1953 M37

[F18hornetm]

Sorry got off topic a bit there with the house but hey its part of this project too as it influences how much we can work on the M37

[Cal_Gary]

I run a PRC77 in my M37....
Gary

[F18hornetm]

I run a PRC77 in my M37....
Gary

Do you have the vehicle mount for it, or just back pack mount? We used to strap one on each side of the bows for the top on the M151's. But we had other models, like the MRC109 and MRC110 that had hard mounts. All our big trucks [M35/M813] we used back pack mounted radios. Gosh that seems like some other life time ago.

[Cal_Gary]

No, I carry it in a musette bag, with the antenna wire running thru the cab and bed to the AB243 antenna mount. I wanted one that I could remove when away from the truck, so it wouldn't "walk" on its own. I've been watching for the carrier frame but its not as big a priority as the M37 parts I still need.
Gary

[F18hornetm]

Not much news worthy. have most all wiring striped out now and did get new bumperetts from Midwest. Finally get a chance to work on tomorrow and will pull front clip off. Need to weld that crack in exhaust and transmission will not down shift in any gear. So think we will pull all out at once. Will take some pics tomorrow with how front clip goes.

[F18hornetm]

Ok in process of pulling front clip off an pulling power pack out. Trans needs work as well as few things on engine, was just as easy to pull all out

[F18hornetm]

Easy to get to everything now. i think if ever had much engine work to do, I'd pull front off again

[F18hornetm]

All pulled out and ready to be power washed. Whole job from removing front clip to motor sitting on floor was 2 1/2 hours. I swear takes that long to pull a riding mower engine off.

[T. Highway]

Looks like you have made great progress on the teardown. These trucks are easy to wrench on.

Bert

[F18hornetm]

Compared to of the other equipment I've worked on in my life this is nice. Except for the clutch linkage, everything was disconnected from top side. Got all power washed tonight and broke all the nuts loose on the exh/int manifold. Modified a box end wrench to fit the center 2 nuts ended up working well. Just ground a taper on one side to fit between end of stud and intake. I have a couple pics will post tomorrow, may help someone else with the idea.

From reading on here think we figured out its an early model trans. Fill plug is on drivers side. Can't tell much about shift tower as someone gobbed a bunch of weld on it. Are these early trans worth fixing or just replace with the newer version. Ive read both only synchronized in 3rd and 4th. It will grind just as bad in any gear when down shifting. Up shifts pretty well, but shift lever rolls all around like what ever pin that keeps it vertical is broke. Wondering if synchronizers are wore out. Will take top off and take a look inside.

[F18hornetm]

Took old truck and engine outside to power wash. motor and trans is about 3 different colrs, Blue/silver and green. I used one leg of the tow bar to push pull in shop with tractor. Worked pretty good. I broke loose all the nuts on the int/exh. I ground a bevel in a 6 point wrench to get center 2 bolts as open end or tubing wrench wouldnt break loose.

[T. Highway]

I had to chuckle when I saw the modified wrench. I have one drawer in my roller cab that has some of the wildest looking modified tools you could ever imagine, but they work.

The sloppy wobble of the gearshift would most likely be a broken pin on the tower. The early series trans only had one pin and it failed easily. If I had to choose I would install a later series trans because parts are much more readily available and the unit is much more robust overall.

If you would of removed the intake manifold first, the two nuts holding the exhaust manifold would have been accessible with a socket. I would recommend taking these two apart so that you can service the heat riser damper, this will save a possible headache later on down the road when summer temperatures come back.

Bert

[F18hornetm]

Too funny, I have a whole drawer full as well. Bent into all kind of shapes and sizes. Even a couple very large homemade wrenches to turn a rod on a hyd cyl. Sometimes never used for more than one job, other times look in and go wow, that will fit

Thanks for thoughts on the transmission. Have been reading bits and pieces on it and was wondering if just better to replace. Looking down at the top, it looks like one pin on the pass side and someone has welded the heck out of it. Ive not pulled apart to see what they did but doesnt look pretty for sure.

I tried pulling intake off first but all 4 bolts holding exh/int are siezed. Intake will need heating up a bit and I figured easier on bench. So thought well i'll just try all the manifold nuts for the heck of it and if all comes off will seperate on the bench. Surprised they all broke loose ok with no heat. I need to weld the exhaust manifold, has a crack. I have TIG'd cast exh manifolds before on other equipment,so we'll see how this one turns out. I have a heavy steel plate I clamp them to when welding and fire proof blanket that i cover with to hopefully cool slowly. I am positive the heat riser need work as outside piece is almost gone.

As always thanks for thoughts/ideas. Any you have speak up.

[Sal]

This will help you I. D. your transmission tower F18. On the left is the late model tower (NP420) and on the right is the early model tower (88950). You can see on the later model that there are 2 pins that hold the shifter in place while on the early one as Burt said has only one pin. Also you can see from the 2nd picture that these towers are NOT interchangeable between models. I had the same problem as you with the shifter rotating . Only difference was my pin fell out and didn't break. I installed a drill bit in it for a temp fix until I get a chance to change the tower out.

IMG_2103A.jpg (41 KiB) Viewed 2312 times

IMG_2105A.jpg (37.04 KiB) Viewed 2312 times

Sal

[F18hornetm]

Great pictures. Mine is definetly older style. Where the pin hole is on the shift tower is a huge weld, pin hole must have got cracked or wore out. I may be able to fix the tower if I clean off all that weld and see what happened.
The upshifts are fine, but the down shift bewteen 3rd and 4th, wont happen unless play with throttle/clutch and grind some. Just reading some about these and havent looked for them yet. Are synchronizers avaliable or even worth doing?? Again, havent looked inside so just wondering really.
This is my wifes truck so I want it to drive as nice as it can. She's no sissy and drives all our other MVs and drives manual transmission no problem. This would be little bit of pain if left the way it is. So I'll fix it or replace it.

Thanks again for pics!