hemijosh426

Well things have gone in a little different direction.... The cab is just sitting on the frame, ive got alot of cutting and welding to do to make it all fit. Its a 93 Dodge D250 Cummins 2wd frame. Motor has some work done to it, and its got a lockup 47RH auto trans with some goodies. Im going to cut about 36" out of the frame, still gotta get some exact measurements though.

Alright, I finally got around to painting the truck. I have over 100 hours of body work in it to get it as straight as I could. I did it over the course of a few months, I dont have much time to play with my toys when I am working full time and going to college full time. I used Gloss jet black single stage urethane from paintforcars.com. $86 for a gallon with everything you need to spray it. I am using a cheap Harbor Freight HVLP gun, 1.4 tip for both primer and paint. I also invested in a PPS system from 3M that allows me to mix and filter paint alot easier than using mixing cups and cheap strainers. I highly recommend the PPS system. Here is a pic of the truck in Summit Epoxy Primer This is during the first coat Here is the second coat. Still needs wet sand and buff. Was drying too fast. I have also bought a holmes 440 wrecker crane and boom for the rear. I am going to put it in the bed, and modify the bed to be a little lower than stock, as well as put a wooden floor in around the wrecker frame. The wrecker is going to be gloss candy apple red. The next leg of this project after the wrecker is going to be the install of a 93 Cummins 12v with a 46RH dodge automatic transmission. I will also be using the rear axle from the D250 so that I cna get away from the scary brakes this truck has lol. The front axle is going to be converted over to a Ford Super Duty front axle with disc brakes. I will also be using the 93 D250 steering box for power steering. I am planning to remotely mount the radiator to behind the rear axle under the bed with an electric fan, or remount it to behind the cab in and upright position in the bed. More pics to follow....

I used my grinder to grind the weld flat lol. There were no weights on it from the factory, so im not too worried. This is also a temporary driveshaft, planning on an axle and engine swap at some point in time, this at least leaves the truck drivable. Anyone have info on the procedure to adjust the brakes? Does this system bleed the same way the newer vehicles do?

Large piece of angle iron is my trick to keeping the driveshaft straight when welding

Alright I finally started working on her after about a year and a half of it sitting around with the occasional start up. Pulled out of the driveway to go around the block and Voila... NO BRAKES! glad the hand brake works lol. The passenger side brakes are sticking on the truck front and rear, what is the proper adjustment procedure? I loosened that big nut down low on the backing plate and tried to turn the center stud... but it wont turn. What am I doing wrong? Where is a good place to get brake parts if I need them? It was a WD21 flatbed back in the day, but I bought a 6ft 1947 bed for it, so I shortened the wheelbase to 116" . It was fairly simple, I torched off the rivets holding the spring hangers and moved them forward to the 116" mark. Actually right where the 116" wheelbase would be, the factory crossmember for the front spring hanger already had the correct holes, so I torched off those rivets and bolted the front spring hanger there. In the back I had to re-drill holes for the rear spring hanger, but it wasnt that hard. I have 8" of clearance between the axle and frame, and I wont be hauling any weight with it, so I should be ok. If it looks sketchy like the axle might touch the frame down the road, I will just notch the frame and reinforce it.

How much are his brackets? It seems that would be a good way to go.

Ok its been a year, have not had any time to work on it. It has been in the garage still in bare metal. Last week I bought epoxy primer to spray it with, and I hope to accomplish that soon. I also setup myself with the 3M PPS system to spary the primer and paint. Its a pretty sweet HVLP setup that makes cleanup and mixing easy. I had originally bought a 92 Dakota to swap the 47 cab over to the dakota frame, but im coming to realize I just dont have the time right now to play with that mess. I am just going to work on the overheating problem and bleed the brakes and drive it as is. The other owner put new wheel cylinders on it, and it doesnt stop as good as it should. What is the proper procedure for bleeding these? I was told there are 2 wheel cylinders per wheel. Bleed lower first or upper?

You guys all have good points. I am going to tear into the cooling system a little, going to start by replacing tstat, and then let it run with the hole in the radiator fill neck open, with the JB weld removed. The factory motor is honestly temporary, I'm glad it runs so I can drive it around while I locate engine swap parts. I'd like to swap a 6BT cummins into it one day, or a 360/318 for now, and an auto Trans, along with a good rear axle. My next thing on the list is get it stopping good. What do you all recommend for disk brake conversion on the front? I have been kicking the idea of putting this body on a 91 Dakota frame, so I can get updated brakes and rear axle, fuel injection etc. I found a extended cab 91 Dakota with a 131 wheelbase for $300 running and driving. It's tempting me to go buy it. I have gone thru alot of threads on here, but am having a hard time seeing if anyone else has pulled it off.

Thanks for the replies. I will have to read that resources section. I measured the length of the bed on the truck now, and its 7ft. Did the 1 ton come with a 7ft bed? It has a floating rear axle, and up and left on the trans is reverse, left and down is 1st, right up is 2nd, right and down is 3rd. All the gears grind the same way without double clutching. I am kind of starting to think the truck may not be a 1 ton, unless someone swapped a 3speed trans into it. I kind of took the previous owners word on it being a 1 ton, as the truck had the dually rims, but didnt come as a full dually, but he said that the front had been lowered in some point in its life. On the top of the radiator, where the cap goes, directly under the cap someone put JB weld and a screw thru what looks like an overflow? Should that be hooked to an overflow? Or should it be plugged? With the truck up to operating temp I see bubbling coming from that area, which means the jb weld didnt work, but I was just curious as to what is suppose to be there. Thanks!

Thanks for the reply! I have already spent hours reading thru the different tech sections and Forum posts and this is a great site. Do you have any links to troubleshooting overheat issues with the non pressurized systems? I have already checked the obvious ie: coolant is full and fan belt is turning the fan and pumping water. Also, I'm pretty sure it's a 3spd Trans, and I figured this was a non syncro Trans but I was unsure. I actually first thought the syncros were just worn out, so its nice to know it never had any lol. Had a couple old big rigs as projects before and got real use to double clutching and rev matching. I appreciate the help you can give! Thanks

I recently acquired a new to me 1947 Dodge Wd-21, in pretty decent shape. It was originally a new york state truck, It runs and drives, but needs plenty of TLC. The brakes work, sort of. It looks like it has a few new wheel cylinders, judging by the bleeders looking newer, so my hope is that the brakes just need to be bled. The engine runs hot in my opinion, goes up to 212 on the gauge, but doesnt seem like its over heating. I checked the gauge accuracy against an infared thermometer, and the old guage is still pretty accurate. Is 212 too hot for this old flathead? I also found some JB weld and a screw thru what looks to be like an overflow port on the top of the radiator filler neck, what was the previous owner trying to stop? Are these pressurized cooling systems or not? The trans has to be double clutched to shift right, is that normal or is it just worn out? The wood bed in the pics is not that great and will be coming off. I want to put a regular bed on it, or an aluminum flatbed. Im new here, so give me all the information you can! Thanks!!