My first M37, a junkyard find.

[misupratwin]

Today i found a 53 m37 w/w. It was sitting in a junkyard, Bought it for scrap weight.Towed it to the shop,put it inside for the night, It was heated for the days work.I took a quick look , Most of the major parts are there.

On first inspection it looks like it came with a heater, a complete winch, original drivetrain, part of a spare tire carrier in the bed, and a tailgate. It had a few inches of snow and a inch or two of leaves in it. Might be a prize hidden in there.

What i know is missing or destroyed, The top and related parts, air cleaner, original plugs and wires, taillights, seats, wiper motor , inside door handle , horn buttton.probably more that i didn't notice in the 20 minutes i looked at it. Someone took a torch to the right front wheel, stud ,and looks like the drum too.


Looking forward to here it run and drive it soon. Tim

 

[combat32]

Good buy for scrap price and ya got a winch too!

 

[davidhdale]

lucky dog nice find

 

[majorhitt]

Great find!!! It's not all to hard to find the items you mentioned that were missing. The top is something you could wait on. Tops is the winch!!!

 

[papabear]

You done good Sir!! Congrats!!

 

[Danger Ranger]

I'm in, this looks sweet. Great score!

 

[3dAngus]

Some guys have all the luck.

Glad it was a SS member.

Congrats. Its a darn nice score.

 

[ranger.41]

Looks like you got a good deal. The hardest part might just be getting the wheel off. Just about any old M-37 that has been sitting unused for
a long time is going to have most if not all those issues.
Most all of the parts are available.
ranger.41

 

[ranger.41]

Looks like you got a good deal. The hardest part might just be getting the wheel off. Just about any old M-37 that has been sitting unused for
a long time is going to have most if not all those issues. Most all of the parts are available.
ranger.41

 

[Tuko]

heckuva deal! last thing I need now is another, but if I saw it sitting there I would have to rescue the old soldier. whats one worth in scrap anyways??

 

[3dAngus]

Just the winch and fixings are worth more than scrap value of the whole truck. I would give him his money back just for those parts needed to relocate the winch assembly on my truck.

 

[EMD567]

Some people have all the luck........

 

[davidhdale]

amen lucky man whats this weeks lottery numbers lol

 

[misupratwin]

Thanks guys.

Tuko, the scrap value we agreed on was 800.00, and all i have to do is give him back the same weight in scrap i took.

I found the frame for driver and passenger top supports after the snow melted.
I took a few more pics hopefully better.

GL must have been involed with this truck some 20 years ago. The rear driveshaft is ripped almost in half The rear axle has a broken shaft ( i hope).

Hooked up a couple of batteries and it spins over, Decided to add some gas and see what happens, well long story short i need spark plug wires and a gas tank, seems mine was needed somewhere else. No parking park assembly either.

Ranger.41 i have impacts and sockets in 1in drive from 1/2 to 4in getting things apart is usually no problem its what i break in the process.

Well im off to do some research. Tim

 

[Storm 51]

You got a great deal on that truck! Most of the main suppliers for parts are close to you also (midwest military, VPW, etc).

You've got a great truck to restore there. Congratulations!

Storm 51

 

[Tuko]

Yep busted parts or not ya got a bargain

 

[oboyjohn]

Looks like you got a great deal for your 3/4 ton. ( That's what we used to call them up here in Canada. ) But wow, you have a killer sized garage to play in! Have a great time restoring this one.

 

[misupratwin]

I thought I'd update my thread. My fiancee has decided that we should use the m37 to drive away from the church on June 1, My timeline has just gotten alot shorter. So for now it will be a good from 20 feet truck.

I have made some progress and bought some parts. I replaced the rear wheel bearing and seals, rebuilt all four wheel cylinder, sandblasted and painted the drums,and rebuilt the master cylinder.

I bought a m101 trailer frame for a wheel,and replaced the rear driveshaft. I have had it running for about ten minutes, but only 45 seconds at a time, it dosen't run good yet. I bought a set of 24v military wipers looks good but I need to know what the little brackets are for on the windshield frame.( First pic)

Hopefully next week i should get a coupe of part deliveries, so I'll have more to do. Now to find the rest of the parts i need. Tim

 

[ABN173]

great save! subscribed to this thread now.

-Dale

 

[GUNNY 155]

Gas tanks can be hard to come by. Once saw a NOS one on E Pay go for $800.00. Would think you could get one made for that. What I found with the axles is they collect moisture (via condensation after years of sitting) and the ring gear teeth sitting in the water rust up solid. Some where along the line the vehicle gets dragged, towed or someone gets the thing running and decides to see if they can get things to break loose. The end result is things do break loose, things like spyder gears, axles, ring gear carrier bolts etc. This was the case on both of my axles. Parts are pretty easy to get. Do not be surprised if the ring and pinion gears are scrap. The ring gear carrier is usually out of the water far enough to be rebuildable. If you can do your own work parts are not to bad. I did have to make up some of my own special tools. Can send pics when you get that far. Overall you got a great truck to start with. Recently posted some pics of my USMC Restoration. Take a look on SS for them it will give you an idea of what you have ahead. It is a lot of work but I have met a lot of good people in the process. Good luck.