Posted by Keith in Washington on Monday, February 13, 2006 at 6:07PM :
In Reply to: 49 dodge power wagon 230 motor posted by thomas on Sunday, February 12, 2006 at 8:55PM :
You picked the wrong truck (ff PW)if you are thinking of a daily driver unless you live in the country and travel at 50MPH + or -. Yes I have driven mine on the freeway but it does not belong there. You will never keep up with modern traffic and you will be a danger getting onto the freeway. Besides they are not all that comfortable. With 5.83s it gets 10MPG in town and 14 (measured) on the freeway. Gas gauge does not work but I assume 10 MPG and watch the milage. I have not run out of gas in years so it is doing better than 10.
I also have a 42 Carryall. It has a V8 and disk brakes with 4.89s. I have rebuilt everything in the truck and have gone through the steering and brakes very carefully. I went through the suspension and axles also. It goes down the road quite well with no vibrations and it tracks well. It will cruise at 70MPH all day but it took a lot of money and work to get there. It still is not a daily driver. It is noisy and not an easy vehicle to drive suburban traffic. Gas mileage, I do not even look. With a 4bbl carb and the low axle ratio it turns 3000rpm at 60MPH. I have seen 10+ MPG at times.
Drum brakes will not work if you push 60MPH. They simply fade on hard stops and you are good for only 1 stop until they cool down. I know I had drums and they worked very well a lower speeds but over 60 they just were not designed for that. Problem is our source of disk brakes has dried up for quite awhile. Both of my trucks have modern power dual master brake cylinders (Even the ff PW which still has drum brakes)for saftey. All brake lines and hardware is new (except drums). I want to be able to stop.