Gordon_M

If you have a look at those, they all have dash plates with proper hull / serial numbers. The British Army got them all rebuilt and standardised on the later model, so early details like horizontal rear coaming, ordinary CCKW windscreen, and opposite placement of the spare wheel on the rear deck all disappeared at that time.

However, I was told by a trusted DUKW insider that had been over them in detail that one of them was a very early chassis indeed, with a hull number well under 1000, so it would have all of the early features.

The wrinkle is that the hull / chassis number doesn't match the plate that is actually on the vehicle dash, so it is worth checking the rear wheelarch for the actual hull number next time you see them, since one of them is very early indeed.

As a follow up I've only ever seen one very early DUKW with most of the early features still in place - in the Amphib event in Italy round Lake Garda in the nineties where it was for sale - don't know where it went.

Gordon, ex-owner of Dusty DUKW hull 14962

Well I'm impressed. Don't think I'd use it for anything safety-critical or pressure-containing though.

Nice piece of kit.

I like rail stuff and have a couple of rail-adapted bits here...

http://www.gwim2.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/wd21.htm

If I remember correctly this whole range derived from bedford RLs which were given that hull shape.

Really you'd want to turn her over by hand to make sure she is free. If she is then it is just a battery / terminal / connection thing.

If she won't turn over, most likely a coolant leak into a cylinder, so drain down, check cylinders, plugs out, diesel or oil in bores and see what you can do. If that doesn't improve it - head off and clean up, as it'll need a new gasket anyway. Check block and head for cracks to water jacket, and so on.

Any Dodge of that general type is more easily maintained than a Dingo, splendid though those small Daimlers are.

If you want open air, any 3/4 or 1/2 ton open cab pickup or Command, if you want practicality and two or three seats a half ton closed cab pickup is hard to beat.

If you need to carry 'stuff' and more than two or three folk, you are looking for a Carryall. 3/4 ton Carryall looks nice but is a little heavy, half ton is lighter and a little uglier, mechanics of either are no problem, so you really need to base buying decisions on price and completeness.

I have three hard cab pickups and one van at the minute, though not much time to get them up and running as I'd like. My particular favourite is my '40 half ton 4 x 4 pickup.

There are some parts you can't get any more, unless you are willing to pay ££££

Dealers used to sell original parts with some repros, now they are selling a higher percentage of repro parts, but the quality of the repro parts has improved dramatically too.

Sometimes a dealer will have a repro part at £x and an original part at £2x, you just need to decide what you can afford.

Typical reproduction parts would be speedometer and temperature guage, both of which are now available as excellent repros at a reasonable price. The earlier large civilian-type Dodge speedo has recently become available as repro through Vintage Power Wagons.

I'm a regular Dallas Autos customer, never had any real complaints.

I can see the point about using the closest one to you, though. You can visit, find what you need, check quantity / quality, and pick up some extra essentials. Getting parts by post is a PITA, especially since my 'local' parcels delivery offices are 18 - 25 miles away.

Gordon:argh:

You might find you can borrow two sections from the door that is on your garage - job done.:cool2:

Garage roller shutter door has this section on it. Just find a damaged section someone has had to replace and run off with a bit.

I've seen it used on jeeps and open cab Dodges which have very similar screens, so it should do for your application.

Gordon:coffee:

there will be cut-throat bidding on that item, do you think?:stop:

Well, it's a river, and not a canal, but I wouldn't try to stop one ...

I've driven down that river in one some time back, half the time it was running on the mud and not floating.

These conversions were carried out late-1940s on by civilian owners and can be either very well done or rough. There were plenty of D15-T222 / D60-T110L RHD military Dodges to yield steering column parts for them.

I was told it was only in some states, started post-WW2, and now is not a requirement, but the value will depend on how well it was done.

Again, there was a thread about this on the Maple Leaf Up Forum, and that's probably the best place to get an idea of value too.

Well you know what it is, and it's very tidy, not really a fan of the engine change though.

Since it is down under you probably need to investigate the FOR SALE and SOFTSKIN sections of the Maple Leaf Up forum;

http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/

Probably best on E-Bay though, given the circumstances.

Gordon

Sounds like a good deal for someone else...

The Command and Weapons are the same at chassis part number level, it's the bits you bolt on that make them one or the other. this one probably has 12 volt electrics and started off as a Command, but it would be easy enough to build it as a Weapons Carrier - if you could find the bits.

There are no good usable weapons carrier or Command bodies out there that aren't already attached to a chassis. You could source most of the front sheetmetal easily enough, back to the dash, but loose rear bodies just dont seem to be about. If you did go for it, generally easier to build a Weapons Carrier body than a Command.

Gordon

If you were looking for the truck to work for a living, or do long milages, then a diesel / multifuel M series would be the thing.

To go with the jeep, for a little light use and local running, a good CCKW.

Gordon

Well it has to be a clearance slot for the handbrake, gearlever, winch brake, or something trivial like that, doesn't it?

I haven't seen that rear body configuration before

You'll find this lot very friendly, and you might want to check out the Maple Leaf Up Forum too;

http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/

Between here and MLU you should find any answers you need.

Gordon

It makes me wonder why they used brass tube at all. I assume it is because copper was in short supply.

Brass has much more structural strength than un-alloyed Copper. You could make these tubes out of Copper no problem, but they would fall apart if dinged at all.:coffee:

£8.50p plus VAT per tube?

Just going to be a case of a huge sigh and pay the bill, isn't it? You are never going to need another set, and I suppose it is lucky you can get them off the shelf at that price as I don't think you could make them for that.

Gordon

I've had no less than four Dodge trucks here that had tube shocks on, two half ton militarised civilian WC36 Carryalls, a 1939 133" one ton TD20 pickup, and a 1941 one ton WD21 panel van;

http://www.gwim2.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/wc36.htm

http://www.gwim2.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/td20.htm

http://www.gwim2.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/wd21.htm

I've had several military Dodges and never had to do much more than clean and fill the shocks, I've only ever had one knee-action shock that didn't respond to cleaning and filling. In contrast ALL the tube shocks which were on contemporary trucks have ended up in the bin. Replacement tube shocks for the Carryalls were found easily enough (£££) as they were standard half ton length and rating, but the one ton trucks both had non-standard shock lengths and ratings (££££) I hunted down replacement shocks for the one ton pickup as it is entirely original, with only about three square feet of sheetmetal grafted from a 1941 cab roof, but when I came to the one ton panel I decided just to bin the tube shocks and go with military knee-action shocks - not worth the grief.

Most of the running gear on 1/2 and 3/4 ton WCs is borrowed from the contemporary 1.5 ton civilian truck as the half ton civilian stuff is way too feeble. My 1940 VC3 pickup;

http://www.gwim2.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/vc3.htm

... shows signs of it's civilian heritage, as it has open 'C' shackles on the front spring (actually just the same as jeep shackles but about 3/8" taller) weak front axle housing, and thin flexible chassis - at least it was flexible before Uncle Sam did a depot-level rebuild on it and welded up and / or plated every single chassis joint.

I know just about enough about the 1939 / 41 civilian and military Dodges to get by, especially the lighter ones, so ask away if you need to, but take my word on the tube shocks.

I don't have a specific viscosity to suggest, but all the work I've done on them was with hydraulic jack oil which was fairly light / low - basically I just poured out some of the oil that was in them and matched the viscosity of that.

Power Wagons and civilian Dodges normally have tube shocks on them which are quite dreadful (ask me how I know...) Some of them had no shocks at all on the back axle. Dodges 1.5 ton and up used knee-action shocks as standard. I'm pulling tube shocks off one of my one tons and fitting a set of knee action shocks.

Keep them clean and filled, replace bushes when they need it, and you shouldn't have to spend anything else on them. If you find a spare or two for the shelf all the better, as when they do fail I don't know of anyone who rebuilds them, though there are so many about no real reason to.

I don't think so Tony, but if you took the arm off the shock you could put it back on wrongly on the other side. SHould be no way to get them wrong if you don't dismantle, but remember there are front and back shocks.

Both ways, but in one direction much more than the other.

If you have them off the truck, look for the filling screw in the side, then fill them right up with shock oil (or jack oil if that is all your supplier has) and work them forward and back a few times.

I've looked at a lot of these, and I've only ever found one of the knee-action shocks that didn't respond well to a fill up and a little gentle exercise.

I suppose it is possible you re-fitted them the wrong way round and the basic shock action is in the wrong direction?

Not particularly helpful to the Crossley question, but on WW2 Dodges you can use 3/4 ton WC 9.00 x 16 rims on the front and inner / outer nuts, plus 1/2 ton WC 7.50 x 16 rims outboard of those.

There is a little extra weight, but no extra steering effort at all as the outers are off the running suface until you really need them on soft going.