The WC53 Carryall thread .

[Bruce in BC]

How to create a crown without a english wheel

Using a felt pen draw a one inch grid on the sheet . Using a polished flat or very mild crowned body hammer strike a blow where each line in the grid intersects . it is critical that each blow is close to the same and allow the hammer to bounce back . If the crown is still shallow you then strike the center of each of the squares . By doing this you can create quite a decent compound crown that works both ways . I agree that the new ribs in the roofs look too square , but they do work and look better than a wavy sheet .
Bruce posted from the lakes district

[Alxj64]

Been messing with mine getting the front suspension ironed out some more. I don't like the way the strut mounts turned out exactly... Going to make a few changes. These first ones were out of thin gage so to save on material as I was already pretty sure I was going to screw them up. So, mocked up, gonna rotate the strut body 90 degrees and I am an idiot and put the "speed holes" upside down when I laid them out. But, I am liking how the suspension is fairly well hidden and not horribly blatent.. Atleast I don't think its terrible.

[Bruce in BC]

Looks stock to me

Was not the four bar suspension an option in 1942 ? Perhaps you have got your hands on the super rare skunk works WC53SX . There is still an argument about whether the S stood for Super or Skunk Works

[TK064]

stick a running board on there and what would you see? I think you should go ahead and make running boards that hinge up for hidden storage :)

[Bruce in BC]

Alex , a question and a request

Could you show us an inside picture of the front four bar brackets and how far forward is the axle moved from the stock location ? Also how much higher will the truck be over stock ?

thanks
Bruce

[Alxj64]

Could you show us an inside picture of the front four bar brackets and how far forward is the axle moved from the stock location ? Also how much higher will the truck be over stock ?

thanks
Bruce

Might be a few days on the pictures. Front axle is a few inches forward from stock location. I will measure the new wheelbase as its set. As far as height... the front axle top of tube (3.25" dia) will have about 9.5" of clearance from the bottom of the frame rail to the top of the tube... So overall it should be pretty close to stock ride-height, except for the couple of inches of tire sidewall. The suspension should have enough room for about 6" of up travel between the top of the upper link on the axle and there will also be a poly bump stop attached to the frame similar to the factory rubber bump stops on the OEM setup for these trucks.

[Alxj64]

Bruce, few more numbers for you. New Wheelbase is about 113". Anything further and the front tires will snag the front bumper at full lock. I will be needing to re-work the bottom of the oil pan on the engine to clear everything at full bump. No big deal. OAH is only 84" as it sits right now. And thats with the bigger 38.5" dia x 13.50 wide Michelin XMLs on it mounted to 9" wide wheels and 40 psi in them. Granted there is no interior in the truck, no fuel tank etc, it may settle some but I think the truck looks decent at its current ride height. This weekend my goal is to get the driver's side front links in place so that I can hopefully get the front cross member built and get the engine in place so I can get a steering box in place and then get my front panhard bar for track control narrowed down. Also snapped in interior frame side pic. The frame is going to get boxed full length so these plates will fully saddle the new boxed frame segments. In the mean time I made them just big enough that the edges clamp onto the frame lip of the C-shape.



My struts finally came in. Ordered them over easter. had some tuning done, and the color and machine work, or lack therof is custom ordered too. I'm rather pleased. Built in bump stops, built in droop limits, infinitely adjustable ride height within 10" range, and 7 positions of shock rebound settings... should ride darn good.



And had some folks concered about my steering clearance with this tire size and my suspension location... goes beyond the full lock steering set into the factory Dana 60 knuckles.. all good!

[Alxj64]

Also the fender and step hide most of this stuff pretty well so... Dear Purists,, chill out please.

[dieseldude4bt]

Looks good.
Wish I was getting more done, sometimes life is just to busy.

[Gary Weaklend]

Alex, looks great and when it's finished you will definitely be blazing the trails.

[Alxj64]

Thanks guys!

I have a quick question for those of you with a diesel or EFI engine installed? What angle is your crank Centerline at, downslope obviously? Those running divorced cases are you clocking the case to match the angle of the drivetrain to avoid vibration in the intermediate shaft? I'm looking at about an 8 degree installation angle on my stuff to get it where I want it and not have to cut up the floor anymore. The Allison requires massive real estate so thats my major issue with the angle of installation without having to raise the whole ride height of the truck any further than it is. I have 5" of up travel in my suspension currently, for the front, and the rear will only have about 4" due to the shape and size of the rear diff housing relative to the rear floor. I am planning a cantilever shock setup in the back to take care of those space constraints.

[Bruce in BC]

So what would happen

If you ran a cardon joint between the transfer case and the transmission ? My set up is running at no more than 3 degrees and when I started the build the transfer case was clocked to dead flat . I have since rotated the case downwards and it is clocked at the midpoint between flat and standard location .
Sounds like you are in the market for a high angle front drive shaft . I will need one .

Bruce

[Desoto61]

I based everything off the rear axle angle which was 6 or 8 degrees if I remember correctly, then clocked the transfer case and finally the engine & trans to match as close as I could.

[Alxj64]

Thanks for the quick answers guys. I messed with it a bunch this weekend, had to trim the floor just a little bit more. Luckily Lee had already trimmed out a portion of the subframe so I didn't feel quite so bad when I knabbed a spot out of the sheet metal to fit the Allison tail housing. Started on the replacement front cross member. Its far from beautiful but since I am going Cross-over steering and need room for the drag link, panhard, tie rod, and the hydro assist cylinder as well was having to pack all of the cooling units and turbo plumbing in the area I wanted something strong but minimalistic. It is made from 1/4" and the bottom and interior plates are all getting welded but it will through bolt to the frame rails top to bottom and then the top plate will bolt to the entire lower segment. This way I am eliminating a lot of the fatigue prone issues regarding the loads this thing will see and I am making it to where I can pull the bolts and the whole thing will come out. It will make it easier for me to get the engine and stuff in and out as well as allow a better product for the inerior of the cross member when its time for paint. It is also the front motor mount supports. I am doing the two up front off of the side of the block and then having a single rear under the girdle of the transmission. From reading the upfitters manuals on both the Cummins and the Allison, my setup should still allow for an okay amount of engine movement but not let it bounce around either. I don't want it too hard mounted to the truck because then its hard on everything. Energy dissipation through the mounts is what I am going for.



I'll get some better pictures over the next few days. I am taking a day off of work this week to work on it some too. Hoping to get the

[Alxj64]

So turns out I found out a little more history about my particular truck. Lived most of its post war life in California. Moved to the midwest in 2000 for some restoration work, then traded hands a few times until it ended up in Louisiana for about 6 - 7 years and then no its been out here in Va for the past year. Thought it was rather cool to find out the majority of the ownership of the truck.