6x6 milsurp truck

stencollector said:
The early trucks were gas, and had shielded ignition for radio suppression as well as water proof for fording purposes. By the mid 60s, any further production was pretty much all diesel. The shielded plugs are available, but not at your Canadian tire store. The plugs will run from $6 to $15 each. The same plugs were used in the Jeeps, the dodge 3/4 tons, and the 5 ton gas 6X6, amongst others.

Canada had started to dispose of it's 1983 vintage 6X6s in the last year or so, but then sales kind of halted. They were sold as salvage though, so you might have to pull a fast one to get them on the road again. Ours were powered by the GM 8.2l engine, and an allison transmission, a very reliable combination. Some have hydraulic winches on them as well, and a few of the long wheelbase ones have wajax cranes.

Prefair surplus in Montreal was reselling the trucks for around $3,500 each.
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When they were developing the specs for the MLVW in the late 1970s I and others advised against the automatic transmission on the basis of our experience with the earlier generation of gas engined M135/M211 deuce-and- a -halfs. I had also used the US Army standard M35A2 with the manual transmission quite extensively in the middle east where it proved to be a rugged and reliable vehicle. I remember one of the big arguments in favor of the auto transmission MLVW was the fact that the upcoming generation of female troops would not have long enough legs or be too weak to depress a clutch.;) As it turned out the MLVW proved out to be OK. If a person wants to run one of these you need deep pockets for the fuel, a spare parts source, and DIY mechanical skills.
 
My early experience with a Deuce and a half. On the way to the rifle range and the driver had a lead foot. Bumpy road and I was bounced into the air. If someone hadn't grabbed me. I would have sailed out the back!

Funny one: we were going down the highway and someone had to pee, kneeled down at the tailgate and hung his tackle over the side. We hit a BUMP in the road:eek:

Of course he wasn't laughing;)
 
Sten Collector is spot on. The US trucks are readily available in the US, but they aren't as refined as the Canadian ones in some respects. Then again, the US bought multi-fuel engines in some contracts.

I know a fellow who had a couple of MLVWs which the province absolutely and categorically refused to register for on-road use. They were sold as scrap on the title, and nothhing was going to change their minds. So, he bought a US M35 model instead and is trying to sell them privately.

A clever fellow would take the automatic transmission off the MLVW and scab it under an M35 to get it registered.
 
John Sukey said:
My early experience with a Deuce and a half. On the way to the rifle range and the driver had a lead foot. Bumpy road and I was bounced into the air. If someone hadn't grabbed me. I would have sailed out the back!
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The new MSVS is even worse for this! Because the back of the bed is so far behind the rear tires, the last couple of guys end up bouncing off the ceiling for anything more than a minor bump. Add to that the fact that the driver doesn't feel the bumps in the air-ride-equipped cab and you definitely want to keep your helmet on in the back!
 
I have been seriously considering trying to buy one of those babies to go with this little gem I bought this past summer, IF I can convince my wife to let me spend the cash. :redface: I picked up this 1953 M37 4 X 4, fully functional and running. I sure hope I can find the time to do the complete restoration it deserves.
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goldidig said:
I have been seriously considering trying to buy one of those babies to go with this little gem I bought this past summer, IF I can convince my wife to let me spend the cash. :redface: I picked up this 1953 M37 4 X 4, fully functional and running. I sure hope I can find the time to do the complete restoration it deserves.
390130951.jpg
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The M37 is a tough truck. I bought one at age 17 and used to drive it to high school. A real chick magnet (Not). I think they got about 6 miles to the gallon, and a top speed of about 55 mph. They were great in the bush, as they could make their own trails. Biggest weakness on them was the rear left axle shaft, which liked to snap when you spun those suicide tires on a bit of ice in the fall.
 
stencollector said:
The M37 is a tough truck. I bought one at age 17 and used to drive it to high school. A real chick magnet (Not). I think they got about 6 miles to the gallon, and a top speed of about 55 mph. They were great in the bush, as they could make their own trails. Biggest weakness on them was the rear left axle shaft, which liked to snap when you spun those suicide tires on a bit of ice in the fall.
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The rear axle was a fault in common with the same vintage 1951 Dodge 1 ton that we used as a grain truck when I was a young feller. One thing to watch for is the condition of the Pitman arm on the front end. I well remember the great "Pitman Arm crisis" of 1972/73. These things started failing to the extent that they all had to be removed and sent for magnaflux testing. After that they were painted various colors, I think red, yellow, and green, to indicate their condition and safety. The green ones were safe for road/field and the yellow ones were for field use only. In 1PPCLI we had maybe half good ones which necessitated driving a portion of the bn's 3/4 tons to Wainwright, then removing them and bringing them back to Calgary so the rest of the bn could deploy for the annual training concentration. Some way to run an army when you consider that the 3/4 tons were actually used as section tactical vehicles in 3 rifle coys because we only had one mech coy with M113s.:eek:
 
goldidig said:
I have been seriously considering trying to buy one of those babies to go with this little gem I bought this past summer, IF I can convince my wife to let me spend the cash. :redface: I picked up this 1953 M37 4 X 4, fully functional and running. I sure hope I can find the time to do the complete restoration it deserves.
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is it a canadian truck , or an american truck ?
 
It's a US Army vehicle which was built under license by Chrysler Canada. Ours had a few changes incl cab heaters/defrosters(some of them anyway) and hard top cabs. Same story for the M135/211 21/2 tons. The big thing to do was to make sure the cab heater was always removed from PCC'd vehicles because they were in very short supply. Same thing for the M113 APCs.
 
The biggest difference between a Cdn M37 and a US M37 is that ours used the larger 251 engine, where the US ones used a shorter block 230 motor. The Hardtops were on all Cdn M37s, where it was an option for the US ones.

Funny thing about those heaters. Turns out there were all kinds in the supply system, new in the boxes and complete with everything from the defroster ducting to the grill cover. There was a mod instruction to install them into the old M135 duece in the early 80s, after someone realized they were languishing in the supply depots.

If I had to guess, I would say the truck in the photo is a Cdn one. It has the holes on the side of the cab for the door mounted spare tire carrier, and the remnants of the unit marking on the front of the hood.
 
stencollector said:
The biggest difference between a Cdn M37 and a US M37 is that ours used the larger 251 engine, where the US ones used a shorter block 230 motor. The Hardtops were on all Cdn M37s, where it was an option for the US ones.

Funny thing about those heaters. Turns out there were all kinds in the supply system, new in the boxes and complete with everything from the defroster ducting to the grill cover. There was a mod instruction to install them into the old M135 duece in the early 80s, after someone realized they were languishing in the supply depots.

If I had to guess, I would say the truck in the photo is a Cdn one. It has the holes on the side of the cab for the door mounted spare tire carrier, and the remnants of the unit marking on the front of the hood.
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the canadian trucks also came with the chrysler 265 ( virtually identical to the 251 ) . i know this because i have 2 of them .

the transmissions where different , off the top of my head i want to say that the canadian trucks used a borg warner tranny , while the american trucks used the np420 tranny .
the pto take off on the tranny for the winch , was also different .

there are a few more diferences , i just can't think of them right now .
 
I have never seen a 265 in a 3/4 ton in the service. I did install one of those larger engines from an aircraft Ground Power Unit into a surplus M37. With the gearing of the M37, coupled with the governed speed, the extra horsepower really was not that noticeable.

I think the tranny was an Acme.
 
I remember the great Pitman Arm crisis (the Dodge M37 Cdn was the first standard I learned to drive). As the tale was told to us, the reason we had to wait so long for our parts was that the US Army started asking why the Canadians were testing their entire fleet of three-quads. Once they figured it out, the US had priority on parts - being at war, as they were.
 
stencollector said:
I have never seen a 265 in a 3/4 ton in the service. I did install one of those larger engines from an aircraft Ground Power Unit into a surplus M37. With the gearing of the M37, coupled with the governed speed, the extra horsepower really was not that noticeable.

I think the tranny was an Acme.
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when i rebuilt the engine on my '54 m37 , the engine bearings had dates of 1953 .

out of curiosity i pulled a couple bearings out of my m152 and i came up with dates of '71 and '73 .
 
I have two actually, both 1953's. Both are Canadian manufactured. One still has the cab heater/ defroster system in it and the one in the photo above doesn't have it and never did. They are a rugged go anywhere beast for sure.
 
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