M37 Restoration (53-41242)

[Wayne Hingley]

Cab tub bottom side. Kind of dirty and crusty looking, but very solid. Should be like new once cleaned up.

[Wayne Hingley]

I opened up the transmission a couple of weeks ago. Very clean with new looking oil. No rebuild tag.

[Wayne Hingley]

Over the past several weeks I found some time to finish repairing the holes in the cab under the driver’s seat, stripped the doors and rebuilt a winch and PTO. I’m planning to get the frame stripped down this weekend and ready to sandblast next week. Hopefully the weather cooperates for the sandblasting.

[Rob Crombie]

Hi Wayne,

Looks like great progress. Did you find the frame to be straight and free of rust? I found the middle cross member on my truck to have pretty well rusted through from the inside where it attaches to the frame rails. It all seems to have occurred from trapped dirt and moisture.
I’m looking forward to watching this truck go back together.

Rob

[Wayne Hingley]

Hi Rob. I haven't taken any measurements to confirm frame straightness, but there is no damage evident on the frame or body components to indicate any trauma has ever occurred to the truck, and there are no tire-wear indicators. The frame condition is excellent with no rust. The black frame paint is almost fully intact where bits of the layers of OD and flat green paint have flaked off during my pressure washing. This truck appears to have been in the west for its entire life, where it was not exposed to road salt etc. Ill post a few more frame section photos in the next couple of days.

[Wayne Hingley]

A few photos of the cross members. Rob: I’m assuming you had trouble with the large boxed-in cross member to the rear of the transfer case. All cross members on this one are solid. They should clean up nicely.

[Rob Crombie]

That does look really solid. The boxed cross member is the only one that warrants repair on my truck. It was utterly rotten where the spring perches are, and had several pounds of dirt/rust inside. So out it will come to be patched up. It has also done a number on the fuel and brake lines where they pass through the cutouts in that crossmember. What are you planning to replace your lines with? I decided to go with some copper/nickel alloy lines as They should outlast steel, and are easy to work with.