2004 Restoration Journal

2004 It Begins

• 06-02-2004 Purchased 1953 Dodge M-37 via eBay, looks like a restorable truck.
• 06-04-2004 Went to Reading PA met the seller, and bought my first part for the truck, a WW2 gas can , strap, and Fire Extinguisher ($47)
• 06-10-2004 6am woke up to begin the trip to pick up the truck, the trailer I had rented was not available, so I ended up getting a auto transport trailer max weight of 3900, the truck weighs 5980 lbs. The trailer supports a car with a wheel base of 118” the truck has a wheel base of 112”…hmm.. Drove 248 miles to pick up the truck north of East Freedom PA, it took about an hour and a half to dislodge the truck from the drive way, spray the wasp nests, and slowly lower it down the drive (steep!) onto the trailer. The straps designed to hold the tires on the trailer didn’t fit so I put them around the front axles instead. By 2pm we were on our way to get the title transferred. After the title transfer, I stopped at the local tractor supply place to pickup a web strap to hold the beast down to the trailer, which was showing the load.
• After a long slow trip we arrived home, back into the drive way and now how to figure out how to offload the truck with a flat tire onto the drive, after 30 minutes of pushing, pulling and winching with no success, we ended up dragging the trailer out from under the truck. Not wanting to wait, I hooked up the battery and turned over the engine, didn’t start, but it turned! Now the journey begins.
• 06-13-04 Took all the canvas off the truck, removed the seats, covers and top, the top is in great shape, but needs some new straps. Seats all need new canvas. Pressure washed the entire vehicle, found a few more letters hidden under the paint, and the original stars and some sort of convoy/bridge sticker. Blasted off huge hunks of grease/dirt/whatever. Pushed Truck into the garage with my Ram 2500
• 06-14-04 replaced the coil, condenser, and cleaned the points and all contacts; engine has spark but no go.
• 06-15-04 It’s ALIVE, after replacing the battery, adding some marvel mystery oil to each cylinder and making up a temporary fuel supply using a coffee can some leftover fittings, I added some gas, gave the carb a squirt of starting fluid, and bang she caught once! Then I started messing with the timing and carb adjustments, after about 20 minutes of cranking on and off, she started, sucked up all the gas and quit. I reconnected the truck fuel supply (which had started to squirt gas directly on the manifold (see Stupid)), and she ran rough, but steady. Now its time to tune it up. In the mean time I took off the rear fenders, and front cowl filler strips.
• 06-16-04 Since the engine seems to be running ok, I took advantage of the pressure washed engine and painted it black with high temperature paint. Also removed the bow, two front windows, replaced the top of one window frame. Spent an hour and a half under the truck scraping grease and dirt from linkages and tranny. Found that the flywheel pan has no drain plug, have to find a replacement. One major accomplishment is that I cut the tire off the rim, then manage to split the rim in two. It will need major overhaul.
• 06-17-04 Found a leak in the radiator, pinhole, right in the front. Fixed it temporarily with Prestone Stop Leak, seems to be holding. I started inventorying all the parts that are extras. Had a major oil leak, seal opened on the filter housing, reseated it and tightened
• 06-18-04 Removed the front splash shields and the front two fenders, degreased them and set them aside. Did some touch up work on the radiator.
• 06-19-04 Removed the floor plates and transmission cover.
• 06-21-04 Jakes Birthday, he was at camp, so didn’t do anything
• 06-22&23-04 Minor cleaning and removed all screw in data plates, took horn apart and rewired.
• 06-24-04 Removed all ignition and starting system wiring and switches and replaced with a keyed system.
• 06-25-04 drove truck out of garage and blasted exposed areas again with degreaser and water.
• 06-26-04 Made up an acid dip using crystal draino and 3 gallons of water. Dipped all the small parts to date, headlight buckets, all brackets, gas can holder, and front shackle. Washed and primed every part. Took all day.
• 06-27-04 Welded and filled hole on right front fender. Then tackled cowl sheet metal and window frame, wire brushed and ground metal then primed.
• July 2004
• 07-07-04 disassembled the front dash, all of the switches, and looked at the frayed wiring…yikes
• 07-10-04 Disassembled the drivers side door, removed window and frame, welded window channels.
• 07-18-04 Removed Master Cylinder and replaced all parts with rebuild kit. Brakes still not up to par.
• 07-20-04 Ordered Chevy 1 ton master cylinder.
• 07-23-04 Removed tire from wheel, took 3 hours. Cut tire from wheel with saws-all, then used grinder and chisel to cut through steel cable on tire edge. Pried off remaining tire parts off of wheel, stuck with rust onto wheel. Then proceed to lightly tap combat wheel with 15 lbs sledge hammer, after delivering 2-300 gentle taps on the wheel, I got the rim to separate into two halves. Now only four more tires and rims to do, the wheels are dated 1943.
• 07-24-04 Tried wire brushing wheel… no good, will wait and have them sandblasted.
• August 2004
• 08-04-04 Repaired steering wheel and horn ring. Needs a finish coat on gloss paint.
• 08-06-23-04 Vacation…found a 1946 MB Willy’s jeep in Green River Wyoming…passed it by…son wants it for his project.
• 08-28-04 Removed existing master cylinder and replaced it with Chevy 1 ton cylinder, broke all four bolts on side step while removing it, had to make four trips to NAPA to get the right size adapters to convert to Dodge brake lines, after drilling, grinding, and mounting realized that brake return spring would have to be moved, and there wasn’t enough room to fit a wrench onto nut to tighten fitting, removed entire assembly and re bored holes. Break for a week.
• September 2004
• O9-04-04 Removed both rear wheels, and drums, the three screws took the equivalent of 1 ton of TNT to remove. With the assistance of my son, I bled the brake lines, and success, I now have brakes, just no tires on the truck….step by step….
• 09-07-04 Removed rear light mounting brackets, took about an hour, and then straightened them using 12-ton hydraulic press.
• 09-12-04 Removed the entire wiring harness from the truck, 99% is rotted out and exposed. Add that to the tic list.
• 09-13-04 Finally removed the last two tires from the combat rims, broke 5 studs off the very last wheel-circa 1943.
• 09-17-04 Sent Wheels off to be sandblasted and primed by a local company
• 09-22-04 started to chemically strip front bumper, switched to angle grinder and stripped it to bare metal, acid etched then primed, and painted
• 09-25-28-04 the hood, used grinder to strip all paint down to bare metal, tack welded loose under frames, hammered out the major dents, and used body filler to smooth every thing out. 12 hours of hand sanding can’t feel my arms….
• October 2004
• 10/1/04 Worked on the steering wheel, filled cracks with epoxy and sanded smooth.
• 10/4/04 Painted floor boards, glove box interior and transmission and transfer case controls.
• 10/5/04 Repainted steering wheel, installed NOS horn kit. Picked up combat wheels from the sandblaster, look great on the exterior, serviceable on the interior.
• 10/6/04 Rebuilt interior of cab, all floor panels blasted, primed repainted and installed, all rubber gaskets and seals replaced.
• 10/9/04 My son Jake and I made a trip to Sam Winer Motors in Akron, and salvaged troop seat hardware from fourteen M37’s. After all the work, I have enough parts for one complete set and a couple of replacement pieces.
• 10/12/04 Started spray painting the hood, front clip and wheels, and a few odds and ends. Considering this is the first time I ever used a spray gun to paint something like this, it looks very good. I was going for the ‘fifty foot rule’ now its good at ten feet
• 10/22/04 Been a few days since I updated the site, so I’ll play catch up. I painted all the loose items, headlight buckets, taillights, brackets, about 40 nuts and bolts. I attached all the hardware to the hood, and installed the hood on the truck. Posted some before and after pictures on the site, still can’t believe I did this! looking like a real truck.
• 10/26/04 filled in the rust holes in the doors with new steel, ground and sanded it smooth, then primered and painted the doors. Ordered some felt window strips from John Bizal at Midwest Military the parts came in at the perfect time, finished the doors, installed the glass, and voila, it works! I adjusted the doors and windows, and they slide like new!
• 10/30-31/04 I began cutting out the rusted sections of the front fenders and cutting out patch panels from Jeepanels Plus the best side was the Drivers side, so I did that first. Here is a pic of front fender, ready for final grind and paint prep.
• November 2004
• 11/1/04 Started cutting out damaged area on passenger side Fender Created Patch and welded in place, took about 6 hours for one section
• 11/10/04 Tires, flaps and tubes arrived, started mounting them one by one. Now at last the truck can actually move on its own!!
• 11/14/04 All four tires mounted on truck. Pulled it out of the driveway on its own power!!!! Tested brakes. They work! Had my son Jake hop in the truck, and off we went, around the block, coughing and sputtering, but she ran, my wife followed, but not too close with her Jeep Liberty. After one trip and a bit of adjusting, off we went for a 3/4 of a mile trip… success!! But I did find a oil leak at the distributor mount….one step forward, two steps back.
• 11/15/04 Went back to work on the passenger side fender, drilled and tapped the fender to accept the jerry can mounts, and fabricated the supports and mounted them. Disassembled the five troop seat brackets, and did some straightening of metal. Have a small pile of parts to take to the blaster.
• 11/20/04 Removed the front panel on the bed. Drilled through each bolt to get in out. Sanded rear of cab in preparation for painting
• 11/26/04 Painted rear of cab. wrapped entire front of truck in plastic sheeting to protect it from grinding to be done on bed. Painted Spare tire support and spinner, Painted front turn signals.
• 11/30/04 Wrapped the front of truck in plastic to protect it from the dust and cold. Bought a few miscellaneous items. Didn’t do any work at all on truck Christmas is looming and funds are spent on family instead of truck. See everyone in 2005!!! Happy New Year!!!