ww2dodge.com Forum

G,Day Alx . Don,t get me wrong . I am not criticizing what you are doing . It, s just that i am 66 years old and could not be stuffed doing what you are doing . That is why i like the Kiss principle . I remember watching Paul Meyrop and his resto of his wc53 . Any one else would have dumped it . But he did a shit hot resto and ended up with a truck that he can be proud off .. Traveled all over Canada in it ..You will end up with what you want ,and that is all that matters..Don,t let the turkey,s get you down Ray

For the folks that were interested. I am still working on this truck. Haven't given up yet, and its moving right along. So many things that will hurt the eyes of so many, but like has been said. Whats done is done, this truck will live on, represent the originality of what it once was, and still become what it will be... which is loved by so many.

Thats WAY cool!
Ian

Time to fix the cracks, bends, and various other problems with the frame.



Tailgate turned out pretty darn good for a from scratch build.

Looks brilliant! Love your work on the lower tail gate!

Keep the pix coming.

Cheers

Ian

looking good! question though. why do you have the engine trans at such an extreme backward tilt? seems like you may have driveline alignment issues and possibly too much oil pooling up in the back of the valve cover.

Kaegi wrote:looking good! question though. why do you have the engine trans at such an extreme backward tilt? seems like you may have driveline alignment issues and possibly too much oil pooling up in the back of the valve cover.

Thats a good eye. The drivetrain won't stay at that angle. I just had it "sitting" without the mount behind the transmission for all of those previous photos. I've cleaned it up and leveled it out a good bit now but don't have any good profile pictures. Its still got a lean to it but theres not much more I can do without cutting further into the floor and body of the Carryall and totally hacking out the cross member. Its back at 6.5 degrees and thats worse case scenario with the rear suspension compressed heavily. Cummins data sheet on this particular motor gives me up to 8 degrees of full time operating angle so it should be okay for the long run and it even indicates the engine can operate as steep of side angles of 40 degrees and front/rear tilt as steep as 50 degrees for short durations in "Equipment use".

So the weather here has been pretty miserable relative to our normal winters. Demotivating to say the least. Sidebar project of repairing that Pintle hitch that literally was found on the floor of an old farm truck.. that whole stars aligned, meant to be thing.

Friend blasted it but the humidity has gotten to it already. Started cutting some replacement pins and found a new spring for it from Mcmaster.







If you click on this last picture it should take you to a quick little video of the hitch latching.

Also, in the meantime I built my transfer case mount for my Divorced NP205 drivers drop case. Its a bit complex but its stout, easily removable, isolated with 4 poly bushings so its stiff but flexible against shock loading and some vibration. Its been clocked accordingly for my output shaft angle on the transmission. The engine/trans is offset to the passenger side for clearance of the cross over steering and the transfer case is offset a touch to the drivers side to help the front driveshaft clear the side of the transmission. 10 lbs of stuff in a 5 lb sock...






NOTE: I DID NOT CUT THIS HOLE HERE. It was there when I got the truck... the prev owner was routing the exhaust through it. I liked the idea and wanted to clean it up... so I did...

Reference the above T-case photos for the completed welded in look. I didn't take a seperate completed picture of it.

Also started on routing my exhaust. I want the passenger's floorboard as large as possible so lots of kicks and turns to optimize my space when the body goes back on. The muffler I am going with is a nice vintage look stainless deal. Whole exhaust system is 3" stainless... its 400 series automotive stainless but thats more than enough for this truck since its not a boat nor a race vehicle and if the EGTs get high enough to hurt this exhaust... I'll have other bigger problems under the hood first.

The turbo outlet was a very odd size that I couldn't find a single V-band setup to adapt to.. So I machined the back face of the turbo and made my own Vband adapter setup.

Love your work!

Great job on the old girl!!!
The old owner, Lee, was a Marine, are you going to leave it as a Marine truck?
The Marines did have WC53s. I have several photos here of them being used by the Marines, to include one great photo of the Marines using a rope to keep the drivers door closed! In that photo the spare tire bracket has been removed.
Fast history lesson, the Marines mainly used Internationals, great trucks! In 1943, the army found out, the hard way that the WC53 carry all, and the WC55 gun motor carriage (WC52 with a 37mm gun mounted on it) were worthless in combat. They already had to many, so they offered some of the extras to the Marines and Navy. Being cheap, we took them. I also, have a clutch disc here in the original package "to the Marine transport officer, Camp Lejeune, NC for WC53 and WC55".
Again, you are doing a great job, and do not worry, every thing I have told you will not be on a test.
One of the few, Frank USMC RET.

FrankUSMC wrote:Great job on the old girl!!!
The old owner, Lee, was a Marine, are you going to leave it as a Marine truck?
The Marines did have WC53s. I have several photos here of them being used by the Marines, to include one great photo of the Marines using a rope to keep the drivers door closed! In that photo the spare tire bracket has been removed.
Fast history lesson, the Marines mainly used Internationals, great trucks! In 1943, the army found out, the hard way that the WC53 carry all, and the WC55 gun motor carriage (WC52 with a 37mm gun mounted on it) were worthless in combat. They already had to many, so they offered some of the extras to the Marines and Navy. Being cheap, we took them. I also, have a clutch disc here in the original package "to the Marine transport officer, Camp Lejeune, NC for WC53 and WC55".
Again, you are doing a great job, and do not worry, every thing I have told you will not be on a test.
One of the few, Frank USMC RET.

Frank!!! Could you share some of those pictures! I am trying to collect as many nice photos of WC53s as I can. I'm talking in service, or even their life post service hauling equipment, mining, etc. I have a few that I have framed and are going up on the wall in my shop and also will be going in my office when my company moves to its new building.

Thanks for the kind words all, I am steady plugging along at it. Weather is hurting my motivation but my heart is still set on my final goal. This truck has turned into my obsession of perfection so I will do what I can to see it through to its functioning, driving, and enjoyable finale.

Hi Frank,
would be interested to know why the WC 53 & WC 55's were considered worthless in combat? I'm not out to question, just interested is all.

Cheers
Ian

Ian Jamieson wrote:Hi Frank,
would be interested to know why the WC 53 & WC 55's were considered worthless in combat? I'm not out to question, just interested is all.

Cheers
Ian

Frank will correct me if I am wrong, which stands a chance I am, but I've heard that its because with the spare on the driver's door, no interior latch for the rear gates, it left only the passenger's door to get in and out when under fire. Also these trucks were claimed to be kinda a top heavy, similar to the Ambulances. Lastly, I heard that since it was one of the few "enclosed" cabs, they were quickly taken over by higher ranking officials and were thus targeted more heavily. These are the things I've heard but am not sure thats all correct. I'd like to learn as much about these trucks as I possibly can however so please anyone feel free to set the record straight on anything.