1952 M37 Restoration

[Kirk Armitage]

Restarted this M37 project after a 25 year hiatus , finishing the teardown and sandblasting the complete truck in the fall of 2023. The winter / spring of 2024 I went through the drivetrain /springs etc and and got it back on it's tires this summer. The cab was painted and the truck was put to bed for the winter until I get the Eng / trans sorted out. The eng is a Ford 2711 e diesel, 4 cyl , will be adding a turbo , and was mated to the ACME trans with an adapter plate , part of which is a M135 trans bell housing. That eng is not for the purist , but I wanted something different as I'm still running 3 flatheads dodges in Bombardiers and my other m37 plow truck. Timeline ... completed 2026 ...but you never know. K Armitage

[Kirk Armitage]

Pics winter /spring 2024

[Kirk Armitage]

Parked for the winter , space is at a premium , got to keep the toys warm .

[Bob Phillips]

Hi Kirk, Good to hear from you, I thinks its been a while since there was much action up in your neck of the woods.
Dodge looks good, I do like the diesel option! Looks like a nice Ford CMP, perhaps a welding truck (?) tucked away in the shop as well.
When will it hit the road??

[Kirk Armitage]

Hi Bob , the KL hope fully , next after the dodge , time is racing by. Other hobbies and life put the green projects on the back burner for to long.
The diesel option , something different , along with a canvas roof , 12 volt and a split master cylinder. Other than that original.
Best Regards Kirk

[Bob Phillips]

I hear you when you say time races on, I also have my fair share of unfinished projects. I would like you to tell us more about the adapter you have for the transmission. Is it entirely custom made or did you purchase the plate itself? I also see you have had to work the throwout linkage into an auto transmission bell housing. What is the story as I would like to try something similar.

[Kirk Armitage]

I had to buy some 1/2" plate and the deuce Bell from the spare parts pile , just my time involved to make it work . A little tight to fit the cross shaft into the old deuce bell ,but it saved me from scratch building one .The trans is sitting in the M37 in it's original position ,so no mods to linkage or the driveshaft . The Ford flywheel was drilled /tapped for the Dodge clutch and the trans input shaft was shortened 1/2" for the crank pilot bushing . The cab firewall, just below the drip rail had to be recessed an 1" for the Valve cover and the trans floor pan had to be modded (bumped out) at the firewall for the larger engine bell . The aluminum oil pan had to be trimmed a couple inches to clear the front pumpkin ,other than that pretty straight forward .

[Bob Phillips]

Nice work! Thanks for taking time to post the photos and explanation. Is the throw out bearing shaft the original from the 6 cylinder application?

[Kirk Armitage]

Throw out bearing ,fork is all original M37. One thing left to do is see if it's do able to install a seal in the support housing for the input shaft . When I picked up this truck in 93 the trans was overfilled and saturated the the clutch disc ,never got to drive it much .