The WC53 Carryall thread .

[Alxj64]

Ugh... I've been gone for a bit again; sorry guys.

Bruce, nice work on the shroud and on shortening the engine some! Nice trick you've got there sir!

I've been slowly pecking away at my stuff again. I got the tank skid mocked in and it appears to look correct in its home. I am getting the tabs made for hanging it.

[Alxj64]

I also mounted my brake prop valve to adjust my rear brakes, it is just in an easy spot under the MC and hydroboost unit (thats not the correct hardware, just mocked in). I also cleaned out the inside of the truck and started closing out the rear floor patch and getting the fuel filler neck re-built and installed. I am trying to avoid having that access panel in the rear floor if I don't need it. My father-in-law and I are going to start on the floors in a few weekends too so I am starting to get my seat positions laid out. I'll be building my own seat frames and having the cushions made from just nice high end foam.

[Greg Coffin]

Wow, that skid plate looks like it weighs a ton! Of course, the stock one in my 6x6 does too.

Preamble and question about the brakes: It appears that you will have the rear master circuit feeding the prop valve to the rear brakes. When I was setting up the power brakes on my 6x6, I wasn't sure which master circuit was supposed to feed which axle. The info I found on the internet generally said that the front circuit should feed the rear brakes, and the rear circuit feeds the front brakes. The reason given is that the front circuit builds pressure just before the rear circuit, and you want the rear brakes to engage just before the front to keep the vehicle from yawing while braking. This tends to be confirmed by the fact that the rear reservoir on disc/drum master cylinders is bigger, because the front discs consume more fluid as the pads wear.

But several sites (Helitool for one) say that it doesn't matter which circuit goes where, so I'd like to get some clarity around this. Do you have any input?

Nice work as always!

[Alxj64]

Wow, that skid plate looks like it weighs a ton! Of course, the stock one in my 6x6 does too.

Thanks! Now you've got me curious... I think I'll weigh it next time its out.

Preamble and question about the brakes: It appears that you will have the rear master circuit feeding the prop valve to the rear brakes. When I was setting up the power brakes on my 6x6, I wasn't sure which master circuit was supposed to feed which axle. The info I found on the internet generally said that the front circuit should feed the rear brakes, and the rear circuit feeds the front brakes. The reason given is that the front circuit builds pressure just before the rear circuit, and you want the rear brakes to engage just before the front to keep the vehicle from yawing while braking. This tends to be confirmed by the fact that the rear reservoir on disc/drum master cylinders is bigger, because the front discs consume more fluid as the pads wear.

But several sites (Helitool for one) say that it doesn't matter which circuit goes where, so I'd like to get some clarity around this. Do you have any input?

Nice work as always!

Actually, the front circuit will be feeding the rear. The hard line in place in the photo is for the front brakes. The rear circuit is from the front port. Because of the hood taper, my bender (or any that I've found) won't get me a drop off the master quickly enough to get away from the hood so I am having a little 8" long 1/4" braided line from the MC to the prop valve. Its such a short drop that I am not worried with the "swelling" that long rubber drop lines have. I've read all sorts of things about brakes... to the point that I am just reverting to the science that I understand about hydraulics and taking a lot of the "internet banter" out there with a grain of salt. My system has a lot of points for adjustment, ranging from my pedal ratio, to my pedal length and position, rear proportioning adjustment and options of caliper volume. I designed the system around known values of my 2006 Ram 2500, so as long as the engineer in me understands this stuff right, I should be good to go.

In regards to the front circuit coming on before the rear circuit, I don't know how much truth there is to that without seeing the machining of the master cylinder.

[jim lee]

Because of the hood taper, my bender (or any that I've found) won't get me a drop off the master quickly enough to get away from the hood so I am having a little 8" long 1/4" braided line from the MC to the prop valve.

You don't/can't just use an elbow fitting on the master to start the tubing pointing down?

I look at that "skid plate" and I want to pry it open to look for gold coins.

Yeah, I know Pirates were before steel & Rivets, but it just looks Piratical. Piratical, is that a word?

Looks amazing Alex, hang in there!

P.S. I have the original spring seats for driver & passenger. Go with the foam. Spring seats are like spring suspension with no shocks. Uggh!

-jim lee

[Greg Coffin]

I've read all sorts of things about brakes... to the point that I am just reverting to the science that I understand about hydraulics and taking a lot of the "internet banter" out there with a grain of salt....

In regards to the front circuit coming on before the rear circuit, I don't know how much truth there is to that without seeing the machining of the master cylinder.

Sometimes I feel like there is more smoke than fire on the internet, which makes my semi-engineering brain hurt a bit.

If it's true that either circuit can happily feed either axle, I will probably switch mine to rear-to-rear and front-to-front. The reason being there are twice as many rear wheel cylinders on the 6x6, and the increased reservoir capacity would be welcome. I'll probably swap the lines and see if there is any change in the braking performance.

Thanks for your time. We now return you to the Carryall Discussion already in progress....

[Bruce in BC]

Access panel above the gas tank.

Put one in now and you will be glad you did. Place it right over the sending unit and make the access panel big enough to get the sending unit in and out. You will be glad to have access to the hose connections. I gave up on the old style swing arm sending units after wearing out two of them. Now on my third unit it is a floatless model used on big trucks. Ispro unit i think.

[Alxj64]

Put one in now and you will be glad you did. Place it right over the sending unit and make the access panel big enough to get the sending unit in and out. You will be glad to have access to the hose connections. I gave up on the old style swing arm sending units after wearing out two of them. Now on my third unit it is a floatless model used on big trucks. Ispro unit i think.

With how I am doing my floors, It won't be very easyl to have the door for the sender without doing a lot of extra work. Plus, my return ports are on one corner, my sump is on the opposite corner, and the sender is dead in the middle to prevent slosh readings (even though the tank is SUPER baffled). My sender is from Speedhut and is actually a float-less that I can calibrate using a dongle button that came with my gauge set. Also, the way my tank setup is designed, it mounts on two bushings on the front that act as hinges. I can then take my rear bolts loose and the tank will swing down and I can access it without having to support all of the weight. This way, with the tank mostly drained, I can get to the top if need be. Also, the sender wires are going to be on a lead with a quick connector, and the hoses will all have their own unions with leaders too so that no connections have to be made up under the floor with no access. Thats the plan at least. I'll have to make one filler hose connection under there and thats going to just be a nice band clamp that I can get to with an extension.

Did some work to get the floor in. I put some ribs under it to help make things rigid. I bead rolled a lip so that the panels could overlap and give me a nice good backer to weld to. I will seal the seams up from below when the body comes back off. The down flange replaces the previous rear cross member and adds some good rigidity to it all. I have to adjust the floor to level at the center seam and then will weld in a plate that closes the vertical rib together to make a nice continuous support. I do need to make a little notch to clear the edge radius of my filler. This one is smashed and bent so I ordered some Stainless parts to make a new one that looks original but I can adjust the angles to clear the floor best I can. I'll just have my rear side tool box spaces here so this will be a metal floor with some sort of rubber liner in it to keep things from rattling so the bump up for the filler radius won't be an issue. I need to close out the floor to the body sides. 1/2" of body filler in the way currently; the year 2000 "restoration" of this thing left a lot of rough spots concealed with inches of body filler. I'll never have a nice body on this truck but honestly I'm not worried about that. I'd rather have a truck with a cosmetic history that I can enjoy than some perfectly smooth hot rod that I can't bear the thought of scratching.

I also dug out my front suspension parts and will be installing and setting those up here soon. Springs, shocks, bumps and limits all built into one package. ORI STX struts for anyone who doesn't know what they are. No need for a sway bar if they are installed and setup properly.

[Goose]

Nice work Alex. How does your floor go around the two humps in the frame over the rear axle? I know in the stock wood floor they cut around them an cover them over with sheet metal. I plan on installing an all steel floor for strength, noise and safety and covering it over with wood to have that original look, but also want it to be flat.
I haven’t posted in a while because the wife and I decided to move to a new to us house and my garage was full of furniture while the house was staged. We’re almost settled in here, I need to run some 220 power outlets for the mill, welder and compressor and then I can get back on track! I’m have carryall withdrawals.

[Alxj64]

Nice work Alex. How does your floor go around the two humps in the frame over the rear axle? I know in the stock wood floor they cut around them an cover them over with sheet metal. I plan on installing an all steel floor for strength, noise and safety and covering it over with wood to have that original look, but also want it to be flat.

Mine didn't have any clearance issues with the frame rails with this piece of 18 ga floor sheet metal. The previous owner had installed it actually so I just had to repair the crushed rear portion from when the vehicle was rear-ended.

I'm also installing original-ish floors to keep the factory look. I've got to fully work out the details on it but I will be using teak again also. This coming weekend I am going to layout a pattern for the seat mounts since I will be building my own custom seat frames that look original but fit a little bit different. I want to get my floors in and then some mock fuel weight in so that I can scale the rear of the truck so I can have my rear spring packs made.

[Greg Coffin]

Were the Carryall floors originally teak? Either way, that's going to be beautiful! You might have to hire a concierge to serve wine and cheese during your outings. Vivaldi playing quietly in the background.....

And I hope you know this is all in good fun.

[Alxj64]

Were the Carryall floors originally teak? Either way, that's going to be beautiful! You might have to hire a concierge to serve wine and cheese during your outings. Vivaldi playing quietly in the background.....

And I hope you know this is all in good fun.

Yes, the floorboards were originally made from Teak. It is a strong, robust, and very "hard" heavy wood that would resist puncture in the event of shrapnel, etc.

There were some other things made of Teak in WWII... very large and powerful things... and the source of the Teak for my truck actually. I believe I've mentioned it before but figure I'll refresh it since I'll be sawing into it here in the next few weekends. I think the attached photos will help piece it together without me having to say it and yea, I have just barely enough to do what I need to do, and no, there is no more of it available. YES it was VERY EXPENSIVE! But it will be worth it! Also the reason I am going to revert the truck back to a Navy color and theme. I toured the ship a little while back so the brass plate and the sample came from the ship's museum store in Wilmington but I intend on removing the plate and sinking into into my floors for final finish.

Lastly, I'm not much on Violin; more of a brass and woodwinds kind of guy so my go-to lately has been Wagner. =)

[Greg Coffin]

Wagner

Excellent choice Sir. Would you prefer the Cabernet or the Merlot with that this evening? :)

[Matthew Welcher PWA]

I would be more apt to say a nice 20 year scotch and a fine cigar. Rolling along, smiling.

[Alxj64]

Started laying out my seat position using the general shape of my front driver's seat that I had built. I then compared to the original spec drawing of the truck and my seat positions are only off by about + /- 1" to 2" in any direction, not too shabby. I'll be building my own seat frames and having some simple foam cushions covered in more of the same material that I am already using for the front driver's seat. That part shouldn't be too hard.

Jim helped me out over on the face-space by providing a picture of an original floor key for seat mounts. THANKS SO MUCH JIM AND IF YOU NEED SOME LET ME KNOW AND I CAN SEND YOU SOME!!! FREE! I want to reproduce stuff like this for mine as close to original as possible.

Figured I'd throw this up for conversation, the left image is of a 5/16" countersunk screw, and the right is of a 1/4" countersunk screw. Which one looks more correct to you seasoned Carryall folks? Anyone remember what size hardware they used? I am intending on using stainless or brass slotted countersunk screws for mine so I am leaning towards the 5/16" so that I can get some more strength out of it.

My brake line parts and my fuel filler parts are still all late due to the weather here. 15" of snow and nothing about 20 degrees has kept it all in place and this area isn't equipped to deal with it. Kinda hard to keep myself locked in the garage when I could be out riding my 4 wheeler around.