M37 Restoration (53-41242)

[Wayne Hingley]

Something followed me home today...

[Wayne Hingley]

The truck was sunk into the soil a bout 6" and had one half-flat tire, but with the help of the tractor it came out easily.

[chris vickery]

Looks great Wayne! A bit of a load for the Tacoma I bet?
If you only have a little bit of rust under the headlights you are lucky as this is the typical rust out spot on M37 trucks. It appears that you have a nice start for a beautiful project there.

[Wayne Hingley]

Originally Posted by Michael R.

Traces of the white shite in the shade at roadside . . . ?

Unfortunately, yes. There was 4" of it the day before. Luckily the temps went up significantly and melted most of it quickly.

[Wayne Hingley]

Good info on the bead clips Rob. They make perfect sense after seeing the image in the link you provided. Thanks. I will try to save them when the old rubber comes off.

Jes: Yes I was thinking it was an interesting routing for that fuel line too. You are correct, there was an electric fuel pump under the driver side dash. In fact there is a brand new fuel pump still in the box that came with the truck.

I already have a quote for a new harness (not cheap). I dont want to risk the chance of having an exciting major event, and/or all the pain and suffering of tracking down multiple "ghost" issues due to old wires that are almost guaranteed to fail over and over.

S/N is: 91401501 delivery 2-10-53.

The two trucks down the road are both 1952 delivery.

[rob love]

Check with John Bizal at Midwest Military. He has/had NOS main wiring harnesses for a reasonable price a few years back. It gives you all the wiring under the dash and halfway forward into the engine compartment.

I did one a few years ago and just had to make up the short harnesses to each headlamp/signal lam, as well as the harness from the right cowl back to the tail lamps

[Wayne Hingley]

Thanks Rob. That's a great lead. With the main harness to work off, the remainder is relatively simple to complete. I'll look into that.

[rob love]

The same harness is also available on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dodge-M37-Ch...%257Ciid%253A1

I have also seen the rear harnesses for larger trucks like the M35 for a decent price. You can shorten it for the Dodge, which should give you the mil-spec wire you will need for the two small front harnesses.

You will be able to salvage the shells, the bakelite union, and the little steel grommet rings, however you will have to buy some of the little rubber grommets and the solder/crimp on male terminals.

[maple_leaf_eh]

Wiring - I like Rob's idea too. The M35 is an SMP, bigger, newer and much more common vehicle. If you are pulling the old one out, find a wiring diagram to read the code numbers on the little aluminum clips. They might correspond to the M35's (headlights, tail lights, Blackout, etc).

Installing an aftermarket M37 harness might be a problem of a wire that is just a bit too short where you were hoping for breathing room. The US 3/4t truck is different than the Canadian model, and in some respects, I understand it is the lesser of the two. But 65 years after delivery, and 35+ years after retirement, your chances of finding a good harness are less and less every year.

Frost shields - the concept is to put a stiff plastic surface on the glass that trapped a dead air pocket that won't frost over. The typical installation was on something that had a feeble heater and negligible defroster. The problem I remember with them was the plastic was always fragile, and invariably cracked or the seal let go. Not the mention the visual distortion of looking through another layer. The Highway Traffic Act might have words on visual obstructions ... If you can get away from them, that would be a good thing.