Posted by Clint Dixon [172.68.58.86] on Saturday, April 28, 2018 at 20:45:45 :
For easier reading, I am consolidating three posts of mine found in a thread below into one complete post here:
Here is what I find so far in parts list #D-16325 that was issued in June of 1957 and covered ONLY the four wheel drive trucks.
The "Farm Friendly Power-Wagon" for that year of course was the W-300 - the only year it would wear that particular model code. In some later lists, this 1957 truck is shown as "KW300" with "K" being the Series and "W" being the Type. For the 1958 model year the designation changed to "LW300M", changing the the Series to "L" for to reflect the new year and the "Type" to "WM"(even though the 300 was sandwiched in between the letters).
It only gets more confusing from there....
Back to the 1957 parts list:
If one were looking for a part number for a complete manual steering box, it is clearly listed right there at 1189 340 - unchanged from previous years. However, the power steering box is not listed as a complete assembly. The closest one can get is code 19-01-8, CHUCK, Partial, w/Power Strg., part number 1667 382. This number wears the additional designation showing that it is a new number never having been listed previously. I do not know where they came up with the "CHUCK" description. I can only assume it is the power steering box equivalent to a short block engine. This number is unique to the W-300 model and is not shared with other trucks.
Code 19-02-4 lists the steering box housing as: HOUSING, w/Power Strg., part number 1785 812. Again, this is a new number having never appeared in a previous parts list and also is unique to the W-300.
The parts list goes on to show dozens of individual parts unique to the power steering assembly used on the W-300. Most of these are unique to that model and have never been listed previously. For example - the steering gear column jacket is a new number and unique to the W-300.
Code 19-54-2 lists the power steering oil pump simply as: PUMP, part number 16664 650. This particular pump is shared with the W-100 and W-200.
The driven pulley mounted on the pump is under code 19-54-86 as: PULLEY, Pump, part number 1667 514. This number is new and is unique to the W-300.
The driving pulley mounted on the water pump is: Code 19-54-87, PULLEY, Drive, part number 1189 751. This pulley number is listed only for the W-300, but it is not new. It is also listed as the variable speed governor drive pulley under code 14-71-8, PULLEY, Drive, part number 1189 751.
The old bracket for mounting the variable speed governor is now listed as "w/o Power Steering". The power steering pump mounting bracket is a new number and seems to now serve a dual purpose - to mount the governor AND the power steering pump - both at once. This gets kind of confusing, but there are two separate "Plates" listed - one for "Pump Mounting", and one for "Governor and Pump Mounting". Both of these have numbers that are new and unique to the W-300. This would make perfect sense assuming it actually shows that a new engine head bracket was created with a transition plate needed between it and the power steering pump, and a different plate needed if the truck was equipped with BOTH the governor and power steering pump.
Another thing of interest that I find in the 1957 D-16325 parts list is the drive belt. Under Code 14-71-10, the drive belt for the mechanical governor (listed as "Variable Speed Governor" in the section heading) is shown as: PULLEY, Drive, part number 1117 609. This was the same belt that had been listed previously ever since a change took place at serial number 83913254. Under Code 19-54-90, two different belts are listed: BELT, Pump Drive and Governor and Pump Drive, with respective part numbers: 1676 312 and 1676 313.
This finding reinforces what I learned last night - that the W-300 could be ordered with a mechanical governor and manual steering and the same governor mounting bracket, governor drive pulley, and drive belt were used as the years prior. But, if a W-300 was ordered with a mechanical governor AND power steering, a different drive belt was needed along with a newly designed mounting bracket and an added adapter plate unique to the pair. And, if a W-300 was ordered with only power steering and no governor, the same new mounting bracket was used but with a different adapter plate unique to the power steering pump.
For 1958, parts list D-16452 was issued that covered both the 1957 KW300 and the 1958 LW300M. For 1959, parts list D-16887 replaced the prior lists and covered only the 1959 models - for this discussion, the M6-W300M. This list was then replaced in 1960 with 81-690-0005. This new list covered only the 1960 models - for this discussion, the P6-W300M. The special drive belts for both the governor and the power steering pump were dropped from the lists after 1958, as were most of the other part numbers I mentioned last night. The 1960 P6-W300M was shown as still being available with power steering, although most of the parts and part numbers were no longer shown. After 1958 the mechanical engine governor was also no longer listed.
For 1957 and 1958, in parts lists D-16325 and D-16452, nothing out of the ordinary is found in the generator sections of the lists. There is no mention of power steering in these sections. Then, starting with list D-16887 covering only the 1959 "M" series trucks, references to power steering start to show up next to specific generator part numbers. There are no specific references in this parts list to the M6-W300M model, but in 1960 list #81-690-0005, specific references to the P6-W300M are shown in the generator section along with references to power steering.
All of this evidence leads me to the conclusion that 1957 and 1958 model trucks (KW300 and LW300M) may have been the only ones to use a power steering pump, belt driven, and independent of the generator - at least according to the official parts lists. It also drives me to the conclusion that by 1960, the remote power steering pump had been replaced by the piggyback generator version. The 1959 list does not provide enough data to make a ruling on that years model M6-W300M.
I have seen at least one truck at a Rally with a power steering pump mounted where one would expect to find a mechanical governor - above the front right side of the cylinder head. It appeared to be original. I do not remember what year the truck was but now I will have to go searching through old film photos that I took back then.
Further research reveals more. In my first post above I stated what I found as far as information on the pump pulley in the 1957 parts list: "The driven pulley mounted on the pump is under code 19-54-86 as: PULLEY, Pump, part number 1667 514. This number is new and is unique to the W-300." What totally I missed during my research for my first two posts is that there is more information in the 1958 parts list about this pump pulley. It shows that the 1667 514 pulley was only used up to serial number 83956834. At this serial number, the 1667 515 pulley was replaced with a pulley with a new part number: 1797 331. Going by the serial number, this change took place at about 4,000 trucks into the KW300 model year.
I feel this little notation that I almost missed is definitive proof that belt driven power steering pumps were mounted on the front passenger corner of the cylinder head for at least the 1957 model year and probably most if not all of the LW300M models during the 1958 model year. And, generator pumps did not come about until later on, at the earliest on the 1959 M6-W300M or possibly even as late as the 1960 P6-W300M.
The reason why I place so much faith in that one notation is because of what I find in all of the parts lists prior to these as well as those that followed. Dodge followed an established pattern. When a major change in parts took place in the middle of a model run, they took great care to note the truck serial numbers of when the changes took place. This made it much easier for the parts department to be sure the correct part was sourced when a replacement was needed during service or rebuild.
If the belt driven cylinder head mounted power steering pump had never been used on the W300 and W300M Power Wagons, there would have been no truck serial number to note in the parts list in order to record when a part change had taken place.
I then moved onto my four latest parts lists: 1961, 1961-1962, 1963, and 1963-1968. These include the R6-W300M, S6-W300M, and S6-WM300 models. Nowhere in these parts lists is there any mention of W300M or WM300 trucks in the sections of the lists covering power steering. And only the manual steering box is listed for these models. The other Dodge model trucks reverted back to belt driven power steering pumps mounted to the engine. So far I have found no part numbers shared with those from 1957 and 1958. However, the models now available with power steering had increased substantially and researching all of the part numbers would take a month of Sundays.
This all raises the good question, "What about the SEG. Couldn't they have custom installed power steering on a WDX-WM300 Power Wagon per customer's request?" The short answer would be yes. But, I would pity the owner of one of these trucks if something broke or wore out and they went to a dealership hoping to find replacement parts for that custom power steering setup. The parts man's parts lists would have been of no help.
Junior
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