Water Fording System

[David Dunlop]

Richard.

Just a little food for thought.

Rob and Frank have very accurately described issues that can surface with the Fording Control valve system in the M-Series vehicles. The ones in my M37 and M38 had their valves wired open and the control handle/central wire core assemblies disconnected from the valves and pulled right out of the dash. Just the outer wire looms left in place.

I personally prefer to have as much original equipment working on a vehicle as possible. What tipped the scale for me in favour of restoring this particular system on both vehicles was the realization I was going to be the sole operator of the vehicles. They were not going to be exposed to the potential risks of many and varied hands, looking for something to play with while driving.

The fording cables were very easy to find in these parts at one time, selling NOS for $1.99 Cdn.

Another M-Series system that saw a lot of deactivation up here was the dash mounted fuel primer pumps which were often still in place but had their lines crimped shut behind the dash. Not sure why they became an issue.

David

[rob love]

The primer pump was handy, but there were perceived problems with operators overusing it, or trying to use it while the vehicle was running. Both were fiction in my mind. It was still hooked up on my first M37, and was handy when starting the vehicle after running out of fuel. So was the primer lever on the side of the fuel pumps.

Another thing that was commonly disconnected were the ether start bottles on the MLVW. Kind of a shame because they worked well. There were mechanics who thought the drivers would use the bottle while running for a supercharge, but that was of course nonsense since the solenoid only worked while the starter motor was engaged, and it only allowed a predetermined amount of ether to go into the manifold.


The other thing that was commonly disconnected on the SMP fleet was the mico brake. They were almost always disconnected on the old deuce, and that continued on to the (new) MLVW. There was nothing wrong with them, as long as an operator did not try and use it for a long term park brake. It was meant for a temporary brake for something like winching.

All of these things worked fine, and really did not need to be disconnected. On a single owner vehicle, there certainly would be no issues.

[Retsarge]

Rob,
I have a empty hole about 3 inches to the left of the power switch, about 3/8 inch diameter in size. Is this where the dash mounted primer pump hand lever was attached on the dash? My fuel pump does have the primer lever on it...is this something that that would be an ok item to reconnect, as you said above?

[rob love]

That would have been for the Dole primer pump. It picked fuel up from the main fuel line and injected it into the intake manifold (in the case of the M38A1: the head).

The primer lever on the pump usually works. Some pumps had the arm removed during rebuild, but there is nothing wrong with having it. Most guys don't know they are even there. Saves a lot of cranking after the vehicle has been sitting for an extended period, or if you ran out of fuel.

[Retsarge]

Rob,
I just ordered all 4 of the Canadian CDN2/3 manuals from Brian Ashbury..should be here sometime next week. I'll look in them to see what parts are needed to hook the hand pump primer back up on my jeep. Is there a supplier, that you know of, that might have the complete kit available?? Thanks