46 Power Wagon Restoration pt. 2

[Desoto61]

I cleaned the side of the bed, installed the bolt in the spacer and then latched it into the lock to determine the position on the side of the bed. I tacked it into the bed side and tested operation. Once happy I welded it solid (though I did have to relocate them once or twice), then repeat on the other side.

I'm not real thrilled with these latches. They are kind of finicky and their release mechanism isn't very linear or light. A little lithium grease helped their operation but they're just not as nice as a traditional factory setup.

[Desoto61]

Got the correct fasteners and got the latches mounted. Ended up flipping them side to side so the latch mechanism was on the bottom side which made the linkage fit better in the door.

The release was a tailgate handle for something I picked up online to try. A simple mechanism it turned out to be too tall, so I managed to cut down the sides and I think it's going to fit well. A pair of rods from some round stock and some little lock clips completes the linkage. Neither the latch or the handle has a return spring so I drilled some small holes and added a set of springs.

Next I need something for those latches to grab onto. To get the pins in the right space I needed to space them from the side of the bed, and to fine tune the latch the pins need to have some movement, which means a captured nut. I used some square tubing as the spacer with a piece of plate on top. To capture the nut I tacked a pair of metal pieces to hold the nut toward the front of the spacer. The nut was a piece of 1/4" plate cut smaller than the tubing and drilled for the bolt with a nut attached to the back for plenty of grip. I punched a nice big hole in the top plate and then welded it to the tubing. After cleaning it up I sprayed some high zinc primer inside to try and protect the metal

[Desoto61]

To try and hold the tailgate flat and provide a durable surface on the top of the tailgate (in case you rest something long on it). I decided to use a piece of angle, welded to the bar stock across the back. It would give me a weird "C" channel shape which should be stiffer and the flat top surface would be much less prone to denting than the 18 gauge I'll use to skin the outside. it also means I don't have to worry about bending my skin panel.

Like the bar stock I cut and welded pieces in place along the back, forming a solid rib across, the bow was reduced but the ends specifically weren't quite right, mainly because the angle was bending slightly. To correct that I got a bigger piece of square tubing and clamped that in place, then I cut the angle in one or two places to let the tailgate flatten to the bar before welding those cuts up to lock it in. Still not perfect but close enough for my purposes.

I can get the area blasted and primed before welding the skin over it and finishing the outside, but first I need to work on the latches. I had cut the opening for the latch from the face of the tailgate, with the end plates in place I had to continue that cut into the sides for the pin to rest in. My template came in handy to trace out the opening and then cut it with a body saw and cutting wheel before fine tuning with a metal burr and small air sander. Last step is to mark and drill the mounting holes. I'll have to potentially counter-sink them as the button head bolts stick out too far, but it should work fine. Just have to repeat on the opposite side then start on the linkage to operate them, which is part of where those holes come in.

[Desoto61]

To build out the skin I traced out a template from some poster board along the side of the bed with the tailgate closed to get the contour and then cut that out. Trying to cut a bunch of duplicate ribs though would be tough manually, so I reached out to Alex J and his plasma table. I took the template and scanned that into my computer and used a CAD program to trace the shape and then I could modify and scale it as needed. Once I was happy I sent him the file and he cut and bent up six of them four with holes and two end plates without.

I blasted and cleaned them and hit the flat end with some weld-thru primer, then measured out the spacing on the tailgate and cleaned and primed those areas too then tack welded the ribs in place. To try and add some rigidity I clamped a piece of angle iron to the back side and welded a piece of bar stock along the top edge of the tailgate in between the ribs, but it wasn't wide enough and I still ended up with a bow in the tailgate once I released the angle iron.

[Desoto61]

I've had an intermittent issue where the alternator will be slow to start charging. Never sure if the belts slipping or just slow for the regulator to kick in. The other day I started the truck and the voltage gauge (and also the tach since it uses a signal from the alternator), showed it happening for longer than the normal second or two, tried to hop out and open the hood but by the time I had all was well with the alternator, but I did see that one of my AC hoses had broken.

The fittings are aluminum and the feed hose from the pump to the condenser is fairly short, apparently too short as there wasn't enough vibration isolation and the fittings must have cracked and then broken at the pump.

I still have excess hose from the kit, but had to order some new fittings and a new dryer, this time adding length to get some extra isolation. I also had a hose under the dash that was not crimped properly and was leaking oil, so while the system is open I'll have a new one of those made up too.

The under hood hose is easy enough to change, though space is tight on the passenger side to route it, but the suction line under the dash is going to be a bear going back in. Luckily it's winter so other than to help with defrost it's not really necessary right now.

[Desoto61]

I used some weld-thru primer on the hinge faces and welded everything up. To deal with the bolts I got some bar stock and welded a washer to one end drilling the other for a pin. I wanted to drill them for a grease zerk, but had some issues drilling the bar stock on one of the bars, May just end up installing it in the outer barrel instead.

I put the tailgate back in place and cycled it which is when I found out one of them must have gotten tweaked or just wasn't right originally. It's a little off straight and caused a bit of binding. Too late to fix that so I tweaked the mounting tab on the bed and then welded those.

The washers have a flat in them so I welded a raised area in the tab to lock the pin from turning. Should prevent wear on tab surfaces and pin and keep the lock pin from rotating or being damaged.

It's not as smooth acting as I would like, but it works. I'll need to figure out some chains to hold it when down, but the basics are coming together. Hard part will be figuring out how to install the outer skin.

[Desoto61]

I had to break and re-tweak the position a bit to try and get the angle and alignment straight (still didn't but I'll get there), and to get the room for the latches.

Once I was happy with the positioning I pulled it loose and worked on finishing up the hinges. That meant welding it up better, since all the weight on the tailgate will be across those two hinges I went overkill (because me but it also matches the feel of the bed) and added some gussets on the hinge as well. The tubing was a bit thin and so had to be careful welding it up (I learned the hard way). Ended up having to use a drill bit to ream the tubing afterward to get rid of a bad spot, but it worked, other than the bent bolts, for that I decided to make my own pins.

[Desoto61]

The other fender mounted in much the same way. I also cut the rear steps back and added some clearance to the fenders, they won't look like they blend into the fender, the lines don't really support it in my opinion and that tie-in piece was really just an ugly mess.

That meant moving onto the tailgate. After lots of thinking I started down a path. First was some hinges. I got Alex to cut me some tabs and got a pair of long bolts to be the hinge pins. I mounted them inboard of the D-rings (I want to save them). Then used a piece of tubing over those, which is when I learned the bolts I bought weren't straight, but for mock-up purposes it suited my needs.

I used a piece of plate on top of those as the basis for the hinge. I had a piece of 1/8" diamond plate cut to fit the opening and notched it around the D-ring humps. The plate will curve back toward the cab when closed, but that gives me space to mount a pair of door latches to keep it closed (with locks removed). I'm having Alex cut me some ribs that will follow the contour of the bed sides and will skin it, at least that's the plan.

[Desoto61]

The fenders on the bed were in pretty decent condition, but not perfect. The bottoms on back sides were worse as they had some sheet metal strips that were poorly attached between the back of the fender and the rear bed step platforms, they trapped water and rotted out. There were similar issues at the front on some sides.

The fender has a wire rolled lip like the front fenders, for one side the area to be replaced ran into that wire. My solution was to cut to the wire, leaving it intact and clean it up. I cut the patch longer than the wire, welded it into place along the top, then tacked the end of the wire to the patch. Then I could trim it along the line formed by the wire, again leaving it longer so I could use a hammer and dolly to roll the excess over the wire. It came out well. I used my TIG as an excuse to get some more experience with it, I need a lot more practice, but a grinder and some body work will hide most sins.

There are holes punched along the inside edge that were brazed to the lip on the bed side. In removing those fenders some of the joints broke loose with an air chisel, but some tore out, mostly the passenger side. Those had to be patched too. I basically welded new pieces in and then re-drilled the holes.

Then I could clean up the two surfaces, apply some weld-through primer to both surfaces and then put the fenders in place and used some pop-rivets to hold them in place while I welded them together. I used a hammer and dolly and made sure to shape the inner lip tight to the fender to minimize any gaps. I'd like to have the inside Line-X'ed like on the front fenders when I have the inside of the bed done. That should help seal up that gap from below at least.

For Christmas I got a big jack and the brackets to mount them. I ended up deciding it would go opposite the spare tire vertically. This kind of balances out the look of the truck, and all the mounting bolts will be hidden inside the tool box.

[Desoto61]

As the gremlins get worked out. The trucks I believe become more real and tangent. Think about when your were planning and designing it out in your mind, now it is giving fits and seeking attention through mechanical issues.
I myself see that as very exciting.
Look at how far this truck has come along.

Absolutely, I get frustrated that I have to re-do something, or that it didn't work but it is a great learning event, which is why I try to document it here too. But yes, as I put miles on it and work through issues I get more comfortable and more confident in using it.

I tend to imagine I'll have to rebuild this thing again as I figure out what I should have done the first time, but this time I get to do it in pieces.

[Matthew Welcher PWA]

As the gremlins get worked out. The trucks I believe become more real and tangent. Think about when your were planning and designing it out in your mind, now it is giving fits and seeking attention through mechanical issues.
I myself see that as very exciting.
Look at how far this truck has come along.

[Desoto61]

Turns out it's not electrical, it's some sort of fuel issue. Died today too in exactly the same location, the only thing unique about that location is that it's an overpass which is essentially about the only non-flat section of road I travel on.

I noticed having to downshift on the way up which isn't normal, but figured it might be the cold temps, but it again wanted to die on the way back down the other side. It restarted more quickly, I think because left the clutch in and kept the motor spinning a little longer.

Could be lift pump issue, or just a combination of the cold fuel and a weak pump? Plus side is our cold snap is over today, downside is it makes it a little harder to troubleshoot going forward. I will say I didn't have the same problem on the way home yesterday going over the same overpass and the temps were only slightly warmer.

On the plus side I did get a little video of the truck in the snow. https://youtu.be/sLIRQ2uoVvo

[gyman98]

Thanks for the updates!

[Desoto61]

The Hampton Roads area had winter visit hard this weekend. While most hunkered down like intelligent people I used it as an excuse to finally use 4WD in the Power Wagon.

Topped off the tank to add a little extra weight over the back tires since I still have no bed. Plus side is my math showed about 20 mpg of essentially all in-town driving. We'll see how that holds up going forward.

4WD worked great, no weird sounds, pulled well and was quiet and stable. The KO2s deserve a lot of the credit, even in 2WD they were very good on the snow and ice.

I let the truck warm up with the block heater for a while before starting it Saturday, and it started fine. Sunday I was clearing snow and wanted to just shift it around to shovel under it, so decided to see how it did really cold (about 27 degrees and no pre-heat) I don't have any sort of grid heater on it. It fired quickly (definitely a worn starter before), it ran pretty rough with some white smoke, and didn't like any throttle for a minute or so, but still that was pretty good considering, and after that it was fine.

Today I used it to drive into work and hit my first hiccup. Coming down and overpass and had no throttle. Figured something might have worked loose, all the ice on the roads has made them rather rough. Pushed in the clutch and the engine dies, not good. Drift as far off to the side as I can with all the snow and put on the 4ways, luckily there's not a lot of traffic. Long story short there was something going on with the fuel solenoid. It wouldn't pull up when I turned the key, but it wouldn't move either, so the hold coil was working but not the pull-up coil. I ended up pulling the fuel shutoff lever and wedging it on with my leatherman tool. That let the vehicle start, and when I went back to remove the leatherman to find it had fallen out so the pull up worked with a little help. I was nervous the rest of the drive in but had no further issues. Shut the truck off at work and out of curiosity started it again and it fired fine, so not sure what kind of gremlin that was, but we'll see if it comes back. The solenoid was new and is one of the Larry B Heavy Duty units running off of their relay, doesn't rule out a bad unit but I'd guess a wiring glitch.

On the bed front I finally have a plan for the tailgate, I've got big pieces of steel cut and have started tacking things together to see if it will work out. Pictures coming eventually.

[Desoto61]

Bed is coming slowly, will have to get some pictures up but since Google killed Picasa that's harder to do.

Working on a few other small tasks though. Seems the colder weather is making some of the cooling system joints leak, especially in the cab, have been going around tightening clamps here and there, but it's like whack-a-mole sometimes. Don't want them over tight but it never drips when I'm in the right place to be certain which one needs tightened.

Starting has always been tricky, some of that (I figured) is the battery is currently bolted to the crossmember behind the bed for now, so the battery cables are longer than they will be once the bed is on, even with good 0-gauge cables it's a long run, and while I can shorten them some I was hoping to only do it once.

But if it sits for a few days especially the starter struggles to spin over the motor. If I throw it on the charger or get it started and run for a while all is usually good though.

I eventually did shorten the ground wire and doubled checked all the connections as well as looking for any drains when the truck is off, but they were all minimal. Had the battery tested, and while I'm still not convinced it's 100% they asked about the starter. I hadn't gone through the starter, and while it struggles a bit even when the battery is charged I attributed that to the longer than ideal cables. But to be sure I removed it to take a look.

I have two starters for the motor, one that came with the SAE3 housing that was on the motor, and one that came with the Chevy adapter I put on. They are identical except for the shape of the nose around the gear, but it's enough that while the SAE starter is newer and has a really nice grounding lug on the case it just doesn't quite fit into the Chevy adapter. So after looking at the two I decided to just remove and swap over the nose pieces which on these starters are interchangeable.

With the battery back in it has made a big difference. While it still slows on the compression stroke, it's far less than the old starter. Guess it really was more worn out than I thought, though I am still not sure the battery is 100%. I'll probably go and rebuild the other starter and keep it as a spare, though I'd have to swap the nose again to use it.