JDOFMEMI, figured it would be best to start a new thread for this. I bought this old Edison power line truck that had been sitting for about 30 years for a $1,000. So it was in good shape with a tired engine. 1. Put a DT366 99 horse power diesel engine in it with a 10 speed direct tanny. Of course the owner said the engine ran good when parked but smoked like a freight train and would only go 47 mph wide open with the 4:88 gears. YouTube - Dt 366 YouTube - Dt 366 2. Not being able to put a load on the 366 with 4:88's I started tracking new gears for these old drum 6 lug axles and came across a totaled F-350 4x2 for $1,500 less engine and tranny. I cut the rear off the power wagon and joined the back half of the F-350. Now it has 3:73 with rear disk brakes, including the new e-brake, sway bar, shocks, even ford fuel cell. Saved a ton of work Since my neighbor has a junk yard he sold me a low-direct-high Brownie with the shifter and linkage plus a 2 ton A-frame winch for $425 AND I had to take it out! I told him it seemed kinda step since he shoot me with a BB gun for playing in his yard 27 yrs ago ointhead More story and pics to come.... :usa
Can't wait to hear the rest. My best friends dad had a white one that I wanted to buy from him. It hadn't ran in many years but he wouldn't sell it.
Thanks DB, Ya I drove by this truck every day for about 2 weeks and saw someone else looking at it so I bought it the next day before it was gone. Might have been wiser to let him have it :beatsme Now that the rear half is done it's time to start up front, I couldn't use a Ferd front axle because the pumpkin is on the drivers side and the PW divorced transfer case is on the right side. So I found $$$ a 1978 GMC Dana 60 front axle that matched the Power Wagon leaf springs so it fit right in. Next I put in the matching GMC steering box and it bump steered like crazy because the PW has the shackles in front of the leaf springs not trailing like most pick ups. Out with that box and in with F-350 parts truck steering box. Since the F's frame was molded to the steering box I cut a small section of frame out and welded it to the PW frame. Using a cross over steering kit. Now there is no bump steer and she drive beautiful down the road. Since the factory PW steering column needed to be relocated to fit the new steering box I tracked down a tilt-telescoping column out of an old Chrystler 300. Thats right it telescopes too LoL Already posted this video but it show the column that I'm so proud of! YouTube - Shift 1968 Power Wagon With 10 Speed and Brownie Box
Love the Power Wagon.Thats gonna be a handy rigg when ya getter done.Excellent work Mike Mc:thumbsup
That's quite the project Mike. Looks like a winner when its all done. Thanks for sharing it. We will be waiting for the rest of the story. opcorn
Thanks for the interest! Having my thinking cap on I took the F-350's hydro booster and rigged it up, so now it sends proper brake pressure to the front and rear disk brakes. It's a good thing I did cuz this truck weights 9,800lbs. empty . It'll stop quick too. But now I have another problem, US 8 lug up front and Ferd metric 8 lug in the rear... how am I going to rotate my future super swamper tires when they start to cup? While chatting on a BB a fellow recommended using 8 to 10 lug adapters since I'm making it like a truck. That was one of the best thing I ever did was buy these adapters so I could run 22.5 with low pro's. Quiet, brake smoothly, good mpg. Almost ready for the highway I built a flat bed for it and hit the road.... didn't make it very far since I forgot to tighten the lug nuts ointhead . OK gotta go to work
Ok more story, got the truck drive train pretty solid but the DT366 still has lots of smoke. So my plan is to drive it hard and see if it will clean up some. Even pouring a container of Borax down the intake it still smoked. Not wanting to spend any money on the DT I yanked it out and carefully removed the cab. With a little searching I found a '93 Cummins B5.9 and started building an adapter to the 10 speed bell housing (been easier to buy the adapter kit for $1,000 but NO!) Now all the drive train is setting at 7deg. to match the rear end angle. So hopefully all my homemade drive lines will last. So far so good. YouTube - drive lines 005.avi
Now the '93 Cummins is in place and I found a 7.3 Power Stroke radiator and cooler thats about 25% bigger than Dodge's cooling system. Although the body had to be raised 3" so the hood would close and not hit the radiator.... Hey it looks good being tall and I get to help the girl friend get in With the radiator leaned back for more hood room I enclosed the area between the cooler and radiator for maximum air flow. Since there is only one small electric fan, I left the bottom of the radiator exposed and used diamond plate to direct the air flow. In my mind I see the air passing under the cooler into the radiator when going slow. When up to speed the air being forced through the cooler to help get some extra ponies for the highway. Ford might not agree but it works good in my application. The little fan only comes on when sitting and will cool it down and automatically turn off. Nowing this old truck will break down again a winch was installed for easy loading.
Hey Mike... It lookin good! You better get some pics of the Mighty D4 on here too. These folks will love 'em! Paul
that truck is awsome how fast does it go now?
Thanks Paul, Ya the Mighty D47U is highly modified too but it takes a long time for me to type the few paragraphs up. I'm much better with a wrench than a key board..... dang public schools. Cat980, according to the rpm calculator it will top out about 105mph.
With the '68 W300 PW up and running I started on the interior. Already installed the Chrysler 300 tilt-telescoping column the first rebuild so I'm happy it didn't need to be relocated for the Cummins and F-350 power steering box . My first wiring job wasn't that swift, only used like 6 colors.... you try chasing down 15 yellow wires :beatsme. So I pulled a harness out of a Dodge and stripped all the wires from the harness so it's all color coded and working good. More switches and gages is the easiest way to sum it up. The teenager talked me into a stereo so we built a box and put four eights behind the seat. Well thats about it guys! Attached are a few action pics
:notworthyThis is a great thread! I love watching a plan come together. Hope you dont need that winch!!
That is awsome. Amazing that you were able to put all the parts together and come out with something so nice!
Looking good. How does it like the D-4 behind it. I bet the brownie gets a little use with it.
That is a beaut!!The whole thing is excellent.You have a one off that you can be proud of.I am impressed on how much you get done in such a short time.Thanks for sharing it with us.Ron G
Thanks Guys!!! Berklee, the winch has been used a few times to get the truck up onto my trailer. JD, with a GVW of 31,000 it doesn't pull the D4 very well. Got plenty of power with good trailer brakes but lots of vibration. I believe there is to much axle wrap when towing that heavy and it's changing the rear end drive line angles. I'm always taking it to the rigs when it's not pressing. Just a couple weeks ago I hauled 3,200# of gravel on my 6,000# trailer up over the grape vine into Long Beach. It turned 10,000 miles on the 405. Pretty good since just completed last summer. She's a good runner but I keep having drive train breaking issues. They always break at crawling speeds but as they break I try to up grade them.
If I keep the load weight down and be easy on the clutch that seems to be the secret. But if I get a little ancy and to quick on the clutch :Banghead Just over Thanksgiving I pulled doubles out to the desert. I loved every mile of the trip but the woman sure complained the whole time because it's load, obnoxious, she mordified..... :beatsme. I figure if it bugs her that much she can drive her Jetta
That is a great looking truck mike. Kyle
You got a nice Duramax there too, 2011? :drinkup
I am not there but that drive shaft looks awful short You might be getting to much rear end movement for that short of drive shaft or you may be just over powering it - do the wheels hop
i am interesed in the bell housing i have been thinking about that for some time i have a 91 motor and thought the 10 would make a nice match how hard was it to make? what did you use for the plate thickness wise?any info would be helpful thanks great looking truck
Is that a western well drilling rig?
Dozerboy, it's an '08 GMC. Bought it when the money flowing, you remember $5 a gallon .... the good oil days. 1 welder, the wheels only hope when letting the clutch out. After that I have to power up the 160 HP Cummins easily in low gears to keep it from vibrating. I think it needs some axle wrap up bars on it so the drive line angles stay the same. FS, first I made a plate that bolted to the Cummins automatic transmission plate. Rolling two pieces of 2" x 1/8 flat bar with one fitting inside the other to allow for alignment. Fortunately I already had an adapter ring that fit the #2 10 speed to be welded to the rolled flat bar. You can see in the pic how the rolled flat bar slips inside each other so it could be aligned before welding. The adapter plate is working great, no problems at all except for there is no clutch brake. I try to have my thinking cap on but it wasn't on strait when I built this adapter ointhead. But there's an easy solution.... put the Brownie in neutral when I stop not the 10 speed. If the 10 speed is in neutral you have to wait about 15 seconds for it to grind into gear. But putting the Brownie in neutral it only takes about 3 seconds to stop spinning after the clutch is disengaged. Tonka, No the big rig is Ensign 561 and the smaller rig up close is old Gary rig 8. How someone from NY know about Western? This pic is Western rig 48.
any wheel hop is sudden shock to the drive line how long is your drive shaft it looks quite short - that does not allow for much up and down travel of the rear end do you have shocks on the rear ? if not a shock mounted at an angle in front of axle on driver's side and behind axle on the right side helps wheel hop also the drag guys use to use a bar bolted underneath the U bolts which extended forward ,when the springs started wrapping up the front of the bar would come in contact with the springs preventing any more wrap up \also pinion angle has an effect on wheel hop and traction
Your rear driveshaft looks a little on the short side. Let's see if i get this right from the pics. 10spd-Driveshaft-Tcase-Driveshaft-Brownie-Driveshaft-Rear Axle? Can you cut down the intermediate driveshaft down so it is just a single U-joint? If they are breaking at low speed i bet that something is binding when the suspension cycles. If it is binding and you can't make the driveshaft any longer than running a double U-joint off the brownie could help.
That thing is awesome!! Once you get the driveline bulletproof, you can really put the power to that 12 valve cummins. Also I think some super singles would look amazing on that truck! Excellent job!
Used to live in Taft/Mckitrick, worked for MH Whittier, and was a welders helper for Larry King, out of Derby Acres... even worked the Lost Hills gas well fire in 99...
Did the BB format change? OneWelder, The rear is '01 F-350 so it has the Ford sway bar and shocks that are mounted in the factory position. The rear drive line is only 22 1/2" hvy 1 ton, "Let's see if i get this right from the pics. 10spd-Driveshaft-Tcase-Driveshaft-Brownie-Driveshaft-Rear Axle?" Yup it's pretty busy under those frame rails LoL. I considered a single U-joint between the transfer case and Brownie but it was difficult to mock up so I figured it would always be in a bind so I built the little 4 1/2" drive line. Yes it always does break at low speeds (barely moving) when the engine in lugging down. Just seems like the Cummins has to much torque in the lower gears for this old drive train thats made for a V-8 gas engine. But as it breaks I keep upgrading it to F-350 equivalent. The problem seems to be in the clutch, it grabs quickly and jumps the truck around and breaks things. I was wondering is I could loosen the bell housing mounts to allow the the engine and tranny to lift a little to help it take off easier. No matter how gingerly I let the clutch out it's jerky. Thanks for the tips. M-
Just made a rig dlivery to GSD with 9,600#'s of sand. If I put the hammer down in the lower gears the truck will start viberating. Once in higher gears no problems matting the throttle. I think it need some anti axle wrap bars that 1 welder spoke of.
You would be surprised at the torque your getting at the drive line.That set up is multiplying the torque to the drive line.