Hey folks - thought I'd post up about our newest acquisition to the fleet, or more appropriately, re-acquisition . I built this truck about 8 years ago, hence sold it, and just made a 3700-mile round trip last week to get it back. We built it for serious rock crawling around our favorite places here in Colorado and Moab, and it enjoys the benefit of also being fully streetable, meaning it doesn't have to be trailered 'everywhere' - driving it around town or to/from the local trails is no problem. It has several military cues and it is simply a big silly toy.

1974 Dodge Power Wagon Crew Cab: 6BT Cummins 12v, 47rh 2wd trans, divorced Ford 203/205 doubler, rockwells, Stazworks wheels, and 46" Claws. I did most of the work including the welding and fabrication, save for the leak-free aluminum bits which were done by a great local pro TIG welder. It is painted Air Force 'Strata' blue.

I won't rehash the original build thread, but here it is in case anyone would like to check out its evolution pages: https://www.ramchargercentral.com/t...l-power-wagon-the-saga-continues.125290/

For the most part is has basically sat dormant since we sold it in '17, but apart from some minor restoration and rust/corrosion work it appears to be good to go. Our off-road club has it's first trail run of the season this Saturday, which is also the first trail run this truck ever did in April of 15. Anyway, here's some pics and vids of it:

The 6BT engine is an early non-intercooled unit from a 90 Dodge W250, the 47rh trans is from a 95 Dodge 2500 with a V10, the 203 is from a Dodge that I converted to be a divorced input and the 205 is from a Ford, the axles are from a '67 M35 'deuce and a half 6x6, the wheels from Stazworks Wheels, and the tires are 46x19.5/20 Mickey Thompson Baja Claws. The front brakes are from a F550, the rears from a D80.
It has 99 Dodge hydroboost with an 02 master cylinder (disc-disc), and a Haldex TF750 engine-driven air compressor (for a medium duty truck with air brakes), and a Vickers V10F power steering pump. Lots of voodoo to get it all just the way I want and to make is perform well both on/off-road.

here's a couple pics of the beastie from before - couple of good shots from Moab -

I would have not hacked up an original crew cab since they are impossible to find. Hope you kept all the stuff you cut off to bring it back to original.

That is a really cool build

I bet you are a blast at parties!

...a lot of the floor, roof and firewall were beyond repair - that's actually a lot of the reason I used it, and the 1/8" diamond plate floor I welded in will last a whole lot longer than the rest of the cab. Beyond that it was upgraded to fit my wants and needs which worked out great. It was a fun build, and I'm looking forward to making it 'nicer' and having the opportunity to really dial it in and 'finish' it.

NICE truck from what I can see of it. Thanks for sharing!

Don't see what parties and rare, impossible to find, not reproduced sheet metal have in common. But if you have a two door extended cab like in the pic above for sale that i can buy i would be the life of the party. Just a bit of info, These cabs where only available for people who ordered them new(order only option). They where not found at every dealer like today. Hard to watch the video with the cab hacked, Sorry. But other than that it is a "beast".

...it is a beast, and I treat it like any other hot rod - like a 'toy'. Its first day out since his near-literal hibernation was a success, tho not without some issues. We went to Chinaman Gulch out near Buena Vista - always a great trail, and always a bit 'bigger' than the previous time. Bud did just fine, tho about a quarter of the way into the trail I started noticing a burning smell, which upon inspection I noticed the r-rear rotors was 'dripping'. Yeah apparently the corrosion from being out east and not moving for several years took its toll on the rear calipers and the pistons weren't retracting, and the rear brakes were dragging, enough so to liquify the grease in the hub, which was dripping out the bottom of the slotted rotor - literally smoking hot. Also noticed the left rear was almost as bad - not smoking but too hot to touch. Our solution was to unbolt/pry off both calipers, wedge a small tree branch between the pads, and duck tape them to the top of the leaf springs. Worked great, and since were in lo-lo most of the trail I really didn't 'need' brakes most of the time, and the front F550 brakes are so strong I didn't hardly notice not having the rears. Also interesting is the grease apparently cooled off enough to become 'grease' again and never dripped the rest of the trail.

The rest of the trail was uneventful - the truck seemed to 'remember' why it was built and performed just like it always has - it was like spending quality time with an old friend

If you need a 4 door cab, I'm sure there are at least two that I know of near me

Who gives a [censored]? What a sad pathetic life one must live to dump on someone else's party.

To the OP, nice job, looks like you were having fun.

...it's all good - the cab was beyond 'OE' repair and I resurrected it and also beefed it up to endure what I ask this truck to do. Plus, making the whole roof removable was just extra awesome sauce . We're taking the truck to another trail called Liberty in a couple weeks, after a repair a couple things from the last run.

just a quick update - In October I'm taking Bud to a big event in New Mexico called Chili Challenge - just about everyone in my 4x4 club (Bighorn 4x4s of Colorado Springs) is going, and along with making repairs from the last trail ride I'm also making a couple improvements too.

Front end is sitting on stands while the front leafs get some love -



...and my little helper keeping me company in the early hours of the days while I wrench before going to work -



Front leaf springs. The replacement set of Pro Comp 13511 4" front leafs I have under the truck are on planet-wide backorder, but fortunately 4WP rocks and set me up with a pair of the 6" versions (13611) - I was permitted to take the top two new leafs from the 13611's and swap those into my damaged 4" packs, thus 'rebuilding' my front leafs and getting me back on the trails, and all under full warranty (net cost of exactly $0.00) - big kudo's to 4WP for that awesomeness 👍 .

Exhaust. One of the things I wish Bud was, is quieter, and to that end I am trying to cram a decent muffler under the floor without hitting the belly cradle. To do that I cut two access panels out of the floor, and once the muffler arrives (today) I'll find a way to get it in the available space, and then reconnect the plumbing. I was looking for a baffled and chambered 4" in/out diesel muffler, and the only one I could find was from Mike at Heartthrob exhaust - pn 7081Q

http://www.heartthrobexhaust.com/4and5dieselkits.htm

Should make the truck way less 'basey' - bassy?...less boomy - boomey? ... :LOL:

Floor surgery - showing where the straight-thru 4" exhaust was - the muffler will go 'here'...somehow...I hope...





Doubler seals. I discovered both the 203 input and 205 output yokes are leaking, so those are both getting fresh seals.

Tie rod. I'm saving up to go full hydro, and in the meantime I'm going to sleeve the existing tie rod to finish out this season, and hell maybe next season too who knows.

Rust. I've been applying liberal amounts of both Rustoleum and Locktite rust reformer, with an oil-based top coat. So far so good.

Air Cleaner. I decided to install inner fenders, and an original 1st Gen Cummins air cleaner assembly - this will have several benefits. The current air cleaner works but isn't ideal - any splash off the tires can (and has) choke the air cleaner, and the engine; pic -



I'll be installing a set of OE inner fenders, on the passenger's side of which I'll be bolting up an OE Cummins air cleaner assembly. This will essentially eliminate the water 'splash' problem, and it will quiet down the turbo, another plus in the 'quieter' column (y) .

Rear Axle Hub Seal. I ordered a rockwell-specific custom hub seal installation tool from Neil at Western Canadian Rockwell, which should cure my r-rear inner hub leakage problem.

Lights / Wiring. In any leftover time between now and 11 Oct I'll also be trying to go through the dash and outside lighting, wipers, power ports, etc., to make sure all of that works too. I think I'ma need to call in some cavalry...

- Sam

so I'm doing several things to the truck, among them is a faster way to air up/down my big 46" Mickeys. Holding an air chuck on the little valve stems takes a long time and usually cramps my hands, so I wanted a hands-free and faster way to get air in/out of my tires, and to that end I replaced my standard valve stems with large bore versions, and built a handy dandy hands-free tool using hi-flow air fittings, and it works awesome.

Chuck on the tool, open the valve, and deflate, close the valve and check pressure, repeat until at desired psi. Then to inflate, chuck on the tool, connect air hose, open valve, and watch the tires inflate. Fun fact - using my shop air compressor it took 1 minute to inflate these 46s from 0 to 30 psi, and my 13 cfm Bendix TF750 OBA system is not much slower, so boyahh. With the core removed I think the tires would deflate from 30 to 0 in about 30 seconds. Compared to the small stem stuff I've been running that's a huge improvement, and it cost me about $90 bucks (y)

This is my hands-free large bore tire inflator/deflator tool -



First, large bore valve stem vs standard stem -

I got the "large bore tank valves" (valve stems) from Borg Equipment, P.O. Box 190 Tujunga, CA 91043 Borg Equipment & Supply Co. Phone: 800-300-2674. These are for BIG equipment - loaders, graders, agricultural - things with BIG tires...

HAH47 / TR#J-671, Large Bore tank valve (valve stem), $5.37 each
HAA145 / TR-C2, LB valve core
note - I did open the base up to 1/4" with a drill bit for just a bit more flow -



LB core vs sb core - HUGE improvement in flow -



Hi-Flow air fittings (available at Harbor Freight, but I found the same kit via Amazon for a bit less and no travel time to the store) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08H23DB7H?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details



standard air tool fitting compared to the hi-flow fitting - HUGE improvement - perfect for my (or any) application -



Large bore air chuck - Amazon.com: Hromee Lock On Air Chuck for Large Bore Valve, Heavy Duty Closed Flow Tire Chuck, 1/4" FNPT for Tire Inflator and 12V1 Stem Quick Connector : Automotive



3-way T-fitting (AGS PTF73B) - https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...t-tee/ags0/ptf73b?q=ags+ptf73b&pos=0



ball valve - https://www.amazon.com/Valve-Compre...206&s=industrial&sr=1-3&th=1



I needed an air pressure gauge that would 1) handle my ~135 psi on-board air tank pressure, and 2) read accurately into the single digit range, and this Measureman 200 psi digital gauge does the job nicely - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084ZTWXK9?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1



here's the old standard (tiny) valve stems I was using -



and the wheel with the new LB stems - AFAIK these are the same 'monster valve' (large bore) stems in the off-road world now, but without the adjustable collar. I didn't really want the adjustable hardware because, well it happens so fast there's not much need for it.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/P2H0LtH.jpg[/img]

...update:

All 4 leaf springs are replaced, and a correction - ProComp leafs are not covered under a lifetime warranty, but 4WP did hook me up and honored their original stance. While I had it all apart I replaced the bump stops with ones much better suited for this truck. The first try were simply 'big' Jeep bumps that really just checked the box but did not really work that great. Plus the rust has eroded the 'capture' between the rubber and steel base. I found these big 4-bolt uber bump stops from Energy Suspension, pn 90.6006G for a medium duty truck. To make things as simple as possible I ditched the 3/8" u-bolt plates and made my own from 1/2" plate. Then I fabbed up 16 thick DOM spacers, and after hogging out the polyurethane everything bolted up nice and clean, and these will actually 'work'.

bottle of my favorite beer for reference -


old slightly warped 3/8" plates and new home-brewed 1/2" plates -


a fresh wood rotary rasp does a fantastic job of 'shaping polyurethane -


DOM insert/spacer/inserts in place -




3/16 steel strap capture both the DOM spacers and bump stops nicely -
Fronts -


Rears (ran out of room for the extra washer, and I'll correct for this with new u-bolts when I get a chance... -

The leaf springs look good -









I also sleeved my tie rod to help prevent it from kinking again -

...and I while not listed for 2.5-ton rockwells, the polyurethane 13015G tie rod boots from Energy Suspension work perfectly (y) -





Fits perfect -


With that all done all repairs from the last trail ride are finally complete...just in time for our trip to New Mexico in a couple weeks for Chili Challenge .

While it's been down I also re-did the exhaust, now sporting a 4" baffled and chambered muffler from Heartthrob exhaust - it's the only B&C muffler I could find in 4 inch - they call it the 'wife pleaser', so I'm looking forward to a quieter exhaust, especially on the road. Modified a 1st Gen downpipe I still in the rafters to fit my wastegated turbo (longer than a standard 1st Gen turbo, and rebuilt the rest to accommodate both the DP and muffler. Worked great -









#7081Q -




inlet -


outlet -


stack upright, now anchored to the cab -

Cool - got all hatches battened and lug nuts back on, fired up and drove it around yesterday, and all systems seem to be good to go 👍. One girl in a JK hollered out the window "that's the sexiest truck I've ever seen!", which made my day . R-rear hub is dry, exhaust is maybe a bit less loud - not as quiet as I'd hoped for but any little bit helps. Steers and stops just as good as it ever has. So yayee 👍 .

One nagging issue I've been tracking (and resolved this morning) was a 'pulsing' voltage regulator/charging system. Since day 1 the truck charged its two big deep cycle batteries fine...but when it's running...every two seconds or so you can watch the voltmeter needle 'twitch' - meaning it'll be at ~14.2 volts and 'twitch' off/on every few seconds like clockwork - like the charging stops(?) for a very brief moment - not even a second's worth of time - it's like a blip in the charging system...and it has done this ever since day-1 nearly 9 years ago. It reads normally and charges the batts 'fine'...but every 2 seconds the needle will 'twitch' and simultaneously you can hear the engine rpms 'twitch' too - a very slight but noticeable rpm drop, kinda like the alternator is 'demanding' more for a very very brief moment, dropping the rpms...at least that was my theory.

If the rpm's were up the issue seemed to eliminate itself - just as a data point.

Whatever the problem was has never affected charging of the two big batteries nor has it affected engine performance...and it does not seem to be mission critical, but I know whatever is causing the 'twitch' is not normal and I wanted it to stop. It's one of those things you can't 'un-notice'.

I recently replaced the voltage regulator - no change. I checked all the connections, and added another ground, but again, no change.

What did make a change, albeit a small change, was separating the VR's green field wire from both the 12v wire and the big charge cable off the alternator and wrapped them in separate plastic conduit - just in case there was any minor voltage 'bleed-over' from one wire to the other(s); it was still pulsing...but much faster - like every half second. Don't know what the hell that means, but apparently having the field wire and 12v wire running 'alongside' each other from the regulator to the alternator...along with the big charge wire...for reasons unknown...seemed to make a difference, but the base issue still remained. Also, on a voltmeter it's pulsing up to 15.2 and down to 14.8 back and forth...so it was technically overcharging.

One interesting actual solution (on another guy's truck) I read about on the interwebs was using a relay to 'clean up' the 12v sense wire power to the VR/alternator 12v inputs, so I tried that this morning, and...so far...it seems to have worked. Source power is now coming from the alternator charge terminal (with a 20a in-line fuse), 'signal-on' from the original 12v wire, output to the VR/sense terminal wires, and ground to the VR, and it now has no pulse and is charging at ~14.6 volts.

I think the charge rate is a bit high because the batteries may be a bit low, and I'm going to drive it around a bunch over the next few days to ensure all is working properly. It may have simply been a crappy sense signal all along - not enough for it not to charge, but enough for it to...well to do all of the above shenanigans.

One note - on this truck, there are two big powerful batteries...but they are located 15 feet away from the VR, and the frame completes the overall circuitry as the ground for 'everything'. Lot of distance in the wiring, and I think that is what caused this particular issue to begin with. This isn't the first 1st-Gen-Cummins-powered-truck I've done this external VR 'upgrade' to, and I don't remember this issue occurring in any of the others, but again this truck has the batteries way far away, so maybe that is why this happened to begin with. Just a data point for anyone else considering wiring in an external VR.

Diagram for easy reference -



Booyah 👍

...and in my continuing attempts to make the rig quieter, I installed a stock 1st Gen Cummins air filter assembly, only I bolted it to the fender and not to the inner fender which is not appearing in this film, yet. Haven't run it around yet but I know it'll make a nice difference because it will really tame down the turbine 'scream', which while fun now and then is not fun all the time, especially with no insulation anywhere...yet . Plus it also makes the air intake significantly more 'water resistant' . Eagle-eyed spotters will notice the air inlet is facing the back which was intentional as I am thinking of routing a snorkel down the road...not the big 'stack' type but just maybe to above the hood like I did on Nacho way back when...

before -



after -