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Posted by dave horvath [24.131.120.209] on Wednesday, November 03, 2010 at 22:30:59 :
I have seen enough WM300s with the front crossmember crudely notched with a cutting torch on each side to know that this was done at the factory. I knew this was to get the radiator support to fit properly, but I never understood why they didn't notch the supports instead of the frame. I figured it out today as I was trying to install the radiator and support on my 1967.
If you look at the radiator supports in these trucks you will notice that the bottom crossmember of the support actaully has notches neatly cut into each side. Only problem is that the support is notched on the wrong side. In other words, the notches face away from the frame, not towards it. You can rotate the radiator support 180 degrees so the notches in the bottom crossmember face the frame crossmember, as was obviously intended. Only problem is that that puts the mounting holes and captive nuts for mounting the radiator in the uprights facing the wrong direction.
It's obvious that the supplier of the radiator supports put them together backwards, with the notches facing the wrong direction. Rather than scrap or reassemble the whole batch of radiator supports, they just cut notches in the crossmember as the frame was going down the assembly line to achieve the same result. Not pretty, but it works.
I also relearned that you can't attach the side panels to the radiator support uprights with the radiator installed. Looks like I'll have to remove the radiator, install the side panels and radiator cowl to the uprights and then slide the radiator up and in.
Fun stuff working on these trucks!
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