46 Power Wagon Restoration pt. 2

[Desoto61]

I took some measurements and drew up a template for a new bed floor. I'll need to get a new one cut eventually. I also need to draw up the plans for my false bulkhead and stake pockets and have it all cut.

Next though was the rear lip and back end of the bed. I removed the mounts for the tow arms but left the big D-rings as tie-off points/tow hooks. Also cut loose misc fasteners and removed the side lights. I haven't decided if I'll put new ones in their place or cut and mount them in the rear fascia.

There is a large lip at the rear of the bed. It sticks up rather high and would make loading and unloading stuff more difficult. It was basically a large piece of angle iron on the inside and diamond plate on the outside welded at the top. I was worried it would be too thick for my plasma cutter, and tried cutting wheels first but were just too slow and difficult, so I went back to the plasma, it won't cut clean at this thickness but will sever. It was a slow process but again way faster and easier than with the other methods. I did have to cut the center section with a wheel as the brackets were just too thick for my plasma. I'll weld the top of the two plates after I dress them up and that will still give me a lip but a much lower one.

Next task will probably be to try and pull the fenders off and then figure out how to get the whole thing to the media blaster to see how much of it survives and give me clean surfaces for welding in the new pieces.

[Desoto61]

Still working on cleaning up the bed. Removal of some other brackets and loose pieces. I must have swept up 20 lbs of rust and dirt. The next big task is removing the fenders. There was a thick coating of rubberized undercoat, which is good as it seems to have protected the fenders, but bad because it was in the way of removing it. I found that the air-hammer with a broad scraper bit and the pressure turned down did a good job of chipping the stuff loose without excessive damage to the metal.

Took a while to figure out how the fenders were attached. Turns out there are holes in the inner perimeter of the fender that were brazed to a lip on the inside of the fender. I ended up cutting that lip out and removing the first fender as an assembly then using the air hammer to break the weld spots and separate the two pieces. The second side went much faster since I knew what I was looking for. Both fenders seem to be in good shape, they'll need a little work at each end to remove the old running board mountings and a piece of sheet metal installed at the back as a transition to the rear steps. They'll get blasted with the rest of the bed.

[Desoto61]

One other task was to modify the rear bumper. There was a pair of eye-hooks built into the rear bumper that based on my measurements was just where the tow hitch would pass through. Took a lot of cutting with both the plasma and angle grinder to work it loose. From the looks of the opening they welded a large piece of C-channel to the rear plate of the bed. The eye hooks had additional re-enforcing plates on both the inside and outside. The interesting story would of been what they connected to it in order to bend the whole assembly out. Need to think about how to try and get it back to some semblance of straight, and if I have anything that can do it considering how thick all that steel is.

The other task is to try and get it mounted to my little trailer in order to haul it over to get media blasted. I picked it up from the bottom with the lift so I could get it high enough to sit on the trailer. The back is the heavier end so I put it on the trailer backwards. To keep it level and help hold it in place I drilled a pair of holes and bolted some 2x4s to the front edge that I will bolt down to the bed. Some straps and the weight of the thing should do the rest.

[Desoto61]

Side task

The filter I used just sticks up into a space behind the AC compressor and in front of the exhaust. I had considered trying to snake it up to the top of the motor but there are issues with the intercooler plumbing, and fabricating the piping, plus this got me going faster, but I did want to protect it from the hot exhaust manifold behind it with a heat shield. This is easier because there is a screw sticking out the top of the filter to help hold the shield.

I had some stainless sheet from a home project so I cut a template with cardboard and then traced it onto the stainless and cut it out. Tig welding that thin stainless was really tricky, I'm not that good, but time, and a lot of grinding had it looking pretty clean. It's a tight fit but should help keep incoming air from being pulled from around the hot exhaust manifold and hopefully protect the filter.

[Desoto61]

Headlights

Someone had send me a few salvaged headlight buckets thinking I might be able to salvage them into two good units. I started by putting the best ones in an electrolysis bucket and quickly discovered that it was swiss cheese in a bunch of different places. I had one that looked solid but had a very rough surface and would require lots of filler work, so time for plan B.

I ended up just ordering a pair of new reproduction headlight buckets and Power Wagon bases from DCM Classics. They called to confirm what I had been told, that the buckets are for 2WD trucks and while the right shape and size would need modifications to work with the Power Wagon bases. Since I had modifications ahead of me anyway I went for it.

The bases are cast aluminum and threaded for the mounting spots. They're not perfect as there is a slight gap in the middle between the bucket and base, but it exists if you put the base on the original buckets too so it's the casting not the buckets. I sanded the surface to get some of the casting roughness off of them.

The bases have two mounting studs held in like in the side markers with a pair of rivets through a mounting plate. I drilled out the rivets and removed the studs. I used one of the original bases to make a template for where holes that mount the bases to the bucket are and transferred that to the new ones, tricky part is making sure it's centered from front to back. Then I could mark and drill those holes.

This showed that the rear original mounting hole and the wire hole are too far back and either exposed or partially blocked by the new base. So I ended up welding the rear most hole closed and use the front slotted opening for the wires. To do that I needed to remove the inner bucket, which is held in place with some rivets. This also gave me a chance to clean and prime them as the bucket was e-coated while the inner bucket seems to at best be galvanized.

Next task is to paint the buckets then re-rivet the buckets in place before I can install the bases and mount them.

Also managed to powder coat the side marker lens rings and get new guts put in those lights as well. I wanted them to be LED but there is no replacement bulb, eventually I may try and build something instead.

[Desoto61]

I scuffed the headlight buckets and internals and got everything ready for primer inside and out. Then a few coats of primer-surfacer to make sure there were no blemishes. There were a few small imperfections the surfacer took care of. They both got sanded down to 320 grit and then re-primed and the color and clear could go on. Went a little heavy with the clear, but luckily most of my runs went to the bottom where they are hidden by the base.

After giving enough time to cure I could attach the bases and install the inner bucket using some pop-rivets, then mount them to the fenders.

[Desoto61]

The headlight adjusters and finally the headlights could go in next. There was one problem though, the headlight holders are supposed to have keys to hold the bulb from rotating. The driver's side worked well, but the passenger side did not. Not sure if I got the wrong guts for one of them, or what but it wasn't properly set up to align the LED headlights in the correct orientation. I ended up grinding off the tabs but not sure what you would do with a regular glass bulb, though even on the other bucket the alignment tabs weren't quite right.

I had a minor problem on the passenger side, turns out I didn't ground the wiring for the headlight, but once figured out all was good. The LED headlights are a GE branded version. They are nice but definitely don't look original, they're a little too flashy for me, and project quite bit from the housing so you get a bit of a bug-eyed look, but they put out a much nicer light than a sealed beam light and aren't much more expensive than a good H3 conversion.

Nice to have the front end look correct though. She's ready to face the night now, just need to work on the tail lighting.

[Bruce in BC]

Are you just running lap belts?

i am looking around for ideas on how to get my shoulder harness installed.

[Desoto61]

No, I have three point belts on both sides. I bought them from one of the belt supply places with the install kit. They weren't exactly what I wanted but they'll work fine.

For the upper mount I ended up installing a brace into the top of the B-pillar. I found a piece of angle that fit nicely into the existing opening through the top and cut the longest piece I could fit without cutting a hole through the roof to slide it in. It's pretty heavy stuff, plus I drilled a hole and then welded the install plate to the back side. This then slid down into the top of the pillar and aligned with a hole I drilled for this purpose. I drilled a few more on the front and side and plug welded the angle in place. The plug welds are more to keep it in place than for strength as the real strength comes from spreading the force over a larger area. I think it's about 18"-24" long so should spread out the load pretty well for the upper mounting point.

The retractor assembly I installed at the bottom of the pillar using a similar method since I had to re-enforce and replace the lower cab support piece anyway I couldn't slide it behind the pillar so it welds to the top of it and had it extend down to the floor and welded it there too. Not as strong as the top but it's also coupled with the lower B-pillar support.



The other two mounting points I bolted to the seat frame which is bolted through the floor using some pretty stout grade 8 hardware with additional backing plates on the underside holding the captured nuts.

[Desoto61]

Still here

I've been working on the bed but slowly. The short days and holidays make for seemingly less time to work on the Power Wagon.

I got the bed back from the blaster. They did a rough cleaning, not ready for paint but got all the surface rust gone well enough to see what areas need replaced and be able to weld in any repairs. Even though the bed is all 3/16" plate it's still in tough shape in places on the sides and around the wheel wells.

The floor is easy, I had a piece of new plate cut to shape. Problem is that the pattern is different than on the rest of the bed. There are actually two different diamond tread patterns, one on the sides and another on the front and rear wall. The new stuff I purchased makes a third.

The side walls use a very heavy and unique pattern. There were bad areas near the tool-box where debris had collected and in the front corner by the winch where water and salt could get through near the winch drive opening. There were also bad areas in one of the wheel wells from the back side.

Interestingly the diamond tread below the deck level couldn't be used as it was not badly rusted, but had "faded" enough that it didn't look consistent with the stuff above the floor level. Since I needed to replace on of the wheel wells and didn't have enough material I figured I'd cut out both and use as much as I could to patch areas above the floor level. They won't match the rest of the side walls but will be uniform and consistent with the floor.

The other rusted area was around the front bottom of the bed near the spare tire opening and on the driver's side where the tool box sat. Areas below the floor level I used the excess plate from the floor since it won't be visible once the floor is in.

The pattern matches, but had some inconsistencies, though most should be minimized once the bed liner goes in. Being heavy plate makes welding easy with the right prep.

[Desoto61]

Other odds and ends

With the truck mobile there have been some other tasks to try and get it closer to street legal while I'm finishing the bed. One was to install the side mirrors. I had picked up a set of reproduction arms, but they weren't really ready out of the box, so after some modifications I could re-coat them and install with new hardware. The mirrors I found on-line designed to clamp to the door post, but I managed to modify the mounting so they fit the ends of the arms.

They're chromed so I may scuff and spray them black, but they do have one cool feature you can see in the pics. Only problem is I can't seem to find the little clips that keep them from rotating seperately from the hinge, they're here just in some pile of parts.

I also managed to pick out my plates for the truck. I didn't want to go with Antique plates because technically in VA it severely restricts your ability to drive the vehicle for normal use. It's not heavily enforced but I like to be honest, plus I can pick a custom name. I also rigged up a temporary set of tail lights so it can be driven on the street.

I also found out about another set of wiper arms from Joe's forum. They're for boats but are adjustable and have a more modern, conventional, (and secure) wiper blade attachment method. They use a clamp style and are nice and heavy. They're adjustable but had to be modified as they don't adjust short enough. That involved drilling out the stop rivet, cutting about two or so inches off the end and then slightly bending the and to get the right angle to the windshield. They work well, look good, and take an easily found 11" blade.

[cj7ox]

Looks good, Desoto!

[aeblank]

The mirror is way cool. Any details on it?

[Desoto61]

The mirror is way cool. Any details on it?

Been a while but think I found them on e-bay. They come with short U-shaped arms designed to clamp onto the top lip of the door. I removed them and used some washers and I think had to drill out the end of the arm a little to accept the mounting stud. They probably would have worked and looked fine as designed though, and the arms have a hidden chase for the wire for a clean look also.

I drilled a small hole in the end of the arm and ran the wire down inside the tube, out through a second hole in the bottom and then in through the hinge inside the door where it ties into the wiper circuit.

[Desoto61]

Not a lot of work over the holidays, but did get some daylight and weather to play on the cab outside a little more. Drove over to a local shop and had the alignment checked and adjusted. The steering wheel was too far off to get right with the alignment but I did manage to pull the wheel and correct that on the column instead.

I chanced a short drive to the local gas station and filled the tank since diesel is cheap right now. about 32 gallons later I had a full tank (from about 1/4 tank which was the 10 gallons I put in originally), which is also when I learned the fuel filler was leaking. I thought it was the cap but turned out there was a slight hole in the seam between the cap lock ring and the filler tube. A little sealer in that seam appears to have stopped that and the cap seems to be holding.

I did get some more seat time this last weekend, need to do some checks on the charging system, the battery seems to be discharging too quickly while sitting, so I'll need to see if I have some sort of parasitic drain. Have a bit of a belt squeak when cold to figure out too, worried it's from the alternator under a heavier load since I'm not sure if I have enough alternator wrap with my new belt routing.

Also spent some time adjusting the proportioning valve for the rear brakes. Was able to open it quite a bit and definitely improved the braking, didn't really find the limit yet but it's far better than it was.

Besides continuing the heavy metal work on the bed, I need to figure out tires and start getting an interior planned out.