The WC53 Carryall thread .

[Bruce in BC]

A couple of new u tube videos with a WC53 in them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylv95hmiDmk this is one for sale.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwAOANjTl3I and this is cool because I think it was on this thread before it made it to youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcV_S39yw6I we see the back end of a Carryall in England I think......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGiAQS9HFJU and this one is worth watching just for the sound, It is not a carryall but that air filter is interesting and all the different noises in the cab are quite entertaining if not festinating.


ok that is enough for now, enjoy!

Bruce

[Bruce in BC]

4bt turbo upgrade

Installed a HX30W turbo on my VE pumped 4BT. I was running the 18cm HC1 that the 4BT came with. With the stock turbo the best boost I saw was 7 lbs. The engine smoked a lot and the EGTs would go over 1250 with very little effort. The injection pump is stock and unmolested. If you are contemplating a turbo upgrade I would say " do it now" the changes are worth the cost. My exhaust gas temps are way down, have not broke 1000 to date AND I have moved the pyro probe to a hotter area. The turbo spools to over 20lbs when loaded and the black smoke and soot are much much cleaned up.

I got the Super version of the HX30W turbo, it is the only HX30 turbo with a 4 inch inlet that I am aware of. The original application was for the Deux? engines in Europe. The outlet and inlet use the same connectors as the HC! but the oil supply and the outlet from the compressor are different, Both parts will need adapters made. I purchased a brass inverted flair fitting with a 3/8 pipe fitting on one end. This end got machined down and 12M 1.5 threads were cut where the 3/8 pipe used to be. The old oil feed line fit just fine. Because of the waste gate the exhaust outlet moves 1 inch. This may mean you need to cut and reposition the exhaust system. I had to do this. All in all it took 127 tools and a very long day to get it installed.

Also I moved the pyrometer probe into the exhaust manafold. The probe was in the exhaust pipe right after the Turbo. Acording to Banks and a couple other sources a more accurate location is in the manifold. There can be a 100 to 300 degree difference pre and post the exhaust turbine. I have seen this - once had a ride in a truck that had probes on both sides of the exhaust turbine - i have no clue why there were two. That was years ago when Harrison Ford was driving 55 bowties.

Looking forward to pictures of your project Alex. Photo bucket has got expensive- i see more and more dropped photos on sites......who says " the internet is forever" I find stuff gets removed every day.


edit- was out on a search yesterday - we ended up long lining the patient out. I was testing the turbo out at the time and took the Carryall out on the search.
Got a video sent to me - but I am not sure how to link it here. A RCMP officer got a ride in the Carryall - this is the third officer to ride in the truck on a callout. The truck is buried in fine road dust...... it is also clear I need to get more air through the radiator when the truck is crawling up hills.



Bruce

[Alxj64]

Well, it looks like direct uploads here and Instagram will be the only place you guys will continue to see what I am doing when I share it. Photobucket is holding everyone ransom for their images and I'm not paying up. I have backups of everything elsewhere but this thread is going to have some holes in it now where my previously hosted images are missing. My apologies but I had been paying for the service now for some time and its just not in the cards to continue doing it. Sorry folks.

[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

[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!

[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.

[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

[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.

[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

[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]

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.

[bearestir]

Thanks for all the help

Dad is located in Texas.

[jim lee]

Pop this line into google

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

-jim lee

[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.

[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,