Cabbage Hauler - WD-21 Build Thread

[Jomani]

Finally getting around to starting a build thread for my 1947 Dodge WD-21.

 

First, the name. A few months after starting the tear down on my recently acquired truck, I was diagnosed with coronary artery disease - never any heart problems or symptoms in the past. I am still recovering from quadruple bypass surgery also known as CABG (Coronary Artery Bypass Graph) x4. During my hospital stay, the nurses kept referring to me as the “cabbage times four”. When I finally asked what the heck they were talking about, one of the nurses explained the acronym CABG and said that it was pronounced “cabbage”. Since the primary purpose of this truck will be hauling my butt around, it will be a Cabbage Hauler.

 

Ok, probably more information than most of you care to read about, but it is important to understand why this build took a very interesting change of course - more on that when I get caught up with the build. I have many pictures so I have been working to set up a Photo Bucket account and get them all organized. I will test that out in the next post...

 

Joe

[Jomani]

This is my first attempt at adding links to Photo Bucket. Hopefully everyone can see the pictures below.

 

I first spotted this truck on Craig’s List - below are the pictures that sold me on it. Sorry, some of you have already seen these pictures in my initial introductory thread - just wanted to include the whole story in this build thread.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 21, 2018 by Jomani

[wallytoo]

nice semaphore!

[Jomani]

39 minutes ago, wallytoo said:

nice semaphore!

Adds character but probably won’t make it on the final build. Should look good hanging on the wall.

[Jomani]

Within a week of getting the old girl home, I started tearing her down. A little bit of research before jumping in would have made this easier - found out later that the entire front end comes off in one piece.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jomani]

Before pulling the engine, I was able to get it running. Unfortunately a number check indicated that it was not the original 230 But rather a later model 218.

 

 

[Jomani]

The next day the engine and transmission came out.

 

 

 

[Jomani]

All was looking good until I opened up the transmission. Between the repairs to the case and the water damage to the gears, the transmission didn’t appear to be worth fixing. That combined with the fact that a smaller engine had at some point replaced the original 230, it was time to rethink keeping this thing original.

 

 

 

[MartinsB3B]

Definitely salvage any parts off that tranny you can. People are always looking for those parts. Brake related specifically.  

[Jomani]

Ok - this is where my build went a little askew (the first time). After discovering that the engine wasn’t correct for the vehicle and the transmission was toast, I started looking for alternative drive trains. I spotted a 74 Dodge Motor Home that had been converted to a work truck. The 360 with 727 trans and dually rear end seemed like a good choice. The price was next to nothing and was in running/driving condition. Just couldn’t resist...

 

 

 

Neighbors probably thought I was running a chop shop. Within two weeks all of the usable parts had been harvested and the rest was cut into manageable pieces.

[Jomani]

As luck would have it, within days of disposing of the old motor home, I received a text from a local guy who had a mid 50’s Chrysler Spitfire and four speed transmission. Couldn’t hurt to look, right? Ironically, the engine and trans were in a running/driving 47 Power Wagon. The thing ran incredibly well and the transmission fully synchronized. I just couldn’t resist. Pics below...

 

 

 

 

He wasn’t quite ready to pull the engine and I wasn’t really ready for it anyway, so I put some money down  and agreed on a couple months time to pick it up.

Edited September 24, 2018 by Jomani

[Jomani]

On 9/21/2018 at 9:35 PM, MartinsB3B said:

Definitely salvage any parts off that tranny you can. People are always looking for those parts. Brake related specifically.  

 

Definitely agree. Not sure how much of the 47 trans is interchangeable with the newly acquired trans, but will certainly offer up whatever doesn’t work with the final build.

 

[Jomani]

While waiting for the new drive train, I decided to start stripping the paint off the front end.

 

 

 

Chemical stripper revealed some surface rust under the paint. Cleaned up nicely with a little sanding.

 

[Jomani]

Minimal sheet metal damage was easily repaired, and the grill was almost ready for primer.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 24, 2018 by Jomani

[Radarsonwheels]

Wow that is a beautiful truck! What are you going to do with that home made work truck now that you have a nice flathead on the way?

[Jomani]

4 hours ago, Radarsonwheels said:

Wow that is a beautiful truck! What are you going to do with that home made work truck now that you have a nice flathead on the way?

 

Stashed the engine, transmission and rear end until I am 100% sure that the Flathead works out. The rest of the  truck was cut up and sent to the recycler.

[Jomani]

So this is the point in the build where things went completely sideways. I ordered some epoxy primer so that I could spray the bare metal parts as I went. While waiting for the primer to arrive, I found out that I would need the quadruple bypass surgery. That put an immediate end to the build. Surgery was six weeks ago today - talk about a slow recovery.

 

Two weeks ago, I finally had enough of the sitting around. I was cleared to lift 5 pounds and was ready to get back out into the garage. Since I had previously removed all of the front trim, I decided to start cleaning it up. It wasn’t in as good of shape as I remembered.

 

 

 

 

[Jomani]

The nice thing about being laid up is that I had nothing but time to do research. I watched a number of You Tube videos on stainless trim repair, and figured I would give it a shot. A couple of small hammers, make shift anvils and dollies, and I had all of the dents and deep scratches smoothed out. A very tedious process, but then again nothing but time. Below are my first results.

 

 

 

Very happy with these results.

[Jomani]

This week, I will tackle the larger piece of front chrome. It looks to be in a little better shape, but I think it will be difficult to get all of the waves out of the stainless after the dents are removed.

 

 

 

[Radarsonwheels]

Nice work! That thing is going to be beautiful

[FlashBuddy]

Wow, can I send you my trim pieces to work on? I only have three bars from the B1B grill

[Jomani]

4 hours ago, FlashBuddy said:

Wow, can I send you my trim pieces to work on? I only have three bars from the B1B grill

 

I appreciate the vote of confidence. I have to say that I have a lot more respect for the guys who do this now. I think I need a little more practice before messing up someone else’s stuff. I plan to be finished with the rest of my trim this week - we will see how it turns out.

[Jomani]

7 hours ago, Radarsonwheels said:

Nice work! That thing is going to be beautiful

 

Thanks - way outside my comfort zone right now. Hopefully it all comes together in the end.

[ggdad1951]

7 hours ago, Jomani said:

 

I appreciate the vote of confidence. I have to say that I have a lot more respect for the guys who do this now. I think I need a little more practice before messing up someone else’s stuff. I plan to be finished with the rest of my trim this week - we will see how it turns out.

 

you have done a great job on the stainless

 

[Dozerman51]

That Spitfire and Tranny you have looks like it was installed in a military 1/2 ton WC 4x4. The Power Wagon has a  2 speed transfer case and this set up shows one lever so hence, a single speed transfer case. Also they used the brake and transfer case mounting bracket off the original WC crash box to fabricate the set you show. That tranny is also not a fully synchro one. Only 3rd and 4th gear have synchro’s. The NP 435 was the 1st 4 speed Dodge Installed tranny that had 2nd, 3rd and 4th gear synchro’d. I have the same transmission as the one you show which I plan on installing in my WC-12 military. I will study the photos you have and try to replicate the modifications that were made. Do you have any Idea what displacement the Spitfire is? What are the numbers stamped on the raised pad just below the head on the left front of the block? That should give you an Idea what size it is although you never know, sometimes the crank and rods were switched out among the same sized engine blocks. Good luck on your projects.