MadDawg's M37 gun truck project

[maddawg308]

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Bill. I think. I always know where you stand on my volunteer work - "Oh, Mike? Yeah, he's a great guy, he just won't be here on time."

Ordered the tires today (the local store couldn't order them), but they should be here early next week. Also, heading out shortly to Winchester Metals to check out prices for 1/4-plate steel vs. plate aluminum. After taking some rough measurements, the weight of the steel should be slightly under 1,000 lbs., so using steel armor won't be a problem for the M37 as long as I don't make it too thick.

 

[Srjeeper]

Go mike-go mike-go mike-go mike-go mike

 

[Capt.Marion]

That's an MU2 winch, right? If I'm not mistaken they were used on WC52s, too.

 

[pwrwagonfire]

Sir,

I am kind of far away (In Massachusetts) but I have a very decent non-winch bumper that I will be removing, and willing to trade or sell if you were interested.

If you are, just shoot me a PM!

Look foward to seeing more pictures as your project progresses

 

[carguy455]

SAWEEEEEEET PROJECT MIKE !!!!! Enjoying the pics and progress !

 

[maddawg308]

Okay, I have picked which truck I am going to do - and it's final. But first - a little history...

The M37 gun trucks in Vietnam came in two basic types - long box and short box. Bed length was the same, the "box" refers to the armor box on the truck. Short box trucks had the box take up the bed only. The doors may have had armor in them, but the windshield was not armored, and short box trucks still used the standard soft top and frame. Long box trucks did not have the soft top frame installed, and the armor came forward of the bed, overlapped the door armor, and the front windshield was armored as well.

Examples of short box trucks were Otto, Blue Max, Raider's Light Work, Iron Pig, and Godzilla.

Examples of long box trucks were Mr. Nice, Wild Thing, Wild Honey, Daughter of Darkness, and Malfunction.

The benefit to having a long box was, more armor. Drawback was, more weight. Short box was smaller and have less room, but was easier to build.

For this reason, I am choosing to build a short box truck. The cost of armor for a short box truck is around $1,200 just for the 1/4-inch steel armor, not including guns. And that's BEFORE drilling and doing custom cuts for the wheelwells. A long box's armor would easily bust $2K.

I have decided to build RAIDER'S LIGHT WORK. It is a short box truck, and it came in several configurations - one M60, two M60s, one M60 and a M2HB, and 2 M60s and 1 M2HB. Mainly to keep things easy, I'm going to build her with two M60s. This build will give me a challenge, without making things too difficult. I'll leave the difficult stuff for later - this is my first gun truck, and no need to kill myself finding parts, bankrupt myself with buying more than is needed, etc. Raider's Light Work will also allow me a little creative license - there are only a couple pics of her (most of them fuzzy), and both driver523 and James Lyles (writer of the gun truck books HARD RIDE) have said they do not know the crew of this truck. So, having not much to go on but what I can see in the pictures, I'll do my best with the recreation.

Raider's Light Work was attached to 8th Group, 124 Bn, 541 TC.

 

[nattieleather]

I think the hardest part will be the lettering on the plate. That is going to be a challange to recreate. The guns are not a problem if your just going with dummies. If you go with propane firing then the cost goes up as I'm sure you know. Real bang bangs...more money than I have...lol! I think it's going to be a good truck and a nice recreation. And as you said you can always add to the truck later so go with the 2 M60s and then add the M2 when funds allow. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[minigunner64th]

Hey MD, great choice of names. One thing though, it was in the 64th TC when it was built, same platoon as Highland Raiders. Thus the name. Would love to see 64th on the bumper. I only remember it with one m-60, was greatly upgraded after I left. Unfortuately, I don't have single pic or remember who was on it. I can remember the driver's face but not his name. Go for it.
Richard

 

[bubba_got_you]

Also removed the bubba exhaust system

I never touched your truck!!

 

[maddawg308]

RLW got some new shoes today!

 

[WarrenD]

You probably already know there are some new M60 airsoft guns available that look almost perfect. They ain't cheap, but what is?
Just wondering if aluminum is an option for guntruck replicas. It would seem to be lighter and easier to work with (as far as cutting and drilling, I guess welding is tougher) maybe the cost is higher?
Look forward to seeing it at Gilbert.

 

[Ferroequinologist]

Mike doesn't want Aluminum, as he wants to be able to use it in the PAW. I'm on to his real goal!

 

[maddawg308]

Yes, aluminum is lighter and easier to work with, but it's a lot more expensive. The steel I'm getting is 1/4-inch thick, probably not good enough to stop incoming fire, but light enough for the M37 to move around and not break axles. I don't know how thick the originals were, but the armored box on this truck will run about 1,200 lbs as is. If the original armor was 3/8 inch thick, it would be 1,800 lbs. If it was 1/2 thick, then 2,400 lbs. The weight goes up REAL fast.

 

[WarrenD]

I was thinking about the cost as I hit the post button. I'm accustom to working with aluminum but as I don't have to pay for it, I guess I'm in the dark.
As for the weight going up fast, yep, and so does the difficulty in handling it. I'm sure that back in the day they had forklifts, cranes or whatever to lift and hold the steel in place until fastened down.
Guess the question was born out of being a newbie, I didn't know if replicas were allowed any "artistic license".

 

[maddawg308]

Sorry no updates in a couple days - I have been working on it, I have just misplaced my camera and can't take any pictures at this time.

The armor has been ordered, as well as a pile of parts. I'm waiting on the UPS man for a ton of parts to restore this beast. In the meantime, I have tracked down some dummy guns and mounts. Still trying to get the radio things I need - I am suffering from lack of response from the owners of radio equipment. They have the parts, they advertise the parts, they just don't feel like replying to emails and phone messages at this time.

The new tires are mounted on the truck now, the winch setup has been removed and is awaiting a new non-winch bumper from another Steel Soldier. He needed my PTO and winch driveshaft, I need the bumper and a grille guard, so even Steven we traded.

Also have the right paint - after talking with a gent who was in the same unit that RLW was built in, he was able to tell me what it mounted and what color it was when he was there. Color was 24087 semi gloss, with white lettering on the armor, and I have 4 gallons of 24087 ready to go. He also said that when it was built it only had one M60 mounted on a pedestal in the bed. It later got modified to two M60s, mounted on the bed sides, and later in the 541 TC they put the pedestal back in and mounted a 50 cal on it.

Moving right along...

 

[maddawg308]

I changed my mind - and not for the worse. I have figured out how I can do RLW with ALL her guns, as her final incarnation was in 541 TC. I have found a source for excellent quality M60 replicas, as well as a full-blown M2HB as well. If you're gonna do a M37 gun truck, might as well go all out and make it the most heavily armed M37 there was.

 

[maddawg308]

Been painful on this end - waiting for parts to arrive is a PITA cuz it's slowing me down. However, some good milestones are past.

I FINALLY was able to connect with a couple gents who had the gun and radio parts I needed. So, the last of the critical stuff will arrive shortly.

A couple pics. Note what is now missing - the winch shifter handle. You guys have no idea how hard it was to remove the PTO while in the truck. This truck was almost designed to require the tranny to be completely removed from the engine, in order to remove the PTO. I did it without that process, but MAN it was tight. I was almost considering torching a hole in the floor just to get that POS out. Good news is, it's on it's way to a new home in Massachucetts to a gent who is converting a wo/w truck to w/w, the opposite of what I am doing. God bless Craftsman crowsfoot wrenches for getting the unit out...

The windshield glass is all good, I removed the gaskets around them and the slots look great. Shouldn't be a problem putting new rubber in there. You'll also see the steering wheel which is cracking and crappy looking. That will shortly be replaced with a new one, once it arrives in the mail.

Last pic is the front passenger fender, which is a little wrinkled. It's a shame, the rest of the fender is great. Next Sunday ShieldWolf37 said he'd help me out and bring a torch and a MIG welder to help with the burning. I'm a very novice beginner at both tools, and he is an expert in metallurgy, so I'll save time and have the smart one do the repairs. I'm glad to have a friend in him, he's been very helpful to me over the years with all sorts of problems.

More tomorrow - sorry for the blurry pics, they are from my cellphone. My camera is lost, I fear, I need to buy another one I guess. And soon.

 

[jbingvtx]

Are you adding functional radios? or just period correct replicas?

 

[maddawg308]

Are you adding functional radios? or just period correct replicas?

I couldn't find a good deal on a working radio, but I did find a correct RT-524 radio that is relatively complete and needs testing/repair. I can do both, and I have the correct test gear for it, but fixing the radio will have to wait until after the Gilbert show. In the meantime, the radio will be installed in the truck, to await my soldering gun and the PRM-34 test set when I return.

 

[nattieleather]

I agree might as well do it up with all the toys. I notied in the one pic of the original truck you can tell it had some weight in the back with the armor and probably sandbags and ammo...lots of ammo..... the rear is sagging just a tad. Do you have a large supply of ammo cans? Most gun trucks the ammo was stacked on the floor and the gunners stood on the cans and as they emptied them they would stand a little lower in the truck.