richard hulme

Hi Chris, How does the Dodge run on the Coker tyres? How do they look on and do you have any pictures of them? Regards Richard.

The route to Registration victory: Get vehicle Insured on Chassis Number SPEAK to your local DVLA office, yes actually call them, they are human! They will send out your registration pack. Join MVT (or other such organization) and get a date authentication letter from them vehicle age inspector, this can take a while and have plenty cups of tea and biscuits available, they are volunteers and do a damn good job. Book an MOT Get Vehicle MOT'd (you can drive it on the road to the test centre at this stage, as long as you have a booked appointment, this is fun if you have never had it on the road before!) Take your completed registration and supporting documents to the DVLA, they takes your money and then you wait. After about 2 weeks you either get your stuff through OR a letter saying it needs to be inspected at the DVLA office with a time and date. NOTE: you cannot drive it there, it must be transported or trailered, NO TAX DISC=NOT ROAD LEGAL. You can plead your case if you want and they may come out to inspect it, but it will be weeks into the future before they come out and then you wait 2 more weeks for your documents to come. This is from recent experience registering a Dodge WC51 imported from Norway. It seems daunting at first but its not, just be prepared to wait. Hope this helps some.

Does anyone have a copy of this, maybe on PDF? I seem to have all the other manuals for the dodge wc51 except this one!! Any help appreciated. Regards Richard.

Having used light shocker oil (5w) and having taken onboard what has been said here, I went and purchased some thicker shocker oil (15w) and the difference is noticeable. To conclude, I used too light an oil last time resulting in poor rebound resistance. It would seem a 10w or 15w shock absorber oil (or hydraulic jack oil) is the way to go as it gives much better resistance on the compression and even better resistance on the rebound. If you need shock absorber oil go to your local motorcycle spares shop, they will have it as "Fork Oil", Hellfords sell Jack oil. Thanks again to eveyone. Regards Richard.

I have to ask, how do you know tube shocks are dreadful....

There is major damping effort on the rebound but very little on the bump. So I guess that my shocks absorbers are working correctly. I have tried "motorcycle fork oil (5w)" as recommended somewhere, this allows me to move the arm with light to moderate pressure, is this oil thick enough? As a test I cleaned the unit out and filled it with some SAE90, this required heavy pressure to move the arm, increasing its dampening effect considerably. Can anyone recommend a specific oil viscosity? Thanks for all the help though, saved me hundreds as I had planned to replace them all as I thought they were all faulty!! Regards Richard.

When removed, should the lever arm on the shock absorber resist movement in both ways or just one? All 4 of my shock absorbers only seem to resist in 1 way (down and not up) and so the ride seems a little, well, bouncy! Any help appreciated! Regards Richard

On the first test run the results were: from 0 to about 32Mph there appears to be no transfer box noise at all (where before there was), then as power is applied above 32Mph there is noise (but normal sounding noise not exploding gears noise), when maintaining speed there is noise (again, normal sounding), when slowing or coasting there is hardly no noise. Yes, hindsight is a wonderfull thing, I replaced the intermediate shaft with a brand new one after it exploded on the A63. It was after this I decided to give the transmission an overhaul so refurbished the transfer box, then the front shaft and rear shafts as they were the only thing left that could be causing noise after having replaced the transfer box twice more and some time after replacing the clutch, gearbox and rear diff.... But I now remember the shafts were off a WC54 which has a longer rear shaft and I now also remember just changing the splined end as the UJ was in much better condition. I think it was at this stage I must have got the alignment wrong. The juddering doesn't actually occur, I just noticed that if I artificially induced a stall, the juddering caused by the engine actually amplified the transfer box noise, even at low speeds. Full thanks to Nick for leading me down the path with a new set of eyes!! And to all at HMVF for operating this forum.

WOW! That did it, the rear prop shaft was 90 degrees rotated. Lined it up and the noise has now been reduced by 90%! Of course it still makes a little noise but I assume this is to be expected, it says so in the manual. Thank you very much for your guidance on this Nick, its is really appreciated! Regards Richard.

Thanks for the rsponse Nick, starting with the obvious: Running in 2WD on the road - YES! 4WD lever in forward position - YES! Transmission juddering - NO! (I just added in that if you purposefully vibrate the engine, the transfer box seems to make the rattle) Prop shafts - ALL replaced, the short shaft is Brand new, please expand on UJ;s being aligned on the short shaft. Fornt Prop Shaft removed - Will try tomorrow! Thanks again for your help!

Glad to hear the oil is correct, and that EP90 is OK to use. As far as I am aware there are no bronze parts in the Dodge Transfer Box. Thanks for the prompt response, it is much appreciated. I have just been re-reading through some of the tech manuals and have noticed a bulletin TB 9-808-8 is specifically directed toward transfer box noise, does anyone have this Technical Bulletin? Regards Richard

Ever since I have owned my Dodge, its Transfer box has always been noisey, really noisey! I know they don't run silent but mine sounded like it was about to explode and a grating, rumbling sort of way. I took the box off, refurbished it by replacing all the bearings and oils seals, reset the shims and attached it back onto the vehicle. upto about 25mph silence, then after that the noise rumbles in.... Took it back off and double checked everything, all OK. Someone suggested the gears could be worn out, so I removed the centre idle gear before re-assembling the box. Behold, silence! Not even a whisper of rumbling - it must be the gears, I thought! So I bought a second hand transfer box that the previous owner (and good friend) knew to be OK, stuck it on my Dodge and after 25MPH CLATTER, CLATTER RUMBLE GRATE...... So I ran it for a while with my old "non idle gear" box (and therefore no 4X4) until someone got it stuck in some soft mud, this convinced me to re-assess the transfer box.. I bought a reconditioned unit from a very well know and respectable Dodge parts supplier, I have put that on, all my hopes were dashed when at 25MPH CLATTER, CLATTER RUMBLE GRATE...... So what am I doing wrong? I use Comma Oil EP90 as the lubricant, is this correct? I have noticed that the transfer box makes the noise below 25mph IF you are about to stall and the engine is juddering. Any help would be appreciated, and thank you for reading this far down! Regards Richard.

Thanks guys - that help prevent a hasty purchase of some brass ones!! Where is the best place to get aluminium ones from?

What is the best material to have your repro data plates made from? Aluminium or brass are available. These are for a 1943 wc51. Any ideas?

Cheers Bodge!

Sorry for not responding in such a long time - been busy with them wheels! To test the quality of the rims myself i jacked the rear of the vehicle up and in 2wd set the wheels spinning at around 30mph indicated. then i monitored the wheel spinning and was shocked as the rim wallowed in and out by about 8mm on one wheel and up to 25mm on another. The tyre wallowed even more due to the greater distance from the hub. It seems that my dodge had a collection of "the Norwegians worst wheels ever". only 1 of my 5 wheels wasn't actually buckled. So it seemed best to just get new, luckily a new good friend has a right off with 4 good wheels on and he is letting me swap them out (he is a star!). The welded lumps are indeed to counteract the missing steel where the valve stem pops out. I am fitting the tyres myself with my father in laws help (47 year truck and bus mechanic) and taking extra precaution to ensure they are centered. If they still wobble a bit at speed they may need balancing but doubt it as the original fault was caused by buckling not balancing. Quick Question : 40 psi is the book pressure - is that what everyone else runs at? All the best Richard.

After many attempts to get my dodge wheels balanced following all new tyres and some noticeable wobble over 30mph, I finally arrived at a garage that could handle the size of wheel on thier truck wheel balancing machine. To my dismay it was actually the wheels rims themselves that were ever so slightly buckled and a couple of rather buckled wheels that were causing the wobble and not balancing after all. Does anyone have any idea if you can get them straightned? Or how to do it yourself (Big Hammer Time!). Or where a new known good set might exist? regards Richard

Will do. (thats where he came from earlier this year). Thanks Bodge!

Does anyone have a spare Gearbox pilot shaft bearing (Hyatt RA99000). Mine is buggered and I have a show to go to this weekend!! Unfortunatly Dallas Auto Parts have run out and are awaiting stock and all my local bearing stockists have none. Do you know of any other supplier that may have one? Any help appreciated!

Unfortunatly i did not. I was hoping for something more complete. mechanically. My search for a WC is on pause at the moment but I hope to resume next year when I will have a bigger budget!

Simply amazing. Thankyou everyone! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Cheers everyone! I feel like I have my own support crew!

Went to see Stefan last weekend. He had about 5 available, of which only 1 actually ran, unfortunatly he had a bad batch. I believe he has got one running, but that needed a brake system overhaul and a lot of cosmetic work. I may go back and see that one as it was otherwise sound.

Cheers Lloyd, The one on Milweb is in my list to look at! As you probably know 5500 - 6000 is really the top end of what a Dodge should cost. I would be VERY intrerested in hearing from your norwegian contacts if they come up with anything. Regards Richard.

Looking for a running example of a Dodge WC51 Weapons Carrier. Anything considered, as long as it can be driven. Thankyou for any help in advance, regards Richard.