g741.org

A New M37 Restoration Guide Book?


refit1701
Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2010 1:36 pm Post subject:

This website and community trumps any book. An enterprising person could put together a guide for M37 restoration with all of the thousands of posts here.

I have considered doing that myself but I'd need to start another truck and take far more photographs than I already have. I have another truck so maybe when I get to it we can all cooperate on something.
_________________
-John
Member of Dixie Division MVC, MVPA # 31591
Rick C
Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2010 5:52 am Post subject:

I followed ........................................................................... book.

Charles....I know a bunch of us would buy a decent reference book on the M37. If you guys check out the Willys M Series group on Yahoo you'll see a man there put together a sweet reference book on the M38 jeep. Not a restoration guide but a book detailing just about every nut and bolt specification and option on the M38 over the years.
Rick C
m-37Bruce
Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2010 1:13 pm Post subject: The Best Of The Forum

There was a small group of Dodge M37/G-741 enthusiast who were fine tuning/editing this Forum, the M37 Registry, something happened, we never finished, it all happened just as Robi retired, I still have all of my completed work! Monkey Man, Robi, Nivek, Kevin & myself & I don't remember who else was involved, maybe Brian in Oregon............
Tony can we still make this happen?
_________________
Bruce,
Juan
Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2010 3:23 pm Post subject:

MSeriesRebuild wrote:
It has been mentioned to me to do a guide a number of times. I really would love to do one, however it boils down to this. There is simply not enough hours in the day to run a rebuild/restoration shop and have the extra time to devote to a writting project such as this. I have no idea how profitable it would be, likely nothing fantastic. For me it would be a labor of love, it would take hundreds of hours to really do it justice. If I couldn't approach it that way, I'm not interested. I would want to share all I've learned over the years in how to do it right the first time. So for now, time simply will not permit me obligating myself to such a huge undertaking. Maybe someday if the good Lord is willing.
Charles, sounds like a good project for the retirement. I would buy one right away. Keep the pictures of your projects._________________
Juan Castro


Monkey Man
Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 12:40 am Post subject: Re: The Best Of The Forum

m-37Bruce wrote:
There was a small group of Dodge M37/G-741 enthusiast who were fine tuning/editing this Forum, the M37 Registry, something happened, we never finished, it all happened just as Robi retired, I still have all of my completed work! Monkey Man, Robi, Nivek, Kevin & myself & I don't remember who else was involved, maybe Brian in Oregon............ Tony can we still make this happen?
Well, if I get some time spare over winter I can have a go at it, Robi sent me all the files, I just have to try and make sense of it all
Best Regards - MM
Nickathome
Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 6:38 am Post subject:

Cal_Gary wrote:
Not to pull the pin on the incendiary grenade, but I also do not know if a collective effort by we forum members is the way to go either, based on some of the heated exchanges that have at times taken place here. Gary
In this case, I simply weed through the "holier than thoughs", and the "my way or the highway" responses to get to the real solutions from those with real compassion and or advice for your situation. .......
Cal_Gary
Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 11:53 am Post subject:

Like I said-no need to pull the pin; I just know how passionate we are about our vehicles and in some cases there is more than one way to do the job "correctly" although not everyone would share that sentiment. We do a fine job of policing each other and keeping each other out of trouble here and I know that we collectively appreciate that. I'd just hate to see such fine relationships go down the bowl over trying to decide how best to compile a REAL Resto manual-nothing more.
Thanks,
Gary
cuz
Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 9:51 pm Post subject:

I've read many books that I was advised were not so good or lacked any real value. There is virtually nothing published on the M37 short of a few MV Mag and Army Motors articles. The quality of this book has been public knowledge for many years yet just look at how many folks still went and read it anyway to satisfy their need to see for themselves and make their own determination of weather or not it offered any value or not.

Most How to Books that offer a lot of savvy are those written about the technical side of producing a restored product without being make or model specific. Books titled "How to XXXXXXX" generally yield a lot more useful info than most books title "The Restoration of my XXXXXX.

From the writing viewpoint there are many folks out there that are more than capable of putting out a really good make/model specific resto guide. Such a guide is never meant to walk you through every step of the resto. It would take thousands of pages to cover every technical detail of a resto. Make/model specific Resto Guides are actually meant to offer a place for you to view the many aspects of a resto that are peculiar to that particular vehicle. They are also very helpful in ID'g parts the correct parts to use and the parts and technical support sources. A quality resto book would offer you sources for more detailed info on very technical parts of the resto like web sites and book titles for welding technigues, auto-body repair, gearbox rebuilding and engine rebuilding.

I look at each published offering as a chance to learn something. Sometimes it's a lot, other times it's a little and once in awhile it's that I really wasted my time on that one.

I have listened to all the negative publicity on Ahl's book for about 10 years and now with a free copy circulating I would like to see for myself.

As for writing and co-authoring model specific resto guides or just contributing to the development of one, yes it takes time and personal effort but if you love that particular vehicle and have some knowledge to share then "Put you hands in you hip pockets and carry your ass over to the type writer!"

If you have an M38 restorer in your neighborhood try talking to them to see if they have the M38 Restoration Guide and will let you borrow it. It's not perfect but it's the first M38 specific resto guide on the market. Like Charles I operate my own aircraft repair shop and I am very busy but I also co-own two M38/M38A1/M170/M60/CJV35 specific web sites and forums and my partner just published the guide last spring. A few of us got off our duffs and gave him a hand. We use the proceeds from the guide sales to help pay for the web site and fund more research efforts for historical M38 data.

I'd like to see that happen for the M37 as well.
_________________
Wes K
rixm37
Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:00 am Post subject:

Hey Cuz that sounds like a great plan. I would be willing to participate. Hey I can grab my butt and take it to a key board. I can help compile info. And my grammer aint' to bad neither.

I think a good example of a limited book is the one that Gordon Maney has on the Power Wagon Advertiser site. "Dodge Service" That is good stuff. It is limited on what it covers, but well done. He takes the info in the manual and then adds to it from experience on what works and what doesn't.

I have seen many topics about basic items come up over and over so I believe that there are many items that we, the forum, could come up with that are so black and white that there would be no argument on them.

Things like tune ups. carb adjustments and rebuilds, brakes and disk conversions, electrical harness installs, engine rebuilds,and drive line repairs, to list a few. Lots of areas that many folks here have dealt with that would be great to compile into one volume. Don't look at the Ahl book as a bad read. Look at it as a starter for another book that does a better job.
52m37Hal
Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 5:39 pm Post subject: Best of the Forum

Hey Bruce:
How are things.
I was involved in the project also (my topic was electrical). I think I sent everything to Robi but do not recall. I think I still have the CD here someplace but honestly cant recall exactly what we did in terms of how it was done or organized.
Hal
rickv100
Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 7:56 am Post subject:

From a publishing perspective, not many publishers are going to be interested in this project. They are going to see a limited market for sales.

You could do a history and restoration guide similar to Don Bunn's Dodge Trucks including a walk around section to document the production changes that occured over the lifespan of Dodge truck production.

I was talking to the Walter P Chrylser museum and they advise that the records to the Defense Division went to General Dynamics when they bought it in the 70's. I am not sure what records still exist and have to try to follow up with General Dynamics.

The National Archives or the historical section at TACOM in Warren, Michagan probably will hold some stuff as well.

It would be a big project and it could be done but you would need to devote a good block of time to do a really good history on the M37.

I figure at least a year easy and from experience I can advise that you are not going to get rich writing this book. It will be a labor of love.

Rick
refit1701
Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 9:42 am Post subject:

I think this could be written as one of those "print on demand" books. Have it offered for sale through one of those websites and the proceeds would be for this website.

Finish the book and we'll see about publishing it.
_________________
-John
Member of Dixie Division MVC, MVPA # 31591
Oddjob
Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 7:06 am Post subject: Re: The Best Of The Forum

Monkey Man wrote:
m-37Bruce wrote:
There was a small group of Dodge M37/G-741 enthusiast who were fine tuning/editing this Forum, the M37 Registry, something happened, we never finished, it all happened just as Robi retired, I still have all of my completed work! Monkey Man, Robi, Nivek, Kevin & myself & I don't remember who else was involved, maybe Brian in Oregon............ Tony can we still make this happen?
Well, if I get some time spare over winter I can have a go at it, Robi sent me all the files, I just have to try and make sense of it all Best Regards - MM


Some tutorials would be nice a few PDF'd TM's would be helpful too... If I can get my hands on some original manuals I can destroy (I cut the bindings off on a commercial paper cutter...) to benefit the group I'll take the time to scan and PDF them for download... Right now I'm scanning in copy's of copies... and photo copied manuals are just poor quality but they are better than nothing... The one I have done currently is TB 9-2855-7 TO 19-75CFBA-7 M37 Top installation manual and is a whole 13 pages long... but I am also working on The operators manual... I'm hosting TM's and manuals over on another site I work on...
I look for as many Original TM's as I can get my hands on to digitize because the quality of these reprints are really poor at times...
rixm37
Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 9:17 pm Post subject:

I agree it might not go as a big interest book BUT as a pdf or limited print book or print on demand it would be worth it. I am thinking of a service type or how to book, not a complete history of the truck. That would be a really big job. Oddjob your idea of copying old manuals for pdf is great. If there was a way to have the manual and then include new information to make a task easier that would be all the better. An example is valve tappet clearance. The TM says do it with the engine running and gives only hot clearances. Here on the forum, it has come up several times. Charles T. has taken the time to post how to set the lash cold, engine stopped. This is much better, and your hands are happier. So if this alternate method was listed along with the original you could look it up in the TM and see the original and also the way to do it better..
I think it would be great to have the information all in one place and not have to either re ask the question or look back in past posts or not know that there is a better way to do something.
____________________________________________________________________________________

cuz wrote:Is there any way we can establish a central repository on the web site for the data or have a central person collect and inventory everything? Then when we find the best organizer and writer in the group he/she can start pulling from this centrally stored data for the new guide.

Perhaps we can have this thread carried as a sticky?