m37 artic top

[xm708]

Mornin guys.. I have the oppurtunity to get this artic top which is a real one not a cckw or homemade fire department one. I have had two in the past and I remember sheet metal covering the insulation on the cieling and back wall ? This has what appears to be foam and metal strips like an m35 top ? Anybody else seen one like this. I can only assume it was redone sometime in its long life ?

ed

[WarrenD]

Looks to be in great condition. Sorry, I can't speak to what the inside should look like, but I would think you'd be removing all the foam to check/treat rust anyway.

[hmvlover]

Sorry to bust a bubble here but that hard is not an artic top. An atrtic top is a rag top with extra padding/insulation sewen on the inside. Now another bubble buster is that the hard top has gladhand storage brackets mounted on the backside so it is telling me its a 5th wheel 2.5 ton and above W/WO a winch from the looks unless someone MODED a M37 with a air compressure & air tanks and installed a 5th wheel. Hard Tops was most generally installed on trucks with winches installed for safety reasons.

Later Joe

[xm708]

I do believe after some research this is an m35 top as the m37 top has a one piece sliding window that is square cut and this one is round cut with two pieces. The glad hands don't really mean anything becuase anything can be bolted to a top. I don't agree with the winch safety reasons for the hard top because I believe they were made for cold climates not safety. I have not measured it but am pretty sure it is m35 not m37.. I have also never seen or heard of a padded m37 soft top but have seen insulated blankets for the hood,bed and grill though.

No bubble burst here as I did not get it but it would have burst the bubble if i had bought it without researching it.

[Master Yota]

My '53 CDN M37 has the insulated/padded hard top w/o the steel panels. Its original and has no screw holes in it (that would have attached the steel panels to the top). The Artic tops seem to have come in two separate configurations - with steel panels, or with foam insulation padding. I have one of each.

The arctic top wasn't an intentional safety feature for winch equiped trucks. If so, then winches would never have been offered on soft top equiped trucks. And we all know that they did come setup in that configuration.

[m37jarhead]

The term "artic top" is commonly applied to the padded soft tops AND the insulated hard tops.
The last two "artic" hard top M37's that I had have insulation in the roof and a sheet metal liner inside.
The insulation in my tops was not foam but rather fiber glass. A very poor insulator in this case since
moisture tended to wick down the strands and rust out the front part of the top.
Do not use fiberglass on your restoration. I used spray-in foam before and will use it again on my
current top. The foam is "closed cell" and will not absorb moisture. Also it's almost impossible to
remove. Try it on a sample before you get to the inside of the top.Go easy at first until you get the
hang of the exspansion rate of the foam.
Excess can be shaped to suit by using a hand held grinder or a razor knife. Be careful there.
The windows on my M37's are rectangular with sliding two piece glass.
The outer window frame work on the back of your top in the photo makes me think the top is NOT M37 specific
but rather, as suggested, from a deuce or 5 ton tractor. The glad hand holders are a strong indicator. But,
as someone said, you never know what kind of jerry rigging was done in the military or in private hands.

The bottom line here is if it looks good to you and it works, you should be a happy camper. Who really cares
where the "artic" top came from or what it's previous uses were. Unless you're entering your truck in some
kind of "national" contest, few will know the difference. Do what makes YOU happy.
Just some thoughts from this old timer............

[MSeriesRebuild]

Appearance wise in the photos, I'd say it's a 2 1/2 ton, 5 ton, or 10 ton top; they are the same. The 2 piece sliding window assembly with the rain gutter above it is typical to that top, but window kits are available, so the 2 piece type could have been a custom installation. The genuine US M37 arctic tops have a single piece sliding window assembly, with the sheet metal interior that covers fiberglass insulation as was mentioned. The Canadian M37 has the same shell, but with no interior sheet metal or insulation.

A sure way to tell if this is an M35, M54, or M123 top is to measure the length of the door glass opening left to right; the larger trucks have a door glass that is several inches wider than the M37.