Tweet
I've been stripping the paint off the cab and found an outline of what could be a knockout for something on the lower right side of the cab. a circle with a rectangular shape facing down from the circle. any ideas what this is for?
-
-
It's for adding a fuel burning engine and battery box heater. -
The power plant heating system that Carter mentioned was common on trucks used in the arctic. It was a gasoline fired unit which circulated coolant through the engine block, and into a small heater core that fit inside on the bottom of the battery box. Notice knockout plugs in the battery box also for hose entry. The exhaust was routed into a shroud that fit under and around the engine oil pan. It mounted directly ahead of the passenger side running board and behind the lower front fender.
If you will notice, the passenger side running board has 2 sets of square mounting holes, the second set of holes allows for the running board being moved backwards on the brackets a few inches from the common location. A series of slits were cut into the inner flange of the fender a ways up from the bottom rear, this allowed for reforming the fender arch easily, and welding the slits back together made the new fender arch rigid.
Both of these steps made room between the front of the running board and the lower fender for the heating unit to be mounted directly in front of the keyhole knockout you described. This area was removed to allow entrance of the coolant hoses that carried coolant from the heating unit to the engine and battery box.
It was activated by turning on a master electrical switch, opening a fuel valve, and pressing the ignition switch to fire it off. It worked amazingly well, and drew its fuel supply from a tee fitting installed in the fuel line inside the left frame rail right near the steering box bolts.
I installed a couple years ago, would tackle it again, but it isn't something I would want to do every week. It was quite a chore.Comment
Comment