The WC53 Carryall thread .

[Bruce in BC]

You have energy

I am running the bear claw latches - they are actually rotary latches and you can get them very cheap from a custom truck parts supplier . Look at the rescue truck or some fire trucks and you will find the latches . I have some that were made in the States . I will look up their name tomorrow . When you come up with a way to simplify connecting the latches to the door handle please let me know . I did find one rotary latch that came with a square hole but that part hits the window guide . I may modify the latch to get it to work .
you should be able to email me by clicking on Bruce in BC
godsolderbrother@yahoo.com

You going to mig or tig it ? Watch the paint , the lead content in the paint is very high on some of these Carryalls .

Bruce

back to the shop.

[HRT5SLCFD]

Most likely Mig

I have both, but I'm better at mig. Not sure if I'll just tack into place double check, meida blast, then final weld. Plus I can mig upside down. Gotta go, just got a fire call. James

[Bruce]

What FD are you attached to, I had so many options from your handle, is it St. Louis, just guessing?

[RSBuc]

Wow, those are some interesting carryall finds!

Nice finds there James, but that sure is a weird shortened carryall you've found..

I'm not sure whats going to be easier, trying to mould a front door into that space between the front and rear halfs, or grab a sliding door (and assembly) off of a mini-van, and reskin it to make it look like carryall panel.

Make a Carryall minivan :)

Either way, it looks like you're tearing right into this project, its nice to see someone trying to save a couple carryalls..

But I'm with Bruce, if there are tailgate parts available, let me know, i need to put my civy carry-all back together next year, and its in bad need of some tailgate bits.

My email is rsbuc at geekmerchandise.com

Thanks for the post, keep those pictures coming.

[Jake]

Nice project

What a great find on those trucks! I like the idea of putting the truck back to original length as well. Keep up the good work.

[Bruce in BC]

Worked on my Carryall today

Started on the new rear crossmember . I need to make a new one because there is not enough room between the cross member and rear end to fit the gas tank . Basically I made a template and cut out the pieces . Of course i will need to do some complicated stuff to get it to work . While I was at it I tossed a door in the electrical stripper tank and got my glove box sand blasted.

later
Bruce

Boy this thread sure got some new action in the last few days .

[HRT5SLCFD]

4 Door progress

I did some finish grinding on the "B" post and added a hinge support. Then mounted the drivers side rear door. It's only tempoary until I get my new door jambs. I found a donor cab with doors. I'll pick it up Tuesday and hopefully have the jambs cut out of it and at least one mounted by Tuesday eve. It also has better doors. I can cut out the front portion of the right door and graft it into the back of the left door. Therefore having a squared window to take up the gap behind the "B" post. The donor jambs will make the "C" post much nicer to work with.

[HRT5SLCFD]

Donor truck cut job/squared rear door

Well I found a donor truck down the street with good doors and jambs (thanks Wolf). After cutting the cab up and putting out a few small fires with my water bottle, I took the parts home. The first task was to make sure that the doors would work. The window and door hardware takes a little time with all those flat head screws. After all the harware was off it was time to do some cutting. I wanted the rear door to have a sqaure top in the front and the back. It took some final grinding to get a good fit. I have only tacked welded to make sure everything lines up after putting the "C" post in. Maybe tomorrow.

[Bruce in BC]

Gotta stand back and see it with the back roughed in .

Looks like you have some pie cuts to fill . The window opening looks about right . I dummied up a couple of paper doors on my truck and could not decide whether to leave the rear of the second door square or to round it off . Started to machine up some dies for flaring round holes cut in plate . I ran out of steam . Wish i had a lathe at home . After a little nap I could force myself out to the shop .

take care
Bruce

[HRT5SLCFD]

Made progress on the "C" post

I worked on the main supports for the "C" post. Since I didn't have anything to work from I made new ones. The floor supports are 2 x 2 x 1/4 wall square tube. The post are 4 x 4 x 1/4 angle cut to match the belt line. The roof line supports are 2 x 2 x 1/4 angle. I built this pretty heavy so that I wouldn't have any problems in the future. I will have the sheet metal to cover all the structure steel so you won't see anything. Well here are some pics of todays work.

[W_A_Watson_II]

WOW, Nice. That's some beef. Probably the same way I do things, and I wonder some times if I over build and force week points else where. Are you concerned that this section of the body will be too stiff and cause failures else where in the body, as the frames do flex a lot?

[Bruce in BC]

Most of us tend to overbuild .

These bodies may flex but a lot of that is due to the frame design . A couple of additions to the frame would reduce the flexing significantly . Personally I would have used 12 guage to build the door frames and floor supports . The door supports would look the same as the front ones but would not have the lock inset . They would be darn complicated and take many hours to form . Perhaps too many hours . I would also weld up all the cracks and add some flanges where they could not be seen .
Common areas for stress cracks
(1) Bottom of door frames
(2) Bottom of the front window opening in the corner area
(3) bottom of the rear door opening
(4) corners of the window openings , the rear bottom corner seems to go first and can be fixed with a small piece of metal behind the lip .
I plan on welding up a few of the braces into a more integral unit instead of leaving them as a mess of seperate pieces as made at the factory . That and maybe a internal roll cage .
A four door Carryall . Watching this creation is fun .

take care
Bruce

[Bruce]

You can say that again!!

[HRT5SLCFD]

Rocker panel fix

I worked on the jambs and the rocker panels today. I turned a 79 Bronco with a 74 Ford 4 door into a 4 door Bronco and wished that I would have built the jambs stronger. I'll post a pic with the bronco later. Anyway back to the carryall. The donor truck parts came in handy today. I used the floor portion of the door jamb and welded onto my new rockers. I used 3 x 2 angle for the rocker panels. I think when I tie all this toghther It will be just fine. I will use the donor truck for cosmetics sheet metal only, but it will look stock.

[HRT5SLCFD]

4 door Bronco pics

Here are some inspiring pics of a 4 door. It started out as a 79 Bronco, then I took a 74 four door cab, and grafted it into the Bronco. It went togther nice. The only concern was I wished I had built the post supports stronger. Too much flex in the body. Anyway the metal is a lot stronger on the carryalls, and I'm sure with the more mass I wont have any problems. The pics are pics of a pic.