6x6 Power Wagon Project

[Greg Coffin]

PTO Shift Lever, Part 3

It works as smooth as silk. I'll add spring washers to the upper and lower clevis pins to stop the lever from rattling. Just a little paint and this project will be complete.

[Greg Coffin]

PTO Shift Lever, Part 2

I've had this old PTO lever banging around my shop for the last 30 years, and it was just about perfect for this project.. It didn't have the large curve at the end like the ones on the WDX trucks have, so I think it was from a WC Dodge.

We used a thin strip of steel to make a rough template of the bends we would need around the transmission. I flattened out the lever and welded a 1-1/2" section into the middle. I welded up a crude V-block for the press, and then bent the lever to match the template. Once the lever fit into the transmission hump slot, I was able to mark and drill the pivot point.

[Greg Coffin]

PTO Shift Lever

Here's a few pictures of the installation of the PTO lever for Chelsea PTO on the NP435 transmission. It was much easier to do than I expected. The hardest part was finding clevis ends that were short enough to keep the lever centered in the slot of the transmission hump. Thank you McMaster-Carr!

I traced a simple template onto a piece of 1/4" steel plate, cut it out, and bolted the finished plate onto the back of the PTO bearing cover. The forged clevises have 7/16" shanks on them, which were pretty easy to cut threads onto. The threaded end gave me some adjustment for the pivot location, and a jamb nut locks it into place.

[Greg Coffin]

Sure Matt. It won't be right away, but I think I have enough pictures to write up a decent tutorial. I don't remember what Alex did on his, I'll have to look it up. I'm sure his is sexier than mine :)

[Matthew Welcher PWA]

On the design of your horn slip ring, This is something that I know you and Alex have both figured out how to do. I have spoke to dozens of Power Wagon and M-37 builders that have worked and scratched there heads for hours, days even trying to figure this out. Could we see an individual write up possibly on how you mastered this? Thank you.

[Todd M]

Great work and attention to detail on the truck.

[Frank Irons]

Very nice Greg! I like the color.

Frank

[Pismopowerwagon]

So nice and clean looking

[Greg Coffin]

I've made a little progress on the 6x6. The dash gauges are in and working, and the front turn signals are mounted.

One minor miracle - The original gearshift that came with the NP435 was way too long, so the plan was to modify it to match one from a Power Wagon NP420. I had one in storage, and when I compared them they were exactly the same. So out came the old shift lever, and in went the Power Wagon lever. Done!

[rxinhed]

I acquired my 1980 W400 about 2.5 years ago now...last full size for a bit.

Cheers

[Greg Coffin]

I resisted the siren song of this 6x6 for 25 years, but in the end she won.

[rxinhed]

Cool build. Green is my favorite.

The WC-63 I found in a wrecking yard has called to me, though not as loudly as others.

[Greg Coffin]

Horn Slip Ring Details

I finished the slip ring circuit for the horns on the 6x6. It went together a little differently than I expected. The horn button wire fit nicely through the U-joint, and I was hoping to simply solder the wire to the edge of the slip ring. But the copper ring was too much of a heat sink for my soldering gun and I wasn't able to get the solder to melt.

After a little head scratching I decided to remove the slip ring so I could solder on a tab for a spade connector. I'm actually happier with the results now, since I can disassemble the horn button without having to unsolder any connections.

[Greg Coffin]

The horns sound amazing! Much better than the weenie beep-beep horn it came with. Modern day people will be able to hear them too.

[wecluis]

That's a nice looking rig! Good job! I dig the horns.