46 Power Wagon Restoration pt. 2

[Desoto61]

Slow progress, but progress. With all the wall areas patched in it was time to work on installing the floor. It had to go in from the bottom, which meant using the engine hoist was a no-go. So I lifted the bed, set the plate on some jack stands and lowered the bed back in place, then used the jack and the lift to get the floor lined up where it needed to go, then I could make a few minor modifications to make the fit right. Once I was happy I lifted the bed up and used the grinder to clean up all the welding areas on the bed and floor. Then I could put the bed back down.

I started at the back lining up the plate and then tacking it in place using a floor jack to get the plate leveled and lined up and repeated that around the rest of the bed. I had to use a strap to pull the bed square and then some others to take the bow out of the side and pull it in tight to the plate before tacking it.

Once finished tacking around the sides and back it was time to go back and weld it in completely a little at a time. I ended up with the driver's wheel well cover cut wrong and a gap at the bottom, as well as a slight issue with the side plate where I cut the shape wrong, so they will need to be redone and patched.

[W_A_Watson_II]

WOW, Very Nice! I assume you can remove the 2-post lift arms from between the pipe and bed sides?

[Desoto61]

WOW, Very Nice! I assume you can remove the 2-post lift arms from between the pipe and bed sides?

Yes, those spacers are removable and come in different heights, I put them in to prevent the bed from falling off the arm while I was working on it.

[W_A_Watson_II]

Yes, those spacers are removable and come in different heights, I put them in to prevent the bed from falling off the arm while I was working on it.

I still don't have a 2-post and only used one a couple of times, but wasn't sure. Again NICE work, looking forward to the completed job.

[Desoto61]

I still don't have a 2-post and only used one a couple of times, but wasn't sure. Again NICE work, looking forward to the completed job.

Thanks, though should post a few shots of my problems too. Have some paint that's starting to bubble, so I'll have to figure out how to fix that, and looks like I'll need to pull the oil pan and modify the cutout for the front axle.

The lift is a great tool, though I think I've used it more for stuff like this than I have for the traditional uses!

[cj7ox]

Looking good, Desoto!

[CSCameron]

That's a cool bed. If I was going to have a regular bed, this is the one I would want. Very nice!

Clark

[jtearle1288]

I've been following your build for the past two years, very nice job. I started my build two years ago then put it in storage as I was building a new shop. I have it back home. I have a 4bt as well what are you having trouble with? Did you ad extra leafs to the front springs to help with the weight. The reason is I was going to copy your cut out on the pan to clear ther front diff.

[Desoto61]

I've been following your build for the past two years, very nice job. I started my build two years ago then put it in storage as I was building a new shop. I have it back home. I have a 4bt as well what are you having trouble with? Did you ad extra leafs to the front springs to help with the weight. The reason is I was going to copy your cut out on the pan to clear ther front diff.

Thanks, the cut was not quite deep (tall) enough, so at some point the front axle hit the pan and kinked the brake hose on that side.



I installed a new line and ran it more to the rear and tighter to the housing so that it can't get pinched like that, but it still means the cut needs to go higher toward the engine block. Now that I have a TIG welder it should go easier, but not looking forward to having to drop the pan and do this all again. I've also noticed that the area behind this looks like it's just rubbing on the axle housing. Should be OK, but might take a body hammer and "massage" it slightly while I have it off to add some additional clearance.

I didn't have leaves added to the front pack, but I did have the front springs arched an extra 2" with the idea that the additional weight (which isn't huge) with the stock springs will make the front axle a little softer, which is a very relative term, it still rides like a skateboard. I have the axle bump stops installed, so the extra leaves don't really matter, the only difference will be how easily it can flex to that position.

Look forward to following your build, good luck!

[Desoto61]

With the bed floor in it was time to start on the false bulkhead/toolbox at the front. Had some angle iron cut and welded it in to create a box. Could have easily just built it with the plate steel but wanted the framework for both strength and to make it easier to blast, paint, and coat all the surfaces.

The bottom corner will house the battery and air compressor for the locker, as well as a small fuse panel for some bed accessories. The rest will be a tool box/storage space.

Once it was welded in I had some diamond plate cut to cover it all. I'll drill and bolt it all in place. The plan is it will get blasted and line-x'ed front and back, so bolting it in place will make that much easier to do.

[Desoto61]

The original rear bumper was a piece of 5" C-channel, there was a large steel plate and a pair of eye-hooks in the center and at one point it had been used hard enough to bend and twist the whole assembly into the thinner steel on each side step.

I ended up cutting the whole thing away as there was no reasonable way to straighten it. The local shop didn't have any 5" c-channel but they did have an almost perfect length of 6" channel, so I went with that instead. The advantage of the little extra height is that I decided to use that space to hold the rear tail lights.

The original lights were mounted on the side of the bed in pods but like this smoother look and should make it less likely to whack your shin off of the lights if you're using the side steps.

Cutting the holes was a slow and tedious process with a hole-saw, angle grinder with a cutoff wheel and a burr to fine tune the size. The lights are standard gasket mount oval truck units. There are lots of different designs and they are readily available and fairly inexpensive. The turn signals are a chasing type which should look cool, and of course they're all LED for long life and reduced power use. I've picked up a set of LED bar-style lights to mount under the bumper as reverse lights. I may wire them up to a switch to come on with the bed lights I plan to install as well.

[Alxj64]

Cutting the holes was a slow and tedious process with a hole-saw, angle grinder with a cutoff wheel and a burr to fine tune the size...

Man, in the future, for something like this... Hit me up. I can throw the piece of channel on the table and put the drawings in and just hit print and can burn them out exactly where you want them, to the exact size. Thats how I did the ones in my trailer deck extension.

Looks good man! On par with the rest of the build. Tons of details in everything!

[Desoto61]

Man, in the future, for something like this... Hit me up. I can throw the piece of channel on the table and put the drawings in and just hit print and can burn them out exactly where you want them, to the exact size. Thats how I did the ones in my trailer deck extension.

Looks good man! On par with the rest of the build. Tons of details in everything!

Yea, I had it tacked in place before I decided that's where I wanted them, but that C-channel is really thick, I had a template, and my plasma would have probably done it but would have been pushing it for a clean cut. It was tedious but worked out well other than the rotary burr makes a giant mess of tiny little razor blades.

I appreciate the offer, you've got plenty on your plate though. It would give me an excuse to come down and see the progress, I'm sure pictures don't do it justice. Usually I get impatient and just start doing it. I may bug you soon though, I really need to work on coming up with some sort of tailgate assembly, can't figure out what I want to do though.

Thanks, it's not as fancy as what you've got going, but I don't have quite as many cool toys to do it with!

[Desoto61]

New Shoes

Took a little extra time for the shop to get the right adapters to balance them but finally got tires mounted to the VPW rims. Just wasn't sure about 37s so played it safe and went with 35x12.5 17s in the All-Terrain KO2's. Definitely rides better and the speeds are better, but thinking the 37s would have been the better choice. They'd be close with the rim offset but shouldn't rub and would help with gearing and cruising speed. Got it out somewhere I could get some speed and 55 is about 1900 RPM, 60 pushes just over 2000. Of course they would also have been about $300 more and would have hurt acceleration even more. The 4BT has a lot of torque but it's in a very narrow band so acceleration is slow but inevitable. I notice a lot more movement from the EGT gauge with these new tires.

Slowly working on the false bulkhead in the bed in mounting plates and the lid. Pics to follow once I have something worth showing off. Otherwise troubleshooting issues on the truck itself.

Checked all the fluids and they all looked fine. Had a little weeping on the transfer case which ended up being the fill and drain plugs not quite tight enough. Axles levels were fine though this last drive showed a little leakage from the axle vent on the rear axle, so need to check that for tightness as well.

Tracking down some of the various rattles and squeaks, mostly in some of the door parts. Once I mount the interior panels it should help, otherwise a few pieces of the "fuzzy" side of some really good adhesive Velcro I have for the sound deadening worked well as a noise isolator.

Tweaked the passenger side wiper arm to get rid of a dead spot in the sweep.

Tracked down an issue with the LED bulbs I was using in the cab side marker lights, seems to be the way the bulb is designed so for now back to the old regular bulbs.

Re-wired my fog lights so they're tied to the rest of the lighting and can't be left on accidentally. They're LED so it wouldn't have been a huge problem but could see myself forgetting to turn them off, was just not good thinking on my part anyway.

The cruise control module isn't working, found one issue with the way I had wired it to the brake light switch, but that didn't fix it and troubleshooting is a two person job so I'll have to come back to that.

[jlbayes]

Good find on the inline injection pump 4bt. Some fairly simple mods and it will rip right down the road with a broader power band. Governor springs being the biggest help.