Solga

Thank you for the write up link and the info ! My main goal, right now, is to get it running, properly, and safely so I can enjoy driving it. I have sold or gotten rid of all of my other 'project' vehicles, and I do not want this to turn into one of those. With that being said, my main focus will be getting the wiring and brakes up to par. Then I will start addressing other things. Adam

Young Ed, that is good to know about the support piece. I could only guess, that who ever put it there (wasn't me or my dad) had some idea of extra support in mind. Maybe that's where it originally started to fail on him ? It does seem to be a decently tight fit, and is covered well enough that it is not very high on my list of priorities to R&R. I am fairly confident that there are many things on my truck that are not the way things were originally. And honestly, every time I go spend more time with it, I notice even more. Yesterday, while trying to track down why the headlights don't work, I found that they are not factory headlights, and that the "buckets" they sit in were filled smooth with glass or bondo.... Anyway, back on topic here, this site is definitely a wealth of information, and good to know about the rubber mats too ! Thanks guys !! Adam

If you are referring to the ones in my pictures, I can guarantee that those are not from the 1940's. ? As far as if rubber mats came stock, I don't have that answer, but I have seen pictures that looked like there was. ? Adam

Here are a few quick pics of my floor board. Not quite cut like Wraith's '42, but close enough. Mine also looks to be 3/4" plywood as well. The inside (middle) on the battery access side is held up, with what looks like a 3" section of cut plywood bolted and braced across the short length. The remainder of the wood, all the way around, is supported by a lip in the sheet metal.

Wraith, I am actually considering just leaving everything pretty much, the way it is, because the more I mess with it, the more I will want to change. I will be fixing the wiring mess, and may upgrade the MC to a dual design, just for the sake of safety though. I will say though, the only thing that really concerns me with the original drum brakes, has more to do with my lack of knowledge about them. I have changed plenty of drum brakes in my day, but none this old and that required specialty tools (if they make them anymore) in order to set the shoe mounting and adjustments correctly. Just a quick rambling.... and in NO way directed towards you, or anyone for that matter. My thing is, I am the type of person that if I change this "x", then what will hurt in changing that "y", and once those are changed out, to change out "z" isn't gonna hurt anything. Next thing you know, half the truck has been replaced and then you end up with a Theseus paradox, and not really being able to call it original any more. I mean, if we REALLY look at our vehicles, how many can say theirs is 100% original ? Probably not very many. For example, my wheel cylinders .... Sure they are manufactured for my dodge truck ... But in who knows what country, and by a company that distributes parts for every American vehicle from 1940+ Another example, if my rear axle and housing blows apart, and I replace it with a custom built Moser Engineering rear axle housing (very hard to locate NOS) that is made to fit my truck in the stock location, (kinda like the wheel cylinders) is it a Moser rear end, or is it a Dodge rear end ? And if that is a Dodge rear axle housing, what if it was made to fit with a F*rd 9" differentail but uses the (common for F*rd AND Dodge) 5x4.5 bolt pattern, what is it called then ? Surely not original ... But then again, Centric brake cylinders aren't either, and neither is my Delco alternator, GM 12v coil, and AutoZone wiring, off brand aftermarket brake lights and brackets made by God only knows who, front turn signals that looks like they came from a Rural King trailer wiring kit, and power wiper motors. And those are just the things I have noticed since I have had the truck home. Lol Ok, I am off my soap box now ?

Good to know ... Thank you sir ! Adam

When I get home (at a Dr's appointment now) I will take pictures of my floorboard area, to give you an idea of how it looks. I can't say it's factory, by no means, as it's covered by a type of grey colored carpet used to cover speaker cabinets. But it should give you some ideas on how it's assembled. Adam

I have a minor update as to the condition of the truck. After having it in an actual garage, with concrete floors instead of dirt, I have noticed a couple leaks underneath. One under the rear oil pan area, and one under the transmission area. Since I don't have any brakes, I haven't actually moved it, but I have started the truck a few different times. Brought it up to operating temps before shutting it down, mostly just to show a few people my new "toy". Looks like I have a bit more work ahead of me, than I originally thought. I'll have to toss come carpet pieces and cardboard under it, when I go down to hook up the battery tender. Adam

Just a quick update. Without any input about new wheel cylinders, I went ahead and ordered the Centric wheel cylinders off of my prime based account. They were the same ones listed on several other websites as being correct for this truck, and with free shipping, I got them on the way. Centric part # for the Left is 13467022 Centric part # for the Right is 13467021 I will post back on here, how everything turns out with them. If for no other reason than to have a future reference. I figured at less than $35, even if I decide to upgrade the rear end later, this $ won't feel wasted. Adam

I wish I could help with the 1940, but I can tell you that my 1946 floorboard is plywood, and in two pieces. The driver's side sits over the battery area, and the passenger side surrounds the shifter and goes to the the passenger floor area. I have a shop manual for the W series and a maintenance book for 41-47 WC, but neither of them mention anything about the floor area. If it turns out that your floor area is the same as mine, I will be happy to go do some measuring for you. Hopefully someone else with a '40 will be able to chime in. Adam

Not to resurrect a dying thread, but today while I was looking over my spaghetti bowl of wiring under my hood, I just seen this wire and was wondering what it was myself ! A big thanks to the OP and the responses ! Adam

Wow, just showing how much I don't know, and yet I learn something else new, to me anyway. Left handed threads on not just wheels, but other places on these trucks ! Adam

That is good to know, JBNeal ! I have often wondered why there weren't any signatures on this site, like I see on many others.

With the brakes being out, and the brake pedal going completely to the floor, I haven't driven it very much. Pretty much, just up onto the trailer, and then back off of the trailer and into the garage. With such limited driving, I really couldn't tell you what kind of gearing is in the rear end. That would be nice if all of that has been taken care of though ! I'll have to check the oil in the transmission, but I haven't noticed any whining or anything yet. Again, limited drive time negates that a little. Still, just easier to check it ahead of time, than to find out there is a problem later ! Other than the wiring and the brakes, the only other issue that I have yet to look up and figure out, it with the driver's door. All of the seams line up great, and the hinges seem to be just fine, but the door is REALLY tight to shut or open. And I don't even have the handle or latching mechanism in place in the door. The passenger door opens smooth with no binding. I'll probably make a new post on this later when I go to tackle the issue. Adam

Dave, while talking with you, I got to thinking, and I may have figured it out. While looking through different things on my phone, I looked in the pull down menu with the 3 dots stacked vertically. In that menu there was an option for "desktop site" When I clicked on that, the actual search bar appeared and I had the option to choose "this forum". I haven't used it yet, because it makes the print so small, so I will probably just wait til I get home to my laptop to do searching. You are definitely correct on the big screen part. Especially for the visually challenged, or aging eyes ! Adam

Dave, thank you for taking the time to try and help resolve my searching issues. I really do appreciate it. Maybe it is something with my phone then, because what you are describing does not happen with my screen. I have attached some screenshots from my phone. The first screen is what it looks like on my phone, when just getting on to the flathead truck sub forum. When I click on the magnifying glass icon for searching, (*note* I do not get an actual search bar where I can type something in.) the second screenshot is what I get. The 3rd screenshot is what it looks like when I scroll down just a bit. I can provide more screenshots if needed, but from the sounds of it, it may just be something in the settings of my phone.

Ok, finally got some pictures resized. As you can see, someone definitely did a number on wiring. I have found a couple areas that need some attention, but overall not bad condition for a 75 year old ! Adam

Viking, as always, you are a tremendous help ! I really do appreciate the time and effort you take to reply ! And the information is spot on ad well ! Hopefully as I get more knowledgeable about my truck, I will be able to help others (new or old) like you have done. Ggdad, thank you so much for that link. I do think that there are a few differences in what is in that search box, and what I see. I will say that 99% of the time I am looking through these forums on my phone, and not a PC though, so that may be the difference. For example, I have went to the main page, and all of the sub forums to try to search, but not on any of them do I get an option to search "this forum". All of the search choices are the same, regardless of the forum I am in, and the only options I am given is a content search tab (which only lists member search); content type; find result in; find results that contain; date created; and last updated. None of the previous listed search categories have "this forum" in the list under them. Also, I thought that maybe since I don't have the search option for "this forum" that it would just automatically do it. So even if I am in the truck sub forum, and I do a search for "tail lights" it still brings up threads from the car forum, eBay craigslist forum, off topic, announcements & feedback, etc. Adam

Good looking truck !! Adam

I do not know a whole lot about these vehicles yet, but I can tell you that my '46 WC has them. Adam

I have been doing some looking around and searching on here, but my search "lingo" could still use some improvement. Seems as if every time I try to search something, I can find a thousand responses for everything for 2 ton trucks to every car that dodge has, but very few that are specific to my WC. Add in to the fact that I am new enough to these Dodge vehicles that I have absolutely no clue of what information will interchange or be applicable to my truck. I fully admit that I have a lot to learn still. For example, this may be common knowledge to most of you, but I literally just figured out that there are leaf springs and a solid axel on the FRONT of my truck .... Leaf springs ! I didn't even know that was a thing. I knew of the solid axle "gasser" type look on cars, but had no idea about these trucks. Anyway, now that I have shown my ignorance, I guess I will just have to do some more searching, and ask if the info interchanges. Viking, I appreciate the info, and I will definitely look into the Toyota MC ! Originally, I am not at all a purist type of car owner, but it's hard for me to want to change much on a vehicle that has made it 75 years, and in the amazing condition that it is in ! I will post more pictures as I get them resized. I am really leaning toward the scarebird conversion, but I am still curious as to what is the difference between the scarebird and the DMC kit to substantiate such a price difference. Adam

I tried to attach some pictures, but they are all evidently too big of a file to attach. As soon as I get a chance to download an app on my phone, I'll get them resized, and attach some pics for you all !

Thank you for the reply ! At this time, I am probably just going to go with the disc brakes on the front, and drums in the rear. I will be looking into the dual chamber master cylinder as well. Winter time is coming quickly, so that will give me plenty of opportunities to get the brakes lined out before spring driving hits ? Adam

Thank you for that information ! Do you have a build thread, or anything where you documented the swap ? Also, did you do the disc brake conversion yourself ? Adam

Hello everyone ! For those that have not seen my intro thread, yesterday I brought home my '46 WC. It's the first chance I have had to REALLY look things over and figure out what all I am going to do with this truck. Anyway, we got it started and the truck runs great. I can tell that I am going to have to drain the gas, and put some fresh 87 octane in with some sta-bil or marvel mystery oil. That's another subject for another time tho. After the truck was running, and I got the trailer lined up, I jumped in the WC to pull it on up. Well, I got about half way up the ramps and stalled it out so the truck started rolling backwards. No big deal, BUT, when I pushed down on the brake pedal, it went straight to the floor !! Thankful the E-brake works pretty good. I have decided that I am going to completely redo the brakes, from front to back. This way there is no question as to what may fail next, or when. I am not sure when anything was worked on, or replaced last, let alone know who did it. I do know that my dad said he only drove this truck a few different times in the time he owned it, and he never changed anything, or had to work on it. After looking the truck over, (and with the exception of the wiring) I do not want to change anything, that I can not put back to how it was when I bought it. Please keep in mind, that even though I know the search function exists, (and I have used it) some of the information seems to be dated and even some of the companies used to buy parts are no longer in business. Now, on to my questions. I am going to do a front disc brake conversion. I have done some preliminary searching and reading, and have found 3 different disc brake conversion kits. Scarebird, Rusty Hope and the one from DMC. Are there any major differences in these 3 kits ? Are there any serious modifications that have to be performed for any of them ? Is there anything that makes one kit stand out from the others ? Although I don't have to have the best of everything out there, I don't mind paying for a more complete kit. I do want to put a dual reservoir MC on while I am changing things over. Are there any I should keep an eye out for, or any certain model recommended, or to avoid ? Although I can follow almost any directions, and can weld almost anything, my skills lack in the custom fabbing department, so I would prefer to have something bolt in. I will also be changing out the rear wheel cylinders. (Pretty sure my back driver's side one has given up) Are there any specific ones I should look for, or avoid at all costs ? I really do not want to rebuild the ones in there now, if I can avoid it. Any other comments, suggestions or recommendations in dealing with the brakes will be greatly appreciated ! Thank you, to everyone who takes the time to read and respond ! Adam