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WC53 Carryall Restomod - Cummins ISB170, Allison, ORI Struts

AlxJ64

AlxJ64

Rust is Paint
Joined
Feb 3, 2021
Member Number
3436
Messages
647
Loc
Richmond / Cville - VA
I guess this thread should go here now; it was in the tow rigs section of the old forum, but the airstream was sold during the divorce so ex-nay on that one. Going to be more of a weekend cruiser now and also I want to use it to haul my nephews around the OBX as a surf wagon because they are starting to get to that age and show an immense interest in it.


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I've been around here on the new forum some but not really super active and I do miss the banter and support during the stupid long build that this thing was undergoing.

Historically speaking for anyone who may have forgotten or never knew:
2012 bought smashed-ish truck with no powertrain
2013 rebuilt rear body, started suspension, purchased ISB170 and Allison 1000 combo with 56k miles on it from wrecked FedEx truck
2014 heavy suspension and driveline construction including boxed frame, 4 link, cross members, custom axle housings
2015 took a break and rebuilt my trail rig amidst this project so like 1.5 years no work
2016 I was diagnosed with M.S. and took a dive and progress was slow and rough
2017 got truck running and driving - it ate its first Allison, and had an improper rebuild by a liar who didn't fully tear it down and rebuild it, so bye bye budget for a while
2018 got another used Allison and got truck running and started to debug only to find out there was an issue with TCM programming and also I had the wrong dipstick the whole time making me the real dipstick as I was cavitating the fluid on longer drives.
2019 - got divorced and as one does, had to figure out my finances, take side jobs, etc. so not truck time or money
2020 - moved out of Hampton Roads and was working literally 3 jobs at the same time
2021 - still setting up the new place but now I have a lift and more space to work.

Specs on truck so far:
1942 Dodge WC53 3/4 Ton Carryall
Engine: Cummins ISB170 Common Rail 3.9 Turbo Diesel - intercooler, FASS lift, 30 Gallon Fuel Cell, ECM calibration from Brazilian F250 (data plate 520 ft lb, 205 hp) full 3" stainless exhaust, 3" core custom radiator, E-fan
Drivetrain: Allison 1000 from 2001 GMC 3500, SAE 3 bellhousing, 1580 output
Transfercase: Ford NP205 Divorced, Air Shift controls, M37 (NP200 style) parking drum and NWF flanges
Rear Axle: Eaton HO72 with 4.57s, disc brakes, custom perches
Front Axle: Eaton HO72 with 4.57s, 14bolt Detroit Locker, 30 Spline Dutchman inner shafts, Ford KP D60 Outers with 35 Spline custom spicer hubs
Rear Suspension: Custom Alcan springs with re-machined hangars and shackles, Gabriel air assist shocks with on board controls (ARB Twin Compressor and 1.5 gallon charge tank)
Front Suspension: Semi parallel 4 link with cross over steering, custom AGR reverse (forward) rotation box, 10" OD green ORI Struts with remote piggyback reservoirs
Wiring etc: CANBUS 20 circuit programmable system from InfinityBox.
Tires/wheels: 38.5" Michelin XML Radials on 16" two piece alloy Hutchinson 24 bolt beadlocks (with lock ring installed) 165 lbs per assembly
Vintage Air AC and heat unit
The interior is still under construction but the big item is that the rear floors on these trucks were originally Teak... well, the floors I have been builder are out of Reclaimed Teak deck boards that are ORIGINAL deck boards from the Battleship USS North Carolina BB55.

So I still need to get the interior done, Grendal is building / having built a bomb proof Allison 1000 to finally address a lot of my issues in exchange for another one of these Carryalls that I have here.
I haven't "worked" on the truck in 2 years now and have only put about 200 miles on it in that time frame. My new living location is much more suited for working on this truck, however I am still getting the 1/2 of the building wired up to run my tools as even just this past weekend I was running my lathe off of my big welder extension cord. I do have a post lift now so a lot of the things I was doing laying on my back on the floor can be done standing. Also, there's room to use an engine crane in the building.
As a reminder, this truck was built so far in a 1.5 car detached garage in a back yard of a neighborhood in Hampton Roads area of Virginia; most of the garage space was full of tools and everything else was stored away and had to be retrieved.
So here we go, its time to get back at this thing soon. Once the rest of my machines are in their permanent place, and up and running (I have an old bandsaw and decent size vertical mill I have been hoarding that need some love before putting them to work) I'll be rolling hard on finishing this thing. I guess questions based on photos can help catch up details I glazed over.
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Gots_a_sol said:
Sorry to hear about the divorce, but glad to see this is still around and being worked on.
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Don't be sorry about the divorce; I was for a long time but then I came around and started living life the way I am now, and realized that the divorce was needed as I was unable to be the best version of myself with her. If we met each other for the first time now, I don't think we'd even talk to each other, thats how far we've both gravitated to our own different places in life.
 
Nice to see this man. I look forward to getting a good trans in that thing and seeing some miles go on it.
 
Very nice, condolences re your divorce, did that once myself.

Reminds me of a Charlton Heston movie car I worked on in my hollyweird days.
 
I followed, and forgot about this awesome build. Looking forward to watching the progress on it now :smokin:
 
Glad to see this over here man, looking forward to seeing it finished up and on the beach.
 
Sweet good to see your build over here. I followed it on the old site from when you first got it and vaguely remember the original build by the first guy who put a 4bt in it, can't remember the website it was on but I believe his user name was mcinfantry.
 
Hell yes, man. Welcome back. Super fuckin excited to see how the rest of this comes together.
 
Alex, if I may be so bold, how much coinage do you have in that purity truck ?

What does it weigh ?
 
PAE said:
Alex, if I may be so bold, how much coinage do you have in that purity truck ?

What does it weigh ?
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Well for price, one day I sat down and went through all of my invoices that I could find, and the known costs for parts that weren't direct costs.
Not including my time, or consumables, but adding a $5,000.00 "Misc-missed costs" fee for fuel, food, beer for friends, and some overlooked raw materials, surprisingly its just under $30,000.00 Kinda crazy. This doesn't include all the tools I've bought along the way.


It weighs 6200 lbs with no interior (including windows, rear teak floors, seats, or interior panels), me in it, and 1/8th tank of fuel.
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Interesting as to the scale pic, every time I've attemped to get a pic of a truck scale display it will not show in the pic, just a blur of red flashing numbers.
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Great to see you on here, and looking forward to the finished build.

Please don’t let documenting on here interfere with your meme game in Instagram. I live for the memes.
 
Holy badass truck, I must have missed this on the old site.

PAE said:
Interesting as to the scale pic, every time I've attended to get a pic of a truck scale display it will not show in the pic, just a blur of red flashing numbers.
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It's the LED refresh rate that causes it. In the fraction of a second that the camera is taking an exposure, only a portion of the LEDs are illuminated. Usually used for dimming and called Pulse Width Modulation.

You can try taking an HDR pic as that overlays a few different exposures, or try it at night when your camera is taking a longer exposure.
 
So glad to see this build on here and rolling again - Have loved it from the start!
 
Glad this is on here! The 3/4 ton Carryall is one of my favorite WWII vehicles. Finding them now not all beat up or rusted is a challenge.
 
Very nice! My dad had an affinity for powerwagons and those ones were always my favorite since we hardly saw them. I forever tried to get him to put on those same exact tires. Nicely done!
 
Weird side story.
I am working on an old Cincinnati No 2 Mill and am tracking down parts and misc stuff. I got a lead on some machine vises down in Hampton Roads where I used to live and where I worked on this truck the most.
Well, I show up to the guy's place and he's got a super nice shop and there's a GPW on his lift and I spot an M37 around back. We go around back to his container to grab one of the vises and I mention that the truck under the tarp looks like the shape of a WC53, and he says - good eye, it is, but I am working on that for a friend, its not for sale. We wander over and he lifts the tarp and based on just the glimpse of paint I ask "Is this Mark's?" and he says yes... well, its the only other local truck I could find back in 2012 when I was rebuilding the tailgates on mine. I drove out to the guy's house and climbed over his mountain of stuff that he had blocking the truck in because I had to take measurements of the back of the truck because mine had been rearended and I was rebuilding the back openings. It had been hauled from there to this guy's shop and had been there for a year already waiting its turn for work. Its getting a full restoration evidently so I was hesitant to mention what mine was like; the OE restoration guys get all hurt when they hear mine is repowered without seeing how its all kind of hidden or made to look original. Weird coincidence though on all places because the connection was tool sale based and nothing to do with MVs originally.

Anyways, just to apologize for the notification on this thread and there was no real work or technical updates, I award you with a pleasant photo.

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Grendel said:
Did he have a tail gate?:flipoff2:
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Yes actually, its in rough shape though and needs to be rebuilt, I may even cut and sell him some of the internal repro parts I made for building mine, you'll want some too I bet. The upper gates are harder to source even yet.
Lucky for you, I am sending the remnants of an upper gate with your Carryall that can be fixed or used for a template for one. I guess someone didn't like how that middle rib blocked the rear view mirror.

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Its in the back of the truck... she's standing in the way.
This is Grendel's future project; figured I'd post it here just to get him stoked more than he already is.

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AlxJ64 said:
So I still need to get the interior done, Grendal is building / having built a bomb proof Allison 1000 to finally address a lot of my issues in exchange for another one of these Carryalls that I have here.
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Can't wait... :flipoff2:
 
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