g741.org

I suppose that an update is due, isn't it? Here's the "Coles Notes" version...

I missed my May deadline for having the truck on the road and driveable. It was on the road, but not driveable at the time. That little defeat really took the wind out of my sales and I basically ignored the truck all summer. This fall, I summoned the gumption to remedy my issues and actually drove the truck out of the shop about 2 weeks ago. Naturally with winter being here however, I've got wait until spring to see if the I've solved the driveablilty problem or not.

My primary issue with driveability actually stems from not having a level floor in the shop. On the first test drive I discovered that the truck handled like a shopping cart with two bum wheels on the front of it. It shook so bad that it was undriveable at anything over a walking speed. At first I figured it was the tires, 44" biasplys are unpredictable most of the time and only marginally civil to drive on the rest of the time. As it turns out, it was the castor angle that needed some major adjustment; with no flat floor, and no front driveshaft installed, I had no frame of reference to tell my eyeballs that something was wrong. After I put the front driveshaft on, only then did I realize the pinion was pointing at the ground! Hopefully the issue has been solved with the addition of some 6* shims. This should set my castor now around 4* positive - which should - in theory - solve the shopping cart death wobble. Only a test drive in the spring will tell though.

Otherwise, the truck is fully wired and plumbed, the hanging pedal conversion from Ugly truckling works great, the brake pedal is firm, and the power disc brakes stop the truck with enthusiasm. I decided to not use the OEM pto winch setup in favor of an Electric 10k lbs. super winch - it was so much easier to install than to figure out the hydrualic winch re-power I was considering (not to mention cheaper). I also decided to not use the 44" Ground Hog tires as well, as I found a screaming good deal on a set of Michelin 1100:16's that fit the truck nicely and should take me everywhere I desire to go. With no wheel spacers, the tires just peek out past the fenders, so I'm not going to worry about tire coverage.

The only real issue left is that the transmission may need to come out in the near future, as first gear now make a terrible racket. I'm fairly certain that the issue stems from the custom adapter that mates the Dana 20 tcase to the NP435. I think its missing a spacer shim between the transmission case, and the adapter. This has led to the adapter pushing the transmission output shaft forward just a touch, and is causing the first "gear" to either rub on the inside of the case, or on another gear. It only makes the noise in first however, and it shifts through all the remaining gears nicely and quietly. For now, I'll leave it be, but its high on the list of mystery's to solve.

Last to do on the upgrade list will be some new seating, and some form of internal roll cage to attach seat belts and what-not too. After all that, its the usuall things like new window rubbers, door seals, some fine tuning, and then regular maintenance.

Here's a few shots of the interesting stuff...

Here I've repurposed the starter switch plate to hold the throttle cable


This is an outer tube seal for the front Dana 60 - it keeps all the crud out of the axle tube, and should prolong the inner axle seal life. Its filled with grease, and just lightly press fit into the end of the axle tube.



Gotta just love yards and yards of wiring...


Here's the dash panel ready to go...


This is the propane fuel tank being loaded into the box - at about $3.30 cdn. a gallon for propane, its the only affordable way to run a big block engine. This tank will hold about 80 gallons of LPG fuel.


This is the new winch mount - it shares bolts with the suspension and is welded in as well. I don't forsee it failing any time soon.


Here's what the truck looked like in the shop, in May, before the first test drive.


It looks a little different now with the narrow rubber, I'll try to get some more pictures when its not burried hip deep in snow as it is now...

Looking good. Thats a nice clean job on the dash panel.

Bert

Thanks Bert, the dash was rather relaxing to assemble. Everything goes together so much easier when its new. All the guages are autometer units, except for the speedo, its a GPS unit from Speed Hut. The speedo is also metric, so it reads in KM/p/h instead of Mph. The mph equivelant would be about 85mph max. As for the circuit breaker holes, I just riveted some light sheet metal to the backside to fill them in. Clean, simple and easy dosen't get much better.

19 months later, here's a shot on the 1100/16's...





Some new drive train is also in the works, namely a rebuilt Np435, with a Doug Nash Auxiliary Overdrive and a single married NP205. That's this winters project after coming to the conclusion that while two transfer cases are nice, I don't really need double reduction with 500ftlbs waiting under the throttle pedal...lol

So, my 4yr old daughter has named the truck, and it sounds like it has stuck. In her presence the other day I was trying to describe the truck to her, and called it a Green Army truck. She looked up at me with her big innocent eyes, and loudly proclaimed "I love the Green Gummy...."

The Green Gummy it is...

Master Yota wrote:So, my 4yr old daughter has named the truck, and it sounds like it has stuck. In her presence the other day I was trying to describe the truck to her, and called it a Green Army truck. She looked up at me with her big innocent eyes, and loudly proclaimed "I love the Green Gummy...."

The Green Gummy it is...

Perfect.... Green Gummy.
JB

I love it all. just read through the whole thing here at work...(really working hard today). great fab work, awesome creativity and usage/recycling of parts. very insiprational. it turned out great. the doubler setup was a bold move, but unique nonetheless. arnt you worried about the duability surroundnig the divorced setup and all that torque?

The weak link in the whole setup is actually the rear output of Dana 20, and the spud shaft between the two tcases (it's only using 1310 ujoints). The divorced NP205 is a monster and unlikely to fail. The mounts that hold it up on the other hand, could be a different problem when everything is "locked" in. However, with only the rear NP205 in low range, all the reduction takes place after the weak links, which reduces the stress on them. I find with all the torque it has, coupled with lockers at both ends for traction, I can be pretty conservative with the throttle pedal. When both tcases are in double low, all I have to touch is the clutch, the throttle isn't even needed. I have found if I use the gas pedal, it doesn't go any faster, just louder...lol

I've found that I don't really need the dual cases and I'm seriously thinking about removing that setup. I've laid my hands on a DNE2 (Doug Nash Enterprises) aux. overdrive that I might swap into place of the front D20, and run a married NP205 instead. This would lengthen the rear drive shaft by about 8-10" which would help the angles a lot, and allow me to split all my forward gears, giving me options on the trail, and a decent 25% overdrive on the highway.

What I really need to do is drive it more!

Nice build glad you stayed with it. Enjoyed the photos.

Thanks

After almost two years of hibernation, I decided to pull the M out of its mothballed storage and take it for a tour. The impetus was the A&W "Cruise for a Cause" to support MS research, and an open invitation from the local Jeep club to "convoy" with them. With some 200+ vehicles attending the event, its was nice to be a stand-out in the crowd with the only M37 in attendance.

Here are some pictures from the event (I didn't take any of them...) and sharing is always fun...

Just arriving at the convoy start location, topless due to the nice weather.


My place in the line parked behind a buddies Toyota (almost an "Allies and Axis" sort of arrangement )


Doing what it does best; drawing a crowd....


A great artistic "patina" shot...


At the event, where it stuck out like a sore thumb, and generated a lot of nice compliments...


I really need to drive it more often, although now I remember why it was in hibernation. The transmission is about 80% toast, with only 1st and 2nd gear not making any noise, 3rd is a no go for anything faster than 25mph, and 4th is making noise now too. Top that off with a possible head gasket issue, and this will be the only time it gets out this year... On the up side, I did solve the death wobble issue with a few washers under the king-pin cap on the driver side to tighten up the preload on the king-pin spring which worked like a charm...

Awesome job Master.

I have a question though, what did you do for the cross over steering? I think I'll do the same on mine.

jimmy_stikx wrote:Awesome job Master.

I have a question though, what did you do for the cross over steering? I think I'll do the same on mine.

The steering arms for the Dana 60 came from Great Lakes Off Road (IMS). High steer arms for a Dana 60 are really easy to source, almost any off road or fab shop can get them in, or produce them in-house. Ballistic Fab, Parts Mike, TMR customs, Complete Off Road, and ebay are just a few of the sources off the top of my head. The steering links are almost as easy. I used pre-fabbed threaded inserts that matched the threads on standard GM 1ton tie rod ends and then welded them into DOM tubing to make the custom lengths that I needed. The steering box I believe from a Ford F250 of Mid 70's vintage, and most likely a 2wd unit. A GM pitman arm (I think) fit the splines on the sector shaft, and fit the TRE taper.

If you don't need high-steer (all steering links above the springs) then simply buy just one steering arm for the passenger side and reuse the stock tie rod. This would cut the number of links to be fabbed by 50%, and naturally, reduce the cost by 50% in parts as well. My steering arms are built from mild steel, and are about an inch thick; they fit over the king-pin caps and attach via the 4 bolts that hold the caps on. I used ARP studs to fasten the arms down (they are available packed as a kit). The only thing I needed to buy separate was another tin cap for the drivers side king pin (the factory steering arm has the cap built in). I didn't feel the need for the spendy billet steering arms, as the off road use this truck see's won't exceed the limits of the current components...

Hope this helps.

It helps. I'll have to look at what you mean by high steer and such.

I've also considered using the Ford setup from an early 90s F250 with the TTB Dana 44. More research!

The thread is still alive...wow

itchyoldfart wrote:The thread is still alive...wow

No M37 ever really dies, they just hibernate for a while...