In-the-Field Brake Job
The need for brake work is usually proceeded by any number of indicators: spongy pedal, lack of pedal free play, free play to the floor, just not stopping in an appropriate distance, or metal-to-metal screeching in extreme cases. Prior to the 2017 Military Vehicle Preservation Association (MVPA) Route 66 Convoy, New Zealanders Boyd Mitchell and Peter Yates purchased a 1953 M37 Dodge 3/4-ton truck to drive cross country on the Convoy and then ship home to New Zealand. After driving the Dodge more than 2000 miles, they began to experience some of these brake issues.
During a Convoy rest day at our convoy rally point in a Walmart parking lot in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Mitch and Pete decided to dive into their on-board boxes of spare parts to change out the old brake pads and wheel cylinders.
They consulted with Ken Field, the Convoy Trail Officer about the job. Ken recruited the assistance of active duty U.S. Marine Corps Corporal W. Gunnar Sigrist, then on a two-week leave from the Corps to participate in his fourth MVPA convoy. Gunnar was a wheeled vehicle mechanic (officially, MOS 3521 Motor Transport Mechanic) assigned to Combat
