Ralph's M37B1

Carter · Post by **Carter** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:59 pm

I am posting this for my friend Ralph. I have entered his truck info into the registry but the pix needed to be resized and I will do that and add other info about his trucks (2) later. We spent the last couple of days tearing down a spare engine and today took the block to the machine shop to be cooked out and have cam bearings, valve guides, freeze plugs installed along with having the valves ground after having hardened seats added and other necessary work. The rebuilt engine will be installed into this truck replacing the one in it which runs ok but is a civ. truck replacement block with the press in oil fill tube.

More pix on Webshots at: http://news.webshots.com/album/567052133FgKHzt

and info later as work progresses.

Ralph and truck:

refit1701 · Post by **refit1701** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 3:01 pm

That is a sweet truck! Makes me jealous!

What trailer is that??

Carter · Post by **Carter** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 3:59 pm

"What trailer is that??"

It's a WWII 1 ton Ben Hur trailer that used to carry a PE 95 generator, I think the the combination was called a K 52 by the army when it was used to power a radio set up mounted in a Chevy radio van.

Nickathome · Post by **Nickathome** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 3:29 am

That's one tricked out ride. Very nice.

The location of the small star on the driver's side interests me because my truck is a B1 model, yet there is no evidence of a small star in that spot, however there is evidence of the large star on the door. Were there cases of the large star being there but being covered up by the spare tire? The driver's door on my truck does not appear to be a replacement.

m35gibson · Post by **m35gibson** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 3:45 am

hey nick,
ive got seveal pics, of vietnam, era m37s, all b1s, and none had that liitle star up by the door,im sure that purely for looks, as you might remember, my old m37, still had all its original markings,, but it didnt have that star either.
kevin

Nickathome · Post by **Nickathome** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:14 am

Kevin;

I actually do not remember all that much about your truck. So, you are saying it had the large star on the driver's door? Reason I am concerned is I am planning on painting the stars on my truck this weekend and I bought the large star stencil for the door. I don't plan to hide the star with a spare, unless I can find the spare tire arm some day, however not in a real gotta haveit search for one.

BTw - How've you been doing lately?

Carter · Post by **Carter** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:24 am

Several years ago MV magazine did an article on military markings that said the B1's left star should be located on the body and not the door. I have seen them marked with both the star on the door and with it on the cowl ahead of the door.
TB 746-93-1, Color and Markings of Military Vehicles, Construction Equipment and Materials Handling Equipment states: National Symbol markings will be located on the largest rectangular area and as near as possible to the center of such area. It will not be applied in a location where it will, in normal useage, be obscured by paulins, canvas doors, fold-down windshields, gasoline cans, communications equipment or other such items.
I suppose the spare tire is one of those "other such items" however the line drawings shown in the manual don't show the left door of a B1, just a duce and only the right side at that so who knows what they had in mind for a 3/4 ton B1 as the manual is vague on that topic.

I put one on the door and will also add one to the cowl when I get another paint mask from Rick Larsen. That maybe incorrect but that's the way I am going to do it.

m35gibson · Post by **m35gibson** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:39 am

i wish my truck had looked that nice when i had mine,,, although
i always thought it had way to many stars

one on the hood,so you can be seen by air,one on either side of the cab, one on the left of the tailgate, and right, we would really hate for someone to mistake it for a vc m37

.if you noticed, as the years went on,, the stars got smaller,,
until they were black. im not even sure, they still put stars on mvs anymore,, i guess were not suppose to advertise anymore

kevin

knattrass · Post by **knattrass** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 7:29 am

I want to know why he is wearing rubber gloves and has a crooked smile?

Carter · Post by **Carter** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:29 am

knattrass wrote:I want to know why he is wearing rubber gloves and has a crooked smile?

I guess he didn't want dirt under his fingernails and to not have them look like mine

and I am not sure about the smile, that's just Ralph.

Nickathome · Post by **Nickathome** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 10:14 am

Carter;

Thanks for the info.

I am still going to put a star on my driver's door. From the start I knew that my truck will never be an exact match to its former self. I figure a star on the doors and one on the hood will at least make it look kinda like it used to. I have no plans for unit markings and the like for again, I am not a purist , plus am not that versed in the subject anyway, nor do I really see the need for it from my perspective. I do however plan to buy one more star, the small one for the tailgate. Don't know if this too was done while in amry service however i do notice the man's truck in your photos has some stars on the tailgate.

Carter · Post by **Carter** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 1:34 pm

Even though the truck is supposed to have a small star on the cowl instead of this one on the door I still went with the large star. It does look odd with the spare carrier blocking a portion of it and it's completely blocked when the tire is mounted but I mostly use the bed mounted carrier and only take 2 spares when on long drives, towing a trailer or going off road when I think 2 are needed. The truck is not a B1 and I added the door carrier because I liked the look and having an extra mounted tire along for the ride can be a good thing. As far as the tailgate star is concerned, it's my understanding only one is needed and it's supposed to be on the right side but I did have a Pennsylvania NG truck I got surplus at Aberdeen Proving Ground that had two stars like Ralphs tailgate.

EDIT: What was I looking at? Ralphs has no tailgate stars. I hate getting old, blind and loosing my mind

m35gibson · Post by **m35gibson** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 2:23 pm

my old m, had two on the tailgate, one on the hood, and one on the pass door,no doubt it was an american truck

kevin

NCmountainman · Post by **NCmountainman** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:46 pm

Ralph certianly has a nice looking truck. Hope that mine looks that good someday!

Carter · Post by **Carter** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 6:19 pm

m35gibson wrote:my old m, had two on the tailgate, one on the hood, and one on the pass door,no doubt it was an american truck
kevin

Kevin, no doubt your truck was a US one. Do you miss it?

Ralph's M37B1

Ralph's M37B1

Nice ride....

Star

Stars