My 1954 M37
Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 6:20 am
For the last 4 years I have been contemplating getting an ex-military truck of some kind. I dabbled with a 46 CJ2A for a while but it didn't do it for me. As much as I tried, I wasn't a "jeep guy". I then started looking at M35s, and one came up for sale by a friend of a friend. It needed a lot of work and he would not budge on price. Then I found a guy about an hour and half away from me with M35s, M818s, and M923s. I fell in love with the M923A2. Big, powerful, and mean looking. I was ready to buy it, however the state of Louisiana had different plans for me. Long story short, Louisiana stopped issuing regular titles/registrations for ex-military vehicles and only issued "Off Road Only" titles/registrations. I have no use for a monstrously large truck if I can only drive it off road. I don't have that kind of land. That led me to looking at the M37. Small enough that I can park it in my shop (makes the wife extremely happy), I can work on it myself as I am no diesel mechanic, and I have access to some farm land that I can play around on with the smaller truck and not worry about getting stuck or making the farmers mad. My other thought was that I could register the vehicle as an antique 1954 Dodge 3/4 ton pickup and avoid the whole MV thing altogether. There is an effort right now to allow MV to be registered again with regular titles but nothing has been made official. This all led me to a real nice man in Alabama with an M37, that after a few phone calls and messages made its way to Louisiana and into my home shop.
The truck is a 1954 M37 that originally had a winch but was removed. I will be purchasing the same winch to put back on the truck very shortly. The data plate on the glove box door says it is a 1962 M37B1 but after some investigating, I learned that it is indeed a 1954 M37. The truck sat for at least 10 years and the running status was unknown. I pulled the plugs and let Marvel mystery oil sit in the cylinders for a few days and was pleasantly surprised to turn the engine over with a large socket wrench. The generator was replaced with a military 60amp alternator at some point in its life. The previous owner says he was told this could have been a radio truck at one point. The paint is in good shape and there has been some "bondo" work done to it. I plan to remove all rotten spots and replace with metal and then give it a fresh paint job. Seats will need to be replaced as well as the windshield. The bed, doors, cab interior, and front fenders are solid as they come. They sale included a canvas cover for the cab and for the cargo area. Although they are pretty dry and stiff, they will work for the time being.
I picked up a few other items for the truck including front lift shackles, proper pioneer tools and a proper bridge plate with numbers. My plan is to add another radio antenna mount with antenna to the passenger side of bed and possibly fab (with the help of some friends) a high water fording intake and exhaust. I will also be purchasing an M101A1 trailer from the person who has the M923 that I was going to purchase.
I am in no hurry as I want this truck to be as close to original as possible. I am by no means a "rivet counter", but where I can make life easier I may take that route.
Here are some pictures of the truck so far. I can't upload them due to them being too large, so here is a file I created to keep track of my work.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/vqGbVsLo31SyeXnc2
Thanks
Mike
The truck is a 1954 M37 that originally had a winch but was removed. I will be purchasing the same winch to put back on the truck very shortly. The data plate on the glove box door says it is a 1962 M37B1 but after some investigating, I learned that it is indeed a 1954 M37. The truck sat for at least 10 years and the running status was unknown. I pulled the plugs and let Marvel mystery oil sit in the cylinders for a few days and was pleasantly surprised to turn the engine over with a large socket wrench. The generator was replaced with a military 60amp alternator at some point in its life. The previous owner says he was told this could have been a radio truck at one point. The paint is in good shape and there has been some "bondo" work done to it. I plan to remove all rotten spots and replace with metal and then give it a fresh paint job. Seats will need to be replaced as well as the windshield. The bed, doors, cab interior, and front fenders are solid as they come. They sale included a canvas cover for the cab and for the cargo area. Although they are pretty dry and stiff, they will work for the time being.
I picked up a few other items for the truck including front lift shackles, proper pioneer tools and a proper bridge plate with numbers. My plan is to add another radio antenna mount with antenna to the passenger side of bed and possibly fab (with the help of some friends) a high water fording intake and exhaust. I will also be purchasing an M101A1 trailer from the person who has the M923 that I was going to purchase.
I am in no hurry as I want this truck to be as close to original as possible. I am by no means a "rivet counter", but where I can make life easier I may take that route.
Here are some pictures of the truck so far. I can't upload them due to them being too large, so here is a file I created to keep track of my work.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/vqGbVsLo31SyeXnc2
Thanks
Mike