Help a Nubie with a purchase

[72tx340]

[72tx340]

Hi All im new here and have a lot of questions. I have a chance to purchase this vehicle and wonder if you could tell me more about it? It has 33000 miles on it and it runs well. Purchase price is 7800 delivered to me. Any thoughts on what these are worth? Is there a parts source for them? Im very nervouse on purchasing it and to have something break and no way to replace it.

[72tx340]

[72tx340]

[Tom Petroff]

That truck is very well worth the $7800. Delivered,
Delivered being a key word.
Would be exceptional if it was a winch truck.
Engine,Drive train and Chassis parts are readily available from VPW, Midwest Military and other military vendors.
Sheet metal is harder to find but out there, especially used.
Top Safe Speed is 45 to 50 MPH.
It may run harder than that but I wouldn't recommend it with the 5.83 ratio gearing.
Fun/work horse trucks!
Nice Truck!
TGP

[Jeff in N.Tx.]

The truck looks very nice. Body looks solid. As Tom stated, parts are readily available. With delivery included, I think the price is very good.
Looks like a really nice vehicle from the photos.
Jeff

[72tx340]

Im about 400 miles away. So that does really figure into the price. I do have a video of it running, sounds good but seems a little loupie idleing. Could be from being cold. Thanks for your help! There is no winch the bed has plywood in it but they tell me it just has surface rust on it. The tires are worn (looks to me anyway) and from what i can tell very expensive to purchase. Any more info about this truch is greatly appriciated!!!

I am told its from the midwest. The restorer was in Pattons army as a mechanic. Dont know if thats true or not. His daughter then sold it to its present location.

I dont plan to go mudding in it just gentile rides around. One thing im curious about they turn on 3 switches to get it started. One under the seat one to the left of the steering wheel and one to the right. What are these for?

[72tx340]

Here is the bed probably the worst part. Dont know why for the wood.

[72tx340]

I have about 50 photos are there any areas i need to be concerned with i can post a photo if it helps. I wonder why for the toggle switch to the left of the dash. They turned it on inorder to start it.

[Jeff in N.Tx.]

The tires look pretty good for ocassional driving. If you were doing hard core offroading, you might need to invest in tires. As for me, I would run what is on it. Have not priced NDT tires lately, but my guess is about $200.00 each.
Not sure about the switches. Most of these have been added to/altered as far as electrical goes. I would bet the switch under the seat is a master disconnect, to keep any possible electrical drain from running down the batterys. The one to the right of the steering wheel is most likely the starter switch. You often do not have a key switch on these.
Plywood in the bed floor could mean rot, or it could be there just to protect the original floor. The floor is not all that hard to repair/replace.
I have owned 2 of these M37,s, but am no expert for sure. Others know a lot more than I do. I still think this looks like a really nice truck.
Oh, both of my trucks sort of had a sputter/lope when idling. Don't worry about that, kind of common, at least on the ones I have experience with. I never got mine to "purr like a kitten", but they ran down the road great.
Jeff

[Charles Talbert]

Have you seen it in person?

Several things I've seen in the photos that could be covering up issues. If you have not been able to inspect it in person; be CAREFUL. Not saying the seller is trying to be somewhat shady, just don't know, but if you don't know him and can't inspect, well you could be leaving the door open. My rule is this, "If you can't inspect, don't write the check." Upon inspection, you may find that it does meet your expectations, but a trip to check it out will never be a trip wasted. On the other hand, uninspected ebay purchases many times turn out to be real heart breakers.

[Kaiser2boy]

Do a compression check on each cylinder before you buy it. If there are cylinders that are low ( below 100 pounds ) the engine is on its way out.
Also all reading should be very close to each other , if not again it me be worn out. It may start and run but it will have low power.
Rebuilding the engine can be very costly if its done right and doing it half way is just a waste of money and time.

[Kaiser2boy]

Im about 400 miles away. So that does really figure into the price. I do have a video of it running, sounds good but seems a little loupie idleing. Could be from being cold. Thanks for your help! There is no winch the bed has plywood in it but they tell me it just has surface rust on it. The tires are worn (looks to me anyway) and from what i can tell very expensive to purchase. Any more info about this truch is greatly appriciated!!!

I am told its from the midwest. The restorer was in Pattons army as a mechanic. Dont know if thats true or not. His daughter then sold it to its present location.

I dont plan to go mudding in it just gentile rides around. One thing im curious about they turn on 3 switches to get it started. One under the seat one to the left of the steering wheel and one to the right. What are these for?

The one under the seat is a battery disconect. The one on the right of the steering wheel is the ignition the one on the left if it has a key has been added by some one for safty. You left out the one on the floor that you step on to engage the starter.

[72tx340]

Hi could you comment more on what you mean by covering up? I have 50 photos of it so i could post more of areas you think are troubles. I went to talk witha guy today that has one but he wasnt helpfull. He wouldnt even look at the pictures i had " I know what they look like" is all he would say when i went to show pictures of this one. As far as the switch under the seat he says that its a old fire truck. The wiring been monkeed with and walked off.

So he did have a military book with values high book was 8000 for a number one truck. I donk know how old it was. Usually nothing is a number one.

[Charles Talbert]

Extra switches other than a master disconnect usually means bad wiring, malfunctioning original switches that were replaced with improper non-original components, or some rocket scientist self proclaimed electrical genius has worked on it who was unable or more likely unwilling to figure out military wiring, (usually bad news in itself). Insulation cracking and falling off of wiring is very common also, do you have detailed photos of exposed areas of the wiring harness? Even they may be worthless, as bad insulation in areas where you can't see are the ones that cause issues most common. The plywood in the bed is likely covering floor rust out damage, holes cut by volunteer fire dept's or municipalities who never seem to go about doing anything the proper way, or damage caused by heavy objects being dropped into the bed, etc. I highly doubt it was placed there just to keep from scratching the floor. Do you have photos of drivetrain components up close? Is oil leaking at every available place, or was it pressure washed just prior to pictures being snapped so it wouldn't be visible? A picture is mostly worthless to account for this, you would have to see it in person to really access it well. Running a compression test on the engine YOURSELF would be very wise. If the owner refuses to let you run a test, well you see my point. As Kaiser said, readings less than 100 psi, buy it with knowledge that it needs a rebuild right now. It would need to show 105 psi + all the way through to have real usable engine life left with any reliability and decent performance.

I know many seller's are straight up; BUT all the worst examples I've seen of people getting seriously burned making sight unseen purchases have come from GUESS WHERE? EBAY!! The worst one I ever saw was an M37 built by one of those aforementioned rocket scientist who really thought he had a jewel. He would have screwed up pouring gas in the tank I honestly believe. To hear him talk, you would have thought he designed the truck for Chrysler with rave reviews. He delivered it here for a client. What happened; the client lost 60% of his purchase price ebaying it to get rid of it because it was more than he could afford to fix to make it acceptable. The next week a friend from Ohio who had visited here and seen the truck on our yard saw it once again in an ebay listing in Ohio, likely for the same reason. I lost track of it after that. I'm not saying this is one of those, I'm just saying buy wisely and check it out first. I advised him to inspect before writing a check also, he wished too late he had paid attention.