1947 Dodge wf 32

[Jeffs]

I recently purchased this 1947 Dodge wf 32 and have a couple questions.

 

Does anyone know if they came from the factory with a wood panel in the floorboard over the transmission? Mine has one and I have found three others online.

 

My truck has a 2 speed rear end however I cant find any documentation that shows how the factory shifter would have been positioned. It looks like things changed in 1948?  It has the vacum booster near the gas tank behind the cab which I assume might have been used for a break booster and the vacuum shift of the rear end?

 

Jeff

[47 dodge 1.5 ton]

Jeff,   The wood floor board is correct and very nice to access the starter, battery cables, emergency brake linkage. As mine does not have the 2speed rear, vacuum booster is for the brakes. The 2speed rear control switch is located on the shifter. Is yours a 4 or 5 speed? Nice to see another W series!   Kevin

[Jeffs]

Mine appears to be a 4 speed.  It looks like at some.point a previous owner unhooked the vacume booster and ran the breaks straight off the master cylinder so i am trying to figure out how that was all connected originally still also if you might know? I assume the the two speed control switch was a vacuum switch that connected to the booster some how? Thank you for the reply!

Edited September 1, 2021 by Jeffs

[47 dodge 1.5 ton]

Jeff,   If you give me a few days, I’ll take some pictures in the book and send. We had over 7 inches of rain today and it causing some issues. Kevin

[Jeffs]

That would be wonderful, thank you so much! 

 

Is there a good book for these trucks you would recommend?

[wallytoo]

the 2-speed does not use the brake booster for vacuum.  it has its own dedicated plumbing.

[Jeffs]

Should the two speed be directly connected to the motor vacuum lines or should it have its own booster somewhere?

 

 I see the booster behind the driver's side near the gas tank but it appears a previous owner disconnected the booster and they had stuck a metal hand lever and a solid rod rebar rod back to the two speed and it appears the brakes were disconnected from the booster booster

[wallytoo]

no reservoir/booster.  it doesn’t use much to shift.

[Jeffs]

Hmm,  since I only see one booster by the gass tank I wonder if I'm missing 1, do you possibly have a picture you can send of what the 2 speed booster should look like?

[wallytoo]

????

 

there isn't a booster for the 2-speed shift tubing.

[Jeffs]

Sorry, misread the last post,  what is it that the vacuum button or switch on the gear shift hooks to that engages the vacuum actuator on the axle?

[wallytoo]

1 hour ago, Jeffs said:

Sorry, misread the last post,  what is it that the vacuum button or switch on the gear shift hooks to that engages the vacuum actuator on the axle?

 

now that i can help with:

the sheathed cable is what the button on the shifter moves, and it operates this valve on the firewall.  the tube towards the camera runs to the manifold.  the tube on the side away from the camera runs to the rear axle shift diaphragm.

 

in this pic, you can see the one tube that runs back to the axle.  the other tube runs to the brake booster, while the one for the shift vacuum source has been removed.  the axle and brake tubes attach to a union splitter on the manifold itself.

 

here is the split/union on the manifold (sticking out of the left of the carb base on the manifold - below the governor)

 

rear axle area:

 

 

a good look at the brake booster:

 

edit:  i can see how that diaphragm on the axle looks like a brake booster, and i guess it functions similarly, so you would need that on the rear axle to actuate the shift lever (with the spring around it).

Edited September 3, 2021 by wallytoo

[Brent B3B]

2 hours ago, wallytoo said:

 

now that i can help with:

the sheathed cable is what the button on the shifter moves, and it operates this valve on the firewall.  

LOL, geeze Wally. How hard do you shift to break the valve rubber connector away from the fire wall? ?

 

(I joke cause I have never had one that wasn’t broken)

[Jeffs]

Great write up and this helps a lot!!  Thank you so much!

 

One question, do you know if the 1947 was different?  In my research I have seen 1948 and beyond like yours but mine at the firewall looks like this.

 

 

 

 

[Merle Coggins]

Are you sure your truck has a 2 speed axle? Does it have the vacuum chamber at the rear axle like Wally showed? 

[Jeffs]

Yes, will post a pic latter however the original owner removed the vacuum actuator and connected a solid rod to the shift arm of the axle connected to a handel in the cab when he was having issues with the vac actuator I was told.

 

I would like to try to get it back to as original as possible so looking to put it back to vacuum.

 

Still have to get a vacuum actuator also.

Edited September 3, 2021 by Jeffs

[Jeffs]

Does anybody know of a starter that I can get to to replace the stock 6 V starter starter, I think the one in the truck might dead

[Brent B3B]

15 hours ago, Jeffs said:

Great write up and this helps a lot!!  Thank you so much!

 

One question, do you know if the 1947 was different?  In my research I have seen 1948 and beyond like yours but mine at the firewall looks like this.

 

 

 

 

That kinda looks like the vacuum check valve for the brake booster to me

[9 foot box]

   According to my W-series shop manual, your truck would have a single speed rear axle. A WFA would have a two speed manually operated rear axle. The WF had a 228 or 236 engine, the next bigger tonnage truck would have a 241 or 250, possibly with sodium exhaust valves. The frame and cab forward that I bought was a 47 grain truck with a 250 w/sodium valves and a 5 speed and PTO. I can post pictures of the vacuum units that were on the firewall, they are different than yours. There is also a separate valve for the speedometer. Take the starter switch off an clean the contacts, my starter worked after cleaning. The button on the switch screws in or out so the starter gear is engaged before it spins. If you don’t have a W series shop manual, get one. Measure the length of the head and get the serial number off the engine. 

[Dodgeb4ya]

Possibly the 2 speed Eaton axle was installed later..

"A" IE as mentioned WFA would be factory designation for the optional 2 speed rear axle.

It would be the Eaton 1350 series axle.

Later 1947 trucks used the vacuum shift system.

Earlier trucks were lever shift.

Your truck looks to be a home made shifter rod....rebar looking almost.

 

[Jeffs]

13 hours ago, 9 foot box said:

   According to my W-series shop manual, your truck would have a single speed rear axle. A WFA would have a two speed manually operated rear axle. The WF had a 228 or 236 engine, the next bigger tonnage truck would have a 241 or 250, possibly with sodium exhaust valves. The frame and cab forward that I bought was a 47 grain truck with a 250 w/sodium valves and a 5 speed and PTO. I can post pictures of the vacuum units that were on the firewall, they are different than yours. There is also a separate valve for the speedometer. Take the starter switch off an clean the contacts, my starter worked after cleaning. The button on the switch screws in or out so the starter gear is engaged before it spins. If you don’t have a W series shop manual, get one. Measure the length of the head and get the serial number off the engine. 

Anything you can post is very appreciated!!

 

The body tag on my truck shows wf32 however the truck does have the larger frame and had a full dump bed originally.  It still has the the pto, hydraulics, and bottom section of the dump bed.  Someone cut the dump truck bed sides off. The story of this truck is it was purchased directly from Dodge by a silver mining company in Nevada and used there for years.  Latter it was purchased from the mining company by a farmer in CA.  That farmer then sold the property to a new owner and the truck stayed with the property, I purchased it from that new property owner about a week ago.  The issue I have found so far is the motor appears to not be original like I was told maybe, its a C38 motor and not a T motor...

 

 

 

 

[Jeffs]

Just now, Jeffs said:

Anything you can post is very appreciated!!

 

The body tag on my truck shows wf32 however the truck does have the larger frame and had a full dump bed originally.  It still has the the pto, hydraulics, and bottom section of the dump bed.  Someone cut the dump truck bed sides off. The story of this truck is it was purchased directly from Dodge by a silver mining company in Nevada and used there for years.  Latter it was purchased from the mining company by a farmer in CA.  That farmer then sold the property to a new owner and the truck stayed with the property, I purchased it from that new property owner about a week ago.  The issue I have found so far is the motor appears to not be original like I was told maybe, its a C38 motor and not a T motor...

 

 

 

 

 

[Jeffs]

Just now, Jeffs said:

 

 

[Jeffs]

13 hours ago, Dodgeb4ya said:

Possibly the 2 speed Eaton axle was installed later..

"A" IE as mentioned WFA would be factory designation for the optional 2 speed rear axle.

It would be the Eaton 1350 series axle.

Later 1947 trucks used the vacuum shift system.

Earlier trucks were lever shift.

Your truck looks to be a home made shifter rod....rebar looking almost.

 

Yes, the original story i was told was the previous owner was having issues with the vacuum shifting of the axle and made the rebar manual lever to get it working.

[Merle Coggins]

I suspect he had a problem with the vacuum shifting because he lacked the valving and plumbing to make it work after he swapped the axle into the truck.