m 37 resto in new brunswick

pauljboudreau · #1 31-03-10, 01:28

here is where i am at ...lol got enuf part and time just need money

allrigth , today i have had the cab off and started cleaning and removing stuff from the frame , i also started to cut off the wood carrying gizmo that where welded to the frame with the plasma cutter, did i tell everyone how much that tool is fun to use , ge i like my plasma cutter...lol
any how here are the pics, enjoy!!

cab less frame started to be cleaned

wood shit started to plasma off

the cab is in very nice shape found just a few hole to fix

Michel D · #2 31-03-10, 04:25

Hello i did my m37 last year, i think the 2 main beam on the cab were a little bit more damaged. But now thay are replaced by two 2x4-1/8 thick. Just need to make a little angle becaus the beam is not straight at the end.
I think your plasma cutter will be yousfull.

pauljboudreau · #3 07-04-10, 19:47

did more work on the m truck yesterday and this morning, pretty close to start restoring the frame , gt some sanding disc and the primer and paint today, gee that stuff is becoming expensive, oh well if i want a good job i have to get the good stuff i guess

any how here are the pics, enjoy

front frame view

rear frame view

some one did a poor welding job on a crack

another crak by the stearing box mount

transfert case crossmember had a hard life

power train awaiting restoration

striped the rear of the frame this morning

mask , tack cloth and filter for the paint

primer with etching primer in it

the paint formula from sherwin william

now it started raining so i stalled for the day

pauljboudreau · #4 07-04-10, 19:48

paint hardener and reducer, note the color, it is exactly the same as the paint on my nos gas cap, the rigth olive drab, cool

pre marked mixing cup for the paint wich goes 8-4-1, and the primer is 1 to 1

super dave · #5 08-04-10, 05:00

I will be interested in how the color comes out, Keep up the good work

pauljboudreau · #6 08-04-10, 23:46

nice day today had some more work done and started restoring the frame

ouf hard labor but it will be worth it, i found some marking stamped in the frame including a serial number , but the number is to faint to show on the camera, you can also see all kind of tool marks on the frame proving it was bended cold or pressed

any how here are the pics enjoy!

crack ready to be welded

crak welded

where is the crack?

other crack fixing

original dodge black paint showing under the drab

1/3 sanded down

marking stamped in frame

pauljboudreau · #7 08-04-10, 23:47

axles waiting restoration

Alex Blair (RIP) · #8 09-04-10, 01:10

Paul..
That is a nice weld..low splatter..looks like 7018 or 7011..
7011 would give you a nice base for a deep large weld but not with a frame..but not strong enough for a stand alone,one pass fix,in my estimation..especially for a restoration.... the 7018 is your best choice for price and strength.....70 series means 70,000 pounds tensile strength..more than enough for your frame..if it was a military application I would use 8018 or even 9018 for a 90,000 pound tensile strength weld..the frame would break somewhere else..not the welded area..
Anyway ..by the look of your weld..you don't need any advice from me but it may help others that are doing some welding with out your experience that may have some questions that we could help with..Keep posting..love the pictures and the description..

pauljboudreau · #9 09-04-10, 01:59

thank for the flower's!!

actually i used the mig welder at a high voltage and slower wire speed to make sure i had good penetration, also since those frame are high in carbon i preheated to a cherry red before welding and kept it hot for a while before leting it cool down on its own slowly to prevent any stress in the steel, it is important not to over heat it as it can become brittle because of the carbon , the mig welder combined with the mix gold gas and some nozzle dip make for very clean welds, i also used the plasma quite a bit to remove some material to cut down on grinding time.

as for progress pics , the more nice wheater the more progress , i do need to build a garage..lol

pauljboudreau · #10 09-04-10, 02:05

oh and for everyone, only the fool dont take or listen to advice!!!!, i love to hear advice from any one as long as it is polite, i try to always remember that some people always have more knowledge than me on some subject and that tthere is always something to learn form one and other

Alex Blair (RIP) · #11 09-04-10, 11:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by pauljboudreau

thank for the flower's!!

actually i used the mig welder at a high voltage and slower wire speed to make sure i had good penetration, also since those frame are high in carbon i preheated to a cherry red before welding and kept it hot for a while before leting it cool down on its own slowly to prevent any stress in the steel, it is important not to over heat it as it can become brittle because of the carbon , the mig welder combined with the mix gold gas and some nozzle dip make for very clean welds, i also used the plasma quite a bit to remove some material to cut down on grinding time.

as for progress pics , the more nice wheater the more progress , i do need to build a garage..lol

Hi Paul.
I figured you for an old school stick welder..I was curious about the few splatter beads..as 7018 doesn't do that /..I thought mig at first and then picked the wrong door..
The fresh drill hole at the end of the crack before welding told me you were an old school guy that knew what you were doing...
Pre heating was definitely the right process..cast iron is done the same way..
Anyway ..maybe you can make a trip in JUNE up to the Ottawa area to BBB...Bob's Beer and BBQ..mentioned here on the forum..
great time and lots of fun..maybe scrounge up some parts and pieces.too..Once again..great job..keep the picture log going..
we all want to follow your project..

pauljboudreau · #12 10-04-10, 00:50

hehe i do take care of keeping 4 plow bucket together in the winter , it does involve a lot a welding with the old stick welder , uspside down over head going up and down and in all kind of hole, lol , the drilled hole is one of the simplest way to stop a crack from going further after you fix it if it fails again , wich happen all the time on the buckets, (the drivers keep hitting curbs and all sorts of stuff), recently bougth the mig and a plasma cutter, so the new cool tool are pretty good too , the mig apear to easy, you have too watch a lot for good penetration as it can be easy to do a good looking weld with no penetration, i find slowing the wire down bring up the heat,

as for ottawa , you never know , my girlfriend migth be off and we migth take a trip , i rarely plan ahead, i like to live day by day, i am retired after all...lol

pauljboudreau · #13 13-04-10, 02:10

same old today boring stuff, used some chemical aircraft paint stripper to remove the old paint from the frame in order to cut dow on sanding , lot of scraping nothing to take picture of, sarted taking the rear axle appart and destroyed the pinion bearing trying to save the oil seal, darn it , there was a nut holding he bearing in, lol oh well live and learn , will post pic when interesting stuff stats happening

paul

pauljboudreau · #14 14-04-10, 03:23

well today the frame of the truck got the finish sand blast and sanding and a coat of etching primer, i am happy, restoration is starting since i got the first coat of paint on its foundation, yeaah baby, anyhow here are the pics

enjoy

frame all shiny and ready for paint!!!

first end painted in redneck paint boot, it keep the overspray down so the neigbors dont complain.lol...

an other part in the redneck paint boot

all etched and primed, black coat going on tomorow!!!

now my back is killing me!!!

Alex Blair (RIP) · #15 14-04-10, 15:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by pauljboudreau

hehe i do take care of keeping 4 plow bucket together in the winter , it does involve a lot a welding with the old stick welder , uspside down over head going up and down and in all kind of hole, lol , the drilled hole is one of the simplest way to stop a crack from going further after you fix it if it fails again , wich happen all the time on the buckets, (the drivers keep hitting curbs and all sorts of stuff), recently bougth the mig and a plasma cutter, so the new cool tool are pretty good too , the mig apear to easy, you have too watch a lot for good penetration as it can be easy to do a good looking weld with no penetration, i find slowing the wire down bring up the heat,

as for ottawa , you never know , my girlfriend migth be off and we migth take a trip , i rarely plan ahead, i like to live day by day, i am retired after all...lol

Paul..
Just down the street from you in Burton,NB is one of the most obnox.....er.....talented,knowledgeable .. CMP mechanics and Diamond "T" guys that ever existed..
His name is BILL MULHOLLAND..from Burton NB..
Bill was working on these trucks in the Army for so long he has probably forgotten more about them than most of us will ever know..You would be more than welcome,I'm sure to contact Bill by Private message through MLU forum..or he may jump in here on this thread and start chatting ..so either way if you were heading to Moncton or beyond ..stop in and see Bill.
He has been up to our gather up's in Ottawa many times and hopefully comes with his wife Donna in June..
Hope to see you in June..
(The work on the truck is great..got to do a bunch of welding on my iron railing out front..thanks to some skilled destruction by my better 3/4 ters this winter..probably use the mig but may stick weld it with 7018..smooth..)

pauljboudreau · #16 16-04-10, 00:48

nice i would certainely like to speak with him, when i get to the marking , then again i am debating painting the under carriage black instead of green to save a few penny since the truck will be used offroad

pauljboudreau · #17 16-04-10, 00:52

progres from yesterday
"
today i took it easy, my back was sore from yesterday, so i finished painting the frame, and took the rear axle appart, the brakes where seized solid, and who ever got the gear setted had the pinion to close to the ring gear, i will have to check my other axle and see if i can have a better set, but that's allrigth i love setting gears, i also discovered that the axle bearing retaining nut had eigth side instead of six so my regular 2 1/2 inch socket did not fit so i had to fabricate one. I also made a rack to hold the parts at my heigth when working on them.

any how here are the pics of the day , enjoy!!!

frame painted

socket i had to make, the plasma made the job so much easyer

axle appart and the table/rack i made

other parts of the rear axle and suspension

pinion gear worn way to deep for my taste

"
today no pics i took the rear axle and suspension down to the sand blaster and took 6 rim appart, 1 was pooped the others where fine , hard work to get them tire off , tried one for fun , the rest where done at the tire shop

super dave · #18 16-04-10, 06:38

So is the paint Acrylic Enamel paint as you have a picture with reducer as I thought reducer was used for enamel paint and thinner is used with acrylic enamel ?? The formula also shows that NO for spraying ? Do you have any close up shots of the paint as it is hard to tell the color of the frame is too far away to see clearly. I have a M37 and M152 I want to repaint and the color looks to be a great match.

Dave

pauljboudreau · #19 16-04-10, 12:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by super dave

So is the paint Acrylic Enamel paint as you have a picture with reducer as I thought reducer was used for enamel paint and thinner is used with acrylic enamel ?? The formula also shows that NO for spraying ? Do you have any close up shots of the paint as it is hard to tell the color of the frame is too far away to see clearly. I have a M37 and M152 I want to repaint and the color looks to be a great match.

Dave

the green you see on the frame is the etching primer , the olive drab i got is a lot darker , ill try taking a good picture of it when i get a chance , also it has a shine to it as the clear is included in the paint, the frame is now black as it is the original color and it is a lot cheaper to buy , i dont know about the arcylic or that stuff the fellow down at my local carquest is and ex bodyman and sold me and explained to me wath i needed for the paint , i will check with him, i found this color in the sherwin william book in the year 1981 under american motor fleet vehicule jeep it was marked as olive drab so it has to be the color or close enuf for me as everything is appart and will be painted , so for me it work because everything will match

paul

pauljboudreau · #20 16-04-10, 12:44

i guess it is acrylique emanel

pauljboudreau · #21 18-04-10, 20:23

well friday, yesterday and today i got some parts sandblasted, i got the box of the 55 and some stuff and junk that was laying around home, and today i got the 52 home, it was a hell of a day, it did not want to get on the trailler then i decided to get off the trailer sideway , any how it is parked in the back yard now,
now i have to decide wich box will be used and wich body part i will use for my restoration and wath i will sell , i discovered i have 2 set of troop seat minus the little end that goes to the spare so one set of troop seat will be for sale

anyway ,here are the pics, enjoy

these are pics of the box from the 55

pauljboudreau · #22 18-04-10, 20:29

more picture of the box

the spare troop seat and some part of the bow

and now for some pics of the 52

pauljboudreau · #23 18-04-10, 20:35

and more of the 52

nasty interior!

theres the rest of the seat , some critter made a bed with it!

strange grill ?

engine has been robed from some parts

transfert case missing

pauljboudreau · #24 20-04-10, 23:55

well today i fixed a rim and painted most of the stuff that was sandblasted friday, i forgot to paint the bumperette, lond day, my nose is full of primer...lol

here are the pics enjoy

started with a bunch of sandblasted parts

cleaned up some more parts , for some reason a lot of part have this red color on them, migth be some king of factory color for parts , i dont know

one of the rim had some rust issue around the valve and was thin around the valve....

so i cut the rust and thin part out...

cutted and rounded a patch (thanks plasma again) and welded it up,

then i primed a lot, i even wasted about 1/4 of a quart of etching primer on my pant when i knocked the cup of the gun, darn it that was expensive for nothing , i was more carefull after....lol

and then i had a bunch of nicely etched parts ready for paint tomorow if it is nice out

pauljboudreau · #25 20-04-10, 23:56

once the gun was clean i noticed i forgot the bumperettes , ill get them with the front bumper tomorow

i also discovered the bushing from the leaf hanger where toasted, so i will replace them with new one before assembly and i had to grind the thing that goes on the pad on the rear of the ring gear , i will look for a good one in the other axle

now it is time to relax....until tomorow

Bob Carriere · #26 21-04-10, 03:40

Great job your doing Paul.

May I offer some advice....... if you value your life.... or the life of a young child that you might inadvertently injure....... DO NOT USE THE RIM YOU REPAIRED FOR STREET DRIVING.....PLEASE!!!!

Rims are cheap enough for M 37...... I would give you one of mine if you were not so far away..... don't take a chance of driving your fully rebuilt M 37 on that rim...... it can be used in the spare rack..... but as a safety measure write on the back side of the rim..... with your welder.... YARD USE ONLY......

Bob C.

pauljboudreau · #27 21-04-10, 12:38

thanks for the advice i will chuck it and look for an other one in my pile of rim , ill keep it for yard use

Bob Carriere · #28 22-04-10, 04:23

May you grow old surrounded by CMPs and M 37s....... and die shot in the back at the age of 99 by a jealous younger wife, with cause, as you leap out of a 20 story window.....

Bob C.

pauljboudreau · #29 29-04-10, 00:44

been busy lately seling my daily driver and shoping for a new older one, then i sold the 54 and the 53 , so it was quite the running around, and the weather was kind of crappy , but i still managed to get some stuff done, i took the box off the 52 and salvaged wath i wanted under and in it , and then i started stripping axles to get to some decent gears, the first set i took out of the 55 was a bit slim at one point but not as bad as the set i took out of the rear of the 52, the pinion is almost paper thin , i looked in the setting intruction in my shop manual and all they talked about was bering preload and no mention of any pinion depth or gear mesh partern, i then understood why my gear where in such poor state lol, then i took the shaft out of the front axle the joint are an interesting concept compare to a u-joint kind of a constant velocity birfield, then i got the gear out and finally i had a decent set even if the pinon was set a little far from the crown and there was 30 thousand of back lash in the set, so i took all the best part appart and cleaned them, the carrier is a pain to take appart but i am happy i did because i had a trust washer that was fubared,

also my girlfriend sanded down some spot where some sticker had been painted , if you can identifie the unit or sticker let me know

anyhow here are all the pics! enjoy!

unknown sticker, on the door

we also found all sort of paper work in the dash from dnd and the rangers

pauljboudreau · #30 29-04-10, 00:55

more pics!
salvaged the rear bump stop and the shock mount of the 52

savaged the gas tank of the 52

salvaged the tail ligth and bracket of the 52

the paper thin pinion that was in the rear end of the 52

front shaft and joint view

front gear out of the 52 seted a little far but in good shape, they had 30 tou of backlash

the rest of the trust washer behind the spider gear ,show you do have to take everything appart and check everything to do a good job