WC53 - Project Big Band Wagon

[Alxj64]

It is always interesting to see your work. Your truck will sure be nice...too nice to use?
There have been some really nice and neat diesel conversions done over at the Power Wagon site, does any of their expertise help you in figuring things out?
With your skills and knowledge, have you found a possible way to end up using the original 5 lug wheel and axle bolt spacing?
Please keep posting pictures, etc. as this is one of the more interesting topics to follow! Steve K.

Thanks for the good words. I should be able to get the diesel stuff sorted out as I have the factory service manual for the original truck my engine and transmission came from, the original complete harness, all the way down to the heater/AC controls, and the complete engine manual from Cummins and complete transmission service manual from Allison. They are helpful on the PW site at figuring out placement and design of the intercooler, and some of the suspension changes necessary for the heavier engines.

I looked into keeping the lug pattern but the original wheels are not likely to run straight and true at the speeds I plan to run this truck. I have looked into making adapters for "parade appearance" so I can bolt the stock wheels and tires back to it. We shall see how those plans turn out.

As for the axle... Here is what I ended up with.

Set up the housing with the alignment bar.



Pressed the machined knuckle/tubes into the end of the housing and locked down the end tube alignment pucks. Set my caster to 10 degrees relative to the pinon angle of zero, so that I can raise the pinion towards the case a few degrees and still have caster in the 5-7 degree range.



Had my wife come help spin the axle housing in the rack while I welded it up. Also note the plug welds for that "just in case" factor.



Let it all cool, removed the alignment bar and this is what I ended up with. A nice straight, custom front axle housing that still uses a round center, removable third, and is "similar" to the original axles but uses more modern outer hardware that has strong disc brakes, better steering, and is all set up perfectly straight so that I don't have to worry with a bent housing causing a wobble or shake. Not to mention this axle is about 40% stronger than a stock Dana 60 and about 60%-80% stronger than the original dodge axles so that it won't even raise an eye to the weight of the Cummins hanging over top of it.

[zepher11]

Awesome work! I wish I could weld that well. Looks like you won't have any axle housing issues.

[Steve K. CALIF]

Geeeesh!!! In a really good way!

[Alxj64]

Thanks guys! The welds turned out much better than I expected. Since it was something really important I had my fears that it was going to be all porous and undercut or something.

On a positive front, the truck is back inside so that I can get back to work on the rear body panels and the tailgate.

[Alxj64]

So I started on replacing a few of the bad spots and started getting that rear cross member tied into the rear quarter panels. This old and really thin sheetmetal is rather difficult to weld. This is a fairly "new" thing for me, sheetmetal work that is, so the learning curve is also messing with me. I'm getting the hang of it though.

Before:



After:

[zepher11]

That looks great. I know what you mean about the sheetmetal work. I just started replacing some rusted out pieces on a project today...it isn't something I'm used to either. Looks like you are getting the hang of it, however. What gauge metal are you using for your patched sections? I am using 18 gauge which is a match for the sections I'm working on. I'm finding it just as much a project cutting the 18 gauge so that it doesn't deform and fits well. I don't have a metal shear or brake. That would certainly come in handy.

[Alxj64]

I have a mixture of 16 gauge and 18 gauge. For the replacement panels I am using the 18 gauge so that, like yours, it will match the sheets I am replacing. However, for the parts like the rear crossmember and the inside plate of the tailgate I am certainly using the 16 gauge just for the den't resistance. The truck will be driven and used on a nearly daily basis so I want to have the higher traffic areas built a little heavier. Plus I have this image in my head of my wife and her friends all bikini clad sitting on the tailgate whilst parked on the beach somewhere on the Outerbanks of NC in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. A Carryall full of women in bikini's climbing out one at a time on the beach...Good luck getting that thought out of your head.

As for cutting it, I have a small plasma cutter that I use and lay a straight edge down on the sheet and then just cut the primary shape. From there I use a cutoff wheel to trim it to a more fitting shape. After that I get the patch panel cleaned up, and close to matching the size of the repair but just a touch oversize, I then trim out the bad spot on the truck a touch larger until the patch panel fits in perfectly. For forming, I have a set of body hammers and dollys and a few odd shaped but rounded pieces of wood clamped to a work bench. A series of medium weighted blows will add a nice controlled curve to the 18 ga easily. The 16 gauge, not so much. That I took down the street to a neighbor, (old college roomate) and we ran it through his sheet brake.

[zepher11]

I did purchase a small plasma cutter a few months back that I have used to remove some floor panels for replacement. I will see what I can do with that for cutting the sheet metal. I hadn't thought about the plasma cutter for more precision work...probably becuase the metal I was cutting was somewhat rusted and didn't cut super clean. I bet the clean replacement sheet metal will cut a great deal cleaner. Looks like I will need to log some practice time. The cutoff wheel that I am using for the smaller pieces works pretty well, but I wanted to work out a faster solution for the larger sections. Likely, there isn't a faster way. It is what it is...

I haven't been to North Carolina for sometime. My mom grew up in an orphanage in Thomasville, and I have a couple of siblings that live there. Next time I head out there, I would like to go to the Outerbanks as I have never been there.

Thanks for the information and keep up the great work. I will now be thinking of bikinis all day long!

[Alxj64]

^ The Outer Banks are wonderful. Its really my haven to get away from it all. My wife and I love heading down to Ocracoke Island where you can sit on the beach in June or July and not see a soul in either direction. Especially on a Saturday when most people are traveling to or from the beach. We also often visit Oregon Inlet and Coquina Beaches in the south end of Nags Head. We only live 50 miles north of the Wright Brothers Memorial Bridge to get onto the Nags Head islands so its not a bad drive at all.

Making progress. I have the lower opening radius capped on each side now as well but didn't take a picture. Started drawing up my plans to build my lower gate. I see that John has the 3/4 ton gates for sale on Ebay right now for $1,500 Buy It Now, plus shipping. I'm going to keep track of how much time and material I have to invest into building mine and I bet John's turns out to be a better deal, except that I bet I can get my gate to fit my truck easier than the modification to my truck at this point to use his gate. ie my hinges are as close to possible to being where they were on the truck orginally but at the same time may be off just enough to not work at all with his gate.

[Alxj64]

Started framing the tailgate. I know its not internally identical to the original gate, but I figured I could make a few internal improvements of the gate structure, which also will lighten it up some. Its nowhere near complete as I was distracted all weekend out saving another WC from inevitable doom.

[divingrocks]

congrats on the rescue!

[Alxj64]

congrats on the rescue!

Thank you! I figure its the least I can do since I know a few folks may feel as though I'm not doing justice to this truck. At the very least I went out of my way to save another one from the scrap heap that can be returned back into the correct circle of owners rather than it being allowed to be canibalized or "rat-rodded" like the previous owner thought it was going to be. They planned it to be used as a hunting truck and then when it broke down it was left in the woods to rot away. Well, that is no longer the case thanks to me making the effort to drive 500 miles round trip, wander off into middle of nowhere, fight, wrestle winch, push, and pull it onto a trailer and then re-locate it to a safe storage location. I hope that this sets me a little more even in the eyes of some so that maybe they will look the other way at me re-powering this particular Carryall.

So, with that in mind, does anyone know of another place besides the frame that the serial number may be found? This one there is enough rust scale that you can see there "were" numbers there but they are borderline illegible. With some fine sanding I may be able to get them. Reason being is I am going to start the process of aquiring a title for this truck so that whoever ends up with it can actually drive it on the road when its all back together again.

The "rescued" carryall.

[Steve K. CALIF]

You did great in saving the carryall. As far as I am concerned, you didn't have to make up for putting a re-power in your carryall by saving the latest one, either!
Great job on the current project, hope you enjoy driving a truck that should travel the highways and off-roads with ease when completed. I think it is good for the cause for your truck to be seen more by the public, even with a re-power. Thanks again, Steve K.

[divingrocks]

I'd have to say it's good kharma, and now that you have the "bug" it never hurts to keep saving them when you find them!

[Alxj64]

I'd have to say it's good kharma, and now that you have the "bug" it never hurts to keep saving them when you find them!

What is funny is that I met with a gentlemen, who is a user of this forum actually, who lives close to me and also has a WC53 in storage that he saved and is planning a full restoration on. I took a look at his to verify some dimensions and to see another one in its un-molested form. I told him that I would love to stumble across one hiding somewhere in the woods that is just flagrant with patina and charachter... And behold, 15 days later I find one. Hopefully this good Dodge blessing will stick around for the duration of this project.

So back to the build here... Some may have seen where I posted on another forum that I found my "modern" combat wheels. Since the Budd lug pattern of the 5 lug combat wheels won't match my later model 8 lug axles, and after looking into re-centering the Combat wheels I decided it is not fair to canablize a set of Combat wheels in such good shape and also that the required speeds and balance I want out of the wheels would be difficult to acheive in a straight and balanced manner. Thus being the case, I opted for the same wheels that the previous owner was using. They are Modern Combat wheels and are similar to the Steel H1 wheels used on the modern combat vehicles. These wheels are built by Hutchinson industries and were originally used on a series of GM 2500 Border Patrol Vehicles. They were sold at surplus auction after the Border Patrol agents complained that they were not necessary and the service time to change a tire exceeded their overall usefulness as beadlocks. Just like the combat wheels on the WCs, these wheels are a two piece design that bolts together with a series of studs and nuts and also have an internal spacer that locks the tire between the two wheel halves. They are made from an Aluminum Alloy and are rather heavy. I think that they will look really sharp on the truck and still help maintain the military appearance.