Dodge'40-'45

Disassembled the winch yesterday. it's in good condition, just needs the oil seals replaced. The mounting bolts of the shifting fork seem to have snapped off. Found a new shifting fork a while ago.

Been a while since last update, not much changed because of show season. Installed the rear diff and rear drive shaft today. Found a nice m24A1 machine gun mount and a .50 cradle to put on the Dodge. It had one installed at some point because it had the holes in the body for fitting one.

Some more progress on the Dodge lately. Front axle and springs are back in place, started assembling the front axle, had to replace all the oil seals with new ones. Tyres arrived, hope to put them on the combat rims soon. New tyre tubes too. Cleaned the shock absorbers and put them on the frame. Some more parts arrived for the axles including NOS brake linings, new brake cylinders and some more oil seals. Next up will be cleaning the brake drums and putting the linings on.

Rear axle and rear springs have been painted and installed, pleased with the result. Waiting on the joints and seals to arrive to put it back together. Front axle has been stripped of paint and degreased, waiting for some primer to be put on. Front springs have been reassembled, they were quite greasy, unlike the rear springs..

Frame has been painted and has dried for a few days. Now putting some parts back on. The engine and gearbox have to wait untill the Dodge is back on it's wheels. Had to open up the PTO again, it was missing the reverse. The selector wasn't in the right position and so it couldn't shift into reverse gear. Found a correct front axle (large one, with welded diff cover) to swap against my early bolted diff cover axle. Hope to collect it on saturday. Rear springs have been cleaned and put in primer (they're both dated 1/17/44 which is nice, i estimated the DOD of the dodge as late january, early february 1944). A friend made some new bushings to put in the rear springs. Rear axle has been cleaned and put in primer. Hope to put these in khaki green soon and assemble on saturday.

Chassis returned from the sandblaster. Put it in primer yesterday and hope to spray it olive drab tomorrow (if the Belgian weather permits :-D). Cleaned out the PTO and put new oil seals in it. Gearbox is now fully done. Removed all the remaining parts from the cab, it's in good shape, just some minor dents and no rot. Cowl vent needs to be fixed, spot welds seem to have come loose.

New gears and oil seals for the gearbox arrived. put it together today. Still need to put some new oil seals on the PTO and then it's done. Chassis is getting blasted this week.

Got the engine running last week. After adjusting the valve clearance it sounded like a proper T214. No Oil or water leaks which is unusual for a first start. Here's a link to a video of the engine running. https://goo.gl/photos/BrqhtUfQe7vvXemX7 Transfer case is finished, i'm looking for some speedy sleeves for the yokes. Started deassembling the transmission. Gears took quite a beating.. Luckily i've found a new set to replace the old ones. Hand brake drum and lining look almost unused. Found a correct late style 6V horn to go on the engine.

Engine is almost ready to test, waiting on some small parts to arrive. We had a look at the transfer case in the meanwhile. Lots of old oil and grease but it doesn't seems to have been used much, gears look almost new. Had a rebuild by the norwegian army in 1964. Got some NOS oil seals for it. Need to soak them in oil before mounting.

Straightened the chassis today with the help of a hammer and some heat. Off to the sandblasters on monday.

recored Radiator arrived today. Hoping to get the engine running soon and put a video up on this forum. Tomorrow we'll fix the front chassis rails which are slightly bent, something which is often seen on weapon carriers with a winch. After that it should be ready for sandblasting. Hope to get it sandblasted next week.

i'm hoping the same We'll find out soon, will pickup the radiator this wednesday. This is the last piece missing to get it running.

Had a look at the fuel pump today. It was near new condition. we put it back together and installed it on the engine along with the heat shield. Made a fuel line to connect the carb and fuel pump. Made spark plug wires, put the air filter on. After a lot of searching i managed to find the throttle linkage that was missing. So now we also have a working throttle. Also started putting some small parts into OD.

Carefully rebuild the carb today, it's a Carter that was on the Dodge. Next up for rebuilding is the fuel pump. Radiator with new core is ready for pickup next week.

Some more progress on the VC-3 after some time.. we put the doors back on. Cab interior needs to be finished, wiring and then painting.

We turned the engine yesterday and started assembling the cilinder head. Then put a coat of paint on the engine. When we tried to put one of the drain taps on the engine, the tap fell through the oil fill pipe hole right into the sump. My mistake for not covering it up...:-| We were lucky to get it out again. First thing i did after getting it out was put the oil fill pipe on. :-D Put some other small things in place.

Yes, i believe they do. They ship to belgium so i don't see why they wouldn't ship to the UK. Here's a link to their webshop with the brake linings. http://www.jeepest.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=686&category_id=98&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=2&lang=fr

Thanks for the info Tony. Jeepest in France sells brake linings with rivets. It's about 36 euros per axle rivets included. We've done the linings before on previous projects so should be able to do the ones of this Dodge too. Today was quite a busy day. Since we got the right pistons yesterday, we finally started assembling the engine. put the pistons in place and assembled the timing (NOS gears and chain). Put the oil pump in place, checked the position of the distributor first. :-D Hope to turn it over in a couple days to assemble the water pump and cilinder head. Radiator is off to get a new core.

Found this kit today to fit on the 6V dynamo and regulator. Complete with the original cable.

Today was ciney militaria, picked up the drive shaft for the winch and found a nice toolbox cover for the cargo body. Also got a set of STD sized pistons, so will start assembling the engine tomorrow.

Moving on to the transfer case today, has a 1964 norwegian rebuild plate on it. Pinions are good. New seals, joints and a good cleaning. Had a look at the axles. The brake linings on the rear axle are greasy due to leaking oil seals. Rear axle has a welded diff cover. Front axle brake linings are dry, but worn out completely. Front axle has a bolted diff cover. Originally it would have had 2 welded ones, might see if i can swap the front axle for a late one. Brake cilinders are all stuck and conditions are unknown but i expect i will need to get new ones. Master cilinder seems useable but will need a new kit. Will need to find new brake linings. Most of the tar on the chassis has been removed and hope to get it sandblasted soon.

combat rims have all had their first layer of primer.

Combat rims are back from the sandblasters. Started putting them in primer along with the drive shafts. Tried the pistons today and it appears they are the wrong size.. The box and packaging say it's STD size but the actual diameter of the pistons is +60... :rolleyes: Have contacted the seller and he will take them back and replace them with a STD set.

New piston rings arrived, so now getting all parts ready for assembling the engine. Hope to have it assembled by the end of the weekend. Have found a driveshaft for the winch, will collect it on sunday at Ciney.

Combat rims are off to get sandblasted. Hope to get them back next week. Started cleaning the drive shafts. Put some smaller parts in primer (4x4 Shifter and some parts for the parking brake). Hope the new set of piston rings arrives soon so we can start fully assembling the engine. Also found some new gaskets and oil seals for the transfer case.