M62 wrecker

[rob love]

Your story about Levy/Tecmotive might have some relevance to this truck Bob. The engine was rebuilt by Tecmotive in 1990. It must have been installed that year, because I went to MooseJaw in 91, and we never put an engine into this unit...it had to have been done before I got there.

So I have made some progress with the wrecker. The engine was cleaned up a little (plugs and fuel system), and the starter and starter solenoid both had to be removed and have their contacts cleaned. The old style fuel filter bowl had been brazed in it's service life and had since developed some new holes, so another one from the backroom was substituted. They are the same as the CMPs and WW2 Jeeps. One fuel tank was full of pinholes and the other side was completely rotten. The oil was changed, and the oil system pressurized. When I went to replace the two oil filters, the housing was bone dry, so it seemed important to me to pre-lube the system. With all of the above done, it fired right up and purred like a grizzly bear. Power steering had to be topped up, and I am happy to say it is now functioning perfectly.

Bodywise, the cab roof and back were patched or had major cracking or rust. The cowl had suffered greatly from having two different hinges on it, as well as more of the amateur oxy/acetylene bodywork.

Base maintenance has 4 MLVWs they are ready to send off to the scrapyard, having been cannibalised for the past few years. So I was able to get two fuel tanks from them, along with a new roof, windshields, back wall, doors, and a cowl was cut off. I spent a bit of time breaking the two million spot welds on each, and cleaning and shaping the two halves so they would go back together nicely. I decided to go with 3M structural epoxy for the firewall and sides, and drill and plug weld the metal at the door pullers. As well, prior to that, I had to weld in several of those caged nuts that love to spin. Again, the old MLVWs provided.

So this morning the cowl and firewall each got their bead of epoxy, and everything was clamped back together. Welding is all done, and now it sits until tomorrow.

Before re-installing the dash, it is my intention to replace the wiring harness. Although most of it was in decent shape under the cowl (but not all), there were more than a few jury rig repairs, and lots of bare wire underneath. Again, the MLVWs have provided new harnesses, although there will be some lengthening involved due to the longer engine as well as conversion to the metal shells in a lot of the locations.

Attached are some photos of the progress. While waiting for the glue to dry, I also put on the back wall. I actually lucked in on finding a cowl that hadn't been walked on all it's life. It was necessary when camming up a truck to walk on the hood and cowl, as well as the roofs if they didn't have roof racks. The donor truck was an AVCON (avalanche control) truck, so likely had not been to the field. The chassis was, however, quite rusty from the BC salt.

[Bob Carriere]

.....being paid to do what you love!!!!!!!

All the best Rob.

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

Can you imagine.....being paid to do what you love!!!!!!!

All the best Rob.

Well yes I can.


If I cared less, the work would go much quicker. But when you must weld in the cage nuts, and you must chase every welded nut with a tap, and you must use the little dished hex "bolts, assembled washer", and you must apply antisieze to every one of the above, it takes a little longer. Hopefully some fellow 30 years down the road appreciates this.



It's projects like these that makes one excited to go to work, and stay a little late each day. I have to fight the urge to go back in after supper, or on the weekend.

[Jon Skagfeld]

Back in the late '50s, early '60s, our Signal Corps unit still had CMPs. (radio vans aka gin palaces). Because of the then somewhat fragile nature of their mechanicals, it was deemed to be mandatory that a local RCEME unit with their M62 had to accompany us on our convoy to and from whatever training area we went to.
We had a chance to "play" with the boom...the only lever I remember was marked "crowd".

Yeah, memories.

[Wayne Hingley]

Originally Posted by rob love

...I have to fight the urge to go back in after supper, or on the weekend.

Could this be an indication that you do not have enough projects at home to keep you occupied? ...surely that's not the case with you Rob.

Your work on the cowl/firewall looks good. What's the scoop on that 3M structural epoxy? Is it something you have to mix up and apply, or is it delivered/mixed via tube? Have you used it before... results? It sounds like a useful product.

[rob love]

It is two tubes side by side. You need to buy the special caulking gun, which can be fairly expensive.....our price was $140 but the list price was about double that. Of course, you can buy them off ebay for about half that if you don't mind waiting a few weeks. The tubes come with a pair of mixing nozzles. You discard the nozzle after each use (although you leave it on just to seal the tube until you use it again, then you place on a new mixing nozzle. The nozzle swirls the two parts of the epoxy together. It comes out a grey colour, and as it sets, changes to a purplish Hugh. You have a few hours before it starts to set, so plenty of clamping time. I applied a bead to both surfaces. It is actually fairly thin, and will run a little. As it sets, I ran a paper towel to absorb up the excess, and also worked it in the seams as a seam sealer. You can weld an inch away form it, but if you get too close it will splatter.



The next day, when everything had hardened, I sanded some of the excess, then brushed POR-15 over the seams as there still would have been bare metal.



While I had my edges reasonable flat, I was working with used panels, so there was bound to be a little distortion. Add to that the two panels were off vehicles that were made 30 years apart....fortunately there seemed to be very little revisions to this area.


I can see me using this stuff again. Although my MiG welding didn't blow any holes thru the areas I did weld, it does not waterproof the seams...this stuff does.



Yes, I have plenty of projects at home, but in the evening, by the time I have supper, and get the wood furnace running in the shop, I am just about out of time. My own shop time is mostly on the weekends.

[Gordon Yeo]

The another great advantage of the body panel adhesive is it seals up the joint between the two panels and stops rust from forming in the seam. Not an insignificant benefit.

[rob love]

That, Gordon, is the biggest reason I used the stuff. I want these vehicles to last for the long term....despite my Manitoba upbringing, cheapest (in this case spotwelding) is not neccessarily the best. I welded (both spot and at the edges of the seams) at the door pillars, for strength as well as that area is fully covered by the dash.