My partner and I have just returned from an amazing journey of over 600 miles (that was just one-way) driving our 1942 Willys and 'Old Rusty', our '53 M37.
The trip took us five days, we joined with two other vehicles and camped at some amazing bush campsites and undertook some fairly exciting 4WD side tracks.
Drove over the Snowy Mountains...spent a few days at our destination and have just spent three days returning via a different route.
This looks like a very fun adventure. What was the location or route that you took? I would like to look this up on the Google Earth Map.
Please share more information and pictures of this adventure. How many water crossings did you encounter? How was the weather for the trip? Was all of your route off road? Did you have to bring all of your own provisions with, or were there towns along the route to get supplies? Do you have any pictures of the M37 in the water crossing?
This is something that I have always wanted to do but have never had the chance.
Bert
1952 M37 W/W Rebuild @ 59% complete
Engine rebuild @ 95% complete
1985 M1009, 1990 M101A2, 2008 M116A3 Pioneer tool trailer
MVPA # 24265
NRA Life Member
NRA Cert. Personal Protection Pistol Instructor
NRA Cert. RSO
Class III RSO/KCR
Did you do the entire 1,200 miles with the fording kit installed?
“When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, IT IS THEIR RIGHT, IT IS THEIR DUTY, TO THROW OFF SUCH GOVERNMENT...” -Declaration of Independence, 1776
Great to see these vehicles out and used. Most of us can only dream of that kind of trip, without recovery right behind. I know there are few M37s in Aus, but rarely do we get pictures too.
Thanks for the post.
At this stage the only photos I have of the Dodge crossing any rivers were from my partners phone camera! So the quality is pretty terrible.
We had two other vehicles with us and I'll check to see what photos they got over the next few days as we all recover from the trip.
I had thrown on some new 4WD hubs before we left and I had a stack of gear in the back. I drove the M37 while my partner drove our Jeep. The M37 performed well although at two places the tracks were so steep it is the consensus that the float valve in the carby shut off, with 'interesting' consequences.
Took a lot of pre-cooked meals in coolers so we could just heat them over the campfire or hotplate. We passed through a number of towns so keeping up the beer and food supplies wasn't an issue. Passed through lots of bush, dusty roads and explored some amazing ruins from the gold rush days. All in all - great fun. I'll post a map when I finish it.
Creek Crossing
Snowy Mountains National Park
A VERY misty campsite. Dodge hood is up just to check fluids.
great epic run. how many hours could you put behind the wheel before fatigue impeded safe operation?
ChrisG wrote:The M37 performed well although at two places the tracks were so steep it is the consensus that the float valve in the carby shut off, with 'interesting' consequences.
strange.... are you saying you suffered from lean out on steep grades? I always found over fueling to be the problem however 4 or 5 notches on the hand throttle will give me a few more degrees
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