DODGE POWER-WAGONS
Clint Dixon |
The flatbed equipped truck is an early '51 B-3PW model Power-Wagon, built before they changed the dash to the newer layout. It came to me from the original owner who used it to winch logs out of the timber for his sawmill business. He special ordered the truck as a cab/chassis and it was delivered with full-length running boards and rear fenders. The fenders and the spare tire carrier, which also came with the truck, are of the style that would have been used with the first series 4-pocket pickup bed. This early box would have been correct for this truck if so ordered. This truck still wears approximately 95% of its original paint. It was always garaged in a heated machine shop and never saw use in the winter months. The original owner performed needed maintenance on the truck, as was required from its normal use, but I view the minor repairs and alterations as “character builders”.
The truck with the pickup box is my '47 WDX. When new, it used in South Dakota to erect windmills.It too still wears a majority of its original paint except for the fenders, running boards, and wheels. I had to paint these parts in order to preserve them. Most of the original black paint on these had been burned off over time from exposure to the sun.
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I find the most fun in using these trucks. I do a lot of carpenter and general handy man work on the side and these are the only trucks I own. One or the other may see more new paint over the coming years, but I do not think I could ever bear to completely restore either. I do not like having them torn apart for more than a weekend at a time. As they are both working Power-Wagons, they need to be ready to work when called upon.
After I first bought my '47 back in 1980, I spent the first few years just getting to know the truck and always stayed close to home with it. All during this time I would take it on short trips around the block and a short ways down the country roads. This gave me a chance to work out fuel delivery problems and electrical problems. By the time I was done, I had constructed a whole new wiring harness by using the original as a pattern. After about 8 years, came a complete engine rebuild. By then it was pretty reliable on the road, and I had moved onto adding a locking rear differential and 4.89:1 gearing in the 3rd members. It was after all of this that I finally started concentrating on the headliner, fenders, and rubbing the paint to bring the original color back out. Over the years, I have been through every mechanical component but the transmission and steering box. It is now fully ready and capable for long trips on short notice.
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The Good Roads Machinery Corporation of Minerva Ohio manufactured the snowplow, seen here on my WDX. Good Roads was a major supplier of snow removal equipment for municipal, county, and state road districts. This particular plow is called the “Dodge Special” and was designed in July of 1947 specifically for the Dodge Power-Wagon. It is very functional as a snowplow, but was also designed to mount in a wide range of angle, height, and tilt combinations. Because of this, it can also be used as a dozer blade to move loose material.
The plow is a little more than your average modern parking lot/small business snow removal plow. It is a full 9 feet wide and weighs 1500 lbs. One unique feature of the Good Roads design is in the use of "booster rams", as Good Roads called them. These are hydraulic cylinders that raise the front of the truck about 1-3 inches as the plow is raised. This releases all of the weight of the plow from the front suspension of the truck. Once raised, the hydraulic cylinders carry the entire weight of the plow, and the entire front of the truck. With the plow raised, the front springs of the truck carry none of the weight.
Special features are built into the design that allow unrestricted suspension movement when the plow is lowered, or when it is unpinned and removed from the truck. It really is a good design and works very well. It takes all of the abuse away from the suspension that is normally found in trucks running heavy plows. The resulting suspension with the plow raised in transport position is in the squat of the tires and in the springs that the plow hangs from when in its raised position. It makes for a rougher than normal ride when carrying the plow, but a POWER-WAGON with a plow this heavy was meant to have the plow on the ground and working, not traveling down the road continuously at 50 mph with the plow raised.
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An added benefit of this plow setup is that it is period correct for my '47 WDX and only two holes had to be drilled in the frame to mount the entire system. All of the rest of the mounting points made use of existing holes found on the truck. The winch is not effected at all by mounting the Good Roads subframe. There is nothing in the way for using the winch when the plow subframe is left mounted to the truck as normal. The Monarch Road Machinery Company supplied the hydraulics to Good Roads to control the plow system. They were a popular supplier of hydraulic systems for most of the major plow manufacturers from the '40 through the '80s.
Both trucks are equipped with the extra equipment rear PTO tailshaft, belt pulley drive, and the mechanical engine governor. These pieces of equipment were typically marketed to farmers.
The latest addition to my ’47 WDX, is the 3-point lift system that I recently installed. This piece was produced by the Monroe Auto Equipment Company of Monroe Michigan and was the final attempt by Dodge to make the Power-Wagon an all around farm vehicle and an attractive replacement for the common farm tractor.
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Power-Wagon Parts Manuals
Power-Wagon 6-Volt Auto-Lite Cross-Reference
Power-Wagon Leather Seals Cross-Reference
Power-Wagon Vintage Literature and Photos
Power-Wagon Carburetors
Power-Wagon Governor
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Power-Wagon Rear Tailshaft and Belt Pulley
Power-Wagon Monroe Lift
Power-Wagon Monroe Lift Attachments
Power-Wagon Traction Aiding Devices
Power-Wagon Photo Gallery
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-Clint
Last Updated:
01-Oct-2007
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