My M37 Restoration Thread

[Gordon Maney]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brinelling

[JStinson]

One of these things is not like the other:






I have a sneaking suspicion that the truck will turn a tad easier after this restoration.

[jrodjared]

If you have room for one, cabinet sand blasters are the greatest thing since sliced bread and tiny hamburgers.






After the primer:

Those blast cabinets are great, agreed.

[JStinson]

Progress

If you have room for one, cabinet sand blasters are the greatest thing since sliced bread and tiny hamburgers.






After the primer:

[JStinson]

Progress

Day before yesterday, I had one of those days in the shop. I decided I would finish rebuilding the front left steering knuckle and hub and have that done. So, I walked down and commenced to pulling the inner axle bushing. It wouldn't budge. I torqued on my homebuilt seal puller until parts of it started bending. I tried bumping it both ways, PB Blaster, heat and bizarre and increasingly hilarious puller designs. Nothing. I finally quit and headed for lunch. After lunch and a break, I went back and tried for a couple more hours. Nothing. I gave it up for the day and blasted and painted some stuff instead. My dad chimed in and built a slide hammer puller. That didn't work either.

So, yesterday I went to Advance Auto Parts and rented a slide hammer axle shaft puller.





It did in 5 minutes what I wasted more time than I care to admit trying to do. Lesson: don't be a Neanderthal, get the right tool.

[Kaiser2boy]

I should have said , niether are the pistons, rings, bearings, valves , valve seats, ignition, tires, paint, master cylinder but it do make it run better.

[JStinson]

I had a guy say to me " those lock out are not original"
I just smiled. I felt like saying -"Oh shut up".

Not original? Preposterous!

[Kaiser2boy]

Having the hub locks on the front will not only cut down on drag on the engine but it will take a lot ware and tear off the transfer case seeing as how it will not need to be spinning all the time. That box has a tendency to get very hot from just driving. The hub locks will cut that down to almost zero.
I had a guy say to me " those lock out are not original"
I just smiled. I felt like saying -"Oh shut up".

[Gordon Maney]

Wonderful!

[JStinson]

You are doing such a great job. How about writing an article, or several?

Thank you!

I'd be happy to do an article.

I'll start one asap.

[Gordon Maney]

Thanks Gordon!

I have a whole iPhoto album full of quality pictures. A ton of pictures are on Photobucket as well. I can send you good versions of any you need.

http://s126.photobucket.com/albums/p...M37%20Project/

You are doing such a great job. How about writing an article, or several?

[JStinson]

You are doing a marvelous job and the photos are great. Do you have high resolution versions of them? They would be great for an article in the magazine.

Thanks Gordon!

I have a whole iPhoto album full of quality pictures. A ton of pictures are on Photobucket as well. I can send you good versions of any you need.

http://s126.photobucket.com/albums/p...M37%20Project/

[JStinson]

I got the front left hub rebuilt today as well. The old races were stubborn, but they made it out. The inner bearing was in pretty good shape, but the outer one was rough. I replaced them both.

Packing bearings







Now the hub is mo' better, as they say.

[JStinson]

Now it's on to the front left.





What a mess....

[JStinson]

I was about to reinstall the spindle and my dad glanced at it and asked if it had a gasket on it. I looked in the manual and on VPW's site and couldn't find one anywhere. So, I assumed that it never had one. However, when I pulled the left front spindle off, there lay a gasket. So, luckily, my dad had some gasket paper and we fabbed a couple up.

For reference, a .45 Long shell casing makes a perfect hole cutter for bolt holes.





We pulled the spindle off of the steering knuckle and put the gasket on. I don't know why I couldn't find the gasket anywhere in my manuals or on VPW. It wasn't included in the front axle seal kit I got either. Any ideas?