Alex's '42 WC53 Carryall Build Details - Cummins ISB170

[Alxj64]

Started sawing on and laying out my reclaimed Teak decking from the USS North Carolina.

MAN this stuff is really really pretty when you cut into it! I still have one whole 13' board left, granted its the roughest one, but something else needs to get made. The old bolt holes will get plugged with grain inlays from the end drops. The seat keys will be recessed and I have to make the side pieces that go around the fenders.

I feel smart for this advance thinking though; given the history of this material, I figured it'd be a good idea to run a metal detector over each piece before feeding it into any sort of wood working machine. We didn't find any bullets, just some of the original anchors.

[Alxj64]

Got the axles torn down and sent out for hot tank and parts washing. Found some bad bearings in the third so have to dig into my parts stack. I don't want to use the straight cut taper bearings and would rather stay with the spherical ones like these originally were. Also removed the kingpin studs from the front.

The one photo compares a Dana 60 pinion yoke to that of this Eaton stuff... BEEF.

[Alxj64]

So I think I have figured out some new features on the forum here. I think it will let me put attached images in line with text. Lets see if this works.
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So, the pinion yoke was well worn.. That was easily fixed with some metal filler, loc-tite metal sealer / adhesive, and a Timken Redi-sleeve that matches the Timken seal size and yoke size.

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Lets see, next up, got my front axle seal pucks installed into the housing by building some web plates that are tapped, and then welding those in using an alignment bar that I setup the axle with originally. It is concentric with the tube ends because thats how I set the tube ends. I will have to make sure that the third I choose is depth shimmed correctly. I believe that most of these thirds are setup to use a gasket for the correct depth setting, its kinda like picking the right thickness head gasket to match deck height. The cool thing about these pucks is that they are removable for replacing the seals. Don't need any special seal driving tools like you do for the Dana axles, and also being open knuckle, the tubes still stay dry also.

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[Alxj64]

Added my little Eaton Badge. It will get removed before Paint / powder.

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I don't know if you watch this form, but JIM LEE... you can see the Thrust bolt that was being discussed earlier. These aren't the Dodge axles that you have but they are built very similar with the load bolt running very close to the ring gear to allow for pinning during hard loading. Its an awesome design that is no longer in application. #olddudestrength

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Lastly, just a rear view of the front axle before it gets blasted and coated. If my Powder guy ever gets back to me...

[Bruce in BC]

Last two images do not show up, only a little blue square with a question mark.

[Alxj64]

Last two images do not show up, only a little blue square with a question mark.

Did that fix it?

[W_A_Watson_II]

Yep.

[Alxj64]

Got the seals pressed into my pucks. NICE Tight fit which made me smile considering I made them by hand on an English built, 1968 lathe and a WWII surplus, 1943 Bridgeport Mill. I had the option of setting up the indexing head on the mill or grinding a tool for the lathe to make my puck to housing web o-ring sealing groove. I opted to grind an old parting blade and it worked pretty well. Probably a little bit wide for the X groove o-ring but should work. The o-ring is a 4 corner deal square so that way it has twice the sealing surfaces of a regular round o-ring. 2.256" OD x 3/32" square. Bag of 50 was the only way I could get them and they were still only like $6.00 total.

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1.562 x 2.125 x 0.375 Double lip shaft seals on the inside, its really weird driving in seals backwards but this will be the inside face. Below is the seal to the web plate from inside the housing.

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2.256 x 3/32 X-groove Viton O-rings.

Would have gotten more done but dumb dumb came in the garage acting all weird and kept laying on my feet so I knew something was up... I noticed little blood droplets on the floor and discovered he was nearly without his left dew claw. Neighbors have a Lab thats a complete punk so I have a feeling the two of them had a skirmish through the chain-link fence and this was his result.

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[Matthew Welcher PWA]

One of my favorite aspects of your build is the amount of hand crafted and custom one off parts. Over the years in both racing and off road builds you see some of this. Everyone to a certain extent has some of this on their vehicle.
With yours it is virtually every nook and cranny, front to back top to bottom has been upgraded, in a sort of fashion. Not with so much bolt on parts but hand crafted, custom machined parts made by yourself. I am in awe watching you build this. Hats off to you.
Keeping up with this build, Bruce's Carryall, Desoto's Power Wagon, Will's Frankie an Mule Build. You guys are all artists in the fabrication and Power Wagon world. And thank you all for sharing. And teaching all of us what you know.

[Alxj64]

One of my favorite aspects of your build is the amount of hand crafted and custom one off parts. Over the years in both racing and off road builds you see some of this. Everyone to a certain extent has some of this on their vehicle.
With yours it is virtually every nook and cranny, front to back top to bottom has been upgraded, in a sort of fashion. Not with so much bolt on parts but hand crafted, custom machined parts made by yourself. I am in awe watching you build this. Hats off to you.
Keeping up with this build, Bruce's Carryall, Desoto's Power Wagon, Will's Frankie an Mule Build. You guys are all artists in the fabrication and Power Wagon world. And thank you all for sharing. And teaching all of us what you know.

Thanks Matt! I think a lot of the parts I make are out of necessity to simply match my other choices in this build. However there are some things I just can't make, but I can have them made to my specification.

You know, the correct lengths, arch, load ratings, and even grease groove cut sleeves to take the factory pins.
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[Alxj64]

Got the new springs hung and loaded. WOW what an obvious and pleasant difference when lift the truck from the axle using the jack. I could watch the springs work very smoothly and a LONG range of progressive rate change. The stock springs are like straight blocks in comparison. Yes, I've lost some load capacity, however this thing isn't going to be driving around fully loaded and if it does end up with more load than the springs are rated for, the rear shocks have built in air bags so I can just bump the pressure up a few pounds and bring the ride height back level.

Speaking of which, I designed my shock mounts to be very beefy, and adjustable, in the fact that I am having some tabs welded to the axle that I can later, if needed, swap out with a different designed bracket in the event that these shocks are just terrible or that my mounting position needs clocking, etc.

[Alxj64]

Blasphemous atrocity! Cut up some factory parts. I don't need the shock mount on these brackets and after looking into the time and cost of fabricating lower brackets or trying to find large connecting rods and machining them, this just works out. I need a 1/8" thick shim plate. I may just make one. I have a short section of an old axle tube of this same diameter; I can just put it in the shop press and support one of these saddles well and just bend the shim plate. Since its a match radius, I can't coin it out so it will even keep some spring tension in it for when everything gets finally bolted together, like a giant lock washer even.

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Also, since the springs are only 1.75" wide, all of the aftermarket spring perches are bent so they have an edge radius which greatly reduces the contact area and overall ant-wrap capacities against the springs. Also, if I want to install a small lift block or angle shim because my pinion angle changes as the springs settle out, I can. So, that being the desired effect, I decided to attempt to make my perches from billet solid block. I need that 3.3" dia tube to fit, so I drew up a sketch and determined the dimensions need. I tacked these pieces of flat bar together with a 2" spacing and then tacked nuts behind them to offset them from the lathe plate. Got it all setup but had to call it a night. Looking forward to machining these. I plan on drilling 3 holes in the top of each perch for eventual dowl pins. The center hole for the leaf center pin, but I will add two others to locate and lock down a lift block in the event that I ever install one.

This probably makes no sense in text, but eventual pictures will explain it better.

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[Chip]

Crazy cool stuff you are accomplishing. Thanks for sharing - and letting us come along for the ride!

[AK3936]

Alex, I really appreciate the time you have invested over the years documenting and sharing your work. I've read through the big Carryall thread, and even posted there, and read your pirate4x4 thread, and of course this one. Your many pictures are an inspiration to many.

I'm in the process of building a house right now, so my Carryall sits buried in snow, but when the house is done, I will pull the old gal into my new workshop, and begin by reading your threads again. I hope we can meet for a beer someday.

[Alxj64]

Crazy cool stuff you are accomplishing. Thanks for sharing - and letting us come along for the ride!

Alex, I really appreciate the time you have invested over the years documenting and sharing your work. I've read through the big Carryall thread, and even posted there, and read your pirate4x4 thread, and of course this one. Your many pictures are an inspiration to many.

I'm in the process of building a house right now, so my Carryall sits buried in snow, but when the house is done, I will pull the old gal into my new workshop, and begin by reading your threads again. I hope we can meet for a beer someday.

Thanks for the compliments guys. Its been a learning process for me and I've found that sharing things can also help prevent some mistakes. I tend to try and take comments with a grain of salt, but sometimes suggestions spark ideas that evolve further. The internet is a good resource so long as the contributors are all good and information is verified.

So the weekend consisted of a trip out of town with a friend to pickup some old axle parts for spares and also to retrieve his little farm hunting truck. I then machined out my leaf spring perches from some bar stock. The idea is that debris won't get built up inside a U shaped perch if its solid. The narrowness of these springs and bend radius minimums make the u-shape plate ones have only about 60% of bearing width. And lastly, if I decide to add a block to this setup, I have dowel pin holes drilled that will keep the block from spitting out or rotating. I still need to machine the top end of the nose to a radius so its not putting a harsh shear load on the spring during axle wrap, especially since my shock mounts are cantilevered.

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