A new M37 ?

[Tanner]

Thanks for the info Charles!

Tanner

[k8icu]

A word about driver's side doors taking stress because of the spare tire mounting. This just doesn't hold water. The spare is not mounted on the door in any way. It is mounted totally on a separate rack that is independant of the door, it has a separate latch mechanism that must be released to swing the spare rack out in order to open the door in the conventional manner. I've never been a fan of the so called door mounted spare, I think it is absolutely a nuisence to deal with every time you open the door and would much rather have the spare either on an in bed mount or a mount in some custom location. As far as the B1 spare mount having anything to do with the shortage of NOS driver's side doors, I see no relevance at all. I guess if you think of it logically, it may even offer physical protection for the door.

I think I have to agree and disagree here Charles. I can see where young GIs (19-22 yo) would damage the door with the spare tire carrier requiring the door to be replaced. Here are a few examples that I can think of. Forgetting that the tire carrier is there and trying to force the door open quickly. Parking on a slope that could cause the spare tire to slam the door shut in a way that would damage the door. Using the tire carrier to shut the door thus putting more force upon the door and damaging it. Changing the tire and somehow damaging the door in the process? Leave it to young GIs if you want something broken....

I agree in that the B1 tire carrier is a nuisence and I would perfer a bed mounted tire myself. Now does this have any inpact on the shortage of NOS drivers doors? Who knows? But it does suck that you can find plenty of passinger side doors but no drivers doors.

[Tanner]

I would toss in the following theory on driver's side doors... they get more use/abuse due to driver-only use of the trucks in many cases, thus leading to more opportunity for damage to occur. And thus, the reason for more driver's side doors to have been damaged & replaced. I know that fleets I've worked with in the past had a high percentage of driver's side doors having hinge damage/stress fractures in the metal, dent damage, etc., (these were not M37's, but saw 95% single driver/no passenger use).

FWIW -

'Tanner"

[Josh]

Just a couple of things to add.

The T/case (NP200) is one of the best cases around as far as bullet proof components go. After going through one and bringing back all the correct specs, it's an amazing box. We have also found that a really good lubricant (such as Royal Purple 40 weight synthetic) will absolutely make a very significant difference in the operating temp. Running the originally spec'ed 90 weight gear lube just isn't smart any more. We have also done an auxilary oil tank with a thermostatically controlled oil pump and cooler. More than doubling the small original oil capacity of only 2 1/2 quarts. Reserve oil supply + giving it a short rest in the auxilary reservoir before it is reintroduced into the case will make a HUGE difference in temps. We had opportunity to test the system in ambient temps of 100+ degrees. I built the system myself and it fooled even me at the huge reduction in temp that I saw. We did a monitoring system so we could monitor the actual oil temp and pilot lights to be able to see the pump and cooler fan functions on the panel while driving. It is an absolutely worthwhile system at a fairly reasonable cost. You may ask why go to so much trouble with this, well my reason was that I simply have not seen a case I like better than the NP200 in these types of applications. Our trucks with the QSB4.5 Cummins will cruise freely at 75+ MPH.

A word about driver's side doors taking stress because of the spare tire mounting. This just doesn't hold water. The spare is not mounted on the door in any way. It is mounted totally on a separate rack that is independant of the door, it has a separate latch mechanism that must be released to swing the spare rack out in order to open the door in the conventional manner. I've never been a fan of the so called door mounted spare, I think it is absolutely a nuisence to deal with every time you open the door and would much rather have the spare either on an in bed mount or a mount in some custom location. As far as the B1 spare mount having anything to do with the shortage of NOS driver's side doors, I see no relevance at all. I guess if you think of it logically, it may even offer physical protection for the door.

wow, I agree with Charles 100% for once... haha!

the 200 is a great case, it just needs a few modifications to work well at high speed, managing the heat is the biggest one. There really is not a whole lot of difference betwee the 200 and the word renowned 205, other than the 200 is stronger, and nosier...

I think the reason drivers side doors are harder to come by is that they wore out faster since they were used more, and, on the trucks that saw salt, the drivers doors would get coated in salt more from passing vehicles, further accelerating teh damage.