I have to stop looking at my truck. Everytime I do I find something else missing. Remember, this is my first Military vehicle.........so no laughing. I noticed the other day that the someone bolted the wrong fuel pump on (but it works) and it had two filters in the line just before it. I didn't think too much about it until I started looking at the voltage regulator on the firewall and noticed there was a plate in front of it with nothing bolted to it. A quick look at some M37 engine pics I have and I quickly realized what was missing....ie, the that big honkin' fuel filter assembly.
So now the search begins for that. I think the same filter was used on WCs and some Jeeps, so I know they are out there. What I don't know is what a reasonable price is for the assembly. Can anybody tell me what I should expect to pay for both good used and NOS? Don't worry....I won't hold you to it....I just want a ballpark to know if I'm getting screwed or not.
And NO, I haven't even started to look at how the fuel lines were butchered......I'm afraid to look. )
Hi Bob,
Before you get too excited, check when they discontinued the firewall filter. The early trucks had them, but they eliminated them somewhere along the way in favor of the in-tank filters. The mounting holes would probably still be there after the filter was eliminated.
Tim
Good point.........and I hadn't checked before I posted. But I just checked now and my truck should have the fuel filter in front of the voltage regulator. They stopped that in Dec of 52 and my truck was made in April of 52. So the quest continues...........
Hi Tim......you're right. I did call John, and he has them NOS for $100. I've got to slow down on my spending for M parts, so I was hoping to find a good used one for less than half that.....but I don't know what they go for. My location is Southern Maryland.
Unless you just gotta have it; you are much better off with a simple in line fuel filter. Cheap, much easier to service, available at any auto supply store, far better filtering than that '52 model, can be located anywhere in the fuel line that you like in an unsightly location, and cheap enough to carry a couple of spares in the glove box. $100 would buy at least 30 premium quality in line filters.
Now if you still gotta have it, I can likely dig out some used originals when I get time to look around.
Bob, I replied to your PM. The filter is actually a pretty cool piece of basic engineering. It has hundreds of thin copper/brass washers stacked in a column under a little pressure I believe. Gas has to seep out between the washers and particles are trapped inside. I had never checked it out before, just removed it and set it on the shelf. It looks like it would be field serviceable. I do not see myself using it though.
Vinny.........how are ya?? Sorry I missed you at Aberdeen. I'm keeping an eye on that filter on Ebay.......thanks for the tip!! How's your M coming along? Did you pick up an exhaust manifold at Aberdeen.....or did you have yours welded?
If I'm reading the G741 parts manual correctly the firewall mounted fuel filter assembly was used on M37's thru vehicles SN 80042292, then the tank mounted filter used on SN 80042293 and up.
My M37 is a 1952 SN 80030594. The fuel filter and bracket were not on the firewall when I bought it and the truck had the in-tank fuel filter assembly installed in the fuel tank that replaced the firewall mounted assembly.
So it wasn't a matter of somebody just removing the firewall mounted filter assembly but they actually replaced it with the proper fuel tank filter assembly that replaced the firewall filter assembly.
This could be an option for you but I understand the actual tubular filter used in the tank filter assembly may be hard to find.
I guess my truck is not strictly as manufactured but there's a chance the swap could have been done by the military.
I've also got my spare tire mounted on the door with a carrier like the M37B1 trucks. I've got protection brackets over the left and right rear tail and brake light assemblies and I think I remember reading over ther years that the Marine Corps added the brackets over the lights to keep tie-down chains from ripping the lights off and also changed the spare tire location from the truck bed to the door. So I'm content with the way the truck since the mods could have been done while the truck was in service.
The serial # break point for the change of the filter is simply when that happened at the factory; all trucks before #XXX went out the door with the external filter on the regulator bracket; All trucks after #XXX went out from the factory with it in the tank. The mixed and matched deal comes in like this. When these trucks went through a depot level rebuild, (that was at 12,000 miles) all applicable upgrade items went on the rebuilt trucks. Unless any given truck was sold before it got enough miles logged to go through the rebuild, it is not at all likely to have that external filter in place, but has been upgraded. Either way is considered correct for these reasons.
If you must have 1 or the other to be happy, a current production in line filter can also be installed in the tank out of sight. Easy to acquire and a much better grade filter than the in-tank original, however being in the tank is a hasstle to service either way, so is the one that was external. Technology has come light years over the past 60 years, today's premium quality filters are far advanced in every way, and with the crappier every day gas we get now, the best you can get is the most favorable.
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