Jeffs

Is there a trick to seperate the exhaust and intake manifolds? Are there 4 long bolts with nuts?

I would like to clean them up, replace gaskets, and paint them. Also found a small crack in the exhaust manifold that I need to weld up.

Thank you so much for confirming that, I didn't see one in the manual but before I button this thing up I wanted to make sure!

Can anybody tell me if there's supposed to be an O ring between the pick up screen and the pick up tube on a 251?

Good morning all I'm looking for some input from those of you that are familiar with the WF32 or similar truck. I have tried numerous things to get these pistons freed up in the block and nothing seems to be working I've even gone as far as pulling the oil Pan just to check and see if my main or rod bearings are rusted and surprising enough they look brand new there's no ring rim at the top of the cylinder and you can see where it looks like they had maybe a rim previously removed. The piston tops show 060 over but everything that I can see visually looks like this motor probably seems to have had fairly low miles on it. I think the only thing I can do now to free up those 3 pistons that are stuck is pull the motor. I have pulled numbers motors from Chevy's and lots of other cars but when I look at this one it looks like there's probably a maybe suggested or preferred way of pulling this apart the way the cross member is set up between the motor and the transmission?

It looks like the best way to proceed might be to pull the drive line and then pull the transmission first.  I don't know whether I need to pull the crossmember to get the motor, bellhousung, and the clutch out or do you guys normally pull the bellhousing and clutch and the flywheel off and then pull the motor off so you can leave the cross member in?

Where is the best place to purchase 251 engine parts? My motor looks to be a 251 with 60 over pistons.

I have the entire front end off.right now trying to break this thing lose..

Ouch, that is not what I am hoping happens but honestly that's exactly where I think this is stuck is on those too long volts....

 If we were talking a Chevy V8 I'm sure I'd have extra parts...

 Maybe I'll try hooking a  cinch strap from the manifold's to the front rim and then see if I can find a small nail or something to kind of work around inside those bolt holes and see if I can loosen up any of that rust with that and penatrating oil....

Hi all,

I'm sure there might be a trick to this so thought I would reach out for these old flathead.

Trying to remove the intake and exhaust manifold from my 251.  I have removed all of the bolts including the two through the exhaust manifold under the carb and the one down under the manifold in the middle and the manifold still doesn't want to let go. It looks like the combo exhaust ports in the middle of the manifold just doesn't want to let go from the block. 

Of course the last thing I want to do it break an ear off or crack the manifold, any tricks?  I did try a little heart but not a lot yet.

The water temp bulb also broke off when I removed the head, bulb wa

is stuck in the head, does anyone know of a place that can repair those?

Thanks for the replies, I got it out with a punch and just worked it out slowly.

Any idea what in the world this is? It looks almost like a windage tray but I pulled it from inside the coolant passages right behind the water pump?

Looks like the crank is threaded on the inside, when the PO installed the pulley onto the crank the pulley was put on but instead of a solid crank bolt they used a hollow threaded fitting and a crank nut.

Ok, I think I have a huge issue and looking for some advice.....

As mentioned above my truck has a C38-1 motor that from research looks to be a 251.

I have been trying to break it loose soaking the cylinders and such because it's frozen.  

Today while turning on the crank bolt with a socket and a breaker bar the nut broke off with what looks to be a hollow sleeve or fitting inside the frontnpully crank nut.  Did I just break the front of the crank off or????

3 hours ago, Merle Coggins said:

I suspect he had a problem with the vacuum shifting because he lacked the valving and plumbing to make it work after he swapped the axle into the truck. 

Likely, he also unhooked the break booster from the brakes also. I think what I focus on now is finding the right valving and plumbing to make it work and look as original as possible for both the brakes and the axle.  Looks like I need to find the correct firewall valve and the axle vacuum actuator?   Then I need to figure out how to get the booster hooked back into the breaking system and figure out why it wasn't working if there was an actual issue. 

Is there something that needs to be taken into account at the speedo also when changing the rear end gear ratio?

13 hours ago, Dodgeb4ya said:

Possibly the 2 speed Eaton axle was installed later..

"A" IE as mentioned WFA would be factory designation for the optional 2 speed rear axle.

It would be the Eaton 1350 series axle.

Later 1947 trucks used the vacuum shift system.

Earlier trucks were lever shift.

Your truck looks to be a home made shifter rod....rebar looking almost.

 

Yes, the original story i was told was the previous owner was having issues with the vacuum shifting of the axle and made the rebar manual lever to get it working.

Just now, Jeffs said:

 

Just now, Jeffs said:

Anything you can post is very appreciated!!

 

The body tag on my truck shows wf32 however the truck does have the larger frame and had a full dump bed originally.  It still has the the pto, hydraulics, and bottom section of the dump bed.  Someone cut the dump truck bed sides off. The story of this truck is it was purchased directly from Dodge by a silver mining company in Nevada and used there for years.  Latter it was purchased from the mining company by a farmer in CA.  That farmer then sold the property to a new owner and the truck stayed with the property, I purchased it from that new property owner about a week ago.  The issue I have found so far is the motor appears to not be original like I was told maybe, its a C38 motor and not a T motor...

 

 

 

 

13 hours ago, 9 foot box said:

   According to my W-series shop manual, your truck would have a single speed rear axle. A WFA would have a two speed manually operated rear axle. The WF had a 228 or 236 engine, the next bigger tonnage truck would have a 241 or 250, possibly with sodium exhaust valves. The frame and cab forward that I bought was a 47 grain truck with a 250 w/sodium valves and a 5 speed and PTO. I can post pictures of the vacuum units that were on the firewall, they are different than yours. There is also a separate valve for the speedometer. Take the starter switch off an clean the contacts, my starter worked after cleaning. The button on the switch screws in or out so the starter gear is engaged before it spins. If you don’t have a W series shop manual, get one. Measure the length of the head and get the serial number off the engine. 

Anything you can post is very appreciated!!

The body tag on my truck shows wf32 however the truck does have the larger frame and had a full dump bed originally.  It still has the the pto, hydraulics, and bottom section of the dump bed.  Someone cut the dump truck bed sides off. The story of this truck is it was purchased directly from Dodge by a silver mining company in Nevada and used there for years.  Latter it was purchased from the mining company by a farmer in CA.  That farmer then sold the property to a new owner and the truck stayed with the property, I purchased it from that new property owner about a week ago.  The issue I have found so far is the motor appears to not be original like I was told maybe, its a C38 motor and not a T motor...

Does anybody know of a starter that I can get to to replace the stock 6 V starter starter, I think the one in the truck might dead

Yes, will post a pic latter however the original owner removed the vacuum actuator and connected a solid rod to the shift arm of the axle connected to a handel in the cab when he was having issues with the vac actuator I was told.

I would like to try to get it back to as original as possible so looking to put it back to vacuum.

Still have to get a vacuum actuator also.

Great write up and this helps a lot!!  Thank you so much!

One question, do you know if the 1947 was different?  In my research I have seen 1948 and beyond like yours but mine at the firewall looks like this.

Sorry, misread the last post,  what is it that the vacuum button or switch on the gear shift hooks to that engages the vacuum actuator on the axle?

Hmm,  since I only see one booster by the gass tank I wonder if I'm missing 1, do you possibly have a picture you can send of what the 2 speed booster should look like?

Should the two speed be directly connected to the motor vacuum lines or should it have its own booster somewhere?

 I see the booster behind the driver's side near the gas tank but it appears a previous owner disconnected the booster and they had stuck a metal hand lever and a solid rod rebar rod back to the two speed and it appears the brakes were disconnected from the booster booster

That would be wonderful, thank you so much! 

Is there a good book for these trucks you would recommend?

Mine appears to be a 4 speed.  It looks like at some.point a previous owner unhooked the vacume booster and ran the breaks straight off the master cylinder so i am trying to figure out how that was all connected originally still also if you might know? I assume the the two speed control switch was a vacuum switch that connected to the booster some how? Thank you for the reply!

I recently purchased this 1947 Dodge wf 32 and have a couple questions.

Does anyone know if they came from the factory with a wood panel in the floorboard over the transmission? Mine has one and I have found three others online.

My truck has a 2 speed rear end however I cant find any documentation that shows how the factory shifter would have been positioned. It looks like things changed in 1948?  It has the vacum booster near the gas tank behind the cab which I assume might have been used for a break booster and the vacuum shift of the rear end?

Jeff