46 Power Wagon Restoration pt. 2

[Desoto61]

The weather played nice and I got to finish painting the frame. Hardest part was getting all the little nooks and crannies, definitely one area where powder coating wins.

I got good coverage but think I had the gun setup a little too heavy, for a novice though it's not bad and should do the trick. Hopefully it holds up better than the spring paint, which is way too fragile for my tastes.

With the frame dry I can start bolting everything back onto it. I started with the springs. My pins were trash and none of the parts places have the rear pins in stock, so I ordered some good used ones, cleaned out the grease channels and put in new zerk fittings.

I installed new bushings in the hangers and frame. The springs came with new bronze bushings installed, so it was just a matter of wrestling them into position and driving the pins in. The rear was heavy and a little stiff but no major issues.

The fronts are a different story. I ordered them with an extra 2" of arch to help compensate for the extra front end weight, but it seems that has pulled them in too far as I can't get them to line up with their pin holes. Need to do some more research and figure out what the issue is.

Plus side is there's plenty of other stuff to work on, and I got the other set of wheel hubs back so I can finish rebuilding them and get the tires on both axles.

[Desoto61]

After talking with the spring company I double checked all the measurements and verified the length against my old springs, which turned out to be identical. So the mis-alignment is purely due to the extra arch I had added to the springs. Therefore I went back and used a wratchet strap to put some tenstion on the springs and it didn't take as much as I thought to get them in place and slide the pins in and tighten down the nuts. A little touch up paint and some new zerk fittings, a shot of grease, and these nifty little grease caps I found and the front springs are done.

Took the frame off the chains and lifted it back up normally so I had better control and could access some of the mounting holes I needed. Then slid the transfer case underneeth and lowered the frame onto it and bolted it into place.

Started re-mounting all the brackets I had removed. Cab mounts, front and rear shock mounts, fuel tank skid plate, radiator mount, etc. Most I had already cleaned up and painted/powder coated. Some I still have to do. Naturally the hard part is finding all the bolts and fasteners. Some I had tossed because they were too far gone, others I have but haven't prepped, or have to locate in the pile of parts. Even bagged and tagged it's still a mess.

Still, it's nice to have parts going back on the truck for a change.

[Desoto61]

Had a pile of parts to powder coat for the frame and also needed to do the front hubs. After a quick trip through the blast cabinet and a thorough cleaning/prep. They got the studs re-installed and powder coated like the rear hubs.

New races were installed. The bearings packed, new rear seal, and then the new brake rotor could be bolted on just like the rear. The whole assembly along with a new outer bearing gets slid onto the spindle and torqued just like the rear. Only real difference in the rest of the brake install is there are some additional clearance issued/modifications to make for the front brakes, but they're well documented in the Ugly Truckling instructions.

After that the reproduction Warn lock out hubs could be installed with their supplied bolts and lock washers. Slipped the wheel spacer over the studs to make up for the thickness of the missing brake drum and threaded some new lug nuts on to hold it in place. Need to repeat on the other side and then I can work on plumbing the brake lines before bolting them under the truck.

[Charles Talbert]

Just wondered??

Noticed only 4 bolts are securing the brake rotors to the hub flange. The rotors typically used have 8 mounting bolt holes. That may be just fine in some applications, but I wonder about the load applied to only 4 bolts in say a loaded truck or 1 with a heavier bed such as your wrecker body, especially if you plan to do any towing? It may be fine, however in our case there is this thing called liability. Not suggesting you have done something that you shouldn't have, just wondering about possible issues.

[Desoto61]

I was curious about that too. The pictures in the book show 8 but at some point they must have changed to just the four.

I don't plan on re-installing the boom and towing assembly. It will see normal pickup use and maybe the occasional towing or off-roading at most.

I agree they're probably strong enough, the sheer value of a 1/2-20 grade 8 bolt is at minimum 14,391 lbs, so there's over 57,500 lbs of shear strength at each rotor, and they're not supporting any of the vehicle weight, just whatever frictional force the brakes are applying. At which point I would think the caliper mounting system would fail first.

I wouldn't complain about the extra four though, and it's not like the extra unsprung mass is going to matter with what those axles weigh!

[Desoto61]

Repeated the earlier process on the other side and the front axle is mechanically done. Last thing I want to do before trying to bolt them under the truck is to run the axle brake lines.

In keeping with everything else I wanted to use stainless for the brake system. Sothern VA doesn't have the issues with road salt but I've lost a lot of good cars to rust so it's a worth-while upgrade in my opinion. The braided brake lines also have the benefit of a better peddle feel since they flex less.

I built new hose brackets from some aluminum bar stock. Drilled some holes and bent it 90 degrees and they worked well, though the amount of material above the hole is important as it determine how much of the clip engages the groove in the fitting.

Ran the lines to a new T-block which will also get a braided hose to the frame. The whole thing gets finished with stainless fittings. Stainless spring wrap provides some extra protection and new clips keep it all secure.

I went to roll the rear axle under with the wheels on but they hit the arms of the lift and wouldn't go low enough so I got two small dollies I was using for heavy parts, set my large jack stands on them and lifted the axle on top. Gives a nice mobile perch that I can easily fine tune to line up the springs with the axle.

I have to build some new upper spring seats and then I'll be ready to bolt the axles in place.

[Alxj64]

Looks really good! Keep it up man! Great work!

[Desoto61]

The upper springs seats from my old springs were more rust than metal. VPW doesn't list replacements so to make sure I had good contact between the new U-bolts and the springs I took some 3/16" plate cut to the right width and length and slowly shaped it with a flap wheel on my angle grinder till the U-bolts sat without any gap. Then I drilled the center holes and bolted them up.

Specs on tightening the bolts is a little gray. The manufacturer of the U-bolts will often have it's own inscructions and specs. But there are different numbers in some of the later maintenance manuals. Some state to lube the threads, others do not. It was kind of confusing.

The one thing they all agree on is to torque them in sequence, and to re-check the torque periodically for the first 500 or so miles.

So with the rear axle in position I torqued down the bolts in 3 steps, then repeat on the front axle. No major issues other than just trying to get them level and square before everything got torqued to spec. After a little trouble bolting the tires on due to how I had the frame on the lift it was back on it's own four tires for the first time in quite a few months!

I do have two problems to resolve. I got turned around and mounted one of the hubs on the wrong side, so it will need swapped around. And my transmission crossmember is going to interfere with the front driveshaft, so I will need to make some modifications.

For now I have some other maintenance to do while the lift is empty, then I can work on some plumbing and fixing those two problems.

[cj7ox]

Desoto

Looking good!

[Desoto61]

Been working at a steady, though slightly more relaxed pace. I re-mounted the old steering box to aid in moving the frame back into the garage after catching up on some maintenance on my other vehicles, and a chance to do a little cleaning.

First I wanted to sit the engine and trans back onto the frame, it would help determine the room I needed to modify my transmission crossmember, it would help me with routing of the brake and fuel lines, and I wanted to see how the springs reacted to the weight. Plus it just looked cool!

[Desoto61]

Springs didn't really move much, I think they'll be perfect once the rest of the weight of the front end is in place.

Next I moved to the other end of the truck and mounted the fuel tank and skid plate. The tank straps had a preferred arrangement, took me a few tries to get it all back where it should be. I used some rubber bike tubing between the tank and straps to provide some isolation.

Skid plate went in next, then I could start running fuel lines between the two parts. The cummins has a return line, which the tank is designed for, so two lines get run along the frame. I used stainless tubing with some nice clamps I got from Summit. The larger feed line was a real bear to bend, and probably a little larger than I needed, but should work fine regardless.

[Desoto61]

Next was the transmission crossmember. I hadn't noticed that the front drive shaft would interfere, so I dug out the front drive shaft and slipped it in place on one end to see where it would hit.

After taking some measurements and marking the cut lines I used a jack to support the transmission, and took a saws all to the crossmember. Then I could fit the drive shaft on both ends, and move it around d to determine how much room it needed. I played around with a few different ideas but based on the resources I had decided to cut two pieces of the square tubing I had used at an angle and create a v-shaped notch. To prevent it from extending too high I sliced the top flat, added a flat plate and a gusset to stiffen everything up.

[Desoto61]

Last thing I needed the engine for was to look at the clearance for the front axle and the oil pan. At full compression there could be some contact, but the drain plug also points directly at the differential, which would make oil changes a real mess.

So with the engine back on the stand I removed the oil pan, made some marks and started cutting. First was to cut out the sump and drain plug out of its current location using a body saw. I marked the new location and cut out that section the same way. Some sanding disks helped clean and shape the two pieces and clean off the surrounding paint so it could be welded into place.

Next I finished cutting the notch out of the pan. The piece I cut from the back side was re-used to patch in the old sump cut. Then I templated the notch and transferred that to some sheet metal. After a lot of fine tuning it was welded into place.

Last step was to take the sanding disks and clean up all the welds, then fill it with some water and check for leaks. I'd love to say that i had no leaks, but I'd be lying. Took a few times of dilling out the leaking spots and re-weld them to get it water tight.

Need to blast it clean and re-paint it inside and out. Then modify the pickup tube before putting it back together.

[Gordon Maney]

This is an excellent thread with really great photos!

[Desoto61]

This is an excellent thread with really great photos!

Thanks, hard part is not editing myself. No one wants to show their mistakes, but that's the reality of it.

Plus thanks to the convenience of digital cameras and cheap storage I have a penchant for taking lots of photos. These are just the better ones.