The WC53 Carryall thread .

[Alxj64]

Bruce, the ISBs have come down in price and are up in availability compared to when I bought mine. About 25% cheaper now on eBay, but most have high mileage... mine has less than 80k on it. I'm guessing you saw Dan's video of the one he is installing. Such sweet little motors, I can't wait to get mine running.

Speaking of mine..

Built a dash to steering column brace. The steering wheel should be nice and stout on the dash, and the dash shouldn't rattle so badly as it did in Lee's videos of driving it. He had removed it and failed to reinstall it. His brake MC linkage was in the way on his version of the firewall.

[Bruce in BC]

You sure can not fix STUPID or stoopeide either

Alex that support looks way cool. My steering does not rattle or squeak. No issues with anything making noise in the cab either. So I know yours is going to work right tickety boo.
Chasing down leaks, AGAIN.
Leak one was the power steering pump to motor bolts had backed off, enough to allow oil to run down the front gear case cover. The oil then wicked along the edge of the oil pan, ran down the transmission adapter and would form drops around the transmission to adapter lip. There may be a leak there too but this one was sneaky and hard to trace.
Leak two - Upper rad hose is leaking again. I will make a heavier hose adapter and see how that works. I need to find some material first. I am not sure if the T bolts backed off or if the adapter has collapsed like the first one. The first one was plastic, so deforming is understandable, the present one is aluminum.

On to STUPID. Had a nice gentleman stop me today and ask "is that a Carryall" he had one and told me to follow him to his shop on the off chance he had some parts. Nice shop, nice man, no parts, but if he finds any they are mine.
Then up at the car wash I meet Mr Stupid. The dark underbelly of the human race. First thing he says is " nice truck" Then without a beat he goes on to tell me how I could improve it. One was to pull out the cummins and drop in a V8, the next thing I needed to do was lower it to the ground with a dropped axle and air bags and get " some smaller wheels" oh yah I should "chop it" as well.
This poor khahkhah head is so dumb he could not see or comprehend the work done nor could he value a vehicle for what it is. Like I said - he put the D in duhmb.
Now the little old lady with the grey hair that broke out in a big smile at the intersection. She gets it, might not have a clue as to the value, what it is, but her reaction was perfect. So a high 5 for the little old lady and a thumbs down for MR advice.
Just got an old CAE water slide decal in the mail. It looks cooler in real life than the picture on ebay. One of the side windows on the Carryall has a spot for it.
I am not into decals , but 50 and 60 year old decals? Gotta add a few and confuse the know it alls.

Take care
Bruce

Man wa that guy IGNORANT

[bilfman]

There are tards everywhere, but as you mentioned , there are many who really appreciate the coolness of these vehicles. I have a 9 year old son who totally gets these rigs. Everywhere we go in my 47 PW we get thumbs up and compliments, he has learned at a very young age that there is something special about these vehicles and many others get it too. There is the odd tool out there that is clueless but be thankful that they are in the minority.

[Bruce in BC]

Carryalls and shooting stars

Thursday night was a night to watch the shooting stars. I was off to a late start so I went to a local mountain. The road was washed out and nasty, more like driving in a stream bed than a beat up old road. Brush was nasty but not as bad as a road I had driven a few months back. I removed the sheet of plywood I was using to sleep on in the Carryall and installed the rear seat for the first time. Three of us went up the mountain and the fellow in the back liked the seat and said he was comfortable, but he wanted a seat belt. I need to get that situation dealt with. I ended up using stupid low in a couple of places, more to be gentle on the truck and not beat it up on the boulders than any other reason. It works great and I am sure it helps keep the truck together. Did the same going down hill, which is neat because all I need to do is steer the truck, no brakes, no clutch action. Nothing but a nice gentle forward motion over some real technical terrain.

I will take a look under the truck later today.



The meteor shower was one of the best, perhaps the best one, I have ever seen. I was having a great time and could have stayed up later but being the taxi driver we left the mountain top after midnight and got everyone home after one in the morning.

Take care out there

If the weather is good I attempt to watch the meteor shower every year.

"its a Carryall thing"

[Bruce in BC]

Chugga, chugga, chugga, scrape, grind and thunk.

I do like stupid low for crawling through cross ditches, but that tail end departure angle does leave something to be desired. I was surprised to find scrape marks on the Carryall's belly pan. That thing is 21+ inches off the ground. I can raise and lower the back end with the air bags. Not sure how much, but I find I use the air controls more than I would have thought. I do need to add limiting straps, there was a new clunk in the back end, turns out the shocks were fully extended at times and hitting their limit point. Dumped some air and the clunk went away,
The latest thing to rattle loose was one of the front shock mounts. It came loose at the frame, never made any noise, the issue showed up whule doing an inspection.
The little puddle of oil that was at the back of the motor has not reappeared. Tightening the power steering pump seems to have been the cure for that ailment.
Had to replace the temp sending unit. While removing the temp wire the whole darn stud came loose. i gather folks in Oregon could hear me muttering under my breath.
New tires and wheels are either being made or shipped. Ordered some Black Rock wheels. Came close to ordering some wheels from a long time manufacture that starts with an S but heard too many complaints about delayed shipping and bad attitude and more than one case of cracked welds.
17" Artillery wheels with a 8X6.5 bolt pattern would be different.

take care out there
Bruce

[Alxj64]

I do like stupid low for crawling through cross ditches, but that tail end departure angle does leave something to be desired. I was surprised to find scrape marks on the Carryall's belly pan. That thing is 21+ inches off the ground. I can raise and lower the back end with the air bags. Not sure how much, but I find I use the air controls more than I would have thought. I do need to add limiting straps, there was a new clunk in the back end, turns out the shocks were fully extended at times and hitting their limit point. Dumped some air and the clunk went away,
The latest thing to rattle loose was one of the front shock mounts. It came loose at the frame, never made any noise, the issue showed up whule doing an inspection.
The little puddle of oil that was at the back of the motor has not reappeared. Tightening the power steering pump seems to have been the cure for that ailment.
Had to replace the temp sending unit. While removing the temp wire the whole darn stud came loose. i gather folks in Oregon could hear me muttering under my breath.
New tires and wheels are either being made or shipped. Ordered some Black Rock wheels. Came close to ordering some wheels from a long time manufacture that starts with an S but heard too many complaints about delayed shipping and bad attitude and more than one case of cracked welds.
17" Artillery wheels with a 8X6.5 bolt pattern would be different.

take care out there
Bruce

Bruce, I am jealous of your adventures. It is motivating me to continue to work on mine despite a relapse in some health. I've also started a new job so my career life is adjusting some. Significant quality of life improvement.
In regards to your "S" brand wheels, keep in mind that not all you hear on the internet is true, however you are much closer to the shop, so I imagine there are more sets in the PNW, however, for every bad review, how many good experiences exist without a word mentioned? Negative connotation always rings louder than anything positive. In my years in the offroad world, I've only heard that it can take some time to get things made, and a few phone calls to "check in" are sometimes required.

All I've been up to is trying to get my parking brake stuff finished up and also working on the throw angles and cable position of my Allison shifter. Lots and lots of math. I cut down a stock handle, reused the spring and cam mechanism, and rebushed the button. I created a set of spacers to kick the handle outside of the center console just barely with enough room to get a closed fist past the transmission shift handle. This operates a push/pull cable that I had left over from my original design for the transfer case shifter. I'll build an open bottom shield for the brake ratchet and then work on sealing it all into the shift box. I still need to make my rear panel cover. I am on the fence about adding power windows. I may go ahead and setup some spare switch locations while I am building this thing. May go overhead with them actually.

[Bruce in BC]

1941 Dodge Carryall, one of the better ones.

Sheet metal looks straight and a lot of the harder to find parts seem to be there.
I would like to see the sheet metal top that has been added. $12500

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac...729986691.html

[Bruce in BC]

New tires

Toyo 40 x 13.50 R 17 are now sitting under the truck. They are a little bit taller than the Michelin XZLs. The tire bulge does stick out past the outer edge of the fender but the contact area is under the fender, because of this they meet code. Lots of clearance at the frame and front springs when turning and I doubt there will be any contact under full compression or droop. The rear tires fit fine for road use but will contact the rear tire wells when the suspension is compressed on one side. I have not started to tub the truck, wheels spacers ( oh no) are an option, the rear axle is narrower than the front.
Tires run smooth. There is 5 ounces of tire beads in each tire. They do get flat spots when parked but that seems to go away after a few miles of driving.
Black Rock wheels - verdict is yet to be drawn on these things but I was surprised at the amount of wire feed spatter that was left on the back of the wheel. Also when torquing down the nuts I could see a bit of powder coating peel off the rim. This happened at pretty much every nut contact point. The rims are black , which is as common as belly buttons these days. I will paint the centres some shade of green and see how that looks. Oddly I find it harder to get into the truck, that 1/2 an inch of gain makes a difference.
Alex I had the same style of handle as you. I shortened it too, but only an inch or so. It was too much of a hassle to get to work properly, banged my hand on the dash, the trans cover was hard to fit around it and the heater and the handle ended up in the same space.

Tires and wheels came from separate sources, oddly my local tire shop came in cheaper on the tire price than any place else I tried. All told I am out about $3200 Canadian. Which hurts quite a bit. I have a roof that needs replacing and part of the back of the house needs to come off to repair/remove a beetle infested joist. Bills come in groups, usually three. "BANG", out goes some cash, you take a breath and "BANG" out goes some more cash and just as that job gets done and you take a breath "BANG " there is one more thing to be done.

Take care out there
Bruce

[CSCameron]

We need pics!!!!!!

[Bruce in BC]

Some parts ain't what they should be.

I lost my compressor motor the other day. The volt meter also went up and sat at 15 volts when this happened. No fuse were blown or breakers clicking off. I was scratching my head over that one, got to where ever I was going and shut the truck down. When I fired it back up the compressor was working and the volt meter was back to 14.5 volts. no sense in looking for something that is not there so I waited a few days and made a couple of extra trips and sure enough I am cruising along in the rain (fall is six weeks early) and the wind shield wipers quit, I look at the volt meter and it is pegged at 15 volts. because of the outside weather temps the heater had been ont on and it was not working either.
Turns out if I wiggle the ignition switch key the power would come back on, hit a whoop in the road and it would turn off. That was a new switch. That is the second switch that has failed in the American auto wire kit. The first was the light switch. So I am on my third light switch , now replaced the ignition switch, second volt meter, second water temp sender. The second light switch was an old OEM unit that got fried when the front light plug shorted itself out, that was NOT an American Wire plug.
The nice thing is I have been able to figure out the cause of the issue in short order, the downside is I am wondering what electrical doomaflunky will fail next.
Pictures- I either need to pay up or contribute an article.... I am attempting an article. I like posting pictures and think it makes the thread a better and more interesting communication tool. I love seeing other peoples Carryalls and build details.

" THE FIRST 100 DAYS THE FIRST 1000 MILES"

take care
Bruce

I am back to clunky shifts, the new tires have my shift and rev timing off just enough that the rear axle wrap creates a clunk. Will build a track bar but I should be able to get my timing down to the point the clunk is gone. More air in the rear bags helps as well.

[Kevin in Ohio]

Just wanted to thank all you guys for this thread. had some "time" and I read all the way through it and it's SO nice to see people trying to help one another and sharing ideas/experience to save others from wasting time and money. Does a guys heart good! I'm hooked now so I'll follow along and add anything I know of along the way.

Just a lot of awesome skills being shown here. I know from experience on a long build you sometimes need a nudge or a kind word of encouragement to reach the end goal. I can see now why this thread has so many hits.

[Bruce in BC]

another Carryall for sale WC10

On Craigs http://reno.craigslist.org/cto/5763393850.html be nice if there was some photos posted here. Truck looks decent, the tailgate looks very straight, at least in a picture it does. Does not include combat rims, engine, trans , transferase or drive shafts. Truck is basically ten grand, add in the other parts and the truck gets to darn close to $14500.
Kevin thanks for the kind words. And speaking of skills your work is awe inspiring and a joy to look at. I love reading about your tools and how you create parts from raw material. Stainless hood props, how hard would it be to make the stainless clamp part that grabs at the hood support rod. Have you ever considered selling them ? I think I need some hood props.
I found some repo steel ones for 60 bucks US - that would be about $120 Canadian to have em shipped to my door.

4BT update - man does my motor blow black when it is under load and at speed in 5th gear..... gotta get some time to deal with the turbo and advance the timing and see if I can clear that up. One of my buddies is running veggie oil, just dumps it in the tank, no preheater, 4 years and the truck has not missed a beat.

take care out there
Bruce

yard jobs are stacking up

[Kevin in Ohio]

On Craigs http://reno.craigslist.org/cto/5763393850.html Stainless hood props, how hard would it be to make the stainless clamp part that grabs at the hood support rod. Have you ever considered selling them ? I think I need some hood props.
I found some repo steel ones for 60 bucks US - that would be about $120 Canadian to have em shipped to my door.

4
take care out there
Bruce

yard jobs are stacking up

Thanks Bruce for the kind words as well.



I made up a plate the used the existing rivet holes. I then used #10 carriage bolts and hand filed the holes square so it looks like rivets are there. Then just a simple threaded stud that is basically hidden.



The clamp I used was a stainless bimini clamp for a boat top. I think I got it from West Marine if memory serves. The ID was too big so I used a section of poly hose for a space filler. Side benefit is with the single allen head cap screw that tightens the clamp, it holds it just snug enough that there is no vibration and it stays in place. Been running it for close to 5 years now and haven't had to retighten. It stays right there.



The reason I wanted something was I was at a truck gathering and a gust of wind came up. Some one had their hood open with one of those factory fold up props. Wind caught the hood and slammed it over tweaking his hood and made a mess. I did not want that.

There are probably cheaper option that that stainless one I got that would have the right ID for the support rod. I do not have a mill yet or a cnc plasma table so time involved would make it bad for me.

If I were to make them, Id use .750 plate with a pinch allen system like the bimini. Drill the support rod hole and slice a slot on the allen head cap screw side for a pinch. It would never need to be adjusted that way.

The thread on rod doesn't bother me but most would probably want it all there. Finding a cheap/easy way for it to hold everything solid will take some more thinking here. Ideas???

[Alxj64]

Bruce, I love your updates, but please post more photos of your truck! I need something to day dream about! Take some pictures while on your adventures. The truck in the woods, snow, creek, etc!

I've just been trudging along with things. Catching up with my new job and taking care of problems with daily drivers and getting a friend's truck ready for a race (Mega Truck series, think Monster truck on tractor tires instead of skidder tires).

I have managed to get the transmssion shifting system worked out. I added the gusset with the rivets after realizing I needed more rigidity rather than remaking the entire bracket as the multiple bends where it mounts to the transmission pans, drops below the transmission pan lip, moves out away from transmission to clear the NSBU switch, and then supports the shifter cable... uggh, too much stuff. It flexed too much without the gusset, so its just a simple bend of 16 gauge. There is some fine tuning of the cable position in the slot that is seen where the clamp goes. It works pretty good. I am going to oversize the transmission lever where the rod end goes and put a hard grommet in place to absorb the shift motions, it feels rather hard and is a little too tight in a few positions because the detents in the selector are in different radial points than the transmission. I did the math to get it all as close as mechanically possible without having a two stage moving cable bulkhead.



Also,

ya'll think this dipstick cap is going to melt if I don't extend it further up with a piece of solid tube?

[W_A_Watson_II]

ya'll think this dipstick cap is going to melt if I don't extend it further up with a piece of solid tube?

Yea, I'd say there is a good chance it will lily deform and cause problems when setting and ideling while the turbo cools down.