings of the original pieces into a JPG or PDF for me??). Removal of the insulation (done often, it was only cardboard) results in a pattern of holes, not studs...

Resistors for the guages are just signs that the early production guages are intact... M38s' and M37's produced in 1951 (and a bit later, I'd have to look at my notes at home to check the SN of the changeover vehicles and convert to a date, Bill W might know off the top of his head...) used a resistor to step down the voltage, later models used 24v guages... Rare to find a truck that hasn't had the older guages replaced at some point in it's life.

Let us know what you find when you pull the hubs and look at the brakes, early M37's had slightly differnt brake pieces than later ones, once again, most got the hardware swapped out during rebuilds... Take photos and let us know if it is different from what is shown in your manuals.