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Posted by Jeremy Meehan on Sunday, June 28, 2009 at 13:25:52 :
This is a former PAZ dept forestry brush fire truck, PA owned 20-30 of them that are all modified pretty much the same way, I have found another identical Powerwagon in the vicinity of Halifax, PA, we sold out original flat head, transmission and PTO winch to him. All of these trucks were modified with a 8" C channel girder for a rear bumper, 3 inch channel is run under the running boards to the front fenders 2.5 inch schedule 40 pipe is welded and riveted inside the front and rear fenders reinforcing them, the pipe around the front fenders continues around the front bumper reinforcing it this is further reinforced with 3" channel and then boxed in with 3/16 an 1/4 inch plate to fill all gaps. Our truck was further fitted with a 3000 gallon water tank and a pump driven off the PTO by a chain drive hacked into the bottom of the wooden bed. pump controls and hose hook ups were through the side of the bed opposite of the tire carrier. The pump tank and chain drive PTO where kept by the state when it was surplussed. We have owned this truck since the fall of 1990. The engine swap and :( loss of PTO winch (MU2 with 135' of 3/4 cable and 30' of heavy chain) came in 1994, We have driven it since. I had the character building experience of learning to drive in it with its stock engine and synchronized 4 speed transmission. My brother and sister learned when it was a automatic. with 5.88 gears still runs 40- mph, but it will run 40mph no matter what is hooked to the receiver hitch of no matter how steep the hill is
Our now has a chevy 307cid V8 and a th350 automatic in it. We were forced to do the engine swap several years ago after being given a ultimatum to make it run or get rid of it by the municipality after a neighbor complained about it's appearance.
The chevy engine is a bolt in with a chevy engine to full size jeep Cherokee adapter motor mount in front, It even dropped into pre threaded holes in the frame rail. The transmission marries up to the transfer case with the worlds smallest drive shaft roughly 1.5" plus yokes. The chevy engine also need a "rams horn" exhaust manifold on the drivers side for clearance, The ignition wiring will need different resistance block and a diode otherwise it was a drop in. The chevy engine can achieve 14 mpg, It can sprint short distances at 50mph but it is hard on the old truck.
Right now it has been neglected a little, It sate for the better part of last year with a broken rear diff and iffy brakes, this has been fixed, Next project is to replace the wooden bed and hopefully have the worst rust fixed and paint it. Of concern is the rust under the head light buckets on the front fenders and a loose panel under the driver side door, Not sure if we can fix the holes in the side of the bed from the pump on the driver side easily (cheaply)This truck is our last priority in a long list of expenses.