The WC53 Carryall thread .

[Bruce in BC]

I am pleased when someone uses one of my ideas on their project. I consider it a complement and one of the reasons we share is to help others. The louvers are 7.5 inches long and a bit bigger than common louver sizes. My box just pops off, there is no hinge. The nice thing about doing it this way is the cover does not get in the way when working on the batteries. Mine is steel and way too heavy. The cover is made from some sort of heavy machinery hood, either a stationary generator or some sort of excavator. If I was doing this again many parts would be made from aluminum. I suspect the truck would be 1000lbs lighter if I had used aluminum on many of the parts that where made from steel.
I had some guy complement me on my tire carrier the other day when I went on my cluster foofoo trip. Now there is a trip that I should have taken a few pictures on. I spent hours on the side of the road repairing vehicles. Perhaps 30 hrs wrenching over 3 days - it was crazy, at times funny and at times frustrating. I will post a description later.
edit: why not take a piece of cardboard and draw the louvers on it? You can try different combinations. Two rows going vertical may look good.

[Alxj64]

Jim, I keep a seperate thread for my truck, but I am bad about updating it. Seems like it gets more attention here.

Bruce, how long are those louvers? They look like inner fender cut outs. Do you mind if I toy with stealing your Louver panel idea? I am going to make mine out of Aluminum. My neighbor kid works at a shop with a 3" die so I'll see what those end up looking like. I may just make mine a panel so if they look funny I can always change them out.

[jim lee]

Blogs are just forum posts under a fancy name. You are already doing exactly that. Post a picture, type a caption, repeat. See you just did that above. Just, put more than one picture per post. Why do you do separate posts for each picture anyway?

Truck looks good. I'm just jealous yours is running and mine is not.

-jim lee

[Bruce in BC]

It is possible to pull the radiator without taking half the front end apart. in this case I just rotated the top of the shell to the drivers side and soldered up the split seam in front, without ripping the front end apart. Slide hood back, remove the grill and then remove 4 bolts. IMG_1641.JPG

[Bruce in BC]

and here is the radiator mod that I was talking about. Basically the nutcerts or welded nuts are in the top and you get access from the bottom. It works and takes about 15 minutes to access the top.
IMG_1642.JPG

[Bruce in BC]

and a second picture of the battery box. There are other pictures way down the thread.
IMG_1645.JPG

[Bruce in BC]

battery cover - I think the cover looks good with vents, only issue I have with jump studs is some pooh pooh head messing with them. That is the only reason I do not have them on my truck, a kill switch on the positive side might be the way to go. I knocked off the corner on my box, I think it improves the chances of the passenger not climbing into the seat wounded and grumpy.
Jim - I have not got my head around blogs, I did add a link to yours on page 1 one this thread. IMG_1643.JPG

[jim lee]

Alex, Bruce & Gary To give this site a push, you may want to think about setting up your project blogs on the blog thing here. I'm copying mine here now and if we had all four, I'm betting it may start a critical mass.

What do you think?

-jim lee

[Alxj64]

Gary, how did I just now noticed that your side battery box is gone? Man, I thought I was one for details too.

I am getting ready to build a new cover for mine. I am leaning towards using some Aluminum so that it will draw off some heat from the air compressor I have tucked under mine. I'm leaning towards using some more aircraft rivets, but I don't want it to look "too" off. Ya know what I mean?

Any thoughts on it guys? I am adding a key lock into the design too. I'll eventually have it switched in with an E-lock that is run on a toggle inside that way I can physically lock it, or if I am driving the truck around a bunch, unlock the key latch and then unlock and lock the box with the toggle for getting to the compressor or batteries for a jump. I have even thought about mounting a set of jumper studs on the side of the fender that way you don't have to reach under the body step to get to the hot leads as I have them tucked under for protection and have the grounds easy to get to for sake of disconnection first.

Heres some pics of mine from the last event it was at.

I also had an issue with my axle flange bolts backing out on me, so I ditched the lock washers and went with some safety wire. Lets see how this holds up. It did stop the thread leaks because of the socket caps sealing against the flange face vs before the split lock washers would allow it to weep through the threads and out of the split.

[Alxj64]

hey Gary! thanks for the good tips on that! I thought about the board risers for the rear but figured people would be like, *** is this guy doing. I even thought about one folding metal ramp for just the drivers rear tire to get the filler that much higher than the rest of the tank. Other thing I thought about was some sort of column pipe that would clamp onto the outside of the filler bezel ring. It could have an O-ring seal on top of the filler. I'd make some caps for it too and just store it with some magnets under the rear of the truck or something. We just need a way to create more head pressure column for filling to overcome the horizontal forces. I'll think on it some more and see what I come up with. But man, it is annoying... I've also noticed it gives all that much more time for folks to come ask additional questions about it. Ha ha, that just adds more time at the station too!.

[Gary Weaklend]

Alex was wondering if putting fuel in a Carryall was slow for everyone so thought I would show a picture of my grandson filling it up. First drive up on a 4X4 board or find a gas station that has a slight slope in their pavement and the front tires are 3-6 inches lower that the rear tires. Then turn the nozzle upside down and put it all the way into the filler. Dylan is using his left hand to protect the paint.

. ReconGasFill1.JPGReconGasFill2.JPG

[Gary Weaklend]

When I start getting low on fuel I look at the gas stations to find one that has a 3-6 inch slope in the pavement. I then park with the front lower than the rear. It's best to park with the front right tire the lowest. Then I turn the nozzle upside down and put it all the way into the filler tube. I put my hand between the nozzle and truck to protect the paint. I'll post a picture of my grandson filling the Carryall. Look on the bright side you have a Carryall to put gas into and the longer it takes to add fuel, the more people will hear the story about your build. :-)

[jim lee]

My **guess** is the clutch came apart. I didn't hear or feel anything like a bang that you'd expect when a shaft snaps. So.. I'm thinking, clutch has been in there since the early '70s. Maybe it just came to bits and let go.

But now that I have the original spare tire setup. To remove the gearbox I have to..
Remove spare tire.
Remove Jerry Can
Remove ammo box.
Remove diver's running board.
Remove spare tire arm.
Remove cross brace for spare tire arm.
Now I can start the gearbox removal.

What fun!

I'll go look into all that later.

-jim lee

[Matthew Welcher PWA]

Jim, does the transmission seem to be going in and out of gear easily? Pondering if it could be a clutch linkage issue? I have had those woodruff keys sheer off where the clutch adjusters go onto the shaft.

[jim lee]

Alex, Hood and fenders look great! And, don't feel too bad about us using our machines. My carryall is broken again. It got "The tow of shame" home yesterday. (I guess you saw on Julie's instagram)

We did the entire camping trip. The new differential worked wonderful! Finally the driveline has been quieted down and you can drive the truck without hearing it tear itself to bits. We put about 150 miles on the machine most on pavement and some off-road. Julie wanted to explore more, but I nixed it for heading home. I wanted to finally have a successful camping trip. Around half way home we pulled over to let a line of cars pass us. When we tried to start up again, the tranny just growled and the machine goes nowhere.


Waiting for the tow truck.

Parking brake still works, so its between the parking brake and the engine. No connection.

-jim lee