My new....ish M170

[greasemonkey94]

well i just bought a m170 at an estate auction just up the road here i went there thinking it was a m38a1 because they only ad a front picture on it ...... well i got there and almost freaked out it was a m170 in great condition .... its missing all the stuff to make it an ambulance appaerntly from what i could find the previous owner bought it from the county rural fire department so i can almost garuntee that all the ambulance stuff is gone they welded a funky platform to the back of it and the only set in the thing is the drivers which is fairly good no body damage minimal rust im missing the tailgate however but everything under the hood is original and gas tank is in amazing shape i just dont know much about these things other than from the dash board forward its basically a m38a1 everything from there back is confusing to me i read a couple places that there were only 4155 made then 2 other places said aroun 6000-6500 so i dont know how rare these are but any info you can give me would be greatly appreciated i found somewhere where the army and marines made troop carriers out of them since i dont have all the ambulance equipment i might just do that any other ideas??

 

[Scarecrow1]

Ok you know someone had to say it .......

 

[Fishtail]

The ambulance parts are very hard to find, that's why there aren't alot restored.

Scott

 

[jasonjc]

The army used them as "air field taxis". I think I read that the Marines used them for radio jeeps?


Like yours mine is missing every thing ambulance also. I'm thinking of doing the air field taxi thing with mine not sure yet. It's on the back back bruner right now.

 

[greasemonkey94]

yay pictures!!!

 

[greasemonkey94]

anybody know if i can get a passengers seat? i dont car if its the smallr original version i just want something to drive passenger around in would a m38a1 passenger seat fit? or any other military vehicle? i just want something to fit doesnt have to be original i know the passenger seats are next to impossible to find but an update on the m170 the engine turns over im gonna get some batterys in it today or tommorow and see if it will start and iff so its gonna be a full frame up rebuild

 

[BillF]

m170 passenger seats are as rare has hens teeth. You will have to make something work. I know a few guys have modified m38a1 seats to work

 

[jasonjc]

If you put new seats in it I'd like to get the drivers. Let me know. Thanks

 

[jeeplvr247]

Wow it still has the right carb, intake, and oil filter. That is a good sign that the engine has not been messed around with too much. If it is still 24V that is about $1000 in wiring alone that you just saved yourself. It looks like a great find!

 

[greasemonkey94]

yeah everything is original still has 24 volt generator and all wiring just somone did a crappy job painting it im gonna try and put a battery in it thursday im not getiing rid of the drivers seat sorry but i wanted soething for passengers seat so i can modify a m38 or m38a1? ok ill look around see what i can find and thanks im gonna see if i can find some original parts still has the dash complete and fording kit it was in the rural fire department they didnt drive it much probly because they couldnt figure out the 24 volt but ill keep yall posted let me know if anybody finds some original parts mainly a spare tire holder would be best

 

[jeeplvr247]

http://www.surplusjeep.com/M38A1/M38A1_Lead_Page.htm
They have everything listed on the site but they may not have it in stock. I have worked with these guys before and they are really nice and good to work with, fair on price too. The only problem is that they work on California time. If it is hard to find (like this seat) you may end up waiting a couple months but they will come through for you at the end of the day.

 

[BillF]

Take an m38a1 passenger seat and just cut it down the middle. I think that is what some of the other m170 owners have done.

 

[greasemonkey94]

might do that with the m38a1 but that site was very helpful i might call them and see what they can do they have almost everything to bulid a brand new m170 hahaha ill give them a call as soon as i got a few pennies to rub together so i can afford 1 too much stuff not enough money thanks for the help guys

 

[greasemonkey94]

ok update i got 2 batterys together to try and start the thing and checked to see if gas was in the tank and i found lead powder on the spout down to the tank which means lead gas ........ how do i fix it? any ideas or strategys? i need to get it out and ive heard people say there is sonna be a thick toxic resedue in the bottom (this scares me) how do i fix it without burning a hole in my pocket???? im gonna take the carb off and check the bowl to make shure its not gummed up and ill probly replace the fuel pump it looks rough as it its but any ideas with the tank? please let me know

 

[greasemonkey94]

just tried starting it all the guages work but the solonoid is bad gonna fix it

 

[jeeplvr247]

It sounds like you have a really good find there. It is great that you got to it before bubba did. I have a few of his "repairs" on mine which I will have to sort out over the next few years. $$

 

[modified]

From your pics it seems you have a USMC M170. The rear cross-member is a typical Marine corp retrofit. Check your axles for lockers. Later Marine corp M170's were equipped with "PowerLoc" on both front and rear.

 

[greasemonkey94]

i scraped away a little of the paint it looked army green but what do the lockers look like ill check and see

 

[modified]

what do the lockers look

A good read...
http://www.vernco.com/Powr-Lok/

aside from pulling the diff covers, you may find a tag attached to the axles that states "Use Limited Slip lube only"

 

[greasemonkey94]

ok awsome ill look tommorw and see but i had an idea for anyone still following this thread i know seats for these things are extremly hard to find i was thinking about taking my drivers seat to ametal fabrication shop and see if i can get some copies made for it if so would anybody be interested in one and if anyone has a passengers seat they would be willing to do this with please message me about it because if i can have a copy of one made i would gladly pay for it ...thanks guys