Dodge Power Wagon build (x2)

[xjtony]

Little bit of an upgrade for the blue truck today. The engine was rebuilt at some point but I'm just learning carbs and have had mixed results rebuilding ones from the junkyard. The Thermoquad I had on it ran ok but I could never get it 100%. Found a good deal on a Street Demon and threw it on. That 360 SCREAMS now!

 

[TRD270]

 

[xjtony]

One of the cool things about about working out in the desert is being able to explore some. Last month we found an old boat out in the desert. Looked like someone had cribbed it up to live in and it had been abandoned for at least a decade. I looked in the back and found what was left of an old Super Bee 2 318 boat motor. After a few minutes I had the intake off to bring home. I soaked it in rust remover over night and had kind of forgot about it until today.

A bit of time with a wire wheel and some Hemi orange and now I have a 4bbl intake for the boys Power Wagon

 

[xjtony]

I'm doing a little bench building here and looking for some feedback.

Since I sold my XJ and switched over to a buggy there have been some aspects of having a full bodied rig that I miss. The buggy works great for what its designed for, but doesn't really perform well in other scenarios. Being driven on the street, camping, longer trails, storage are all things that are lacking. I used to drive my XJ regularly and liked that it could run moderate trails as well has the hard stuff. The older and more broken I get (looking at a 3rd disk replacement in my neck possibly by the end of the year) the less I take the buggy out. I purchased my 73 Power Wagon with the intent to at some point build it into a mild wheeler for beating around the desert\ adventure rig, but my brain started churning this weekend and came up with a possible plan...

I have a ton of high dollar parts on the buggy that could really easily build a really nice capable truck.

Axles, Trans (46RH with OD an lock up), Atlas, Seats, PSC steering stuff and a ton more could be used to build a fairly unique and really capable general purpose rig.

Here is what I was thinking

4 inch lift (I'll keep it leafs for simplicity now)
D60, 4.56 gears, locker
14 bolt, 4.56 gears Detroit
Hydro assist with a PSC pump, ported XJ box and single ended ram
36-38 inch tires ( I have a set of Grabbers that would be perfect to start)
46RH trans. These can be set up with pressure switches to use OD and TQ lock up automatically
Atlas

I honestly have almost all the stuff I need besides driveshafts to get this going, and it would be a very simple build on the Power Wagon.

Has anyone else made the move from Buggy back to a more street-able rig?

 

[mbryson]

I'm doing a little bench building here and looking for some feedback.

Since I sold my XJ and switched over to a buggy there have been some aspects of having a full bodied rig that I miss. The buggy works great for what its designed for, but doesn't really perform well in other scenarios. Being driven on the street, camping, longer trails, storage are all things that are lacking. I used to drive my XJ regularly and liked that it could run moderate trails as well has the hard stuff. The older and more broken I get (looking at a 3rd disk replacement in my neck possibly by the end of the year) the less I take the buggy out. I purchased my 73 Power Wagon with the intent to at some point build it into a mild wheeler for beating around the desert\ adventure rig, but my brain started churning this weekend and came up with a possible plan...

I have a ton of high dollar parts on the buggy that could really easily build a really nice capable truck.

Axles, Trans (46RH with OD an lock up), Atlas, Seats, PSC steering stuff and a ton more could be used to build a fairly unique and really capable general purpose rig.

Here is what I was thinking

4 inch lift (I'll keep it leafs for simplicity now)
D60, 4.56 gears, locker
14 bolt, 4.56 gears Detroit
Hydro assist with a PSC pump, ported XJ box and single ended ram
36-38 inch tires ( I have a set of Grabbers that would be perfect to start)
46RH trans. These can be set up with pressure switches to use OD and TQ lock up automatically
Atlas

I honestly have almost all the stuff I need besides driveshafts to get this going, and it would be a very simple build on the Power Wagon.

Has anyone else made the move from Buggy back to a more street-able rig?

Your thoughts are exactly why I keep trying to make my "Jeep" more "streetable". I don't do the "hard" trails much at all these days. I keep waffling back/forth on buying an TJ/LJ and putting decent axles under that but I kind of have that already (other than the AC that I'd like). I like the "general purpose" idea that you outline.

 

[RockChucker]

I'm doing a little bench building here and looking for some feedback.

Since I sold my XJ and switched over to a buggy there have been some aspects of having a full bodied rig that I miss. The buggy works great for what its designed for, but doesn't really perform well in other scenarios. Being driven on the street, camping, longer trails, storage are all things that are lacking. I used to drive my XJ regularly and liked that it could run moderate trails as well has the hard stuff. The older and more broken I get (looking at a 3rd disk replacement in my neck possibly by the end of the year) the less I take the buggy out. I purchased my 73 Power Wagon with the intent to at some point build it into a mild wheeler for beating around the desert\ adventure rig, but my brain started churning this weekend and came up with a possible plan...

I have a ton of high dollar parts on the buggy that could really easily build a really nice capable truck.

Axles, Trans (46RH with OD an lock up), Atlas, Seats, PSC steering stuff and a ton more could be used to build a fairly unique and really capable general purpose rig.

Here is what I was thinking

4 inch lift (I'll keep it leafs for simplicity now)
D60, 4.56 gears, locker
14 bolt, 4.56 gears Detroit
Hydro assist with a PSC pump, ported XJ box and single ended ram
36-38 inch tires ( I have a set of Grabbers that would be perfect to start)
46RH trans. These can be set up with pressure switches to use OD and TQ lock up automatically
Atlas

I honestly have almost all the stuff I need besides driveshafts to get this going, and it would be a very simple build on the Power Wagon.

Has anyone else made the move from Buggy back to a more street-able rig?

I've tried to build my rig to be an all-rounder. It does a lot of stuff ok. I could (likely won't ever) drive it from here to the Rubicon, do the trail and drive back. It can do many of the 9 rated trails in sand hollow. It can scoot through the desert at a pretty good clip. But it is a TJ at the end of the day. Right now it is basically a 2 seater with a cooler taking up the back seat. I'm going to have to make a few changes and build a cooler rack that goes behind the back seat and hangs over the back so I can get seat space back. It will be probably another year before we take our little one out, but she is going to like wheeling whether she wants to or not

 

[ID Bronco]

I think you would have an awesome rig, but you will miss the narrowness if you go with the Power Wagon. They are just too wide to "do it all". At the end of the day I think you would be disappointed. I look at what Herzog has with the Taco and think that is a pretty good mix. Put those parts on a narrower rig and you would be able to do 90% of the wheeling you do now and still have a nice streetable rig.

 

[xjtony]

I'm pretty conflicted about the whole thing. I have hundreds miles of trails and dirt roads out here in the West Desert that I really don't explore because the buggy just doesn't run at any kind of speed without getting hot. With parts from the buggy and stuff I have laying around from working on my buddies XJ I have almost everything I need to make it work. Budget is an issue here, as is keeping the wife happy by limiting active projects in the driveway.

@ID Bronco that's a valid point. I have a step side bed for the Power Wagon (that would be replaced down the road with a custom tube/flatbed purpose built for wheeling/camping) that would remove a lot of the sheet metal issue. Honestly the little W100s are smaller than they look. I've got a buddy with a Ranger and they are almost the same size.

 

[mbryson]

what if you added a Jeep "body" (heater, top, etc) to the buggy and fixed the cooling issues?

 

[xjtony]

Honestly I'm pretty sure the cooling issue is a little 318 turning 44 inch Boggers lol. In low where the engine has the torque to turn them the RPMs are high. In high range the RPM stays down but there's not enough torque.
I've toyed with the idea of trying to do the street legal UTV thing but there are a few issues.

1. As it sits it's just too big to be comfortable driving on the street other than around town. I originally had it on 38s but it looked awkward and was super tall for that size tire.

2. Is a personal hang up. About 15 years ago I lost a wheeling buddy down in Texas due to full hydro on the street. He was doing about 70 when he blew a line. When they got to what was left they though his ZJ may have rolled 15 times before it stopped. Other than just around Grantsville at slower speeds I won't run full hydro on the street.

 

[Bart]

Your vehicle dilemma is why I'm working on buggy plans and keeping the JK. 1 vehicle can't cover all the bases.

 

[Buckedup85]

I am in the process of swapping my ramcharger stuff over to a buggy. I cut the ram charger up quite a bit the front and rear is dovetailed and it’s boatsided but if there is anything that you can possibly use let me know. I would like to see the parts go to someone that can use them since they are getting hard to find in junkyards and stuff. It’s all going to the scrapyard if not so it’s all free.

 

[xjtony]

I was making an adjustment to my Demon carb this week and went to tighten down a jam nut and half the threads broke off.

The whole truck is basically 45 year old scrap and, go figure, the one new part breaks.

But I guess if life give you lemons you might as well install a Holley Truck Avenger!

This will be a better carb for my future plans for the truck.

 

[xjtony]

Had a short day at work today so I decided to do a little work to the truck. I had a couple of electric fans laying around the garage.

Found some old aluminum signs laying around the scrap pile at work.


The mechanical fan on the truck never really kept the engine cool at lower RPM. Partly due to the shroud. They tend not to work when they are open on one end.


The wiring is just roughed in and I need to figure a fuse block but should stay cool and free up some HP.

I'm going to leave the sign as is right now. Kind of fits with the build. I'm trying to do as much as I can with stuff I have laying around.

 

[xjtony]

I'm going pretty slow but getting stuff done. Actual wiring done and new accessory fuse block done.

Cheap $11 Amazon 120 amp relay. I got a spare, ya know, because it's a cheap $11 Amazon relay.

I've never been a fan of grounds all over the engine bay so I made a couple of 2 wire twists and ran the grounds back by the relay to clean everything up.

I just need to pick up some heat shrink to cover the connectors. It's kind of one of those things you know, but there is a great improvement in engine performance without the mechanical fan. More than I expected.

 

[xjtony]

I really didn't want to do it but it's going to be necessary. The electric fans move so much air that they are filling the engine bay with hot air.


I started on mounts for the suspension seats from the buggy as well.

 

[xjtony]

It's a tight fit but there's just enough room to get in and out under the steering wheel and still be in a comfortable driving position lol.

 

[xjtony]

I am moving pretty slow but I got the drivers side seat mount finished yesterday. There's nothing like measuring about 9 times, welding everything up, and then realizing you measured from the wrong side of the tube and the mount is 2.5 inches wider than needed lol.

 

[xjtony]

A much overdue upgrade.

 

[xjtony]

One installed for good

The other bracket welded and sprayed with undercoating


Even though the seat is at the same height it feels much lower.