I Have The POWER! 1979 Dodge W150 Power Wagon Build/Maintenance Thread

Now, back to that "more on this later" I was talking about...

After that power wire came out and the truck ran weird and eventually shut off, I noticed the tack was reading backwards. Turns out, it got fried. It no longer works at all. I checked and re-checked the wiring, and nope, nothing. Bummer.

That's not the only bummer.

After this, I decided to replace that cigarette lighter/power outlet. I got it all wired up and installed, and it kept popping fuses. The original one didn't have a ground wire, so I added one thinking that might help. Nope, still popping fuses. While investigating with the multimeter, I decided to check charging voltage again. 12 volts at high idle, and decreasing.

That positive wire fiasco not only fried my tach; it also fried my voltage regulator AND the alternator.

I pulled them off and got them replaced under warranty at the parts place, and slapped them back on today.

Back to normal. Also, when I got the old alternator, they rang me up for a single pulley one and gave me a dual pulley one because that's all they had. This time, they had the correct single pulley one. Not a big deal, but whatever, it works!

I took it for a long drive today, and it runs much better and rides much smoother due to the new shocks. I still have a lot to do, but it's coming together nicely. Next up are replacing that fuel sender, getting a new tach (again), and bypassing the stock ammeter and installing a voltmeter to keep a better eye on this rolling electrical nightmare.

Yesterday, I decided to finally tackle that fuel sending unit. I was eager to find out if my suspicions were correct about pinholes in the float. I picked up a sender off of Ebay about a month back, and I borrowed an engine hoist, so I was ready to dive in, for better or worse.

First step: I needed to lift the bed up. I figured this was easier than dropping the tank, since the last time I tried ended up being a disaster. I got two ratchet straps and made a "X" with them across the bed.

Then, I loosened all the fasteners (4 per side), unplugged the taillight harness, and removed the filler neck hose and vent line. I then grabbed the center of the "X" with the hoist.

I lifted it up enough to get under there to access the sender.

And there it is. Chrysler decided to use Philips head screws to mount the sender to the plastic tank. As you know, things under 40 year old vehicles can deteriorate, and there was no way to get a Philips screwdriver in there. I had to carefully slot the heads with a Dremel to get a flathead in there to remove them. All in all, not a big deal, and totally expected on something this old.

My suspicions were correct: the float had a big crack in it and was full of fuel. I could have just replaced the float, but I wanted the whole deal just in case.

Here's the new one in comparison to the old one. Another thing: the old one's filter sock was deteriorated to the point where it was completely gone. I'll hang onto the old sender because these things are getting hard to find and it is fully repairable.

I ran to the hardware store to get some new mounting screws, and as annoying as it is, all they had in stock were more of the same exact Philips head screws. I was hoping to get some hex head ones, but they didn't have any in that size (10-32, BTW). Hey, at least they had something!

Here's the new sender in place. One note: the holes are NOT evenly spaced; one gap is slightly off from the rest. There's only one way for the sender to mount, as a result. This view is from the driver's side, for reference.

Hey, a working fuel gauge! I'm glad that ordeal fixed it. Now I don't have to carry the 5 gallon fuel can in the bed anymore! Lowering the bed back into position was easy and after cleaning the old bolts up with a wire wheel and lubing them with WD40, they went right in without issue.

When testing the taillights after reconnecting everything, nothing worked. I noticed that the harness was a little crusty, so I cleaned it up and reconnected it. The taillights came back, but the license plate lights did not. After taking a closer look at the harness, it appears that the Maine Wire Nut Bandit had struck again!

The old license plate lights were cracked anyway, so I went to the parts store and picked up some new ones and decided to make my own harness to bypass all of this crap. All you need is the positive to split to both lights and to ground the lights to the bumper. Why are there about 10 splices and so many wires? Seriously, look at this:

Multiple scotch locks, random wire gauges, and ground wires that were bare wire stuffed between the bumper and the light housing... oh man.

I replaced all of that with this:

One wire from the truck, split into two to go to both lights, and a spade connector to disconnect for service. How hard is that to do? Geez...

And yes, it works! They are LED which doesn't really match the aesthetic of the truck, but that's all they had in stock that would fit. Plus, they will likely last a lot longer. Functionality over form, right?

While I was under there, I also found this ancient (and stock Mopar) plate holder with integrated light. It was rattling around and I kept bumping into it, so off it came. This also means that someone added the step bumper later on; these came on trucks with the regular chrome bumpers. If I ever convert back to a regular bumper, this should be easy to fabricate.

Man, I'm glad that's done!

In reply to Tony Sestito :

It’s a little late now, but if you’d slathered those new phillips screws with grease, they’d likely just accumulate crud(vs. rusting) and be much easier to remove in the future. 

In reply to Pete Gossett :

I didn't think of that. I should be able to reach up there and goop some on next time it's up in the air. Good call!

Pro Tip: If you can avoid doing brakes on a Dana 44-equipped Power Wagon, steer as clear away from doing that as possible.

The truck handed me a humiliating defeat yesterday.

The front brakes have been on my list for a long time. The passenger side rotor is gouged up really bad, so I ordered some rotors and pads a while back, but just got around to it yesterday. At first glance, it doesn't look bad to do, but oh man...

Let me try and explain: here, it looks like your standard hub/rotor assembly, but since this is a 4WD truck, there's a little more involved. After removing the axle nut and caliper, you are treated to a hub/rotor/hub flange sandwich filled with bearings. That little hole in the flange allows you to access a grease fitting for the bearings as well as all of the 6 bolts that hold the assembly on. Everything I read said to unbolt the whole thing, pound out the wheel studs to separate the outer flange, pull the rotor off, replace it, re-assemble, and bolt it back on. Oh, if it was only that easy.

Here's the whole assembly popped off. The problem is, the wheel studs hit the rear that bolts onto the spindle. That's not good.

And here's what's left on the truck. That's the axle right there. You know, the whole damn axle shaft, direct to the spider gears. It popped out from the center section at one point, and although I'm pretty sure it's back on there, it doesn't rotate as well as it did before. Also not good.

Puzzled, I hit the interwebs. I found a Youtube video where some guy made a flange separator tool to keep the bolted part on the truck and the axle in place. So, I ran to the home improvement store and grabbed some angle iron in an attempt to replicate the tool. Pardon my boogers, as I am still new-ish to welding and getting the hang of MIG and my welder. After bolting the hub back on, I made the tool, and it started to pull it apart...

But this kept happening. I blame lack of prep, lack of welding skill, and fatigue (I had been at this for a solid 10 hours at this point). I plan on prepping the tool better and re-welding it and having another go at it later this week.

As you can see, I made progress in between that puller breaking over and over. Hopefully I didn't botch this up too bad.

Another, not-so-great update:

After messing with my homemade hub puller and having it break about 20 times, I broke down and went to the local Autozone and rented a puller set which I should have done from the very beginning. I finally separated the rotor and outer hub from the inner, and soon discovered that all of the wheel bearings and seals were completely destroyed on the driver's side. Turns out, no one locally stocks these, so I had to order everything online and now I get to wait another WEEK to try and tackle this again.

What's worse, the outer hub got mangled really bad during removal, and there's evidence that the Maine Wire Nut Bandit had been in here before, because there are some grinder marks on the hub flange itself. These outer hubs are made from unobtanium, so I'm hoping I'll be able to get it all back together, otherwise I'm screwed.

Again, NEVER DO BRAKES ON A 1972-79 POWER WAGON WITH FULL TIME 4WD.

N E V E R.

Quick update:

Some parts have started to trickle in, so I have begun examining the hub again to see what I'm going to need to do to get this poor thing back together.

Here's a good look at that outer hub. As you can see, it's not in the best shape. There are grinder marks and gouges on the shaft, and someone (not me) beat the ever loving hell out of the end at one point in time. I grabbed some fine grit sandpaper and tried deburring the gouges a bit, so I'm hoping it goes back together smoothly. I'll clean it up with a wire wheel and some degreaser before final assembly.

Here's the hub next to the wheel seal/bearing sandwich. This thing is like a Big Mac of bearings with a metal spacer middle bun. I think that as long as the races fit over the shaft, which it seems like they will, I should be good to go.

Another thing I forgot to mention in my last post: I was having a problem turning the wheel after I tried putting it back together before I noticed that the bearings were messed up. I was having problems getting the wheels to turn, and I thought I screwed up the axle when the shaft pulled out.

Wrong!

It's because the inner part of the bearing sandwich was still on the other side of the hub (the part that bolts to the spindle), and it was in there at an angle. It was making contact in all the wrong places at one part of the wheel rotation, hence binding it up and making it hard to turn.

Still waiting on some more seals to show up and a friend to come back from vacation who has a factory service manual so I can do this the right way. I am having withdrawal symptoms from driving this hulking beast, so I hope I can get it back together really soon!

Take your time and get this one right! Having a axle fail will be a much worse experience than being down for a week. Keep pushing through!

The epic battle of replacing my front brakes is now entering the third week.

I got a hold of my friend's service manual, so let's take a look at how to do this "the right way".

Instead of that angle iron contraption I was building, here's a proper flange puller tool. You separate the flange apart by removing the axle nut and cotter pin and pulling it apart with this.

Speaking of the axle nut, it's an odd 1-1/16" nut. The only local place that had a socket was Tractor Supply, and I had to go to three different ones to find one.

Calipers are held in by two of these metal plates. Super easy to remove. There's a caliper bracket on the back side of the rotor that holds the inboard pad in place, too.

With the hub separated into two large chunks, here's the half that holds the rotor. As you can see, this rotor is trashed. You can see the outboard bearing and grease seal here. The key is to pound out the wheel studs and remove the bearing and seal while being nice to the hub. It's not easy. Also make note of how greasy and gross it is in there; more on that later.

This is the other half of the hub/bearing assembly, a part called the "bearing retainer". It's held on by six 12-pt 7/16" bolts, and it, well, retains the bearings. The bearings and races themselves actualy ride in the spindle, and this thing locks them in. You need to remove it, though. Now's a good time to stick a breaker bar or screwdriver through the U-Joint in the axle to make sure it doesn't move.

And it's off! Note the grease fitting; you can actually lube the bearings through this thing, which is actually kinda nice. Clean this up and put it aside.

With the races and spacers removed, you can see the inner seal which is pressed into the spindle and the axle itself. On this side, the seal was still intact and doing its job, so I didn't mess with it. On the other side, I DID mess with it, and I regret it big time (more on that in a bit).

See this green wheel seal? Well, its the WRONG seal. The Wire Nut Bandit strikes again! The seal that goes there is slightly larger and presses against the inside of the hub to, well, uhh... SEAL THE GREASE. To be honest, a lot of the parts catalogs list this one as an "outer" wheel seal, so I can almost understand the confusion. Almost. Luckily, I ordered a pile of these and the correct seal just in case something like this happened.

Here's the correct one. These fit both the inner and outer positions. It's a press fit on both ends, and in this instance...

...You press it into the bearing retainer.

Speaking of pressing, you'll need one of these Bad Larrys. I didn't have one, so I grabbed all the bits and headed over to my friend Greg's, who graciously took time away from his Typhoon to help me make some hub/bearing sandwiches.

After putting together two of these assemblies, I headed back home.

After coercing it on, and making absolutely sure everything was lined up, the passenger side went in as it should. Nice. The driver's side, however, is another story.

To gain access to the spindle, the axle needs to come out. Attached to that axle is a "Seal Cup" and a rubber seal on the other side of that. I have the rubber seal, but it doesn't want to go on there nicely. I haven't been able to get it on there yet. Also, at one point, I thought that the spindle wheel seal needed to be driven in from the rear and started removing the spindle. In the process, the drag link, which was original and 40 years old now, got messed up. I was planning on doing one soon anyway, so not a huge deal.

What you are looking at here is the inside of the spindle. There's a lip that the seal is pressed into, but as you can see, this one got mangled somehow. When I pulled this side apart, the seal got stuck, became deformed, and I had to pull it out in chunks. Again, I blame the Wire Nut Bandit. Dude must be the Maine version of Teal Mesh Tanktop Guy, the former owner of my 1979 Trans Am. They have to be related.

After some de-burring, I was able to get it to fit better, but I couldn't press it in without a special Mopar tool from 40 years ago.

This tool no longer exists on the timeline we are on now, so I had to improvise. A 3" exhaust pipe seems to be the perfect size to drive in this seal. I picked one up at the parts store along with that drag link.

And that's where we are now. I ran out of time this weekend, so I will try and tackle the rest over the week. In theory, it should go back together nicely. With the right knowledge (which I didn't have) and the right parts (which are basically all special order stuff that takes days to obtain), this could have been done in an afternoon. At least I have the knowledge for next time around.

Quick update:

I got out there tonight after work with the hopes of making some progress. And I did.

Finally, that stupid seal is in! The service manual said something about another rubber seal being behind this one, and I had one, but for the life of me I couldn't get it on there. The other side doesn't have that seal, and these bearings/seals are different than the OEM ones anyway (every component part of the 3 seals the OEM one had are pretty much sandwiched into this one seal) so in it went. I drove it in carefully with a 3" exhaust pipe, and had to tweak it a bit here and there, but it's in there where it belongs.

Next step was carefully mounting the hub. This takes patience and time, but I was able to get it on there as well without much of a fight. Nice.

It was starting to get dark, but I was able to get the caliper back on. The two bracket bolts fought me; the bores were stuffed with goop and crap. I started spinning on the axle nut, but stopped there. I still need to pull the wheel studs on a bit tighter, but man, this was a BIG step in the right direction.

I still need to replace the drag link, but after that I should be able to wrap this up. I really need to do a dump run, so I'm hoping to have this done by tomorrow night!

AT LONG LAST, THE NATIONAL NIGHTMARE IS OVER.

Holy berk.

Tonight, I finished up putting the truck back together. No pics, but I installed the new drag link, torqued all the things, and plopped it down on its own tires for the first time in weeks. I fired it up and it must be happy, because more dash lights work now, including some I didn't even know existed!

I took it down the road for a quick spin, and the brakes feel slightly better but not quite as good as I was expecting; I think they need to be broken in better, as I was being cautious with the truck. It returned home under its own power and feels better than ever. The only thing it needs now is an alignment. 

Next up: taking a break and driving the thing! 

Just a quick follow-up from the brake/hub/wheel bearing fiasco:

I've been driving the truck here and there for nearly a month now, running errands and stuff like that. It's doing much better now. The brakes work better than they ever did, but I'm finding that I need to pump them twice to get full pressure sometimes. That leads me to believe the master cylinder may need replacement at some point in the future. I had to panic stop recently due to other driver stupidity, and it stopped fine, so there's that.

I also replaced the broken tach with another identical one, and re-wired it better this time. It even lights up! In fact, more of the dash lights have started lighting up; I now have a speedo light and a light by the heater controls that I didn't even know existed. Nice!

Biggest annoyance since all the fixes is that the steering wheel is off by about 90 degrees. It has been off since I bought it, but it's off even more now that I replaced the drag link. The drag link is non-adjustable, so how would I even fix that? Adjusting the tie rod ends on the center link? 

It's also getting better MPG's, too. I was getting 8 MPG before I did the plugs and other stuff, and the last tank got 12.1 MPG. I never thought I'd get excited about 12.1 MPG, but here we are.

Next on the list: sealing up the leaky 318 before winter.

In reply to Tony Sestito :

1.  inch and a sixteenth is just a RCH less than 27 mm.

2.  if you pumped the pedal as part of a bleed procedure, you may have berkeleyed your master cylinder.  gravity bleed is the only way.

3.  if the tie rods are same length left and right, then you center the steering wheel by removing it and reinstalling it centered.  if the tie rods are NOT the same length left and right, then you measure the length of each tie rod, add them up, divide by 2, and make each of them that length.  then you see where the steering wheel is.   if it's centered, you're done.   if it's not centered, you remove the wheel and reinstall it centered.

In reply to AngryCorvair :

On the brake bleeding... Since when is this a thing? I've bled brakes plenty of times this way with no issues on all sorts of different vehicles. For what it's worth, gravity bleeding didn't work, either. I tried that before I did anything else. I didn't bleed anything when I did the rotors and pads anyway; just pushed the cylinders back in to fit the new pads. Don't get me wrong... the brakes work, but they could probably work better.

And for the steering wheel...

Like you suggested, I just removed it and stuck it on the way it's supposed to be. Unlike newer vehicles, there's no lockout spline that only allows for one-way installation, so I straightened the wheels, popped it off, and put it back on. That's one big annoyance that I don't have to worry about anymore!

Its amazing how much a steering wheel being off bothers you. I moved my cars back straight and it made it feel 100 times better.

In reply to Tony Sestito :

for me, gravity bleeding became "the only way" after i berkeleyed up the seals in an older cast-iron master by pushing the pedal to the floor. crud and corrosion build up in the far end of the bore, then stroking the pedal to the floor forces the piston seal to travel through this crapped-up part of the bore, which can take a little nick out of the seal and make it not seal.

also, whenever replacing disc pads, open bleeder screw before pushing pads in.   this lets old fluid out the bleeder instead of pushing it back upstream.  there's corrosion and crud and entrained moisture in the old fluid so always best to get rid of it through the bleeders, then refill with clean from the top.

also, if rear drums, make sure they are adjusted so they just barely drag.  it is shocking how much pedal travel it takes to move drum shoes.

steering wheel reposition = zero dollar win.

AngryCorvair said:

In reply to Tony Sestito :

for me, gravity bleeding became "the only way" after i berkeleyed up the seals in an older cast-iron master by pushing the pedal to the floor. crud and corrosion build up in the far end of the bore, then stroking the pedal to the floor forces the piston seal to travel through this crapped-up part of the bore, which can take a little nick out of the seal and make it not seal.

also, whenever replacing disc pads, open bleeder screw before pushing pads in.   this lets old fluid out the bleeder instead of pushing it back upstream.  there's corrosion and crud and entrained moisture in the old fluid so always best to get rid of it through the bleeders, then refill with clean from the top.

also, if rear drums, make sure they are adjusted so they just barely drag.  it is shocking how much pedal travel it takes to move drum shoes.

steering wheel reposition = zero dollar win.

So much this on the rear brake adjustment, and the feel of the pedal. My 78 RX-7 has non-self adjusting rear brakes. I didn't know this for a long time as my 83 prior to this had self adjusting rear shoes. Turns out that the adjustment of the rear shoes plays a huge role in how the pedal feels. A simple adjustment every few years, and the pedal feels great.

I haven't touched the rear brakes on this thing yet. I'm almost afraid to, and I can't stand dealing with drum brakes. They are working, and that's all I know.

I guess I'm lucky I haven't had any issues with brakes over the years. I'll keep that stuff in mind for next time. FWIW, the master cylinder was doing this even before doing the front brakes, so it's probably more due to it being 40 years old than anything else.

And yes, fixing the steering wheel makes it 100% better to drive. It's dumb, but it's true!

Drum brakes used to scare me. Not anymore. They really are quite simple, and when working as they should are very reliable.

A friend of mine is trying to get me to put this thing in a CAR SHOW this weekend. His logic: it's $10 admission for spectators and you might have to pay for parking, or $15 to park it in the show, which is likely cheaper. I was thinking of doing it just to look at people's faces as they walk by the thing.

On Sunday, I went to a car show in the Power Wagon. Feeling that it was too much of a POS to put in the show, and the fact that I had to leave early, I decided not to enter it in the show. I regret that 100% now, as there were trucks far worse than mine there. Hell, there was a 2014 Honda Accord in the show that had nothing done to it, aside for a set of atrociously tasteless wheels. Next year, this thing is totally going into the show.

That said, I did walk away with a small consolation prize.

I was walking around the swap meet area of the show, and there was a vendor selling old car books. They had this one, and since my truck was on the cover, I had to take it home! It's an old Petersen Publishing guide from 1979, and it actually has some useful info. Also, I want a set of bumperettes now! Still need a set of front bumper brackets too, but minor details...

Ever since the wheel bearing/brake fiasco a while back, I've been driving the truck every chance I get, and all has been good. I've even taken it on the highway a few times!

This morning, I drove it to work, and noticed that it smelled a little more oily than normal. I popped the hood and find this:

Looks like the intake manifold gasket is leaking in the front corner, and the valve cover gasket is not doing too well either. Sounds like I'll be ordering those up soon. I really didn't want to do the intake gasket until I had a performance 4bbl carb and intake to replace this setup with, but oh well.

Another thing I learned today:

Apparently, 318 and 360 intakes (and heads) are different not only in casting number, but in port size. I always thought LA-Small Block Chrysler stuff was interchangeable, but the 318's like mine may have gotten smaller intake ports than the 4bbl stuff found on a 360. This may make getting a performance 4bbl intake and carb a little difficult. I was planning on getting a new intake and carb at some point, but I may end up having to replace everything with a 360. Lame-o. 

In reply to Tony Sestito :

Have been following your thread, thank you for your posts, they have been helpful in my 79 Power Wagon build. I have a w150 with a 360 engine. The shocks on my truck are ancient, so I replaced the old Monroe yellow front shocks with new yellow front shocks. The issue I’m having is the lower mount bushing is too wide to fit on the stock mounting bolt when installed on the lower mount bracket. I’ve trimmed the bushing with a dremel tool, but can only get a flat washer between the smaller 3/4 nut and the bushing. The nut is pretty much flush with the end of the bolt, so it’s not ‘on’ there enough for my liking. Did you have this issue with your front shock replacement? Aside of trimming the bushing further, I’m not sure what to do. 

In reply to MtnPowerWagon :

Thanks for the kind words! Replacing the front shocks on mine was easy, but I did note that one of the shock bushings was installed wrong out of the box. I had to re-position it before installation. It is sort of a tight fit, and you have to push on it a bit to catch a thread, but it did go on there on my truck.