6x6 Power Wagon Project

[Greg Coffin]

Thanks Andy, I'm doing my best. This is my second restoration of a big
Dodge, and I learned a few things the first time, 30 years ago!

[Rich in Colorado]

Greg,
Drove by your place when you were getting the beast started. Looks like you had lots of help!
Congrats, it's so fun to get a project to start the first time. Looks like great work.
Richard

[Greg Coffin]

Hey Richard, the boys and I invited a few friends over to watch the event. Stop by sometime and I'll give you the full tour.

[cj7ox]

Looking good, Greg!

[Greg Coffin]

Poor Man's Rotisserie

Since the chassis is just about complete I'm switching over to the dreaded bodywork. I'm starting with the cab, and it's going pretty well. I'm surprised how thin the cab metal is, compared to how stout the rest of the truck is.

I've already spent some time on the roof and back of the cab, so I carefully rolled the cab onto it's back and have started working on the floor and the rocker panels. The front ends of the rocker panels were smashed in when the seller pulled the cab, and the driver side kick panel was punched in pretty good. I was able to slide a long crow bar up from the bottom of the panel to pushed most of it back out, but there's still a lot of work to get it right.

The big issue to deal with is the rot-out at the rear cab mounts. I'm hoping I can weld in new steel sections, but the compound curves have me worried. I don't want to chop it all up, but I'm not sure what other options I have. Any feedback would be appreciated.

[Desoto61]

I had similar issues with those areas. You can see what I did in my build thread, that work starts about post 153 on page 4. My basic rule of thumb for a lot of those things was to turn curves into smaller straight sections or smaller curves and then weld them back up. Probably not the most correct, or best way, but it's what I could do without getting into really fancy tools, and for that area I didn't figure perfection was required. It was ultimately covered underneath by some undercoating and most won't see it behind the seats.

Still, I didn't think it came out too badly. I maybe should have cut into the B-pillar inside face a little more so I could weld up my replacement braces higher, but it worked out OK I think.

[Greg Coffin]

Thanks for the link Desoto, you did a real nice job there. It gives me confidence that I may be able to fix my floor.

In other news, I fabricated a shroud for the radiator fan. I was having some overheating issues when we ran-in the engine, and this should help a lot. I'm happy with how it turned out. I used a friends spot welder to attach the flange ring - a lot easier than plug welds. I still have to attach the mounting brackets, but it's pretty much done.

[CSCameron]

Nice Greg! That looks like it will work well.

Clark

[Greg Coffin]

Is this a Problem?

When I was straightening the sheet metal on the back of the cab I kept thinking that the rear window looked like it was in too far, but I didn't have a reference point to judge against. But now that the cab is on its back it appears that the cross brace under the window is pushed in. The straight edge makes it pretty clear.

Can someone tell me how far out the center of the curve should be from a 36" straight edge??

Thanks much.

[Greg Coffin]

Radiator Shroud Installed

I finally got the mounting brackets built and installed on the radiator shroud. It fits the radiator beautifully, and sits over the fan very well. It was a struggle to get the shroud and radiator installed with the fan to the rear and the winch base angle to the front. I ended up removing the fan and dropping the whole radiator/frame/shroud assembly into place, then tilting the radiator forward to put the fan back on. Awkward, but it worked. Once the radiator was in place I realized the power steering pump shaft was hitting the flange of the shroud :(( Pulled everything apart one more time and notched the flange.

The shroud works really well. There is noticeably more air moving through the radiator, and the engine temperatures are well within normal range now.

[bilfman]

Problem solved! Great to hear.

[Desoto61]

Plus it looks really good!

[CSCameron]

Good Job! More progress.

[Greg Coffin]

Bodywork Stalled and Hard Choices

Not much has happened with the 6x6 since my last post. With summer work and family schedules there has been no progress on the 6x6 since mid-May. The bodywork has stalled, and I haven't found the time and energy to get it moving again.

Looking at the calendar it became clear that - at this rate - I wasn't going to get the cab on the truck this year. The options were to take another year to peck away at the body, or spend the money to have someone finish it now. After much internal debate, I loaded up the cab and front clip on Friday and hauled them to a local body shop who came highly recommended. He will repair, prep, fill and prime the cab and front sheet metal, and if I have any money left (HA!), I may have him paint everything. I should have the parts back in September - plenty of time to get the cab and front sheet metal installed before winter.

It kills me to send this work out, knowing that I could have done a lot of it myself, but I feel like I'm running out of time for the project. The boys are getting older and starting to move on, and I want them to be part of this project as much as possible. Waiting for me to get the body work done seems like a poor use of time.

And, there's plenty of stuff for me to do while all this is going on - finish cleaning and painting rims, drums and hubs, roughing in electrical circuits, layout the exhaust system, design the dump bed, etc. So I won't be bored!

[CSCameron]

Hey Greg, sounds like you made the right choice. I'm sure it will be worth it to have that professionally done. This will give you time to knock out any remaining tasks this summer. The project will fly once you get the body back and you'll be driving it before you know it. :)

Clark