Building a retro M37

[M37UK]

Great work !

[retiredguy]

well. I've been slackin' it on the updates. Been busy doing yard work etc. Anyway heater is in. the bracket that hurricane supplied to mount the heater is pretty flimsy so I had to make my own. ayway it fit good and when I tedted the defroster air flow I was very happy. Lots of air! here are some pics.


the Hurricane heater






I had to shorten the glove box to allow for heater ducts


firewall pic

[retiredguy]

my next challenge was the remote transfer case shifter. Got a company by the name of Drive Products in Edmonton to build me a cable. It is 100 inches long and has a rating of 250 lbs push and 400 lbs pull. I know "over kill". I always like to over build. anyways here is how it turned out.




modified floor shifter from the 92 Dodge. An import park brake boot will cover the shifter later.




Transfer case hookup.


under the floor at the shifter. a box sheild will cover the works here.

Not much left to mock up and the tear down begins!

[retiredguy]

hey guys, Some of you thought my shifter looked odd in a m37. Look what i found in a 1969 Chrysler Military Truck-Utility-High Mobility 4x4! Cool. the shifter is exactly like mine! found this one on militarytrucks.ca under "for sale".

[M37UK]

That is one weird looking truck!

[pwrwagonfire]

Good work so far man!!

Cool find on the identical shifter...now nobody can give you grief

[retiredguy]

so I haven't had a chance to work on the truck as much as I waned to lately but a few things have happened. I started pulling the box apart and cleaning up the box sides.







I upgraded the throttle linkage from the cheap plastic one Dodge makes to these....



then the rad showed up. This is the flex-a-lite one another member recommended to me. Thanks Josh! Now before I could install it I found that the mechanical fan pulley setup had to go. Did a little reconfigureing of the belts. Modified the alt bracket to make it a tensioner.





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I guess after this I'll go finish the other box side. Then I think it's time to pull it all down for cleanup, rebuild and paint.!

[servi53]

awesome work and fabrication skills, great project

[Josh]

Lookin good! That's one NICE radiator, isn't it?!?! The fan never runs on mine, there is enough cooling capacity as-is that it only kicks on if I let it idle for about 20 minutes.

I love the fact its 100% US made as well.

[retiredguy]

I think it will, but you have to realize that a diesel does not make much heat idling. Stop - go traffic may make the fan run more. Good to see that your set up is adequate. I have 2 more cylinders and 2.0 more liters. If it was brass i don't think it would be enough. aluminum dissapates heat much better. I have faith it will work. Here is another 2 bits of info. When it is -35C here in the winter, my 2003 5.9 cummins NEVER gets up to temp (195). I have driven it at 60 mph for 1 hour and it never got over 160. (thermostat was replaced because i could not believe it). I has to work hard to make heat. oh well, i'll live with it....

[retiredguy]

so I have been busy doing "other stuff". but I still got a few things done.
The 4wd shifter cover



Then I finally finished the battery box. I had a really hard time finding a spot for it that I liked. So here it is. The black tube is the external vent for the box.





Also done some other prep work. Like the front lights, horn, blackout light.

[retiredguy]

Well it goes to show that all the planning and measuring and checking over and over pays off in the long run. I positioned the body as so the wheels would fit in the center of the wheel well. The front axle was 3" too far to the rear so I had to relocate it on the suspension. The first is the plate I did to offset the center pin on the front leaf. Also the front cross member needed a little trimming to make sure the center section cleared OK. Then the drag link had to be shortened to accomodate the move forward and to make sure we stilll have full travel of the steering while the center part of the travel is still in the middle when in the straight ahead position. The first pic is of the steering and the rest are of the wheels position in the wheel well. I know they stick out of the fender some so I have to think about that answer some. Front tires do not touch on full crank right or left!











So it is getting closer to tear down soon. Ordered up switches for the dash and guages soon (paper don't cut it any more he he!)

[k8icu]

What steering gear did you use and what drag link?

[retiredguy]

The steering gear is stock 1992 dodge 3/4 ton. Drag link is a stock drag link that I cut 3" out of the center and threaded both ends. I had a machine shop build me the sleeve and locking nuts. Both threads are right hand so I have to disconnect the drag link to adjust. Just too hard and costly to make one end left hand thread. This still works for me.

[HingsingM37]

Thats some good looking work. Can't wait to see the finished project.