The WC53 Carryall thread .

[Bruce in BC]

That looks great

So fill us in on your steering solution , i can see the box but I can not see how you got it to work . Chevy style drag link by any chance ?

Those rear fenders look much better than the weird vampire cape flapping in the wind style that Dodge stuck on the original .

[Alxj64]

Tony that thing looks amazing so far! You have done so much work to it and it looks so good! I agree with Bruce, the fenders look amazing! The whole truck is beautiful!

Again thanks for the lead on that Carryall. I spoke with the seller last night but it was just the wife of the owner and she didn't know a whole lot of what was going on. She made it seem like they were on the fence about getting rid of it. Its missing both of the rear gates, which for the lower, not a big deal as I can build another, but the upper.. thats unfortunate.

I will certainly keep my eyes open for fenders for ya Tony. Keep up the good work too! It looks great!


I've been trying to find more room for my drivetrain. This Allison is a "Big Bertha", including the output yoke. Monsterous 1480 series Rockwell yoke with a parking brake flange. All the driveline shops wanted $400 for a new non parking brake flange type yoke so I took matters into my own hands and knocked nearly 1.5" of radius, or nearly 3" of dia off of it so that I can get it that much closer to the floorboard without having to cut up the transmission hump any further than Lee had for his 4L80E.

[Alxj64]

Present for Tony

Tony, I may have found you a fender. I talked to a guy today who has a drivers side fender thats in great shape on a truck he is "thinking" about parting out.

Where are you located? Send me an email and maybe we can make this work.

blackwaterfabrication at gmail dot com

[TonyKeffaber]

Thanks!

Alex - sent a email, was out goofing with the truck trying to see how well the steering column lines up. Its not bad, but feels like it needs to cheat towards the driver door a bit to have adequate clearance from the exhaust manifold. It could also "feel" that way because my brain tried to get the column under the speedometer hole. I broke out a laser level to check to see if the steering column hole in the floor matched the dead center of where the set should be. It was darn close but it still felt like my sitting position was too far to the right. I'll have to drag a seat up from the basement this weekend, I'm pretty sure the 5 gallon bucket I'm sitting on isn't the idea test.

Hope to get to watch you build the upper gate, you turned a rear axle into a front axle, no doubt in my mind you can do it.

Bruce - My front is bone stock Ford, I hope Henry had some guys get it right, I haven't done anything but replace all the ball joints and poly the bushings, but I did change to a later model tie rod setup. I was nervous the steering box would get in the way of the radiator support. It clears the support nicely, but its tight against the fender support. Looks like I'll need to clearance the support about a 1/4 inch, but I haven't verified I'm dead center on the radiator support to the frame yet. Since the engine is offset a bit to the passenger side, I need to check my centerline again to make sure I haven't let the radiator support drift towards the passenger side. The C clamp holding it in place should be close, but I need to make sure I haven't tweeked it any during installation.

Everything is fitting together pretty well, at some point I need to do some radiator research. The fan clutch to the grill measure is just shy of 6 inches. I may have to switch to a different fan without a clutch, or a electric fan to gain some space.

[Alxj64]

Tony, got your email, both of them. I really wish you hadn't sent me those pictures of those other WCs from a while back. Me keyboard may be ruined from drooling all over it. What glorious trucks! I have a nasty habit I think, and its these darn trucks; I just flat out obsess over them. My wife needs an honorable mention for putting up with my obsession too.

I also was in the drivers seat of mine last night trying to figure out where I am going to build my firewall. I sat on the passenger's side and sympthized for the passenger because the 3" exhaust is going to take some real estate in the passengers floor board and I want to leave ample space to heat sheild it as well. My seat of choice was a plastic Porta-band case. 5 Gal bucket was just way too tall! Haha.

[TonyKeffaber]

I didn't think to check the passenger seating position, I better do that as well, I may have a different perspective putting in both seats. That being said, my girlfriend said I didn't really need a passenger seat, no one else would ride in that ugly beast with me. Good thing for me she's tolerant of ugly.......

[Bruce in BC]

steering wheel sizes

For those of you who want to run a smaller steering wheel that has the old style flavour , take a look at some of the early race or sprint car style steering wheels that are now available . Same goes for a steering column , you can get a tilt that looks stock , the tilt mechanism is placed in a bell that is directly under the steering wheel and looks period perfect . Another trick is to use the stock column and have a tilt mechanism that drops the whole column down as much as two inches . Honda used these for years and some Dodges as well . all you see is a little leaver under the dash .
I am at a loss as to what to do for stock looking seats that will be very comfortable . I really want comfortable seats .

[Alxj64]

For those of you who want to run a smaller steering wheel that has the old style flavour , take a look at some of the early race or sprint car style steering wheels that are now available . Same goes for a steering column , you can get a tilt that looks stock , the tilt mechanism is placed in a bell that is directly under the steering wheel and looks period perfect . Another trick is to use the stock column and have a tilt mechanism that drops the whole column down as much as two inches . Honda used these for years and some Dodges as well . all you see is a little leaver under the dash .
I am at a loss as to what to do for stock looking seats that will be very comfortable . I really want comfortable seats .

Thanks for the heads up Bruce. I am not getting a lot of help elsewhere. I also may not be asking the right questions. I have learned, especially recently, that too many assumptions are made when a question is asked and if too much information is given, then the question usually is answered with a series of questions about the too much information.

I'm going to mull over the interior ideas some more and let things simmer. Tomorrow is my truck's 71st Birthday as per the build card. Sunday the body comes off for some more frame repairs and transfer case fitment. Any suggestions on good points to lift from?

I am going to weld in some angle for braces inside the firewall area and rear gate area to help keep everything square and rigid. I am going to use the lift at my buddy's alignment shop to do the separating work.

[Bruce in BC]

Lifting the cab on a carryall

I got the whole shebang hanging from my roof . I ran a bar through the rear window opening and another through the door frame . Then used rachet straps on the end of each bar . A two post hoist would make this much easier . My issue will be flipping the body on its side to complete the welds on the floor and toss on some paint .

[Alxj64]

Big industrial lift did the job nicely. I cursed Lee for about 5 hours yesterday where he welded plate over top of the body mount bolts so they just spun freely inside the tub and he used nylocks. I got smart about it though and heated the nuts with a torch to burn the nylon out and then hit them quick with an impact and then they spun right off.

[TonyKeffaber]

Alex, I'm very impressed how straight you have gotten the body. I know she took a pretty hard hit but you would never know it from the pictures. Great work!

[Bruce in BC]

200,000 hits we are on a roll

If this keeps up there is going to be pop up advertising and Dodge will start buying add space .
I keep looking at Alex's last few shots and saying "man that looks good "
There is something about sticking it on a flatdeck that gives the truck a whole new perspective
I know there are more of you out there . Lets share some more progress and links to all things Carryall . Panel trucks that smell like a Carryall are welcome too .

[Gary Weaklend]

Carryall Headed to Fairfield in 2007

I haven't worked on the Carryall for awhile but I have been driving it and "drove" to a few car shows this summer. My carburetor linkage messed up on the last 100 mile road trip so I need to redo it this winter.
I had to post this picture to give Bruce a perspective of a "finished" Carryall on a flatbed (ha). Also, 2007 was the last time the truck was on a trailer.
Alex, great job on the fabrication you've been posting.

[Bruce in BC]

Three shots of Carryalls on trailers

IMG_0979.JPGBoy that gives some perspective on how you can have the same thing but each looks different .

Here is a peak shot of my muffler . It is tucked away and there is very little clearance around anything . Needs a heat shield on top . Hopefully I have some scrap stainless sheet tucked away .

edit : that is too dark , so I loaded a second and used the flash . Tried to deleat the dark photo but everything I tried did not work .

[TonyKeffaber]

The muffler looks great Bruce. Really clean the way you have it tucked up there. It inspired me to install my gas tank, and see if the underside of the truck would stay pretty free of stuff hanging down

I also worked on the rear doors. I had test fitted them before, but had not folded the the skins on, and the skin lip protruding around the door wouldn't let me see if they would close properly.

They fit like a glove. Well, OJ Simpsons glove.... The bottom hinges need to be bent out a little to get the gap straight in the doors, and they fit a bit tight top to bottom. Right now you have to shut them with authority so I need to do some more hammer work to get them to fit a little better, but they definitely don't rattle as tight as they fit now.