My little girls 1956 Dodge Pickup

Hey...I've got 3 of them 'ol things out in the back lot, just send me your bank info and I'll put one on the trailer....

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If you haven't done it yet, put Hemi Tech Index" in search & start reading. Also there a 241 build on www.webrodder.com

 

Thanks George! I'm always looking for anything on the 241 and the '55 Dodge pickup. I acquired a free electric wiper motor yesterday from a friend with a '90 Dodge Colt parts car. So I guess it's still kinda Mopar... or Mitsubishi...or maybe Mopsubishi. Anyway I've gotten it installed on the firewall and I just need to get the arms hooked up. Mr. Carachi inspired me on that one...thanks! We've kinda pirated Mr. Carachi's thread....apologies.

 

No issues on the thread Preacher. I cannot begin to count the number of hours I have spent parrusing the internet for information and ideas on these trucks (It all started before I had even bought the damn thing), and if there is a place someone can go to get alot of information in one spot, that's all fine by me. And really, it makes me happy that this thing has kept going and been usefull even in my absence from the "real world". We all got jobs to do to keep America running, mine just happens to take me to far off, exotic (read shitty) lands, and I'll tell you guys, this not being my first trip, what I always miss most is just the normality of home, and I absolutely love hearing about and seeing things going on back there.

Anyway, get some pictures and let me know how that wiper motor turns out for you. Like I said, the reason I used the one I had was because it was free and seemed to work. As of the day I left I was still trying to dial in the linkages, but overall it was working ok. Let me know if you have any questions on how I set mine up, electrical or mechanical. But don't get caught up asking me, cause you might come up with a better plan then what I had and end up helping me out.

And I've posted somewhere else before, but traditional to me is home made with what I have to work with, just like our fore fathers did it. Hotrodding is all about making due with what you got, not who has the money to buy the best parts off the shelf and slap 'em on a car. Old hotrodders didn't have a fraction of the choices we do, so if it fit and worked, it went on. I try to keep it Mopar when I can, but it doesn't always work out that way and most days "Free" trumps "Mopar" in my book. I've learned allot of leasons over here through the years, and one of them is that when the bullets are flying, nobody seems to give a rats ass who or where their equipment was made, only that it works and that lesson has translated itself into my truck build.

 

I found this site was invaluable when doing mine...

The guys on there are real helpful.

 

Mr. Carachi, I know what you mean by working with what you can get...even if it is free. Most of us do not have the luxury of having a lot of extra $$$ to build our vehicles with. I find it more fun to be able to fabricate something out of nothing. I do have a question about your wiper set up. On the Dodge pickup the original vacumn motor had a "lever" with a circular back and forth motion to move the arms and wipers back and forth. That is, the lever would turn 180 degrees than reverse and turn 180 degrees in the opposite direction, etc, etc. The electric motor that I got (for free) goes in a full circular motion to move the arms. I'm finding that this will not work with both arms, just one. Do you remember if the GM motor you used had the back and forth motion or circular motion? Hopefully this makes sense. Any help would be appreciated. I thought this motor would work...not!

 

Preacher, mine is 360 degrees also. Not sure where you mounted your motor, but if you look, mine is offset way to the passenger side. I built an arm for the motor and a link to the passenger side wiper that when the motor turns 360 degrees the wiper goes up and back down. The key here is getting the geometry right so that the wiper never breaks over center but still gives you almost ful range. I then used the old vacuum motor mount in the center and built a bracket that has a piece of strap on it to reverse the direction of travel that the original linkages hook up to (think the motor only without the motor part). Hopefully this makes sense. I'll try to draw a picture and post it so you can see what I'm talking about. What I was and am still wrestling with most is geometry's to get the right amount of travel out of everything and the best way to hook up all the linkages so that there not sloppy, but not so tight that it causes binding. For the linkages I used 3/4" (I think) aluminum strap that I picked up from Home Depot. Easy enough to work with (bending, drilling, etc.) but strong enough to do the job. Keep in mind I'm going off memory here, but this is pretty close:

 

I know it goes against the using free, easy to get parts, but I thought I would mention that they went to electric wipers in 1957, so IF a person was lucky enough to find one, it would be an easy upgrade.

 

Man Fargo, I can't seem to find even a picture of one anywhere. Does yours have electric? Can you shoot a picture sometime? The other good choice I've run across is Newport Engineering wiper motors. They don't show one specifically for our truck, but they have several designed to replace similiar vacumm motors designed to work the same way, oscilating instead of rotary. But $200...would rather spend that on front disc brakes right now. Don't get me wrong, it's great to have a clear view of what your about to ram into, but you know, one thing at a time. And the GM one I installed has built in washer pump as well. Not that an external washer would be difficult, but it helped me justify it my head so.

 

Mines electric, I can't remember now if it's single or two speed, the switch is on top of the dash right in the middle. I'll try to get some pictures one of these days, it's in the truck which is buried in the garage!

 

Oh no...do we need to organize a rescue mission to save your truck? The controler for the vacuum motor was on top in the center of the dash as well. Of course when I pulled it out I filled the hole before painting the dash (along with the seemingly randomly placed and sized holes in the front of the dash). Oh well, like I said, if nothing else it would be cool just to see yours, so that one of these days I can impress someone with my vast knowledge on the subject of Dodge/Fargo windshield wiper history/options. Should make me the life of just about any Dodge/Fargo windshield wiper enthusiast get together. If there is such a club. And if not, I propose now that we start one. Fargo can be the president, cause he has original electric wipers, Preacher can be the treasurer cause he's cheap, so I guess that makes me VP, cause, well, theres only three of us. It's a pretty exclusive club.

 

Possibly a rescue mission could be in order! Too many projects not enough garage! It's only stuck for the winter, in the summer I drive the m38a1 it's cuddling with now, so room to work on it then....as far as the club goes count me in, I've never been in anything considered exclusive...lol. Oh yea, I'm cheap too!

 

Thanks for the info Mr. Carachi. I got what you are saying and its so simple I don't know why I didn't think of that to begin with. I knew that the arms, in essence, would need to run in opposite directions, so to speak. I did mount mine in the middle, but I can move it to one side, like I saw yours in the pic, and use the old vacumn mount to make the drivers side work. I think I've got it now. Thanks again for the info. The good part is that I have an extra vacumn motor that I tore down just to see exactly how they worked. I tried to rebuild it but it still did not want to "pull" the wiper arms across the windshield. Btw...out of curiosity, last night I perused the web for replacement motors...ouch! It's ridiculous what some of this stuff costs. I would rather go to the junkyard or find someone with a "parts" care to get parts from. Like you indicated, its more cool to say, I scavaged this part from _____ and made it work. And yep, I'll serve as treasurer...I'll keep all the wooden nickels and scrap pieces of metal in our bank account...lol.

 

Btw...Mr. Carachi, your diagram is actually ingenious. Patent it and sell the idea with the appropriate parts and make $$$. I think that's what Rustyhope did with the disc brake conversion for the old trucks, he figured out how to make the bracket and what parts worked on the old spindles. I can see it now...MR. CARACHI'S ELECTRIC WIPER MOTOR UPDATE KIT...only $199.99 + tax and shipping. "Replace your old worn out vacumn motor with any modern electric motor. You find your motor and the kit supplies you with instructions and hardware to make it work." Then take the $$$ and you can put your daughter through college. Engineering degree...or better yet Business degree and then she can help run your company.

 

Ah hell Preacher, your the treasurer, I'm just a soldier. You perfect it, patent it and market it and then you can send me a free kit for my trouble (and maybe a Dodge/Fargo Windshield Wiper Enthusiast Club T-shirt). All you guys out there paying taxes already pay my salary and are going to put my daughter through college as it is so we'll just call it even.

 

Wiper motor moved to the passenger side of the firewall...check. Gutted the extra (non-working) vacumn motor to use as reversing lever in the middle and mounted it...check. Fabricated linkages out of extra wiper linkages that came with the truck...check. Measured and installed...and removed and bent...and hammered and bent some more...and grinded and measured and assembled and disassembled and reassembled and disassembled...and...on the eighth try (I think) I got everything to work together without binding or scraping or whatever. Now I just need to find two small circlips to hold the arms to the old vacumn motor lever. I might post some pics if I get a chance. Thanks again Mr Carachi for the diagram.

 

Glad to hear ya got it figured out! I love these trucks!

 

My 54 Dodge pickup had a factory electric wiper. The motor was centered and there was a transmission on both ends of the motor. Each transmission ran the wiper on its side of the motor.

Mine was a 6 volt unit, but I ran it on 12 volt, neg ground until it went up in smoke one day. It ran very fast on 12 volts, but I would turn it on for a few strokes the turn if off for a few seconds before turning it back on for a few strokes. It was a pain, but the motor lasted for a couple years using it like that. I don't remember what I did for wipers after the motor burned up, but I think the old wiper unit is still around here someplace. If I can remember to look for it, and then can find it, I'll take a couple pictures of it for you guys. Got to warn you, my memory is not what it used to be.

Something else I just remembered, my truck also had the wiper switch in the center of the dash, man, I hated that. So one day I moved the switch, and welded the hole closed. Then I did a little filler work on the hole patch and was hand sanding the filler. I really don't like doing filler work, so at some point I figured I could use my air file to get the job done quicker. About the last round with the filler (it usually takes me about 10 rounds of filling and sanding before I get it close enough I give up) The air file bumped the windshield and put a crack in the center, going top to bottom. That was when I discovered 54 & early 55 windshields were hard to find and very expensive when you found one. The truck still had the cracked windshield when I sold it, but the dash came out nice. LOL.
Gene

 

I feel the pain from both of you guys. I had the linkages in and out a dozen times before I got it all where it worked well enough in the rain. The worst time though was I was using some nuts and bolts to hold it all together while I was working on it. Got everything in and turned it on low. It was all working beautifully and I thought "Yes, this is it, I got it!" so I put that baby on Hi and sat back in the glory that was my electric windshield wiper set -up, for about five strokes. At which point one of the nuts tightened up on itself, bending every single linkage I swear and causing the motor to stop working...DAMN YOU electric windshield wiper gods!!! Got all the linkages squared away again and pulled the motor apart and fixed the automatic park switch (the culprit inside) and got it all back together...like I said earlier though, was still dialing it in when I left home this time

And body filler, oh my god don't get me started. There is no god for body filler. I cannot comprehend the physics of a substance that causes a mound when it's dry but somehow falls below the surface when you sand it, will chip out at the slightest touch of a metal tool, but takes three hours to get smooth with a sander and has the ability to look great right up to the time that you put a coat of gloss paint on it at which point it literally laughs out loud at you that it is not perfect, and never will be, but regardless you are going to start all over ONE MORE TIME to try to get it right this time. There have been points that I've thought the best answer was to beat the hell out of the dash with a ball ping hammer and just lie and tell everyone that was the look I was going for...

 

Hey did you move? I drove by yer spot and the truck is gone?

 

Here's a few pics of my electric wiper motor install for anyone's perusal. I went to Tractor Supply and bought 2 - 1/4" bolts, nuts, and washers and a 2 pack of nylon bushings. Everything is bolted up and wired...I just have to get a toggle switch for the hi/low, and figure out how to make them park when turned off. I'm hacked at Andy Bernbaum's...I have a wheel cylinder leaking and only need one. Called and order one today...received an e-mail from them a few minutes ago telling me that now they only sell wheel cylinders in sets of four ;(

 

With regards to Andy.....he retired and sold the business so you are seeing the effects of the new owner.

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73RR thanks for the heads-up. I ordered the king pin set from them for my truck a few months ago. They sent the wrong thing. I had to send them back, they double billed me and I ended up losing the return shipping cost. That's insult to injury. They will not get anymore of my business. I'll do without or fabricate before I will call them again.

 

I pulled my drums and replacing them with discs... Preacher...I think my wheel cylinders are still ok... PM me your address and I'll figure out shipping... free except for shipping.
(two fronts off of a '55)
Or if you want new... Robertsmotorparts has them...
http://www.robertsmotorparts.com/truck_parts.asp?Action=search&c=Trucks+%2D+Brake+Parts

Thanks about the wipers pics... I've a bit lucky and have the electric wiper motor.. but had to do some searching to find the linkages (they were gone). Someone from the pilotforums sold me them for almost nothing. Nice! The one thing that is interesting is that the motor and mount looks IDENTICAL to the '90's fullsize Ram truck. I found them on Rockauto for like $40 or so. Course, I want us to get our truck RUNNING first before I even attempt to deal with my wipers...

 

Mr Carachi, I noticed in your thread that you reversed the front spring eyes to lower the front on your pickup. When you took the spring pack apart and reversed the main leaf did you have to "reshape" it (reverse the curve)? If so how did you accomplish that? I want to lower the front on mine and am planning to remove some of the leaves out of the spring pack and reversing would also give me an extra inch or so of lowering. The oil pan, etc is not an issue on my truck. Later when I have the $$$ I want to buy a drop axle from Sid's. But you know how that goes. Thanks.

 

Yup, like my grandfather always used to say, "Being poor is no disgrace, but it damn sure is a handicap."

Anyway, no, I didn't have the spring reshaped. The top spring is flexible enough that I just flipped it and bolted the pack back together. Hell, I did it in my carport using a ratchet strap and a C-clamp. Initially I had pulled one or two (I can't remember)bottom springs out as well, but that changed the distance between the axle and the oil pan and the axle and the bump stops allowing the axle to hit the oil pan before it hit the bump stops, so I threw them back in for now. If you have someone who could de-arch it for you or even just make it flat that would probably be best just to avoid the little gap between the top and second springs at the very edges, but I havent had any issues. Like I said, the top spring is by far the most flexible and forgiving.

 

hey, new to this site and new to the dodge world. Great project and you have some great ideas. I will be keeping a close eye.
i recently(within the last 4 dayS) obtained a 55 or 56 fargo, we're still not sure. Anyway i got real lucky, mine has original paint, it's about 90% rust free, and it still has the original wood in the bed as far as i can tell. it is missing a few parts but i got a 57 1 ton with the deal, and it is 100% complete, it too is in pretty good shape.
im going to be building mine on a budget as well, although i do have nearly everything i need. anyway i look forward to reading more great ideas and tricks.

 

I always liked this year Dodge truck. I used the front-end idea on my 54 Panel. I call that center thing a "buck tooth" and getting rid of it makes it look nice.

 

wow, hey lolife, cool idea, that really cleans up the nose

Mr. Carachi, is some one gonna bring the 1956 out to the cruise night friday may 4th in lacey?

l really want to see the truck in person

Later

 

Oh man...I hope not, cause that would mean somebody else has my truck! I won't be getting back till the first or second week of June. Hopefully just a little bit of work and I will be able to get it out to the cruise after that though.