M37 Restoration (53-41242)

[Jerry.Steber]

Hi Wayne!

If you get down to Pennsylvania in the near future, I have an original M37 tire in great shape I will give you for a spare. I have one for a spare on my M101A1 3/4 ton trailer, but found another in my Army National Guard unit motor pool prior to my retirement! It is yours but you have to pick it up!
All the best!

Jerry Steber

[Wayne Hingley]

I guess Ill need my BIG suitcase for that trip! Ill be out that way for work at some point this year Jerry. Ill definitely stop by to have a look at your fleet. Maybe you will have the CDN2 running by then. Cheers!

[Wayne Hingley]

41242 finally made its way inside today.

[Wayne Hingley]

My goal this evening was to get the fuel tank out. Breaking down the cargo box went well. I drilled most of the Phillips-head bolts out, due to the difficulty of getting enough torque on the Phillips heads to break them free after 65 years. For the most part, everything is very solid. I have a small amount of corroded area to fix where the welting was between the inner and outer left side rear fender.

[Wayne Hingley]

A bit more tear-down today. A few dents and dings, but no major issues found so far. As can be seen on the frame, few different shades of green have been applied over the years. The bottom layer on the frame is a glossy black.

[Wayne Hingley]

The fuel tank had been impacted from the bottom, and was bashed in a bit. About a month ago, I cut the top of the tank open to get access so I could press the dents out. It worked very well.

While it was opened up, I sandblasted the tank inside and out so I could apply some tank sealer. I used POR15 Fuel Tank Sealer, and it turned out quite nicely. I brusher on a couple of coats (inside and out), and it hardens up to a very solid smooth surface. I left about 1" strip around the cut edge until it was welded. Ill brush some sealer on the outside and swish some around over the inside welded seam when complete. I would use that product again.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Wayne,

Your work on the tank looks excellent! I have some similiar work on my CMP tanks coming up. Did you have any trouble with remaining fuel gasses? Did you cut the top open with a normal grinder?

Keep up the good work!

Alex

[Wayne Hingley]

Hi Alex,
I decided to do this to the tank after seeing the excellent work Super Dave did when salvaging/restoring the tanks for his carrier My first carrier: some assembly required, post176

After draining the very old yellow stale gas from the tank, I added a few liters of hot soapy water and sloshed the tank around to remove any remaining fuel. I repeated that process two times. The soap I used was a concentrated degreaser type of soap. I then left a fan blowing fresh air through the tank overnight. I couldn't smell any fuel the following day.

To cut the tank, I used a 3/64" cutting disk on an angle grinder. The thin disk leaves lust the right gap to have a full penetration weld when you put it back together. The wall thickness of this tank was 16ga.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Thanks Wayne for the extra tips on how you repaired the tanks. I have to gather enough courage to work on mine!

There is so much on MLU that I completely missed Super Dave's resto thread!

Thanks,
Alex

[Bob Carriere]

Any photos ??????

We have salvaged a few tanks with some lead solder and a POR 15 gas tank liner....... works beautiful and did not have to cut out a section of the tank.

When preparing the tank with an acid etching solution ( included in the POR gas tank kit) you let it dry real good...... then insert a 12 volt light bulb and turn out the shop light...... all the invisible pin holes look like a star filled sky. We used a ballpeen hammer to dent in each pin hole.....agressively cleaned and flux the hole and applied solder.... a bit of light grinding and hole is sealed. Once the sealer is sloshed inside you get a perfect seal.

I did an Allis - Chalmers tractor gas tank nearly 10 years ago that looked like Swiss cheese around the welded seam and has not leaked yet.

On my reclaimed tank the modern gasoline keeps washing off the OD green paint but the outside ( and inside) of the tank is not affected...just need to repaint.

By the way if you are using the early CMP gas tank with a short filler neck located under the edge of the tool box.... you may not be able to put in a standard fuel nozzle to fill it up..... I have to use the CMP/UC square funnel with the attached "horse cock"....... you just can't reach the filler opening otherwise.



Cheers

[Wayne Hingley]

Ive been working away at preparing many body pieces for sandblasting; banging out dents and repairing a few rusty spots. As everyone knows, its the area under the headlights that almost always gets rust on these trucks. Both sides are about the same on this one. Fortunately the rust was very localized. I made up a small patch to replace the bad spot.

There is still a long way to go before I get down to the frame!

[Peter Phillips]

Looking good Wayne! I've used the POR Tank Sealing system on my other hobby (vintage 3 wheelers) and have had great success. You just have to follow the instructions to a tee. I'm hoping to see this rig in person at the end of March!
Cheers, Pete

[Matthew P]

In that lower right photo if you stopped right there you'd have one tough brute of a T-bucket

Matt

[Wayne Hingley]

Made some progress with sandblasting today. With this load complete, I have everything except the body tub and frame sandblasted.

[Wayne Hingley]

Mice had built a nest in the insulation between the cab roof and the inner headliner. The mouse piss and moisture did quite a number on the metal in that specific area. I had considered cutting out a section of the cab roof and trying to match up and weld in a new piece of rounded sheet metal, but decided I’m not talented enough to do that without making a mess. The best option for me was to repair the area with fibreglass after a light sandblasting of the inner surface. It was a quick and easy repair, and turned out pretty good.

[Wayne Hingley]

Some primer going on today in my ghetto spray booth.

[Wayne Hingley]

The mounting plates under front fenders were a bit rough, and had to be removed to repair the rusty fenders. I made some new pieces to freshen things in that area up. Its totally a poor design from the point of view of creating a rust trap. There is no wonder all of these trucks rust out in that particular area.

[Wayne Hingley]

This truck was one of the earlier ones that have the metal headliner/cab ceiling. The above mentioned mice made a mess on one side of the headliner and a huge dent messed up the other side. I made two new sides and the rest cleaned up quite nicely.

[Wayne Hingley]

Going back together...

[super dave]

Looks Good

[Peter Phillips]

You're a master of metal my friend, looking great!

[Wayne Hingley]

Originally Posted by Peter Phillips

You're a master of metal my friend, looking great!

Not quite Pete... Im able to scab some things together, but that's kind of it. Hopefully the paint is friendly enough to cover things up.

[Wayne Hingley]

More primer and paint this weekend...

[Wayne Hingley]

Continued priming and painting... storing the finished pieces in my basement (wife is not happy).

[Wayne Hingley]

I don't know what was used as a seam sealer on these trucks originally, but there was nothing left on the outside of the cab. On some of the seams inside the cab there was a hard material that I can break off in pieces. Looks like it was originally installed by hand (like putty).

I used seam sealer on every seam on my M38A1, and will do the same on this truck to keep the water from getting between the layers of metal.

[Peter Phillips]

That seam sealer stuff is a great choice to upgrade the old iron before painting! That will definitely help in keeping the water out.

[Wayne Hingley]

Originally Posted by Peter Phillips

That seam sealer stuff is a great choice to upgrade the old iron before painting! That will definitely help in keeping the water out.

This is the stuff I’m using. I’m sure there are hundreds of different brands out there.

[Wayne Hingley]

If anyone is looking to replace the end plugs for the top rails of the M37 cargo box, I found some standard plugs at Home Depot that fit rather nicely. I tacked them in with small welds just to keep them from popping out. Sandpaper or sandblasting will remove the shiny coating so paint will stick.

My cargo box sides are almost ready for primer.

[Eric B]

Hello Wayne

Looking very nice.

Here are some Black Watch marked M37 photos as requested.

They are taken in CFB Gagetown and can be found on the National Archives of Canada web page.

[Wayne Hingley]

Thank you Eric for taking the time to locate these photos. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

The photos are very interesting.

If anyone out there can help, I have a few questions as listed on the photo attached.

The second photo is on parade, and the formation sign appears to be red background with yellow maple leaf.

The last two photos are one of the M37's that my father purchased from Gagetown in 1967. Similar marking patterns to the photos posted by Eric.