Picked up an R2 crash truck today...

[just me]

Does it still have the bonus glovebox full of pigeon poop? I thought that was a nice touch, but hard to restore. (I'm jealous of the huge yard and shop and all the "parts" trucks!)

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

Does it still have the bonus glovebox full of pigeon poop? I thought that was a nice touch, but hard to restore. (I'm jealous of the huge yard and shop and all the "parts" trucks!)

Now that you mentioned it, I can't remember if I cleaned out the map compartment or not.

What's in the yard for m37 stuff is nothing compared to what used to be here. Folks who have been into MVs for awhile may have bought parts out of this place or from dealers that bought them here. It was Vermont Commercial Salvage, ran by my friend George Mainieri who passed away a few weeks before we bought the R2. 20 years ago MV magazine called it a "paradise for m37 enthusiasts". Almost all the m37 parts are gone now but a few things are still coming in here and there.


Such as this early m37, a 1951 that we picked up last week from an SS member.


It's a little rough but has some good panels and the winch works! With a very small amount of work it runs nice and drives good. This will give us a known decent engine to start with for the R2. The R2 engine is still low on compression, likely due to stuck/damaged rings. We're going to pull the engine out pretty soon and set it aside to work on it eventually. I'm seriously considering taking a day to swap in the powerpack from the running truck just so we can yard drive the R2 before we tear it all apart for bodywork/paint/mechanical work...

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

...and the engine is out.

 

[rchalmers3]

Beautiful truck! And I'm always in awe of anyone who has a collection of vehicles. It's like having a parts warehouse in house!

Can you tell me: what is the box structure running over the cab and rear enclosure?

Rick

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

Beautiful truck! And I'm always in awe of anyone who has a collection of vehicles. It's like having a parts warehouse in house!

Can you tell me: what is the box structure running over the cab and rear enclosure?

Rick

The box structure is for storing an aluminum ladder. It definitely gives the truck a unique look.

We started today by removing the winch, which we should have done before pulling the engine.

Then another m37 owner showed up for some body parts from the engine donor truck.

Since the fenders were gone we decided to pull the engine out to try in the crash truck. The fancy yellow transmission is from a WDX power wagon so that will be changed out eventually.

It's all in the truck now, we just need to bolt it down and hook up a few things and hopefully we'll be driving it around the yard.

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

Not surprisingly the engine still runs now that it's in the crash truck! It's fun to drive around the yard.

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

R2 Crash Trailer

We're planning on taking the R2 body off the frame to make cleaning everything up and painting easier. The blue truck we picked up last year was already close to a rolling frame and we weren't planning on saving it so that will be the stand for the R2 body.

We cut the frame and added some scrap channel to match the long wheelbase of the R2.

We folded in the front rails and added a lunette and it's almost done, we just need to add 1 or 2 jacks to the front. There's nothing pretty, precise, well done, or road worthy about it but it should give us a way to move the R2 body around the yard without fear of damaging things.

 

[CUCVLOVER]

Good use of what you had to work with.
What was the vehicle you had the trailer hooked to?

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

That's a friend's DTC-8606 forklift, you can see it in the background of the last picture.

 

[CUCVLOVER]

Ahh ok. Thanks
That thing looks awesome, I would love to have a lift like that. Makes my bobcat look like a hot wheels car

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

The removal of the body went as well as it could have, it's now sitting on its trailer and the rest of the truck is almost all torn apart.

 

[T. Highway]

Matching twin fork trucks...............

Bert

 

[Fredo Corleone]

Matching twin fork trucks...............

Bert

And Evil Dr. Porkchop cloned himself so he could operate both forklifts!

 

[T. Highway]

And Evil Dr. Porkchop cloned himself so he could operate both forklifts!

I guess that you would need two Evil Dr. Porkchops to operate two forklifts.

Bert

 

[Evil Dr. Porkchop]

Here's a few of the of the parts that will go on the truck eventually. I picked up these headlight guards with the extra hoops a few years back. I also bought a few sets of brackets I was told are for adding lollipop style lights to the front of Dodges but I'd never seen them used on trucks before and didn't look into it. After a little research it looks light both the headlight guards and brackets are found on certain contact maintenance trucks like the CMU-5 variant. Since I've seen tons of R2 crash trucks with the lollipop lights these should work well for our project.

We picked up this 24v beacon off eBay for a good price a couple years ago, turns out it's the correct one for the R2, I just need to change out the amber lens for a red one. It lights up but doesn't turn so that will need to be fixed too.

Also these old school lockout hubs will go on eventually, this style has been around for Dodge trucks since at least the 1960's

 

[ODFever]

NICE TRUCK!!!!

 

[Bobcat701]

Nice truck! Great save.

 

[Black Ops]

I am missing the ladder on the rear of the truck that is used to get on the roof. It looks easy enough to make. If anyone with an R2 could get some measurements of that I would appreciate it. I am also looking for info on the front grappling hook.