46 FFPW Restoration

[Ippy]

Wait until you try to get the wrecker bed pulled off. Be patient and you will need to invest in a set of 4 very heavy duty jack stands. I had to buy a set of 4 footers for the front of the body. Thought about cutting it up and scrapping it several times. It is too heavy!

Good luck!

Pete

[Desoto61]

Another month gone by. At least I have an excuse this time, I spent half of it on vacation in Italy! I'll spare you the pictures of that, but it was fun and fascinating.

Well after getting caught up around the house and at work I got some time to attack the truck. Gave up trying to remove the rest of the bed bolts intact. Most had ruined threads, so the intact one will be good for referencing the size for replacement but the rest got a visit from the angle grinder.

There are four on the boom base and four on the winch. All but one could be reached with the grinder from above. The last one naturally couldn't be reached from above or below since the washer had rusted away and the bolt had pulled through the frame.

After getting the rest of them removed I used the engine hoist to lift the back of the bed to attack the last bolt. Inevitably it came loose and I was able to get the hoist on it and lift it off.



Bed looks bare without the boom but it makes access and removal a lot easier.



I'll get the cowl off once the weather co-operates and then I can get the winch out. All that's left will be to unbolt the booster from the bed and it [the bed] can be removed.

Getting close to getting it into the garage, and none too soon. Even here the weather is getting a little cold for work in the driveway.

[dodgem]

That is an interesting truck.With all it's history and originality,and papers too.I think it is a mistake to undo all that history and make a diesel pickup out of it.There are dozens of Power Wagon projects out there.Why not start with a basket case if you are just going to toss out most of the original parts anyway.
Not trying to come down on you,I just hate to see a complete original truck with history being erased.
I see it all the time with Hot Rods.Someone buys a nice complete old Model A or whatever,then rips it apart,replaces the frame,suspension,dash,interior,engine,trans diff etc to rod it.That same rod could be built with a body found in the woods instead of a complete original car.
Just my opinion.

[Desoto61]

In all honesty, I haven't found too many of these "basket cases" that are as cheap as what I paid for this one, or if they are I then have to have them shipped from god-knows-where for as much (or more) as I paid for this one.

I wasn't looking for a wrecker, it's just what I found. If someone wanted to trade me a "regular" FFPW in equivalent condition because they wanted to restore this one I'd seriously consider it, but as it is I've had very little interest in the wrecker pieces of the truck.

Besides, you may want to reserve that judgement, it's not as pristine as it looks in the photos. The more I get it apart the more issues I find. 40+ years in Ohio's winter's have taken their toll. So until I get it apart and probably blasted I won't realy know how complete it is.

I understand where you're coming from though, I wish I had the time, money, and space to restore this one, it is cool looking, but I already have a garage queen that I don't drive as much as I'd like, I don't need two, and I don't think a 64 year old wrecker is going to be all that practical, even for doing what it was built for. I may just re-use the bed and keep the wrecker parts and if my situation changes I can always put them back, but I don't need another display piece, and from what I've seen so far, no body else really does either.

In any event I don't really see it as undoing it's history. I'd like to think of it as adding to it. I plan on using this one like a truck when it's done, if I restored it, it would mostly spend it's time parked at my house looking pretty, except when it get's taken for a nice slow drive or to a car show. My way this Dodge will be terrorizing the streets once again, to show all these modern vehicles what a truck really is.

[Ippy]

What are you considering doing with the wrecker body itself? I could use a few pieces off of it if you plan on getting rid of it. The rails on top of the bed should be bolt on. Mine are bent pretty bad. E-mail me if you think you may want to part with a few items on it.

Thanks,

Pete

peterippolito@centurytel.net

[Desoto61]

What are you considering doing with the wrecker body itself? I could use a few pieces off of it if you plan on getting rid of it. The rails on top of the bed should be bolt on. Mine are bent pretty bad. E-mail me if you think you may want to part with a few items on it.

Well I was looking to get rid of the whole wrecker assembly but barring that I may look to get rid of some pieces, but I looked today and the rails on my bed are welded on, sorry.

[Desoto61]

Had a week on second shift, so managed to get some actual work done in the daylight. The cowl came off with a little bit of fighting to squeeze it out from under the bed rails. It's a fairly heavy piece, luckily my neighbor was on hand to help.


Kind of like the look with the bed empty and missing the cowl. I might just keep it on there since no one wants it. Now I can get access to the winch.

Winch out of the truck. There's a piece not shown here which bolted to the bottom and held the end of the PTO shaft with a gear for the chain drive to the winch. The bolts for the winch and the boom frame go through the bed and into the frame.

From various pictures on this and other sites it looks like there are special extensions welded on top of the frame before and after the rear axle hump to make a flat surface the bed sits on and bolts to.



Bed is empty now except for the toolbox, which is welded to the floor, and those levers which pivot on an axle attached to the frame. Their linkages have been removed. One operated the PTO take-off on the transmission and the other operated the clutch peddle in the cab.

Now I have to move it into the back yard where I want to store the bed. I'll pull it off and set it on some jackstands. Then I can turn the frame around and put it in the garage. But first I need to do some winter maintenance in the garage on the other vehicles.

[Desoto61]

Well, I'm on second shift again so I used the daylight (and what little heat it brought) to finally get the bed off of the truck. Took a little while to get the hoist set up right but with some careful maneuvering and preperation it all went pretty well. I picked up some small jack stands from Harbor Freight to set the bed on for now.







There's an area on the drivers side that has rusted through, but it's a part of the extension/support not the actual frame, so I think it can be repaired fairly easily.

Now to do a little vehicle re-arranging and get this thing into the garage.

[Desoto61]

Lots of pushing, pulling, and tugging and the truck is ready to move into the garage. I'll wait till after Christmas to kick the Desoto out of the garage, and a friend wants to do a motor swap so I may have to delay a couple of days for that project too.

Stripped the wiring and brake lines behind the cab and removed what was left of the helper spring brackets. The part the spring pushes against had snapped off some time ago.

But before I spend some quality time with the truck I'm going to spend some quality time with the family. Hope you all get to do the same. Have a happy holiday and drive safe.

[Ippy]

Just curious what part of the wrecker body you used as a pick point for the cherry picker.

Thanks,
Pete

[Desoto61]

Just curious what part of the wrecker body you used as a pick point for the cherry picker.

You mean to remove the bed in the last set of pictures? I wrapped a heavy towing chain around the rails that run down each side of the bed. You can see it in the first picture from the last set. It went from the forward support brace back around the brace behind it on each side of the bed. Then hooked to itself in the middle. They're welded to the bed and very heavy-duty (like just about everything on this truck). Plus by running them between two sets of uprights it helped to distribute the weight over the rail more.

The hoist then attached to that to lift it. Some playing with where the ends attached to the chain helped determine the ballancing point. It still wasn't quite centered so the bed lifted more on the front than the back but it actually worked out better that way since the fenders had to clear the tires, so I got more lift where I needed it. The back only needed to come up high enough to clear the frame.

I put a set of jackstands under the back end to help balance it side-to-side and rolled the truck out from under (with the help of a come-along, that thing is still heavy).

Then I set the bed down on some cheap jackstands from Harbor Freight for storage. I'm still thinking I may just clean it up, patch the bad spots and re-use it, however there's probably more body work needed on the bed than any other part of the truck.

[Ippy]

Thanks for the info. I am leaving on a trip today, but when I get back I'll post some pics of my truck. Thanks for your info.

Pete

[Desoto61]

Well after a nice long holiday vacation it's time to get back to work (the truck kind and the paying kind). The weather co-operated today so I backed the DeSoto out of the garage and played tug-o-war with the Power Wagon. The yellow tow light had to be removed before it would fit through the garage door though.

This thing is a lot easier to roll in the garage. A little finessing and got it positioned for a ride on the lift.



The frame is a lot narrower than I'm used to. Have to watch the positioning since most of the weight is up front with the bed off.

With the truck in the air it's a lot easier to work on stuff. First was the intermediate shaft and the linkages to the transfer case, PTO, and parking brake. All carefully labeled and packed away.

Removed the transmission tunnel cover in the cab for room to work and got the transmission jack under the transmission and positioned. The four bolts came out with little trouble and some tugging, pulling, and wiggling latter and the transmission was out.


Only problem with the transmission jack is it doesn't help me get it on the ground, and the long shifter lever meant I couldn't move it out from under the truck so I had to lift it off the stand onto a creeper to move it around.

Next I'll clear some of the brackets and linkages and get ready to remove the engine.

[Charles Talbert]

Around the world to cross the street

These power units, (engine & trans, PTO combo) are designed to be pulled together as a unit. Removing the transmission is much easier after it & the engine is out of the truck. We never pull one from underneath if the engine is coming out also. Simply remove 6 bolts from the transmission top cover to remove the tower & shift lever, you are ready to go with an overhead pull.

[Desoto61]

These power units, (engine & trans, PTO combo) are designed to be pulled together as a unit. Removing the transmission is much easier after it & the engine is out of the truck. We never pull one from underneath if the engine is coming out also. Simply remove 6 bolts from the transmission top cover to remove the tower & shift lever, you are ready to go with an overhead pull.

Since I don't usually have help I figured it would be easier to maneuver and fight with each piece separately then with the whole assembly, and I was reluctant to start pulling the transmission apart.

What's the best place to bolt up to the stock motor to pull it?