Cabbage Hauler - WD-21 Build Thread

[Jomani]

After the acid wash, I hit the whole frame with scotch bright pads and lacquer thinner. A final wipe down with lacquer thinner and the epoxy primer went on. The clouds are rolling in - hopefully the rain holds off until the primer dries.

 

 

 

[Jomani]

I hit a big milestone today. I actually started going back together with the truck. I got the king pin bushings pressed into the spindles - ready for the machine shop to ream to size. I got one of the rear spring packs back together and the bushings pressed in. Actually hung the springs - great to see it going back together.

 

 

 

I did end up going with the liner between the springs. It added about a half inch to the total spring pack height. I removed two springs hoping for a little better ride - the extra height from the liner should keep the overall height about the same.

 

Edited January 21, 2019 by Jomani

[DJ194950]

Nice work!

 

Do your neighbors love you??

Hate??

 Often being in  Calif. it is hard to do much in a front neighborhood driveway as you have been doing.

Maybe regular weekend donuts delivery to your neighbors?  ?

 

DJ

[Jomani]

1 hour ago, DJ194950 said:

Nice work!

 

Do your neighbors love you??

Hate??

 Often being in  Calif. it is hard to do much in a front neighborhood driveway as you have been doing.

Maybe regular weekend donuts delivery to your neighbors?  ?

 

DJ

 

Generally only out front on Saturdays. Definately have some understanding neighbors. Most of them are curious and stop in to see how things are progressing.

[Jomani]

I pulled the steering box apart today and ran into something very unexpected. After determining that I have the second generation steering box for the “W” series, I expected to see this steering gear shaft (#8).

 

 

Instead I found this.

 

 

 

 

Seems to be a much better design. Is it possible this is Power Wagon? Can’t find anything like it in my W Series parts or service manuals.

[JBNeal]

Looking in my parts book for the Power Wagon, which has a similar exploded view, there appears to be a serial number break for the shaft on the WDX...this shaft looks very similar to the one used in the B-series (tho different part numbers), so maybe Dodge upgraded the steering box towards the end of the W-series run or somebody swapped some parts during the past 7 decades

[Jomani]

I was able to make a little more progress on the build yesterday. Just about finished media blasting parts. Sure makes it nice to be able to load the blast cabinet up with a bunch of parts and blast for hours without stopping.

 

 

[Jomani]

I was able to get the steering box cleaned up and reassembled. To ensure that all the abrasive media is completely removed from parts, they always get a bath in soapy water and throughly blown out. Everything went together nicely - followed the process that is detailed on a number of threads here for making the final adjustments.

 

 

 

 

[Jomani]

The steering box is back on the frame. It will come back off to put the cab back on, just mocking everything up to see how for to the right the engine will have to go.

 

 

 

[Radarsonwheels]

So clean! That thing is going to be beautiful

[ggdad1951]

man, where is all the rust craters on that frame, not fair to be that clean and smooth! 

[Jomani]

17 minutes ago, ggdad1951 said:

man, where is all the rust craters on that frame, not fair to be that clean and smooth! 

 

I have been pleasantly surprised by this one. The deeper I get into it, the more I think it needs to go back 100% original. Unfortunately, I already blew a big chunk of my budget on the drive train. With the exception of one modification for the transmission tunnel, I plan to leave the frame as unmolested as possible.

 

My first build was back in the 70s when I lived in Southern Minnesota. 51 Ford F1 covered in black primer. I fought the rust on that truck for the better part of a year. Hat’s off to you guys saving these gems back in the rust belt  ?

[Jomani]

It rained on and off all day so I spent the day assembling the front axel. Got the king pins fitted and installed, spring packs assembled with liners, and new tie rod ends. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All new bushings and spring hardware - ready to hang back on the frame.

 

Edited February 3, 2019 by Jomani

[Jomani]

I had a hard time finding someone local who could/would fit the kingpin bushings. The first guy I tried ended up messing up the bushings - didn’t get the reamer properly aligned. I contacted Gary at Roberts Motor Parts and he hooked me up with a spare set of bushings without having to buy another kit. This time I decided to fit them myself.

 

I turned an aluminum shaft down so that it easily slid through the bushings. I cut a groove the length of the shaft and slid a half sheet of 320 grit sand paper into the groove. Wrapping the paper around the shaft, I made a flap disk that slid through both bushings at the same time.

 

 

 

I was able to slowly work the bushings to just over a .001” fit. Very happy with the fit and the way everything went together.

 

[Radarsonwheels]

Nice work! I had my kingpin bushings reamed at the same machine shop that does my block boring and decking- didn’t realize how lucky I am. 

[Jomani]

I was able to hang the front axel on the frame today. Not sure I like the way the front hanger bushings fit - there seems to be a lot of movement in the hangers.

 

 

 

All the spring packs went together with liners. A little more work, but I really like the way they came together.

 

 

 

 

[Jomani]

The rain came back so I spent the afternoon pulling the Dana 60 apart. As with everything that came off the old motor home, I was very happy to see the condition of the rear end. I will probably only replace seals and and wheel cylinders. 

 

 

 

[Radarsonwheels]

Neat! I’ve worked on rear gears before but never a dana 60- I guess that is what the axle end looks like on a truck dually axle? That 9.75 will certainly take some abuse and come back for more!

 

-not an expert- but does the decel pattern look a little close to the inside of the teeth?

[Jomani]

11 hours ago, Radarsonwheels said:

 

-not an expert- but does the decel pattern look a little close to the inside of the teeth?

 

Setting up a rear end is probably one of my least favorite things to do - probably because I have only done a couple. I wonder if what you are seeing is a shadow. I gave it a quick look during disassembly and couldn’t see a wear pattern. I need to get some marking compound and check the contact. I did find another picture that I took that might offer a slightly better view.

 

 

I also need to pull out the dial indicator and check backlash. Feels a little loose but specs call for .002-.009” (relatively broad range). With 120,000 miles pushing a heavy motor home, I would expect to see more wear than I am. 

[Radarsonwheels]

Never a bad idea to throw some yellow marking grease on there and see what the pattern looks like. On the 60 you need a spreader and shims? Pain in the butt but worth it.

 

The 9.25 in my truck has screw adjusters to move the ring gear left and right for lash and the pattern fell in nicely after I tightened the lash back to the middle of spec. I am just learning about rear set up myself mine was the first one I did without help. I already had a good starett dial and base just needed to make a three foot long male hex socket with a lip instead of buying $$$ one.

 

The last few rear setups I had pro mechanic friends do and was lucky to be able to look over their shoulder and ask questions. Those guys have huge shim collections and mortgaged full snap on toolboxes with a blow molded clamshell full of any tool they need- hard won and expensive luxuries.

[Radarsonwheels]

This is what I was looking at. Actually accel not decel right? 

 

Interested to see what the actual pattern is once you get her marked 

[Jomani]

I got back to the rear end today. Couldn’t find any marking grease so I sprayed a little paint on the ring gear to see if I could check the pattern. This is what I ended up with. Hard to tell from the pictures, but the pattern is fairly well centered.

 

 

 

 

Backlash was a little more than I wanted to see. From the research I have done, max backlash for a new setup is .010” for this rear end. Mine measured .012”. Since the ring and pinion contact looks decent, I am going to run it like this. It will probably make a loud clunk when it goes into drive, but I think it has some decent life left in it.

 

Edited February 10, 2019 by Jomani

[Jomani]

All of my parts arrived during the week, so I was able to get some work done on the rear end today. All new brake hardware, seals, gaskets, wheel cylinders, etc. Removed the old spring perches, welded up the scars, and ground everything smooth. Original spring perches were set at 8 degrees - seems like a fairly steep angle.

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2019 by Jomani

[Jomani]

I ended up sealing everything up and sand blasting, priming and painting the rear end. Once I determine the drive line angle, I will weld on some new spring perches. The Dana 60 axel tubes are a smaller diameter than the original WD tubes. I will probably fabricate some 1/8th inch plate and weld it to the bottom of the tubes so I can use the original hanger brackets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jomani]

I was able to get the rear brakes installed today. Glad I ordered the brake hardware kit - saved a lot of time cleaning parts. Hopefully we get a break from the rain next weekend so I can hang the rear end and start working on driveline angles.