My M37 Restoration Thread

[JStinson]

I would suggest at leat trying PB Blaster or Kroil before you say the bolts can't be free'd up... once I used PB Blaster I wanted to throw the WD40 out....

I might give that a shot, thanks for the info.

[Bruce]

DCPC #'s

That tag is only for Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth, Desoto or DCPC. I think it is called a "Builders Tag", Kevin Clausen might have better info if he sees this post, or maybe MoPar Norm?
BTW, Mine is long gone, I an going to make it's replacement and add my birth date to it.

[JStinson]

That tag is only for Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth, Desoto or DCPC. I think it is called a "Builders Tag", Kevin Clausen might have better info if he sees this post, or maybe MoPar Norm?
BTW, Mine is long gone, I an going to make it's replacement and add my birth date to it.

That's a great idea on the birthday, I think.

I went to t137.com and tried their decoder. All I got was this:

Invalid Serial Number: 4910247608
Error Code: PRE210
The prefix of 49 is invalid for a 10 digit serial number.
Years Valid prefixes
1958-1959 L6,L8,M6,M8
1960-1969 11,12,13,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,78

Hmmm...

[JStinson]

I went down to the shop today and looked at the engine. They're slowly getting it together. Cam shaft is in. I took some pictures but none that I really liked. I'll get some pictures up as soon as I take some that I like. In the meantime, I've been playing the part of Destructo, the quiet but effective disassembly man.

These brake lines are serviceable, right?





In deep meditation:

[JStinson]

Reached a pretty good milestone earlier today. We finally got the cab removed. It was a constant battle that took most of an afternoon, and that was just on removing the master cylinder (see above picture). Whoever put the truck together had hands that were at least half the size of mine.

Removing the bolts from the mounting brackets:



Rigged and ready to be taken off:



The first of several attempts:

[JStinson]

As usual, after you start the final stage of removing something like this, you find what you missed in all of the earlier stages. I missed at least three bolts. I discovered that the two rear cab mounting brackets had an extra L bracket holding them on. That took a bit of troubleshooting to figure out.



Success:





Now for the bed...

[Desoto61]

Now that's a cherry picker! My lift does a good job of removing but then you have to figure out how to move it from there.

It is a nice feeling to get major parts like that off, real sense of progress. Not as good a bolting it back on, but good never the less.

Keep up the good work!

[jrodjared]

Yes fantastic pics and great work. Wish mine was going so smoothly. I may be pulling the motor soon and going through what you are, how did you find a place to work on the motor? Did you know someone locally? Or you just started calling around? What should I expect to pay?

[JStinson]

Yes fantastic pics and great work. Wish mine was going so smoothly. I may be pulling the motor soon and going through what you are, how did you find a place to work on the motor? Did you know someone locally? Or you just started calling around? What should I expect to pay?

There is a small auto shop locally that will do engine rebuilds upon request. We've known the family personally for decades.

As far as price, it really depends on who does it. I hate to tell you what I'm paying from a tiny shop in the middle of nowhere, GA only for you to find out that labor is double in Maryland.

Your best bet is to call around and get quotes. Sending a PM to Charles Talbert is a good start.

[JStinson]

Bed removal

The bed was the next step. Thankfully, it had been taken off a few years ago when I did the first "restoration" on it. So, I figured it was going to be much easier. Turns out, I was wrong.

It's an interesting experience going over a truck that you've torn into before. You can see the things that you did that were right, and also the things that were wrong or could somehow be improved upon. Also, you can see the bizarre things that you have no idea why you did. This was one of those times.



We started to remove the bed, only to find out that the frame wanted to come with it. I was a tad stumped, as I had already removed the four bolts and disconnected the gas tank hoses. Upon further inspection, I found that I had spot welded the brackets that the bed rests on to the cross members on the bed. There were six spot welds in all. Why did I do this? I assume it was some effort to make doubly sure the bed had no chance of moving. What benefit did it serve? I don't know. Would I do it agin? Never. Why am I interviewing myself? Your guess is as good as mine.

[JStinson]

I managed to torch the spot welds off, with minimal damage to the brackets. I think I can repair the damage with no trouble though.

[JStinson]

I took a steam cleaner and managed to blast a ton of grease and dirt off of the frame and transfer case. I also discovered another paint color. The tcase had some red on it. That brings the rainbow to red, yellow, OD and blue.







Can anyone tell me what the numbers on the plate on the tcase mean?

[W_A_Watson_II]

Looks like a rebuild tag, but it is different than mine was. Australian Government Directory for AGD?

Here is what mine looked like:

[JStinson]

Frame Repair

Earlier in the game, right after the bumper came off the truck, I noticed that the right portion of the frame was flimsy. You could move it with your hand. Not far, but enough to know there was a problem. After the front third of the truck came off, the culprit was found. The front frame cross member had a broken weld. It was still being held in place by the rivets, but it was still a major issue that had to be addressed.

Well, son, there's your problem:



No big deal, we'll just throw a weld on it and call it good. Problem: I got no experience with a stick welder. A few years ago, the hippie friend (pictured on page one) and I tinkered around with the welder for kicks and giggles. He had a decent grasp on it as he had taken high school classes. I, on the other had, was very successful at sticking the rod to the metal. So, back to class for me. I took the ginormous plate that I cut off the front bumper and used it to practice. After a couple or three rods, I figured I had it down enough to make a pass at it.

Thankfully, my dad was here and gave me several helpful pointers. Clamps in place, frame grounded, area clean and v'ed, I made my first attempt.



Taking the advice of the more experienced welder, my dad, I made three beads. One at the lower edge of the break, one at the upper edge, and one killer bead to fill in the gap.

This is the end result:



Success.

[Matthew Ziegler]

rivets

It might not be a bad idea to replace those loose rivets, just in case. I usually use grade 8 or if I can find them Lawson bolts on chassis or suspension. Lawson bolts are grade 12 or better