ngrybrd

Hi Gents, I know its been a while since posting, but life has gotten in the way as usual. myfather and i started working on it this past weekend. its amazing how easy al the bolts broke free after all these years. we have come up with a plan to make things prorgess much easier and faster and make maintenance all that easier and cheaper too. i know this is blasphemy, but i have since got a free, running driving, stopping 79 Dodge motorhome. its a 440 big block, 727 automatic, drove it the hour long trip home. i was going to gut the inside and make a custom nice interior for camping with my family,,but its just too far gone, after gutting it, not one solid non rotten piece of structure. would need a full house built on it. . so as it sits, its a cab over "convertible" dodge van/flatbed. so my father and i decided its running and driving, and far more modern so all of the drivetrain and brake parts are readily available. so we are just going to stick the cab from the 46 on the motorhome chassis and have a running cool truck in god knows how much less time. we would however, like to eventually rebuild the motor and trans and put that back in if we can. i did join that dodge truck yahoo group but havent posted over there yet. i dont want the chassis to go to waste whats the best way to sell the frame, wheels to wheels, with the steering column still attached? or is tehre even any interest in that given its size?

Oh cool. A yahoo group? Awesome. Gotta say though, that's old school. Brings me back to the days I had a @netscape email address I'll sign up and take a look

Ok I've searched high and low. The only thing I can find anywhere is some variation of the phrase "the wc model trucks, w being the new series of Dodge trucks for 1941, and c beng the weight rating" that doesn't tell me anything but its all I can find. Does anyone have a table or list to decode the job rated truck models? For example, c is the usual half ton. But what about all the others. Wd15. Wd20 wdx wh. Etc etc. And is there anything defining the numbers after the letter prefix? As in truck model wxx-xx w(series) x(weigth rating)-some number. My truck is a wh-28. What makes it different from a wh-29. I would think there's a table or two somewhere explaining each combinitation. It's not like the vin decoders make stuff up, I've searched cover to cover in my w series service manual and it clearly lists all the different models in various tables explaining various specs, ie: bolt torque specs, or fan belt lengths. But there's not a thing mentioning the difference between the models. Anything you guys can offer would be great.

I went back out to look at more things closer. I noticed right in the center of the grille, a few inches above the bumper there's a hole in the grille. I looked at alot of pictures and they all have them, but It doesn't really fit the styling of the front end, so I know it was put there for a purpose. Is there something right behind it that you may need access to? Its almost like the hole to the old crank handles on pre-electric starter cars. There is a big old crank handle sitting on the floor of the cab. its not some old school jump start system is it, no need for a friend and jumper cables if that's the case.

Ya the guy sold it to me as a 1947. But the t137 website decoded it as a 1946 and they said that mid year they moved the tag to the drivers side? So not sure which to beleive. Definitely a ways to go. But its not locked up so I want to try to get it to turn over to see how much hope we have in it. And I ordered the service manual today.

Any thoughts on what was mounted here? There's a very heavy cast iron with red glass marker light on the floor inside similar 3 holed mounting pattern but the lights about an inch wider. I've seen a few trucks with what looks like lights? Could that be?

Like I said it's been pouring. Looks like its not stopping till Monday so I really can't dig into it to get better info, numbers etc.

Here's the other side

Can anyone identify this transmission with a bad pic from underneath?

Sorry it's blurry, but the duel trumpet horns

Missing the glove box door

Sorry they are so dark. The break in the rain left it gloomy.

Any one know what the second shifter is?

Here's the brake booster

It's on day two of down pouring. I can get more.pictures when it clears up

Any good parts sources for trucks this big? Or maybe anything that you know is interchangeble with more readily available smaller truck parts. Don't need anything major as its pretty solid but all the consumables like the brake shoes or drums, cap and points or even recommend a good electronic points replacement like a pertronix or the like? Also, I know a beautiful show condition pilothouse can be worth a good penny to the right buyer. And I have no interest in selling it, I want to use it as a ramp truck and enjoy it. It's a good convenient way to bring two cars to a show at once. But I'm curious, does the size of this truck increase the value or hurt it. Is it worth more because its so much bigger and there's more there or is it worth less because its too big to be the usual go for a weekend drive in the old pick up truck kind of thing, so right there the market for it is a fraction. Of what the smaller truck have?

Oh cool, so the big can that's got its halve sepearate with a rubber bladder hanging out is the brake booster. I figured as much but given the size of the can, almost tank like, I thought it actually might have been air brakes

They are rectangular. Looks like I'm just missing the covers. Came up with another question. How are the brakes on this size truck when they are properly rebuilt and serviced? Are there any modern big truck brakes that are easy to adapt to fit?

Oh thanks they are big holes (larger then my fist) with some old rubber tubing hanging out so I'm guessing I'm missing the covers you're talking about

Sorry I'll have to do multiple posts. My phone isn't letting me copy and paste easily