M-37 jump seat trivia question

[dcbrown]

Just curious and thought the experts might be able to shed some light. I am preparing to restore the jump seat in my M-37 bed. But as I looked at that, I'm really curious as to what the purpose of the jump seat really was? It's located behind the bed-mounted spare tire, so it was inconvenient to access and use. It barely accommodates one extra guy. In reality, it just seems like a virtually useless feature. I was wondering if anyone has seen them in field use and if there was any specific intended purpose that may not be obvious to me? Thanks a bunch for any info.
Chris

 

[Mike_L]

That is a mighty fine question to which I don't have an answer for either. You brought up good points. It would only be usable if the spare tire was not present. In which case, it might just be laid on the floor so the spare was available. I believe there was a configuration that authorized a radio in that station but again, the spare would have had to be relocated. I suppose when towing a trailer, the spare could have been carried in the trailer freeing up that corner to use the seat for troops or supplies. But, I doubt some guy at the design table at Dodge was factoring that into consideration.

Have you asked this on G741.org?

 

[M543A2]

My M-37 has the spare on the rack on the driver's side door. that frees up the bed space. I took the tire and rack off because it was a pain when getting in and out. It has the jump seat and was a commo truck.
Regards Marti

 

[Bill W]

I've read that the ( useless) jump seat was installed to meet the required mil spec of the number of troops that the contract called for the m-37 to be able to transport, it was a extra cost absorbed by Dodge just so the M-37 met the contract obligations, of course this was remedied by the B1 and the ( retro fitted ) door mounted spare

 

[dcbrown]

I appreciate the replies! My 1953 M-37 never had a door mounted spare. It's always been in the bed, and the jump seat is still there. So it was used despite the bed mounted spare that rendered it largely useless. This is all great info, but I have to go with Bill W's explanation. First, it's a classic example of "checking the box" as far as a contractor finding a creative way to meet the specs. Second, the fact that it's on an earlier version, like mine, supports the theory that it was a means of meeting the specs, it appeared on the early models, and was probably recognized as ridiculously worthless and, consequently, was abandoned in later models. To me, this is a wonderful tid-bit of the M-37 story, and now I can't imagine not having it mounted! Thanks again fellas. This site has been a wealth of knowledge and so many of you have pricelss experience and expertise.

 

[Capt.Marion]

Okay. The jump seat is not a jump seat. It's simply to accommodate the bed-mounted spare in the M37s, whilst allowing full use of the troop seats when the tire was out... to meet requirements, like some people said.

This only applies to M37s... with the introduction of the M37B1 they moved the spare tire to the door, and thus removed the "jump seat." Although some people do move their spares back to the bed because having it on the door is a royal PITA.

 

[colbanister]

I appreciate the replies! My 1953 M-37 never had a door mounted spare. It's always been in the bed, and the jump seat is still there. So it was used despite the bed mounted spare that rendered it largely useless. This is all great info, but I have to go with Bill W's explanation. First, it's a classic example of "checking the box" as far as a contractor finding a creative way to meet the specs. Second, the fact that it's on an earlier version, like mine, supports the theory that it was a means of meeting the specs, it appeared on the early models, and was probably recognized as ridiculously worthless and, consequently, was abandoned in later models. To me, this is a wonderful tid-bit of the M-37 story, and now I can't imagine not having it mounted! Thanks again fellas. This site has been a wealth of knowledge and so many of you have pricelss experience and expertise.

The Funny thing is that most of the service men that I have talked to said that they took the M-37 to the motorpool and had them remove the tire from the door and put a mount in the bed...............so now my 1963 M-37 has both........

 

[saddamsnightmare]

January 9th, 2010.

I had a friend that had the Canadian Army M151(?) radio truck conversion of the (M43)ambulance body, all built by Fargo in Canada, and speaking from experience, the door mounted spare tire rack was a PITA when you parked on the right side of the street (with traffic flow) and had to hoist that darn tire uphill to get the cab door open..... And if you were on a side slope with that door up, just roll the window down and go ala Dukes of Hazzard style. For some reason I had a lot more affection for the M715 Weapons Carrier that our Civil Defense director had........

The jump seat seems to be another grand boondoggle brought to you by Uncle.......

Cheers,

Kyle F. McGrogan

 

[bigbee]

The M37 belonging to the Michigan Museum of Military Transportation Foundation is an ex-Air Force Truck (blue interior). The bed shows the bolts for mounting the jump seat, but no seat is there. Someone (?) mounted the spare tire carrier to the right side seat back.

 

[glcaines]

When I was in the Army (70-71), all M37s I ever drove or saw had the spare mounted to the drivers door. Since it was a PITA as others have mentioned, some of the spares were simply laid down in the bed, but the mounts were all on the door. I have no idea if the older M37s had the door rack retrofitted or not. We had a mix of M37s and M715s at the time.

 

[citizensoldier]

Its my understanding that on the M42 (radio truck version of the M37) the spare was moved to the drivers door and the jump seat was added to fold down and make a bigger shelf for radio equipment? Just something I remember reading somewhere.. I will have to look that up again.. This would be on all pre B1 versions.. The spare carrier was standard on the M43..

 

[Mike_L]

Bigbee,

I see the bolts for the auxiliary seat are still there at least. That is the first time I've seen the spare mounted anywhere other than the front wall of the box or the driver's door. Interesting variation.

 

[pwrwagonfire]

I appologise if this has already been posted....my understanding is that the M37-B1 had the door mounted spare (as well as the M-43 Ambulance).

My truck is a '52 which was outfitted with the M-42 command truck kit...I believe this may be the extra radios you guys are talking about? Amongst other things the M-42 kit includes a 100 amp charging unit under the hood for spare radios, etc.

In responce to citizensoldier: Interesting thought. I say this because (as mentioned) my M-42 dosent have ANY traces of the door mounted spare tire ever having been on the truck. The one in our forestry lot at work has both (as I've mentioned below) and is also an M-42, but a 1963ish model...

 

[pwrwagonfire]

The Funny thing is that most of the service men that I have talked to said that they took the M-37 to the motorpool and had them remove the tire from the door and put a mount in the bed...............so now my 1963 M-37 has both........

Funny you should say that, the one we have in the excess property lot at work is a M-37B1, and does have both! Thank you very much, I'd always wondered why/how this could have happened.