The WC53 Carryall thread .

[jim lee]

Looks like I have the wrong tank in this machine anyway. Seems like an M37 tank. I'm thinking about just springing for a repo one & sender from Midwest and be done with it.

As for the battery tray & the seat frames. I'd like to just have a look at an original tray. I have a tray, but its plywood along with the box lid but there's nothing holding them together. I'd like to see how the original went together. Maybe I could build one. As for the seat frames who made repo ones? Are there any drawings around? If I could get drawings of the frames I know a fabricator here that I'm betting could really do a great job making frames.

I was looking at the hat channels and had a thought. I could pin interior cloth with magnets. Those tiny rare earth type ones should be able to do it.

Well, now I'm working on brakes. We'll see how well that goes.

-jim lee

[Bruce in BC]

The price keeps climbing on these trucks.

Fourteen grand for this puppy and it is missing quite a few pieces. In some shots the body looks decent and in others not so much. The rear picture is quite telling, the body is racked over and the passenger side top corner is blown open. To fix this, and do a decent job, would take a lot of hours of work. Looks like all the side windows are in place.
Of interest is the cab in the back ground that was once a carryall but was converted to a pickup in the past. Not pretty.

I am looking for a better seam sealer for the seam down the side of the Carryall, the stuff I used has failed. Going to try something else. Just need a few hot days and some time.

link to ad; http://www.collectorcarads.com/Dodge-Carryall/80932

[Bruce in BC]

getting more use out of my carryall

Dropped a tree yesterday, the top broke off in the wind. The tree is in my yard and my yard has a mini forest on one side . Of course the tree got hung up. Of course I have to get the tree down, of course I have a concert to attend, of course it starts in less than 40 minutes. So I fired up the Carryall, positioned it, ran out the winch cable, placed a block, made sure there were no neighbours standing in a stupid area, and winched the butt end of the tree to the side, until the tree rolled off the branches it was hung up on. Today I will clean up the mess and rewind the winch cable, I had to wash up and run off to the concert, so everything was left laying on the ground once the tree was down. I did shut off the power to the truck. I would not want a bear or a bird to operate the winch when I am not there to supervise.
As an aside I have been falling on and off for decades, I was attempting to swivel the tree when it fell, and was fighting a lean. The tree did not swivel and the top missed the opening I was shooting for buy about 4 feet. Even when yo have an idea what you are doing, falling can be dangerous and I do not fall trees every day. Once the tree was down I found there where more branches on the top than I thought and when standing the branches would have been in contact with the neighbouring trees.
Am working on the truck on and off, did an oil change and the new Donaldson filter just fits over the engine mount, almost like I designed it that way- the Donaldson filter is longer and does a better job than the Fram. The oil is much cleaner after the first 100 miles than was the case with the Fram.
Also I am machining up a pivot for a rear tire mount, I wish my Colchester lathe had a 4 jaw chuck - three jaws are never close enough to do high tolerance work.
Take care - yes the truck is still a pleasure to drive :-)

Bruce

[bearestir]

My Dad (WWII, Korea, Vietnam vet) is looking for a nice Dodge weapons carrier. If you know of one, please let me know.

He's 93 so he doesn't want to wait three or four years to find one.

Thanks,

[Bruce in BC]

Your location would help

Try The following in your search
Craigslist search engine and you get a chance to check country wide
Joe's site - you can tag it by googling "Power Wagon page"
Power Wagon Advertiser - subscribe to the hard copy and you have the classified to check out and you could place a wanted ad.
Military swap meets are a decent bet - if you can find one
and another source is your local military vehicle club.

Let us know what you find and we will toss you some leads if anything shows up.

[jim lee]

Pop this line into google

site:craigslist.org [dodge wc] -"real estate"

-jim lee

[bearestir]

Thanks for all the help

Dad is located in Texas.

[Bruce in BC]

wheel alignment can be fun

Decided to check my toe in on the Dana 60. Turned out that the front was toed out instead of in. How on earth did that happen? Adjusting the toe out should not be a big deal except in my case. I have a ram attached to the front tie rod. The ram has eight 1/4 in bolts used to clamp the bracket to both sides of the tie rod. By doing it this way everything is adjustable and it helps position the ram, which is critical. Six of the bolts broke off. I managed to get the broken parts out by welding nuts to the top of the broken bolts (actually screws) most took multiple nuts and several welds because they kept breaking. I had to drill one out and tap the remains to clean out the threads.
The toe in is + 1/16 or 1/16 strong.
Results? The truck does not wander as much as it did, the bump steer is pretty much gone and it is harder to steer in a parking lot - but the effort is still small, about on par with rack and pinion steering in a light car.
The electric fan switch has quit working , not sure of the cause - i have a manual switch and will use that until I can get my head around why the switch has stopped working. Might be a relay issue.

take care out there

Bruce

edit: those 8 bolts took an extra 2 hrs to get repaired, I tried real hard not to break them. Would have been easier to just twist them off and deal with the results. Tried to heat up every one and use wax and what not but only got two bolts out by being careful.
The new ones ? Covered in anti seize.

[Alxj64]

Question, has anyone done anything to fill the gap here above the battery box? I am toying with the idea of putting an air hose connection here or extending up the vertical flange a little taller... not sure yet. I am installing two 12V batteries, my Mega Fuse panel for the CAN system, and also a 12V onboard air compressor for my airshift transfer case and rear suspension stuff.

[Bruce in BC]

Morning Alex , great to hear from you.

My box cover was custom made and had vents in the side. There are two large batteries and an air compressor tucked under the battery box. The air hose connection is tucked under the drivers door. One thing you might want to be aware of is my box gets loaded up with leaves and dirt. I am not sure how the stuff gets in there but at one point it was stuffed full of leaves and sticks. My second fuse box is tucked inside the truck, right behind the battery box. One thing you may like to install is a master kill switch, one of those big 300 amp units they use on boats. Nice to have if you have a electrical fire or your winch gets jammed and keeps on running.
Just raise the flange, the gap looks bigger than what I have seen on other carryalls and your flange looks smaller. I know a guy with a rivet set. A flange that was riveted in place might look right at home :-)

I hope you are doing well and best wishes to the rest of the family.

take care
Bruce

[Bruce in BC]

Yahoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I just scored two Cummins service manuals A & B. Turned up local on Craigslist for $50.00. I have been looking at the same manuals on Ebay and they are generally about $125.00 each plus shipping. Weird how some things fall into place - less than 5 minuted away from me.

I gots a happy on my face. PW content, yep I am working on the carryall right at this moment.

[jim lee]

Working on mine as we speak as well. Ran it in the local 4th parade. Was kinda' fun, somewhat stressful.


Everyone throws candy out as the parade goes along. So you end up slowly driving through a totally unpredictable vast sea of children. How many are under the tires now? I can't see my tires. I hope they are throwing the candy far enough to keep the kiddies at bay. I don't think I've hit on yet..

Anyway, as I was stressing along, I swear I could feel something clunking about in the driveline. Bad u-joint? Misaligned u-joint? So I decided to change em.

What a pain! In order to get at the middle shaft I need to pull out the floor? And, of course, its not been out for decades. Then I realize my throttle petal, which always felt weird, is actually swiveling on a gate hinge. Throttle return spring is screwed to the milld of the passenger floor plate. Is that normal? I doubt it.

So the big question is : Does anyone know what u-joints these things used? Mine's pretty much original. I asked over at the power wagon forum and so far only gotten crickets.

Another question. I'd love to see how an original battery box is set up. Much is missing from mine and it would be neat to see how its supposed to go before just hacking into it.

Thanks!

-jim lee

[Desoto61]

I keep thinking it would be fun to use my truck in a parade, shouldn't be too bad with that low creeper gear in the transmission.

The PIF on Joe's Power Wagon site provides numbers for most vehicles, it looks like you share the same part numbers as the later Dodge trucks, which should make things easier.

[Alxj64]

Working on mine as we speak as well. Ran it in the local 4th parade. Was kinda' fun, somewhat stressful.


Everyone throws candy out as the parade goes along. So you end up slowly driving through a totally unpredictable vast sea of children. How many are under the tires now? I can't see my tires. I hope they are throwing the candy far enough to keep the kiddies at bay. I don't think I've hit on yet..

Anyway, as I was stressing along, I swear I could feel something clunking about in the driveline. Bad u-joint? Misaligned u-joint? So I decided to change em.

What a pain! In order to get at the middle shaft I need to pull out the floor? And, of course, its not been out for decades. Then I realize my throttle petal, which always felt weird, is actually swiveling on a gate hinge. Throttle return spring is screwed to the milld of the passenger floor plate. Is that normal? I doubt it.

So the big question is : Does anyone know what u-joints these things used? Mine's pretty much original. I asked over at the power wagon forum and so far only gotten crickets.

Another question. I'd love to see how an original battery box is set up. Much is missing from mine and it would be neat to see how its supposed to go before just hacking into it.

Thanks!

-jim lee

My box cover was custom made and had vents in the side. There are two large batteries and an air compressor tucked under the battery box. The air hose connection is tucked under the drivers door. One thing you might want to be aware of is my box gets loaded up with leaves and dirt. I am not sure how the stuff gets in there but at one point it was stuffed full of leaves and sticks. My second fuse box is tucked inside the truck, right behind the battery box. One thing you may like to install is a master kill switch, one of those big 300 amp units they use on boats. Nice to have if you have a electrical fire or your winch gets jammed and keeps on running.
Just raise the flange, the gap looks bigger than what I have seen on other carryalls and your flange looks smaller. I know a guy with a rivet set. A flange that was riveted in place might look right at home :-)

I hope you are doing well and best wishes to the rest of the family.

take care
Bruce

Thanks Bruce for the welcome back and the info and experience on your battery box. I am stealing a good number of your ideas, because obviously they are good ones. I like your idea of riveting a riser flange on top of the box. I may do that as long as the air compressor doesn't create too much heat.

Jim Lee ; I love your Carryall! So glad that you were able to drive it in a parade and share that thing with so many people. Sounds like your truck suffers from the same "creative process" that was used to keep so many of these trucks running. The last WC53 that I rescued was named "Tetanus" and the back corner panels were actually made out of paper-mache using newspapers from the early '90s. You could still read a few paragraphs from the inside of the truck. Keep sorting out the bugs and you'll soon have a reliable and pleasant machine. I follow your wife's instagram account just to see pictures of your Carryall; so if she is ever wondering who "powerwagonbuilder" is on IG, that would be me!

Bruce, I'm moving along on getting my battery box looking like yours!

[jim lee]

ROFL!!

Just this morning my wife, Julie, tells me. "You know, someone liked one of my pictures and he does power wagons."

"Really, huh." Not paying much attention.

"Here, look at his pictures."

"Oh alright.. HEY! I've seen this stuff before!"

Wow the internet is a small place!

She knows I'm looking for info. on rebuilding the battery box on mine. So she showed me one she found at lunch today. It was yours! What a crack up. I'm betting her tagging her posts #wc53 goes a long way for pulling us all together.

Thanks for the kudos on the truck. I keep fixin' munged up stuff on the poor thing. I'm working on its reliability radius. IE how far do we dare drive it. :) Fingers crossed that getting the driveshafts & u-joints sorted out will net us a few more miles in our reliability radius quest.

-jim lee