Thinking out loud about my new M56....

[U404S]

Hello all,
I am new to this group and have been focused on my Unimog and CJ5 for most of the past decade up until last week when the nice lady in the cafeteria at work told me her husband wanted to speak with me. A couple emails and an in-person visit later, I bought a 1962 M56 with PTO winch and extended M37 bed. The vehicle is in driveable mid-restoration condition. The gentleman had been collecting parts and having this and that sandblasted, painted, etc. I got a pickup truck bed and a trailer full of used and NOS parts, books, manuals, receipts and a big hydraulic pipe bender with the deal as well. I think I am going to fix it to a conventional military look. Not sure about the extended bed, but for now it is okay. I have kind of thought about making one of those M601 style beds for it someday. The truck also has differential locks front and back--a 2003 dated MARS receipt for those was included with the paperwork. Not sure if those lockers are any good. The Unimog has mechanically actuated locking differentials which I used only once to tug a sailboat and trailer out of the muck. I don't really have an application for them in the Dodge. I may keep the front one in and disable it for pavement driving by putting lockout hubs on (if that makes sense). If the back one causes trouble, I may just remove it altogether.

What I am having the most trouble getting my arms around is what to do with the five 16" X 10" 5.5" backspace Boyce made wheels that came with it (not for sale). They are still in the original boxes and at first I was excited about them and thinking I would put some big tires on them, but I did that with my Jeep and didn't like the handling, plus extra big tires would not go with my plan of keeping the military look. I thought about trying some 325/85R16 Michelins, but I think they might be just too heavy and would stick out past the fenders using these wheels. What do you gentlemen think in terms of the weight and tire size to make use of these wheels? I see Interco makes some tires in the 38" to 39" range, but those tires are awfully high priced. Regardless, if I don't use those wheels, I'd have to get a new set of 9.00 x 16" NDT's for the original wheels as what are on the truck now are worn out. Right now, I can't tell if the truck has the original ring and pinion set so that may also be an issue with having the taller heavier tire combination as well (should it have the 4.89's installed).

Otherwise, over time as I put the truck back together, I will be looking for a fiberglass hardtop and a spare tire carrier for the door. I'm not sure, but it looks like in addition to the front facing PTO shaft it also has a rear facing PTO shaft too so I may want to rig an implement PTO out the back similar to the old Jeeps--I have no application for it though. Like my CJ5 and Unimog, the M56 will be used for Sunday driving with my wife around Jacksoville, Florida and nothing more.

I sold my last M37 back in San Antonio in 1992 to a gentleman who hauled down to his ranch in Mexico. I wish I wouldn't have done that.

I'll put some photos of the truck up in the next 10 days or so as I am traveling for work this week-GA, SC, NC, VA and MD. An unusually long week.

Cheers, Jerry

[JimC]

I'd keep the extended M37 bed.

[tbone1004]

https://www.treadwright.com/p-77-315-75 ... m-t-d.aspx
You could go with something like that for offroading. Keeps you in the approximate size range of the 9.00x16. You could also go 255x85x16
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... mpare1=yes
A hair smaller than the stock tires bit if you want to keep the approximate aspect ratio and not worry about the 489's it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

[U404S]

Thank you Tbone and JimC for the advice. I am going to keep the bed I decided. The original floor was extended with sheet metal and does not match the original corrugated floor. I may be able to live with that or find a section of floor from a parts truck should one come along. It looks good enough and probably better than anything I can make.

I got the truck running pretty well now although there is a flat spot at about 2,200 RPMs in each gear. That would be fine, but I think this might relate to the governor setting or maybe a float problem. I saw a tool somewhere used to adjust that. I'll probably get a rebuild kit before fooling around too much with it. I'm pretty good with outboard motor carbs--not sure about this one though.

I still need to attach the fenders front and back, lights, grill, windshield assembly and top bows. Right now rhe truck is tan. I bought a couple dozen spray cans of red oxide primer and olive drab paint from Rapco so I'm going to slowly paint things as I assemble them.

The truck was really, really hard to steer even in two wheel drive. I thought this might be because of the locking differential in front (brakes were free). So, I bought and installed some AVM hubs last week. The truck's manners completely changed and became easy to turn, drive and back. For a while I thought something was really wrong with the steering box or something (tie rods and all looked fine). I am going to conclude the locking differential made it so hard to turn. I would definitely recommend those lockout hub things.

The back axle has a locker too. It is somewhat frustrating to drive as I can hear and feel one or the other tire break loose on pavement when turning especially during backing for some reason. That has got to be bad for something. I guess I'll keep driving it until something breaks which I suppose may or may not happen. Regardless, I think the traction that comes with those locking differentials is really cool. Wish I had a farm or some place like that drive around on.

I think I am going to go with the traditional wheels and NDT tires and basically stick with the military look. I'll probably sell those big tubeless wheels that came with the truck, but I am kind of a hoarder of this kind of stuff so they may never end up posted for sale.

I am going to divert from a business trip and visit Vintage Power Wagons in late September. I bought some parts from them 20 years ago when I had my first M37. I'm going to pick up one of those hardtops, a door mounted spare tire carrier, a spool of winch cable and some universal joints and stuff to begin the process of utilizing and extending the back facing PTO shaft (front shaft drives the winch). I'm sure I'll think of some other things to get by then. After that trip, I will be broke, but at least I'll have something to work on.

Cheers, and again thanks Tbone and JimC for the recommendations.

Jerry

[JimC]

There is a repro bed floor available for about $450 that could be used to replace the flat metal in your bed extension.

The stock ndt's have so little lateral traction that the truck has a tendency to slide off into the ditches.

[Carter]

The stock ndt's have so little lateral traction that the truck has a tendency to slide off into the ditches.

I have run Denman NDTs for years and never had that problem even while plowing snow, I must be doing something wrong, sounds like an exciting ride.

[w30bob]

Carter........maybe you just don't have any ditches on the sides of your road?

bob

[Carter]

Carter........maybe you just don't have any ditches on the sides of your road?

bob

Yeah Bob, That's it, flat as Holland

[JimC]

I also ran 9.00x16 ndt's for years and had that problem every time it rained. They pull just fine, but don't resist sliding sideways worth a hoot.

[U404S]

Good feedback; I had some NDT tires on my first M37. I recall once hydroplaning and sliding sideways for a few moments on a wide radius wet paved curve. Fortunately the truck slowed down quickly on its own and came under control. That was a lesson learned. I have some NATO pattern tires (like Monkey Man's) on my Unimog in size 10.50 X 20. They are very, very good tires for all surfaces in my opinion although some in the Unimog community complain about them. I can't remeber why however. I wish I could find a distributor for those in the USA. No luck with that search yet. Otherwise, there is an interesting directional tire (Chevron Design?)by STA. It is 1050 X 16 with a diameter of 38.2 inches. Would anyone have a guess whether that tire would fit on the spare tire carrier that covers the driver's door? Ultimately, I will probably end up with regular military style NDT tires, but I was thinking about those too.

I did try to upload some pictures tonight. The limit is 256k I learned so I am going to have to go another route. I think the forum rules somewhere explain the process of reducing resolution so I will read them. The truck is not that great as I look at the pictures in that the fenders are still not attached, nor is the windshield or front grills. I will get the photos up soon. I will be escpecially interested in your feedback on the lengthened stock bed.

I don't have a lot of spare time and have several sailboat and vehicle projects in process so over time I will be in and out of the forum as the M37/M56 comes together. I live in Florida and it is still wet, hot and miserable outside; winter time is when I pick up the pace on these kinds of projects.

Lastly, I really liked that M37 plowing picture in this thread. That is a truly classic acton shot. Cheers, Jerry