Posted by Clint Dixon on Thursday, May 19, 2005 at 1:14PM :
In Reply to: Re: Most likely a 61 or 62... posted by Clint Dixon on Thursday, May 19, 2005 at 7:12AM :
I did not mean that a combination of parts from the two heaters were used from 1948-1951. I meant that either heater can be found as dealer installed in this range of truck model years.
Apparently heaters were more or less of an after thought in most all Chrysler models up through the late 40's. The Model 36 was a rather generic Mopar heater used on a wide range of truck and car models. The heater assembly actually contains an angled shroud and angled grommets that allows the heater to mount to the angled firewall found on some of these vehicles. These can be removed when mounting the heater to the firewall of a POWER-WAGON.
The idea of a heater being an after thought really becomes apparent with the introduction of the WDX model POWER-WAGON. The layout of the dash and firewall on these trucks was not designed to accept mounting of both a heater and a radiator overflow tank in the same vehicle. There were no factory holes provided for mounting the heater which would be dealer or owner installed. A definite mounting position was factory provided for the radiator overflow tank however. This was dictated by the positioning of 4 wellnuts within the firewall specifically for mounting the overflow tank. With factory installed tank mounted in its intended position, a Mopar Model 36 heater does not work so well. The two accessories are trying to occupy the same real estate. Either the overflow tank, the heater, or the glove box must be modified to mount both on an early POWER-WAGON.
As Eric mentioned, the Mopar Model 61 heater was introduced somewhere in or near 1948 with the new B model trucks. It was designed as a truck heater and it fit the new B-series firewall. It will fit, without a lot of work, on an early POWER-WAGON firewall, but again, it causes some conflict with a factory installed overflow tank. It worked better in conjunction with the tank than a Mopar Model 36, but up until early 1951, the idea of a heater on a POWER-WAGON was still obviously an after thought.
In early 1951 the factory wellnuts on the POWER-WAGON firewalls were repositioned higher and closer to the center of the truck. This relocation seems to have been dictated by the optimum placement of Model 61 heater under the dash. This is evidence that Dodge was starting to consider heater placement in their overall truck cab design and, from this point on, Model 61 heaters were easily dealer or owner installed on trucks already factory equipped with the overflow tank.
I have seen both Model 36 and Model 61 heaters on trucks built between 1948 and 1951. My guess would be that dealers installed or sold what they had on their shelf unless a specific model was ordered by the owner. I think you will tend to see more Model 36 heaters on trucks near the beginning of the 1948-1951 time period and more Model 61 heaters towards the end of this period. Generally, the supply of Model 36 heaters was probably gradually used up and replaced by the Model 61 over this time.
When did heaters become factory installed in the WDX-WM300 style POWER-WAGON? I don't have that information yet.
Junior