Making the M37 quieter to drive?
Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 5:00 am
This is my 2nd M37. I was accustomed to tons of gear train noise when driving at 45mph. Talking to a passenger at speed required raising the voice level considerably.
Now? I rebuilt the t/c and swaped in a mint rear diff just before going to the SteelSoldiers.Com off-road MV rally last weekend. My son asked me a question while driving along I-81 at 50mph (11x16 tires). He did not need to raise his voice much. I was concerned over the roaring sound - as the truck was not road tested much before the rally. That roaring was the tires - I was unable to hear it before:)
What I learned? These trucks are much quieter with new bearings and
M37's do extremely well off-road. The Chevy CUCV trucks had to get off the trails out of concern for damage after smashing their diffs into rocks and relying on their brakes to slow descents all the time on loose rock. The M37 handled a black diamond trail with red slopes easily [we drove on to the trail by accident - the hard core Jeepers were amazed to find us on the trail as our group was mostly M35s and a couple 5-tons - the big trucks had to modify the trees to clear some trail twists. BTW: Seeing a duely truck skidding down a hill with locked up rear tires and causing a mini rock cascade is a scary sight]. The only hick-up with the M37 was some debris got knocked loose in the gas tank and clogged my in-line fuel filter. I had to back wash debris out of the filter twice. No other problems popped up over weekend.
Now? I rebuilt the t/c and swaped in a mint rear diff just before going to the SteelSoldiers.Com off-road MV rally last weekend. My son asked me a question while driving along I-81 at 50mph (11x16 tires). He did not need to raise his voice much. I was concerned over the roaring sound - as the truck was not road tested much before the rally. That roaring was the tires - I was unable to hear it before:)
What I learned? These trucks are much quieter with new bearings and
M37's do extremely well off-road. The Chevy CUCV trucks had to get off the trails out of concern for damage after smashing their diffs into rocks and relying on their brakes to slow descents all the time on loose rock. The M37 handled a black diamond trail with red slopes easily [we drove on to the trail by accident - the hard core Jeepers were amazed to find us on the trail as our group was mostly M35s and a couple 5-tons - the big trucks had to modify the trees to clear some trail twists. BTW: Seeing a duely truck skidding down a hill with locked up rear tires and causing a mini rock cascade is a scary sight]. The only hick-up with the M37 was some debris got knocked loose in the gas tank and clogged my in-line fuel filter. I had to back wash debris out of the filter twice. No other problems popped up over weekend.