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Post by hairy apple on Mar 3, 2010 20:55:44 GMT -5
 I finally got a hold of the owners of the one I found in the bushes during Christmas. Going to go check it out a little more closely Friday, and I will take photos and post them. As long as the frame and body isn't about to break in half or rusted throught too badly, I'll be owning it soon. Very excited. I will use this thread as a project thread as I start the tear down and rebuild of it. Good news is she said that it hasn't been registered since the 1960's, so no crazy DMV fees for it sitting for so long, it won't even be on the books. The best thing she told me is that it ran when it was parked. They used to use it around the property as a farm truck and then replaced it with a pickup and just let it sit. So there is a very good chance there is no major mechanical damage. Photos Friday night... I promace.  |
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2nd Bat
Master sergeant 
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Mar 3, 2010 22:58:24 GMT -5
I hope your pockets are deep and you have lots of time on your hands. It will be educational for everyone to follow your adventures. I wish you all the best with it and applaud your interest.
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Post by hairy apple on Mar 5, 2010 18:17:58 GMT -5
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griswold
Private
RRF 3rd Corps General
Posts: 48
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Post by griswold on Mar 5, 2010 18:20:09 GMT -5
Hmmm I hope you have A LOT of time, becouse that one would right now be more af a background detail at a junkYard
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mccallion
Private 1st Class
Official Road Sign Reader (retired)
Posts: 770
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Post by mccallion on Mar 5, 2010 19:01:55 GMT -5
event thougth it looks bad now it has lots of potential good luck i bet it will be fun mccallion |
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deacon
Private 1st Class
Posts: 748
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Post by deacon on Mar 5, 2010 19:05:22 GMT -5
I hate the applesauce out of you!  |
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Post by hairy apple on Mar 5, 2010 19:42:49 GMT -5
The photos don't do it right. It's actually very complete and in very good shape.
Deacon, you want to really hate me... $1200.
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Adler69
Master sergeant
Legio Patria Nostra
Posts: 2,859
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Post by Adler69 on Mar 5, 2010 20:41:06 GMT -5
It's not in that bad of a shape , body looks good , no major rust spots , i'm sure the frame will be good as well , engine looks nice , i bet after all the fluids are drained , spark plugs checked and spark plug wires replaced , it might start in a couple of tries.
Awesome find man , i sent out emails and i am waiting for replies.
I will help you as much as i can from over here .
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Post by hairy apple on Mar 5, 2010 21:03:11 GMT -5
I totally forgot that one of my good friends from high school's dad actually collects power wagons and wartime dodges. I also found a site called Vintagepowerwagons.com that has a lot of parts.
After looking at it today, I'm pretty confident that it won't take much to get it driving. I'm not going to totally restore it anytime soon, I really don't have that kind of money. But I think it can be running and drivable sooner then I had orignally thought. There is only the one area that is rusted though, the frame, axles, springs, ect looked awesome. Better then a lot of 80's Jeeps I've seen. Ha ha.
I can't wait until it's in my driveway so I can start tearing into it.
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deacon
Private 1st Class
Posts: 748
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Post by deacon on Mar 6, 2010 20:44:02 GMT -5
My 1952 dodge B-3-B has been sitting in a field for over 10 years, and I took apart the motor, and everything is perfect. You should have no trouble at all getting it started up. And yes, I do hate you, I am tempted to work for UPS after the army! haha. For now, I just get to play with my buddies M18 Hellcat.
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Post by CharleyNovember on Mar 6, 2010 21:44:23 GMT -5
I'm in line on the hate list as well....Gawd I hate you people that find good deals like this. :)lol
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Post by troyluginbill on Mar 9, 2010 23:26:39 GMT -5
Hey it is good to know there will be more on the field. I am about 4 months out of compeleting mine. Doing it up as a WC 55 as well. Hope to get the cannon mounted in July. Got mine from John Bizal at Midwestmil.com, hes got lots for sale of all types and tons of parts. You will have lots of surprises and unexpected expenses but it will be the coolest project you ever did. If you can find an old army mechanic then you will be light years ahead. Mine has saved me thousands in mechanics bills and hair replacement costs. You can check out my rebuilding efforts at www.ourlifeasasitcom.blogspot.com. seach the posts for "mabel". Thats here name!!!! |
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Post by troyluginbill on Mar 9, 2010 23:38:07 GMT -5
Some words of wisdom. If you found these resources then just ignore. Get a subscription to military vehicles if you haven't already. For the canvas hit www.newlifecanvas.com/8422/8464.html, best deal running ever. They are about 60% the price of others and just as good. If you are doing a wc 55 then here is an ammo filler for the ammo bins: precisionreplicaproducts.com/ProductPricingInfo.aspxThe cannons can be found for a good price at: (you got the right bed-metal floor-if you are doing a wc 55) users.multipro.com/brentandloriann/OLD%20index.htmplus there is another guy but I cant find his website. He is about twice the cost but it comes assembled and ready to fire black powder. The g503.com forum is a great place to get your questions answered. LOTS of guys that have been through this before. Finally get a full suite of the mechanics manuals-6 in all. These will be the best investment you can make in the process. |
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Post by hairy apple on Mar 10, 2010 19:33:21 GMT -5
Awesome, thank you for the info. I will be learing a lot about dodges soon... ha ha. I'm picking it up Friday, hopfully it goes smoothly. As you can see in the photos, it comes with A LOT of extra stuff:
3 tires and wheels (not sure if any of the tires are good)
transmission
trasfser case
m1 garand rack
generator
gas tank
drive shafts
seat
one of the hoops for the canvas top
4 jerry can holders
I am not sure if I'll be making mine into a wc55 or not... I like the idea of it, but seeing how we have an airborne unit, it would have been phased out long before the 101st was invloved in the war. I am not even sure what I'm going to do it with yet.. ha ha.
I've been thinking about how sad I would be to put a modern motor in it... although part of me hates the idea of that, it would be much more road worthy with a SBC in it. I could actually drive it to events.
Where did you get your mechanics manuals? I'd love to get them, it's always the first thing I get when I get a new 4x4 to work on, but I hadn't really thought much about where to get them for this guy.
I am very, very excited about this truck. I had origanally wanted a ww2 jeep as my first car... then I realized that it could never really be what I wanted it to be for camping and daily driver and what not so I got the land cruiser instead, but I always wanted a ww2 truck. This is a little cooler then a jeep... at least differant, you just don't see them that much.
The ammo find is awesome! I am going to get getting some for my M3 gun for sure! Great find.
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Post by troyluginbill on Mar 10, 2010 21:16:01 GMT -5
looking at the pics, you have a wc-51 (unless it is a 52 with a 51 bumper on it, I just cant tell looking at the bed.) If you go with a WC 55 you will have to get the winch as they didn't use the 51 as the base for the 55. the 55 was used more in the pacific than it was in the ETO. It was initially used in North Africa then given to the french, and the USMC. Mine will be a guadalcanal WC 55.
The manuals can be had at midwestmil.com, vintagepowerwagons.com, and there is a manual site I found I will have to look up.
These are way better than a jeep, they can just simply do more, haul more, and you can sleep in them if you need to. Keep the original engine-once you get it running it will run well and if taken care of for a long time. There are lots of aftermarket parts available as well, both new and New old Stock.
Lots of people think old cars ran crappy but that is not true. You just need to keep it in tune-which is really easy to do. The only thing people do to make them run better is put a 12 volt system in (there is a drop in that requires no modification available for about 400.00) and put electric wipers in. The vacuums just don't cut it. I will be using mine as a daily driver. The only problem with these is the top speed limit of 50 mph. Over that and you will throw a rod.
I also noticed you have 4 gas can brackets. Would love to buy 2 off of you. For a standard wc you will only need 2 for the loadout.
Other things I have found out.
1. Have the gas tank renu'd. This will be the best thing you can do as a first step. It will get the crud out, keep it from rusting through and keep the lines from clogging with grit.
2. Get all brand new brakes. I tried rebuilding the cylinders and if they have rust inside no matter how smooth you get them they will still leak.
While most jeep dudes like rebuilding their jeep, wc guys love rebuilding their dodge. There is just something about a dodge.....with a gun mounted on it.
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Post by hairy apple on Mar 10, 2010 21:30:57 GMT -5
Ha ha... Yeah, this one is a 51. There is no winch (although there seems to be a PTO drive, don't know if maybe they all had them or if the winch was removed or what). I would absolutly LOVE to get the winch someday. Friend in HS had a PTO winch on his powerwagon and it was the most amazin winch I've ever seen... he could pull out anything.
Funny you say that about them being in the PTO more, there are info tags on the dash saying it was refurbished in Japan in 1951. It actually was suprising to me that it had been overseas, I figured most of the ones int he US had never left here.
The gas take will be tanked and coated, I learned that the hard way with my Toyota. Nothing like having to get towed home becuase your fuel lines are pluged up.
I dought I'll swap the motor. I absolutly LOVE flat head engines and old engines in general. They do run awesome when tuned up. But the not going over 50mph thing is going to kill me. I will check into getting the manuals tonight, there is so much I don't know about this thing.
One of the first things I thought while we were cleaning it out with the owner last week was how huge the bed was...and how great of a camping truck this is going to be. ha ha.
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Post by troyluginbill on Mar 10, 2010 21:50:17 GMT -5
Here is the site I was hoping to find. www.wheelsofvictory.com/differ%20wc%20early-late3-4.htmlThis can help you date (in general) your truck. Looking at it I think you may have a wc 52 with the front bumper swapped out. You have a 52 bed on it and the PTO lever slot on your consol peeking out from under the leather weather cover. It was not uncommon at all to swap a 52 to a 51. Unfortunately they probably cut the frame to do that. The 51 frame cannot be easily converted to the 52 as it is shorter and has the bed mounts in different places. I once found a pic of the okinawa boneyards. Literally jeeps, wc's, trailers as far as the eye could see. The guy that posted those pics said that they were all loaded on ships and taken out a few miles and sunk. The WC was replaced in 1946/7 with the M37 so it was really short lived. |
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Post by hairy apple on Mar 10, 2010 22:46:13 GMT -5
Interesting... I will be researching it a lot once I actually have it in the driveway. I will take LOTS of photos as I tear it apart Friday or Saturday and start cleaning it out. I don't plan to totally restore it right away, I honestly think I can have it running pretty quickly. I hope to make it more like how it would have been in the war rather then a super clean just came out of the factory look.
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Post by troyluginbill on Mar 10, 2010 23:38:35 GMT -5
looks like the paint is pretty original. That will help. I thought about doing the "clean, factory new look" but that will frankly be too much work right now.
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Post by hairy apple on Mar 12, 2010 12:03:55 GMT -5
Today's the big day! Leaving in about an hour to go get it. I'll take lots of photos as we pick it up and get it home. This weekend the weather is going to in the 70's from what I'm hearing so it should be perfect to start cleaning it up. I'm serously hoping we can have it running in a week or so depending on how bad the wiring is. |
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Post by shadycadence on Mar 12, 2010 18:36:27 GMT -5
Use an ammeter when you connect the battery to be sure you don't have any dead shorts-they smoke fast! I'm willing to bet with fresh oil and gas, maybe some new plugs, that thing will fire up. I've seen worse start with less work, I kid you not!
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Ersatzjack
Corporal
"That silly Franz... he thinks we are winning."
Posts: 1,093
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Post by Ersatzjack on Mar 12, 2010 19:14:54 GMT -5
I can feel your excitement. I sure hope you have a great time with the project. Actually, the project is most fun before it's finished so enjoy the ride. |
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Post by CharleyNovember on Mar 12, 2010 20:10:22 GMT -5
Agreed congrats and I am excited for you!
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Post by hairy apple on Mar 12, 2010 20:44:04 GMT -5
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Post by CharleyNovember on Mar 12, 2010 20:58:58 GMT -5
That is an awesome project man congrats on getting it home now get to work....You need some mechanic overalls for the ww2 grease monkey impression now.
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Adler69
Master sergeant
Legio Patria Nostra
Posts: 2,859
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Post by Adler69 on Mar 12, 2010 21:03:19 GMT -5
 What is it??? That is a Black Out driving light . |
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Post by hairy apple on Mar 12, 2010 21:06:34 GMT -5
Thanks! I'm really excited about it. Sounds like the rain ends tonight and it should be nice for the weekend so I'm hoping to get it tore apart and cleaned up. I think a good bath will do it good.
Ok, that's what I thought it was... but it didn't look like a light to me when I was messing with it. There is a ton of crap packed in there though and it was raining so hard I didn't spend too much time checking it out.
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Post by shadycadence on Mar 12, 2010 21:22:26 GMT -5
Not to be a dick, but did you try putting air in them? I can see they're rotted as hell, but you'd be surprised. At least you have two spares! I predict it will run by Sunday night, and move under it's own power before next weekend.  |
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Adler69
Master sergeant
Legio Patria Nostra
Posts: 2,859
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Post by Adler69 on Mar 12, 2010 21:29:25 GMT -5
the weird part about it is that it has a normal light (the big one) a B/O driving light (the one with the hood) and a B/O tail light cats eye(the one in the middle)
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Post by shadycadence on Mar 12, 2010 21:32:45 GMT -5
I believe they put the cat's eye up front so lead vehicles could see that the convoy was still behind them.
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