The WC53 Carryall thread .

[jim lee]

Wow that yellow one looks hauntingly familiar. But I guess there was more than one painted yellow.

Hopped in mine today and got a bunch or water dumped all over me and the front seat. I though I had that all sealed up? Looks like there's a bunch of bodywork inline for this next project. I want to drive mine from WA to Montana this June. This makes me think about just throwing money at the issue. I do have the wonderful auto body restorer guy here in town. If you throw money at him, he will also do things quickly. So I'm tossing about the idea of grinding my M37 into cash and using that to get the body of mine rebuilt/sealed up.

Anyone want a pretty nice m37?

-jim lee

[Bruce in BC]

Yellow WC53 questions and what not.

(1) what do you plan on using the truck for?

(2) stock axles or something newer?

(3) lift gate or barn doors? I suspect the barn doors are easier to find.

NV4500 - nice trans but the parts are not cheap, either is the oil and the gap between 3rd and 4th is a bit of a pain. The ZF 6 spd from a Ford gasser is supposed to work quite well when married to a 4bt.

4bt - old but simple tech and noisier than all get out. Get the 125 to 130 horse power version if at all possible or build your truck as light as you can.

Charge air cooler - we now know that they will fit in the rad shell - you need a custom rad with a slightly smaller top tank than stock - I would go that route if I was building another truck.

Just a couple of thoughts - if I had known the ZF would work I would have saved myself a lot of cost and time.

Got my new drive shaft installed - I modified some ARP screws and they now have a little socket head on one end and 12 point on the other - trust me this helps get the drive shaft in place. I pulled the cups off one of the old universals and it was pretty much destroyed on the thrust side of the bearing surface. Looked like it had been blasted. The remaining surface was excellent and showed no wear or damage.

I hear you Jim

Body work - can be so much fun and expensive - it is nice when the work is quality - I actually went as far as to look at planishing hammers and english wheels last Thursday on my epic trip to Vancouver

If you parked the truck under cover the water would not be an issue - I swear I am taking mine off the road next Oct 31 and leaving it in the garage till the middle of March.

take care
Bruce

[Desoto61]

Yellow WC53 questions and what not.

NV4500 - nice trans but the parts are not cheap, either is the oil and the gap between 3rd and 4th is a bit of a pain. The ZF 6 spd from a Ford gasser is supposed to work quite well when married to a 4bt.

Just a couple of thoughts - if I had known the ZF would work I would have saved myself a lot of cost and time.

Bruce

Only downsides of the ZF is the OD ratio is not as good as with the NV-4500, and the adapters can be expensive, but it's probably worth it especially if you are using later axles, or can run the VPW 4.30s then you can compensate for it. Still sad those gears weren't available when I built my axles, but do not have the time, money, or motivation to tear down my axles to change them, I really want to though.

[Alxj64]

Now that I know all the things I know about an Allison 1000, I think I'll stick with running those behind these little diesels. The 6 speed may be the next one I use (granted I do have a Road Ranger 10 speed set aside for my 453T Detroit 2 Stroke).

The project looks fun. Sorry for my slow responses lately, I've got some mess of a life lately and trucks are about the last thing I can muster the time for.

[Bruce in BC]

Good to hear from you Alex - and I agree the Allison is the way to go. What years would a person be looking for if they went the Allison route?
Desoto - I had the adapter for the Ford ZF- lots of folks wanted it - I had no clue the ZF would fit at the time.

ZF 6 SPEED RATIOS

1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	R
5.79 - 1	...3.30 - 1	...2.10 - 1	...1.31 -1	...1.00 -1	...0.72 - 1	...5.23 - 1

NV4500 TRANSMISSION RATIOS

Application	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	R
1994 - 2005 Ram Cummins diesel 1995+ GMC/Chevrolet 6.5L diesel	5.61 : 1	...3.04 : 1	...1.67 : 1	...1.00 : 1	...0.75 : 1	...5.61 : 1*

[Desoto61]

If you were going after an auto that would definitely be the one to aim for. The main reason I used the NV4500 (the pre '95 Chevy 2WD version) was it was also just short enough to fit in front of the stock transfer case. I've been told the ZF is also short enough for that, as is the Eaton that Charles Talbert likes to use. That was my first choice but how to mount them behind the 4BT is not as well documented and how Charles does it is part of his secret sauce, but it's strong, small, usually cheap, and you could get a 0.69:1 OD gear.

If you're going with a later transfer case and want to row your own then the NV5600 or later 6-speeds used behind the Cummins RAM also become options, they're longer, but the 5600 basically just added a gear between 2 and 3 to take some of the pain out of that shift.

[Alxj64]

Good to hear from you Alex - and I agree the Allison is the way to go. What years would a person be looking for if they went the Allison route?

Heres the thing about the Allison's that a lot of folks don't realize, they can be run stand alone with an Industrial controller so long as you can find an Allison Dealer (not GM Dealership, but Industrial type) to turn off a few switches in a program called DOC.

For a 5 speed, Find an '01 to '06 Duramax with a 2WD if you want to run a divorced T-case... Or get a 4WD but you will need to stick with the GM transfercase or have the dealer program your TCM to recognize the pulse sensor for your Hall sensor in the T-case output.
For a 6 speed, you'll want an '07 - '10 for ease of TCM. You can actually make a 5 speed into a 6 speed by changing the valve body and the TCM from an A2K.
You'll want an Allison 2000 Bellhousing, and you'll need to swap the 2k Bell with your Duramax bell... Keep track of ALL of the exact bolts and their positions as they are specific lengths and some have specific sealing washers under the heads.
You'll need an INDUSTRIAL Allison 1000 ECM, the GM Duramax one won't work in this manner (some guys are paying a company called Destroked to reflash)... $$$$
Last two key pieces are the harness connectors and a fly by wire throttle pedal that you can attach you mechanical linkage to if you are running a mechanical engine. There are two harness ends, one is the input / body chassis controls and signals and the other is the transmission side of inputs and outputs back to the TCM. Usually nothing needs to be done with the Transmission side other than maybe shortening leads depending on how close the TCM was to the transmission in the original truck. The body side just needs a few inputs, which are power, ground, Neut/P sensor, and then a few wires from the fly by wire pedal to tell the transmission throttle position so that it can essentially predict kick down, TC lockup, coast, etc.
The above sounds like a lot

[Alxj64]

Newspaper / periodical article about a Carryall... :D

https://pilotonline.com/distinction/...d104b3f67.html

[Bruce in BC]

Nice looking Carryall and a great looking couple :) good on you Alex.

[Cheyenne Dave]

Inspiring!

...and may I suggest a title for the portrait:

"AMERICAN GOTHIC GARAGE"

A classic, just like the truck

[Chris Olson]

I loved the story

[Alxj64]

Thanks for the compliments guys! The article looks even better in print, as it is part of a special magazine that is produced along with the newspaper and the online edition.
I have attached the last page of the magazine as they used an image from my truck project for it.

0420191516a - Copy.jpg

Did some car show stuff on Saturday. Was a nice day locally. Man I love driving this thing,.. these XMLs just purr along and ride so smooth on good pavement. The turbo just has this nice little spool to it. The most satisfying sound though is when the truck hits overdrive and I let off the throttle about the same time and the waste gate dumps... ohhhhh its so pleasant!

IMG_20190420_185805_263.jpg

[Fireridge]

Hi guys finally got my 53 delivered the guy lost the drivers side hood on the way up from Idaho kinda sucks but oh well I found a carryall 1/2ton with complete tailgate would you guys think I could retrofit it to fit my 3/4ton thanks

[Fireridge]

Congrats on the article Alex!!

[Bruce in BC]

Fireridge - I hope that carryall is not the one I had my eye on. Army green and east of Alberta with a panel parked beside it. I suspect you could cut the bottom off and modify to fit, depends on your skill level. - I hear the bottom hinges are different than the WC53 but have no idea how accurate that is.