I've been involved with M37 MV's about 4 years now. I've been to a few meets, seen what gets sold/traded here in the Swap Meet section, and I've seen what people pay for M37 parts on Ebay (yes, they're NUTS!). So what do you guys think is the hardest, or most difficult M37 part to find? It can be a part that's reproduced if you're looking for original only, or just something you haven't been able to find for your truck. The sky's the limit............from a specific bolt or washer........to an NOS tailgate. I'm just curious what you guys are thinking. For me, I'll say the hardest part to find is a rust free battery tray with the drain tube still intact, followed in close drill formation by the cover for the auxiliary power connector just to the right of the glove box door......if you have that connector on your truck. Ok......your turn.........
The accessory kits and bits and pieces are becoming very difficult to find. I've collected a fair number of them over the decades, but there are still a few I'm missing and can't find at any price. For example:
The 3 piece hood blanket set (This is the set I really want to find)
The M-42 Command Truck Front and Rear Bed Canvas (I have them but I have
never seen another set).
The A Frame Crane Kit
The Fuel Fired Cab Heater
......and I could name a bunch more.
Last edited by 52 M-42 on Fri May 08, 2015 5:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
Is there a list of all the accessory kits made for the M37? I hear guys talk about some of them on here but I have no idea how many there actually are. I've only heard about the Arctic heater (fuel fired) kit and the regular heater (hot water) heater. What other kits were there?
Is there a list of all the accessory kits made for the M37? I hear guys talk about some of them on here but I have no idea how many there actually are. I've only heard about the Arctic heater (fuel fired) kit and the regular heater (hot water) heater. What other kits were there?
thanks,
bob
Cab heater-water
cab heater-fuel
Arctic engine heater-fuel
Command truck kit(table-ladder-soft sided bed enclosure w/windows+??)
There a hard sided winter enclosure also for command trucks
(there's a command truck fuel fired heater-not sure if it's in the above kit).
Arctic Cab Top
Fording Kit
Crane Kit
Machine gun mount kit
Those are the ones I can think of just off the top of my head, but then you have accessories that are model specific for the telephone, ambulance, maintenance trucks etc.
There seem to be lots of "accessory kits" for these trucks (that's why I often grumble about these trucks being worse than Barbie Dolls for "accessories - collect them all"). The ones that I have or know about are:
Winterization: This is actually a collection of sub-kits.
Arctic Bed Enclosure Kit
Fuel Fired Heater Kit (This kit includes the Winter Front Grille Cover)
Power Plant and battery Heater Kit (This kit includes the three piece Hood Blanket)
Hard Top Enclosure Kit (this can also be a separate, stand alone kit)
Engine Primer Pump Kit
Other Misc. Kits:
Engine Coolant Cab Heater Kit (Hot Water Heater Kit - for Temperate Climates)
Winch Kit
Fender Mounted Spot Light Kit
A-Frame Crane Kit
Dual Rear Wheel & Fender Installation (There is a controversy about whether this an "official" kit)
M-42 Command Truck Kit
100 Amp Alternator Kit
Door Mounted Spare Kit (All trucks were supposed to have this by 1956 (?) but it didn't happen)
Fording Kit
Various Radio Installation Kits (including the S-89 & S-144 radio shelters)
Various Machine Gun Mounting Kits
Covered Rifle Holders (M-14)
And I'm sure there are many, many more I just don't know about.
I've managed to accumulate all of the kits except the Hard Top Enclosure Kit, the various Machine Gun Mounting Kits and the 3 piece Hood Blanket set (which I would really, really like to find). I don't care about the machine gun mounts, and I'm working on acquiring the hard top. I'd also like to find one of the radio shelters. I don't have any place to keep it, but I would still like to have one to mount the radios in.
Last edited by 52 M-42 on Fri May 08, 2015 8:42 am, edited 3 times in total.
Murf wrote:
There a hard sided winter enclosure also for command trucks
(there's a command truck fuel fired heater-not sure if it's in the above kit).
Those are the ones I can think of just off the top of my head, but then you have accessories that are model specific for the telephone, ambulance, maintenance trucks etc.
[/quote]
Thanks Murf!
This is an example of what I mentioned above. This is the first time I've heard of a "hard sided winter enclosure" for the M-42. Add another kit or sub-kit to the list. A lot of vendors came up with a lot of ideas for additional government contracts.
Funny, nobody has mentioned good condition body parts, they are extremely hard these days.
Most of the stuff mentioned, we have installed for customers at some point in time; so it does exist. Not plentiful; not CHEAP either, but it is out there.
NOS canvas, that's out there too; however you should know that canvas does deteriorate from age, so good NOS canvas, well.
Brake drums, I know some claim to have good NOS ones; my advice, "don't write a check before YOU inspect," and I don't care who has them. New drums will be no good unless they have been stored properly. Finding these that have been stored correctly for all those years; chances are very slim to none. We have a bunch of used ones around, come check them out, if you find some you want to run, price is $50 each.
Also have many used DPCD logo original bolts; come check them out, the price is RIGHT. I'll take scrap price.
Last edited by MSeriesRebuild on Sun May 17, 2015 10:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
Those are around too. I've seen them at every meet I've attended over the last 4 years. Price has gone up each year, but you can even find NOS Yellow Bridge Plate kits still in the box. The first meet I went to 4 years ago I picked up 2 of the NOS yellow kits for $15 each. Last time I priced them at a meet was at Aberdeen last year and they wanted $80 for a kit. On Epay they're twice that nowadays. It's pretty easy (and cheap) to restore a kit, and those in restorable shape are still cheap. After all, you don't need the whole kit, just the plate, the bracket for the back, the numbers "0" and "4" and the little red "c" if you tow a trailer.
As parts get harder to find we should probably make a separate "wanted" section of the forum so people can look for those parts at meets they attend. If I knew you were looking for a yellow bridge plate I could have picked one up for you. The next meets aren't until the fall around here, but if you haven't found one by then I'll sure look for one for ya.
Charles is right, most of the body parts you see for sale are pretty rusty. Reconditionable I guess, but more than likely they'd be thrown away a few years ago when parts were more plentiful. I've found NOS passenger doors, but finding NOS driver's doors has been fruitless so far. Winch bumpers are getting tough to find, and even nice straight running boards take a good amount of searching. Good useable fenders pop up from time to time, but they'll be climbing in price too. I guess if you run across good sheetmetal snatch it up.....I don't think Dodge...errr....Fiat has any plans of firing up the tooling and making more anytime soon.
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