Operation: Gertrude. Kendelrios M715 restoration thread

[kendelrio]

All-

I was fortunate enought to pick up this 1967 M715 recently:



I'll use this thread to document the restoration of "Dirty Gerty"

When I bought the teuck I was told it needs a wiring harness, which was in a box on the seat. It wasn't "just" a wiring harness... it was a brand new full truck harness from Vintage!

There also was a new set of plugs and wires for the distributor!

So... today we brought her up to the car wash to clean her up and get a good look at this former fire department truck. She cleaned up great!




The first order of business was to air up the tires..



Next was removing the homemade top the FD had installed in order to see how much damage the metal screws did to the frame



We then decided to go ahead and remove the dash so we could get busy removing all of the unneeded wiring and have a fresh start to the rewiring job:





Then it was time to tackle the engine bay and headlights:








It was quite the mess:



I'll post more when I get back to work on it Monday. I'm going to pull the rear harness etc.

 

[cucvmule]

A Beehive of activity.

What a Christmas present.

Merry Christmas

 

[marchplumber]

All-

I was fortunate enought to pick up this 1967 M715 recently:

View attachment 887039

I'll use this thread to document the restoration of "Dirty Gerty"

When I bought the teuck I was told it needs a wiring harness, which was in a box on the seat. It wasn't "just" a wiring harness... it was a brand new full truck harness from Vintage!

There also was a new set of plugs and wires for the distributor!

So... today we brought her up to the car wash to clean her up and get a good look at this former fire department truck. She cleaned up great!

View attachment 887047


The first order of business was to air up the tires..

View attachment 887049

Next was removing the homemade top the FD had installed in order to see how much damage the metal screws did to the frame

View attachment 887050

We then decided to go ahead and remove the dash so we could get busy removing all of the unneeded wiring and have a fresh start to the rewiring job:

View attachment 887051

View attachment 887056

Then it was time to tackle the engine bay and headlights:

View attachment 887052

View attachment 887053


View attachment 887054

It was quite the mess:

View attachment 887057

I'll post more when I get back to work on it Monday. I'm going to pull the rear harness etc.

That plugs into a 110v outlet??? Seems dangerous!


ROFLMBO

 

[kendelrio]

Progress made today: Repositioned the M715



Front wiring harness in, defrost vents reseated/repaired, dash back on, rear wiring harness in.





Tomorrow is reseat the fuel tank after connecting it and installing lights.

Ethel decided to show her butt and be jealous. I had a tire just blow to shreds SITTING THERE!

 

[67Beast]

Looks like a pretty solid truck. Have fun on the rewire project. You might want to check out my YouTube channel on these trucks. There are several good tips there that might help you out. Green Iron TV
Here is the walk around I did on my M715.

 

[Barrman]

Nice progress. My forest service survivor had a very similar looking wiring mess.

Since David linked in his video channel. I might as well do the same. Here is one of mine about the forest service hard top and some options:

Don’t you just love having icicles on your truck after a wash?

 

[kendelrio]

Yesterday was random small projects and putting together the gauge cluster.

 

[marchplumber]

Yesterday was random small projects and putting together the gauge cluster.

View attachment 887283

View attachment 887284

Who's the handsome guy you hired to be in the pics??

 

[kendelrio]

Installed the fuel sending unit, reinstalled the fuel tank and removed the HMMV troop seats today!

 

[kendelrio]

Happy to say the 24V wiring harness is in, new battery cable run, floor starter reconnected.

 

[kendelrio]

Yesterday was electrical.

I am extremely anal about electricity. The last thing I want is to let the magic smoke out of some expensive parts or burn down some stuff, so I read drawings, test, retest then test again.

After some phone calls and a post here on the forum, I figured out what's going on with my power flow to the gauges and that will be corrected today.

I also tested a lights, marker and BO lights, so that was a step forward!

I was able to take some pass through connectors from some LMTV buckets and wire up the civilian buckets for the headlights to work until I get the correct ones. The only issue I'll have is to change out the headlights, I'll need to remove the entire bucket instead of the ring.

I also need to finishing fabricating the rear light brackets. I mounted them temporarily on the frame for testing.

Rear lights

 

[kendelrio]

Today was a banner day!

Figured out the issue with the alternator. I don't need to use pin 3. That solved the constant power issue I had.

Next was trying to fire her up. We checked for spark, but alas, no love.

We adjusted the points and still no fire.

Then I remembered an electronic ignition sitting in a box in the map compartment, so we changed it out.






We tried to turn her over and definitely had spark, so I put the distributor back together and rigged up my "jump bottle" of gas.

Here is the end of about 5 minutes of working her, sweet talking her and cursing her:

Then we wanted to purge the fuel line/pump, so we put 2 gallons of gas in the tank and started turning her over...... and could not get gas for ANYTHING! After installing an electric fuel pump and still nothing, I went and got another 5 gallons and put it in.... still nothing.

I asked my buddy: "Did we reconnect the pickup when we removed the tank to clean it and change the sending unit?" His response: O_O....

Sure enough, the pickup line was disconnected. After reconnecting it and priming it from the tank:

she idles nicely!

military vehicle 1967 gladiator Vietnam

youtube.com

The I gave her an oil change, flushed and refilled the alternator then called it a night.


And this was my view of her before I killed the lights and shut the shop down after a very full and fulfilling day!

 

[Guyfang]

You going to take off the winch?

 

[kendelrio]

You going to take off the winch?

Probably. It's a civilian 12v so... I may root around and see if I can find, modify and attach a hydraulic one.

 

[marchplumber]

Probably. It's a civilian 12v so... I may root around and see if I can find, modify and attach a hydraulic one.

OR, you could find a bumper that is similar to the Pic that Guyfang showed......but if you want a winch, then you'll have to get back in the internet water and do some searching. You DO have a WHOLE BUNCH of contacts here on S.S. that are watching your progress, so they might step forward.

 

[kendelrio]

Today was driveline and more electrical.

Pulled the drive shafts to put new u-joints in and decided to clean them up.









Installed them and decided to give it a spin

Next is working on stopping!

 

[kendelrio]

Gauges and lights work!

 

[kendelrio]

Johnny Cash "One Piece At A Time" is on a loop in my head.....

Pulled the wheels to check the brakes, other than dirt and gunk they were in pretty decent shape, so I cleaned everything up and put them back together



(That is before cleaning them)

In the midst of that job, a package came.... a virtually new soft top frame!







The seller threw in a bonus.... a vinyl top that had seen better days, but with some cleanup and tlc will be an absolute awesome back-up top until we get the canvas!

Now I'm waiting on a replacement master-cylinder:



Then it will be adjusting the clutch etc.

 

[M35fan]

Johnny Cash "One Piece At A Time" is on a loop in my head.....

Pulled the wheels to check the brakes, other than dirt and gunk they were in pretty decent shape, so I cleaned everything up and put them back together

View attachment 888022

(That is before cleaning them)

In the midst of that job, a package came.... a virtually new soft top frame!

View attachment 888023

View attachment 888024

View attachment 888025

The seller threw in a bonus.... a vinyl top that had seen better days, but with some cleanup and tlc will be an absolute awesome back-up top until we get the canvas!

Now I'm waiting on a replacement master-cylinder:

View attachment 888026

Then it will be adjusting the clutch etc.

Looking good, Ken! Just remember, there are supposed to be two headlights, not three. And yes, that's a reference to the song that's now playing in my head too

 

[marchplumber]

Definitely chowing down on the "elephant" gumbo!! Nice, Sir!!