My new DODGE WC-51 '43

[Skyrookie]

Hey Vista;

Think you mis readed my post ...mine doesn't have them either

greetz,
davy

[rgus]

It is an early bed no room between the tire and bed.

[Skyrookie]

Hello guys,

So im at the point of completely taking this baby apart and send it out for sandblasting and metalizing the chassis...does anyone by any chance know how much the chassis weights ?


greetz,
Davy

[ziro]

Hello,
I have a complete frame for sale when yours has too much rust. Located in Germany near Hamburg.

Its sandblasted and has new paint. In perfect condition.

The weight: Its possible to carry the frame with four strong men. Only two men are not enough.

Cheers, Thomas

[ng19delta]

Hello,
I have a complete frame for sale when yours has too much rust. Located in Germany near Hamburg.

Its sandblasted and has new paint. In perfect condition.

The weight: Its possible to carry the frame with four strong men. Only two men are not enough.

Cheers, Thomas

I've flipped the bare frame by myself before... Couldn't pick it up alone, tho, although I DID pick up one end without the axle and ROLL it on the other axle... Don't recommend the practice tho...

Scott

[Skyrookie]

he weight: Its possible to carry the frame with four strong men. Only two men are not enough.

So i'll just say to the guy on the phone.."well the weight is what 4 men can handle" for calculating my price to pay to sandblast it

No serious; i just needed to know to give me an estimate idea to calculate the price

But zero, thanks for the offer but mine is still in very good shape

greetz,

[ziro]

[
So i'll just say to the guy on the phone.."well the weight is what 4 men can handle" for calculating my price to pay to sandblast it

[Skyrookie]

Hello All;

after doing some phonecalls.. i have finally found a new rear crossmember in perfect condition to replace my old one...

Since i want to restore it like it is;i am on the look for the rivets that are used to hold them together; Does anyone know what size they are ? I have tried to contact vintage powerwagons a few times trough mail (since they seems to sell a lot of repair rivets on their site) but they do not seem to answer


these are the ones im refering to :

Are the ones on the underside the same as to ones used on the sides ?
Does anyone know the exact size to use ? And if there are other places to order them...next one to contact will be John @ midwest

greetz,
Davy

[ng19delta]

Hello All;

after doing some phonecalls.. i have finally found a new rear crossmember in perfect condition to replace my old one...

Since i want to restore it like it is;i am on the look for the rivets that are used to hold them together; Does anyone know what size they are ? I have tried to contact vintage powerwagons a few times trough mail (since they seems to sell a lot of repair rivets on their site) but they do not seem to answer



Are the ones on the underside the same as to ones used on the sides ?
Does anyone know the exact size to use ? And if there are other places to order them...next one to contact will be John @ midwest

greetz,
Davy

You will most likely have to get the rivets at a commercial rivet place, THEN you have the problem of DRIVING them. Also, getting that crossmember in is a REAL pain. It is not only riveted there on the bottom rail, and has Huck-Lock rivets on the upper section, but is ALSO riveted to the rear spring front mounts. When I did mine, I had stubs left from the original one, and I cut them back & welded to them. As to the rivets, I actually ground down grade 5 bolts(about equivalent to the rivets) and shaped them to look like rivets. After tightening them nuts, I trimmed, welded and shaped them, and they will never be noticed. There is also the problem of getting the crossmember in in the first place- You can not simply fit it in by rotating it. You either have to split the entire frame, and that is a LOT of work, or remove a section of frame rail, install it, and weld in the pieces you removed.I've attached a couple pics here.













It is a fair amount of work:but much less, and a lot less complicated than removing and installing a new one with rivets. The rivets are the hardest part- beyond getting the blasted section installed in the first place... After paint looks really convincing! And just as durable as original! There is NO POINT doing the rivets unless you are going for a 100+ point Concours restoration...

Scott
PS- Check out my Photobucket page in my signature line, and feel free to PM me if you have any questions.






Scott

[Skyrookie]

I just love this forum

Thanks Scott to enlighten me and give me so much more work than i thought

Your foto's are a great help ! Thx for that

[ng19delta]

I just love this forum

Thanks Scott to enlighten me and give me so much more work than i thought

Your foto's are a great help ! Thx for that

You are quite welcome! (Although my way will save quite a bit of work... Removing those rivets in the first place is quite a chore!)

And I can't honestly claim the method as my own: Ray Edsall (on the list here somewhere) actually is the one who recommended the method to me.

One other thought which just occurred to me- How is the upper section of your existing crossmember? If it is not badly rusted through, and otherwise salvageable, why not just remove damaged sections the bottom plate(cut wit an air cutter straight across, remove all the rivets, and remove it) and then use sections of the bottom plate from your "new" one? It would still require a fair amount of work, BUT, by cutting about 6" back from the frame(see my pics) you could probably slip out the bad section, slide in the new one, and only need to make about 8 of my "frivets" (faux-rivets), and the rest of the structure remains undisturbed. Then all you need to do is weld in across the member where the two plates meet on each side. With my truck, the entire crossmember was MISSING- it had been torched out when they made her into a tow truck.

Scott

[Skyrookie]

Hey Scott;

great minds must think alike ...because when i saw your pics the same thing crossed my mind to... if possible, just remove the bad pieces of the lower plate and use your frivet method


greetz,
Davy

[ng19delta]

Hey Scott;

great minds must think alike ...because when i saw your pics the same thing crossed my mind to... if possible, just remove the bad pieces of the lower plate and use your frivet method


greetz,
Davy

And the frivets were very easy to make! I simply used an original rivet as a pattern, and shaped them on a standard bench grinder! It will take a little practice(not too much) and you can free-hand them quite nicely! I used about a 45 degree angle or so, and came out nicely. Just be sure to leave a small area untapered at the bottom of the head, and a small flat area at the top... And be sure to round off the corners from the hex of the bolt. I seem to recall I used 5/16-18 bolts, but it has been a while- Just test fit the bolts to the holes, and you'll find a good fit. (May have been 3/8)

As to removing the rivets, there are a couple good methods: both involve the same first steps: First, either grind the head off(time consuming) or, take a center punch and punch at the center of the head of the river, then drill a pilot hole down to the depth of the head of the rivet: follow it up by progressively enlarging the hole till it is the diameter of the rivet shaft itself, then use a cold chisel to remove the greatly weakened rivet head.

After that, you can use a straight drift and 16-20oz ball-peen hammer to drive out the shaft, or, make an adapter for a strong "C"-clamp which will fit slightly smaller than the shaft diameter, put a socket over the bucked end of the rivet(must fit around it, with a little clearance), and use the clamp to press it out. Less noisy.

Scott

[Skyrookie]

Hello all;

Had some time today to do some grinding work in an effort to retrieve some hood numbers and engine number etc...

Well the bodytag is missing so i have no idea of that (hope to get more info out of the buildcard as soon as i have it)...

second...engine is not original...this is the number(s) i found on it : I2 - I209 (1315529).

I did some grinding on the hood...and after a hugh amount of layers i did not found any white numbers;but i did see some light blue paint... did they still used the blue type of numbering in the late war ('44-'45) ??...it got dark an didn't had the chance to retrieve more of it;if it's uberhaubt possible to retrieve them at all

picture of enginenumber :

i couldn't get a good angle to get the complete number


looking around some more i noticed a few more strange things :

It seems the leafspring on the driverside has a leaf more then the one on the passengerside; Is this normal ?

driversside


passengerside (notice the topleaf is missing here)


and last...does anyone has a picture of an installed rotary switch on a late WC-51 ? are they installed next to the ignition switch ?(leftside/same place as the push/pull ones ?


greetz,
Davy

[12th Air Force]

By the way: I saw that your window frame is in a poor condition (as mine).
Wildenberg has Repro ones and will be at the Ciney fair. They cost something about 200,- to 240,- Euros.
Joakim