The WC53 Carryall thread .

[Bruce in BC]

Sorry about the dog, their warranty is not very good and something to keep in mind when you welcome one into your life. As to the twits that have shown their true colours, write em off and get on with the next day of your life. They are not worth dwelling on. Out there in the world are some great people who would stand by you through thick and thin. Meeting up with them is a matter of luck, knowing they are out there should have a nice feel to it. You are a very talented guy, no one can take that away from you. As to the stupid transmission,,,,,,you will get it fixed when you are good and ready.
These projects by their very nature are bound to do weird unexpected stuff as you work out the bugs. Stuff you thing will fail or should fail does not and unexpected weird pooh will blind side you. Right now I have no horn. Why? Because there is a short in the wiring inside my brand new low milage Idit column. The cure will be to dismantle the column and come up with a custom set up where the wires run on the outside of the tube. Pain in the arse, but the column will look a bit more interesting and period correct with that additional tube for the wires. I am taking mine off the road in the next week or so and work on the odd part when I have time and the shop is warm enough. My shop is not heated, which is an issue.
Jim I still have the battery tray sitting out for you. If I head for Victoria in January I will let you know, perhaps we will both be headed that way.
Now check this out, this 4dr Carryall is way, way cool. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o4o...&frags=pl%2Cwn

[Desoto61]

That's the problem with life, keeps getting in the way of our projects! It's why 11+ years after I bought my truck I still don't have an interior in my truck and the running boards are raw steel, and, and, and. I guess that's why some guys spend 5 or 6 figures to get someone else to build one of these vehicles for them. Just remember you've already made if further than most, how many of the trucks for sale here were someone else wanting to do even half of what you've already done and not being able to make it? It's just like running a race, we're never going to win it, so enjoy the journey and just focus on running your race.

Besides, long term it's still worth it. Being able to use my truck to help with all these new house projects is far more satisfying than if it were just a regular truck, and makes me both more and less motivated to finish different tasks.

There are few things worse than saying good by to a friend, whatever the reasons, and there are no better friends than a dog. Hardest thing I ever had to do was say goodbye to Onyx. I was useless for a while afterword too.

[Alxj64]

Thanks gents! I'm just slow to get accustomed to changes and lack the ability to write people and things off from my life in the way it appears so many other people can. I'll get over it all, get it all done, and yes, it will certainly be worth it in the end.

I haven't been totally neglecting the WC53 though, whilst stewing over the transmission issues and getting burned by that situation, I have been trying to get the passenger's jump seat frame built so that when the truck is back on the road, people can ride with me. I also have the tubing bent for the middle seat frame and the rear-most frame will get bent up following Christmas. I'm stacking some gift cards and cash to get a new cut-off saw; I'm going to try my hand at one of those Dry-cut saws. Looks like an abrasive saw but uses a carbide blade and spins at a slower RPM than the abrasive saws. Some people seem to love em, others say they are junk. My buddy at NASA has had one for about 3 years now and they ship it with their equipment all over the world as he assembles and aligns the launcher rails for the smaller sounding and instrumentation rockets.

I'm going to try and insert some pictures of the seat frame. My front seats have a higher back rest than the original seats just for the sake of comfort and safety. They fully support to the top of my shoulders at 6'0" tall, medium build. Nobody tall or large is ever driving this truck comfortably, but I don't care about that. That being the case, the seat back was too tall to fold over and tumble like the original jump seat, so instead I am working out a mechanism that makes the seat stand up in a vertical manner and gets close to the windsheild. It can't be up when the door is open, but that would be a rare instance anyways and not at all a deal breaker. Will be easy to remove too. I am hoping to give it some torsion spring assist too so that it can be lifted easily and will stand in the up position. Of course I had to add some touches to under the seat cushion, that can only be seen when the seat is flipped up to exit the back of the truck through the passenger's door.

Its still a work in progress and I don't get much done each time messing with it, however I am putting a detailed effort into it because I want it to work right, fit right, and just overall be nice. I am using some aircraft style hardware and linkages, and the dimple dies, of course to give it that hot rod aviation look, but not look like its too out of place. Jim's eye seems to be the good calibration of what is sci-fi WW2 or not.

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[Matthew Welcher PWA]

That seat is amazing, In due time all things will become easier and more fluid again. I have not picked up a wrench in the shop for a couple of months now. To many other non shop projects that have to be done in the winter time. I ask myself frequently why i continue to look at additional trucks and projects when my daily driver is 500 miles over on an oil change.
At times it not so much doing the work on the project but having the heart and drive to know when and how you will do it when you get back to it.
If dreams were built trucks we would all have a field full.

[jim lee]

Alex, love the seat. I'm totally jealous of your metal shop! Don't let me hold you back on your artistic gyrations. Remember, I'm the one that's thinking about building a steam powered camping BBQ rotisserie. They say trouble comes in threes. Tranny, puppers and people treating you poorly. Ya' got your dance card filed for the time being. Like I tell my kids, "If you ain't making or killing people, there's a good chance you'll be able to laugh about all this later. Sometimes is pretty horrible in the middle of it all though. Eyes forward!"

Seriously though, I'm amazed by your ability to come up with this stuff. It looks like one of those really well done 3D models where someone has gone all out with wild ideas and artistic flair. But yours is all all real-in-steel.

Here's a couple pictures of what I'm up to with my carryall. Its being used for the purpose it was originally designed for. After all these years!
A communications vehicle.

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And a closeup of the inane text going on..
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I'm building my own Cellphone. Why? Because I think I can, and its kinda' fun.

P.S. Julie is a avid follower of yours! I think she follows the progress of your carryall closer than our own! She gives me periodic updates on your progress. :)

-jim lee

[Alxj64]

Alex, love the seat. I'm totally jealous of your metal shop! Don't let me hold you back on your artistic gyrations. Remember, I'm the one that's thinking about building a steam powered camping BBQ rotisserie. They say trouble comes in threes. Tranny, puppers and people treating you poorly. Ya' got your dance card filed for the time being. Like I tell my kids, "If you ain't making or killing people, there's a good chance you'll be able to laugh about all this later. Sometimes is pretty horrible in the middle of it all though. Eyes forward!"

Seriously though, I'm amazed by your ability to come up with this stuff. It looks like one of those really well done 3D models where someone has gone all out with wild ideas and artistic flair. But yours is all all real-in-steel.

Here's a couple pictures of what I'm up to with my carryall. Its being used for the purpose it was originally designed for. After all these years!
A communications vehicle.

I'm building my own Cellphone. Why? Because I think I can, and its kinda' fun.

P.S. Julie is a avid follower of yours! I think she follows the progress of your carryall closer than our own! She gives me periodic updates on your progress. :)

-jim lee

Jim, you're such a tech guru, thats awesome! I love the laptop on the map tray, inside a WWII RADIO truck. You are just taking the system to the next level as well. I also follow Julie and ya'll have great kids. Good work there for sure!

Don't worry, you're not holding me back, but rather giving me a calibrated direction.

Here is how the arc of the seat works. Only spent 20 minutes on it yesterday before going to play with some old axles and re-organize my storage unit to try and get rid of some stuff I don't see myself using.

Instagram video

[jim lee]

That seat is really cool! I have an original and it's kinda' so so. When you lean back in that seat, it looks like there is going to be a massive pressure put on that lower rod. Is there a stop somewhere that stops the seat back from leaning back too far?

Not so much a guru, just liking together already working bits. (Linking together with c++)

You need any custom code for that machine of yours? Anything need a controller? Perhaps some RGB LEDs?

-jim lee

[Alxj64]

That seat is really cool! I have an original and it's kinda' so so. When you lean back in that seat, it looks like there is going to be a massive pressure put on that lower rod. Is there a stop somewhere that stops the seat back from leaning back too far?

Not so much a guru, just liking together already working bits. (Linking together with c++)

You need any custom code for that machine of yours? Anything need a controller? Perhaps some RGB LEDs?

-jim lee

The ratio on the rod is if you put 250 lbs on the top of the frame in a rotation around the hinge axis, you are creating 1600 lbs of force into the rod, ignoring losses from friction in the hinge points. There are two rods so that is 800 lbs per rod in compression. The rods are 1/2" solid stock A36 mild steel and the rod ends are 3/8" captured spherical joints that go through some 1/8" HRPO Grade A50 plate. Without doing a full analysis and actually wrenching on the frame by hand and watching what moves, it appears that my weak spot are the webs of the hinge to floor plates where the rod ends go through. They create some Z plane bending from the eccentric loading of the rods. My solution to that will be to machine a rod that spans across between the two brackets and the rod ends can thread into it.

My next feat will be coming up with a positive latching mechanism that doesn't create a clothing snagging point during enter / exit, but can be unlatched from both the side getting in and also from the back if people are in the back.

I added some springs to help lift the weight of the seat and to hold it in the up position safely. The hinge bolts are snugged tight at the moment, I think once I add the weight of the cushions and backer panels and such it will be pretty much perfect.

[Chris Olson]

What about making one of the "feet" at the rear of the seat be a cross pin that drops into an under floor mounted bear claw latch

[Bruce in BC]

and we have a video of that 4dr WC53 finished. I wonder what that master cylinder is from - I would love to get one that did not leak. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLE0...&frags=pl%2Cwn This is a fine truck, the new owner is going to have some sweet rides in the thing. That is an interesting spot to tuck the spare tire, works quite well.

I had my rig pulled up on the far side of the house today - I used the winch to pull out a shrub and I am glad I did. The tap root has to be 2 ft long, with the winch it took about 15 minutes to get the truck moved, pull the shrub and tuck all the cable back in. I would have been at it for at least 2 perhaps 3 hrs to dig that shrub out of the ground

??? What wheels are on the 4dr Carryall????

[Bruce in BC]

Merry Christmas Carryall owners, Carryall want to be owners, and all the rest of the Dodge war wagon crowd. Hope we all make it through 2019 intact with no break downs, and if you have to have a break down let it be one you can fix on the side of the road with a bit of gum or bailing wire:)

[jim lee]

Haha! Without a breakdown, how would I know I'm on the road?

Merry Christmas!

-jim lee

[Alxj64]

Well, found out my transmission issues. Pretty sure this doesn't belong in the pan... The guy who rebuilt it still won't take any responsibility. I found another used unit and installed it over the weekend. I am waiting on my filters and fluid to deliver, then I have to reset the Transmission controller to "re-learn" the shift points for the used clutch sets in the donor transmission. Unknown mileage but if the truck drives again... I'll be happy with that.

[Bruce in BC]

What is that stuff in the pan? It looks like kitty litter. I did not know that adding kitty litter to a build is supposed to help things work better. Must be a Youtube thing.
From what I see stuck to the magnet it looks like it must be metal, what I do not see is a bunch of friction material - which indicates to me that this is a rebuild issue more likely than not.
What did you do about the converter?

[Alxj64]

What is that stuff in the pan? It looks like kitty litter. I did not know that adding kitty litter to a build is supposed to help things work better. Must be a Youtube thing.
From what I see stuck to the magnet it looks like it must be metal, what I do not see is a bunch of friction material - which indicates to me that this is a rebuild issue more likely than not.
What did you do about the converter?

Its no kitty litter, its 100% metalic. Stuff in the pan are ground up pieces of thrust bearings, needle bearings themselves from the thrust torringtons that hold the planetary sets off of each other and live inside the inner diameter of the clutch plates. It appears that since day 1 I was having a thrust bearing failure inside the front end of the gearbox. The bearing that carries overdrive actually. The "rebuilder" says nothing appeared to be failing but I don't think he ever split the front gear drum to find the bad bearing, instead I think he just looked for the first thing he could find, which was a very slightly burnt C3 clutch pack and replaced that and then buttoned the whole thing back up.

The torque converter I bought for it... and put 230 miles on. Its trash... There is no way to really clean it and it is not worth my time and the mess to put it on my lathe. Also its almost too big for my lathe. I have a 15" swing with the gap removed but the converter is 13.75" already. I could face work it all day, but not have enough room on the carriage to part the outer weld. I'll just keep it for a core. Later on in this truck's life, when I have the space to do so, I'll rebuild the transmission myself to salvage the shift kit, valve body upgrades etc.

Currently the transmission thats in it, I am told. Has 130k on it out of a 2wd 2001 GMC 3500. It appeared rather clean inside and only had a little bit of mud and dirt on the outside. It has an expected amount of clutch material in the pan, filter, and fluid for 130k miles. NO METAL... which is the key difference here. I am awaiting my filter kits and then I have to get my buddy to come over with the laptop to setup the transmission into "re-learn mode". Fingers crossed that I can drive this thing again on Saturday with no driveline noise for once. I will be so beside myself that I might burst into song! ha ha..

In the meantime... someone is trying to sell my truck...on craigslist. The post has since been flagged and deleted but this is the 3rd time now.

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[Desoto61]

Wow! That sucks though you couldn't blame people for being tempted by what you've built, $5k is a bit of a slap in the face though. I'll keep my fingers crossed on Saturday!