From: chance wolf (chance_wolf@shaw.ca)
Date: Mon Nov 08 2004 - 19:50:23 PST
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sean Nichols" <Sean.Nichols@xilinx.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Monday, November 08, 2004 10:25 AM
Subject: Re: [MV] Looking for info on M-37CDN info
> Looking for info on info?... okay, I must really sound intelligent now!
> More coffee please!
Canadian M37s have the Chrysler 251 cu engine instead of the 230 cu in. ones
that the U.S. vehicles have. If you look in the engine compartment of the
the Canadian trucks you'll actually see that they're set up to accomodate
either engine, as the "bolt holes" to mount the smaller engine in place were
included at the time of construction even though the Canadian vehicles never
used (to my knowledge anyway) the smaller 230 engine. The front mount of
the Canadian powerplant sits about, oh, I guess one-two inches ahead of the
U.S. mounting holes.
Going by memory for this bit but I also believe the Canadian vehicles had a
syncromesh transmission in all forward gears except first, where the U.S.
vehicles had the good old square-cut crashbox. The driver's side rear axle
shaft on the Canadian vehicles is also about 1/16th or so shorter than than
those fitted to the American trucks despite the fact the spline count etc.,
etc. is all the same, which is really annoying when you bolt a U.S.
replacement in and can't quite figure out why you have 90W "spokes" running
up your tires despite having a good gasket and tight nuts. I think John
Zentmeyer's book mentions the axle difference too, but don't take that as
Gospel.
I haven't confirmed this myself, but *apparently* the Canadian carburettor
is jetted differently than the U.S. version because of the larger
displacement of the Canadian vehicles. Whether that makes a huge difference
when you drop a rebuilt U.S. carb on a Canadian vehicle is anyone's guess -
but that's what I was told anyhow.
As for markings, the Canadian vehicles didn't go in for markings on the hood
in terms of the registration number and what-not, and instead carried the
registration number on both doors of the vehicle about 10" or so below the
windowsill in a form like "53-40764" -- the "53" representing the year of
the vehicle, and the remainder representing a sequential number in that
year's contract of trucks. Sometimes a bridge classification sign or tac
sign was also painted on the door beneath the CAR (registration) number, but
that seemed to vary greatly from unit to unit.
On the hood and rear of the vehicle should be two markings - one on the
left, the other on the right. The first would normally be a shield (painted
on or decal) with something like "Western Command"; and the second would
normally be the vehicle's unit/ tac sign (i.e., a red square about 9"x9"
indicating infantry, with a unit title above written on a white bar the
width of the tac sign like "SEAFORTH" or "3 AREA SIGS".)
Before we went to the ugly brush-on camouflage job and the later "military
map"-style unit markings, the vehicle would've been painted a solid green
similar to the FS 595a spec 24087, but shifting quite visibly more towards
the green end of the spectrum. Aervoe's 997A paint is closer to the
Canadian colour than Gillespie's 24087, but it's still not quite right.
Ditzler paints used to have a colour listed in their books as "Army Khaki
Green" which was well nigh perfect, but sadly, it seems to no longer be
around (DQE 4268, I think, but it's been something like 20 yrs so my memory
might be a bit dodgy.)
If you come across a Canadian vehicle which was originally fitted for
wireless, you may notice holes in the front fender where the AMU used to
mount, but more importantly - you may notice the vehicle appears to 'lean'
to one side. That pissed me off greatly with mine so I had the springs
re-arched (or had an extra leaf added on the opposing side) to try and even
things out. It's only *then* that I realized there was a spacer installed
underneath the driver's side spring front and rear in order to help offset
the weight of the wireless set, door-mounted spare-tire carrier, driver and
other assorted stuff - so once I removed this spacer - the vehicle wound up
leaning to the other side! Grr.
In the U.S., evidently only the M37B1 mounted the spare tire on the door,
where previous versions had it mounted in the bed. The Canadian vehicles
M37 and M42 had them mounted on the driver's door swing-away mount as part
of the wireless installation. Later on it seems some Canadian units made up
an ugly-ass spare tire mount which mounted on the front bumper ahead of the
radiator - but I've no idea just *how* many did that. Certainly PPCLI did.
Canadian vehicles all seem to have had hardtops save for one example I've
heard about which seems to be the exception. The early hardtops have a
steel inner panel screwed to the reinforcing ribs, where the later ones have
the panel deleted in favour of some sort of insulation/sound deadening
material sprayed on the inside. ( I still hate the hardtop on mine, but - I
guess it's more 'practical' (hate that word) than the canvas variety fitted
to most of the American vehicles.)
Anyhow, I'm sure I forgot lots, but that's a start! Also, if you want to
know the vehicle's original Canadian Forces Registration (CFR/CAR) number,
on M37's it's usually punched in to the front driver's side frame rail top
between the rearmost part of the bumper and the front of the grille guard.
When I first got mine (and before I knew this), I took a wild guess at a CFR
number based on educated friends and chose "52-40768". When I learned that
the real number was punched into the vehicle itself and chiselled off layer
upon layer of indifferently applied paint - I found my guess was all of four
digits off! The vehicle was, in fact, 52-40764.
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