1935 Dodge KH31 restoration

[David DeWeese]

Thanks!

I had been thinking how great it would be to restore this truck for several years now, but never committed to it. Dave gave me the kick in the pants needed to get started, and I'm glad I did.

Chassis is out in the light of day now...still need to order tires.

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Got out the motor today that was planned to be put into this truck if it ever got restored. It came from the '34 donor chassis, and is a complete original T6 code 1934 1.5 ton truck motor. Ran this motor in the chassis before pulling it....no smoke, no knock, good oil pressure and running on all six. The plan is to tear it down to a long block, re-seal, repair or replace anything that needs it, then paint and run as-is, ....that's the plan, anyway.

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Thanks, David

[David DeWeese]

Began dis-assembling the 1934 motor today. No bad surprises yet, but this engine is different than what I am used to seeing on a typical Dodge flathead six:

The water jacket only cools the upper half of each cylinder. You can see the lack of a full length water jacket on the left hand side of the engine....the lower cylinder castings are exposed.

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The thermostat housing and thermostat are odd also. The hinged thermostat allows coolant to bypass the radiator when cold, then blocks the bypass in the thermostat housing when warm. This type thermostat is not available anywhere I can find, so may have to go with a "newer" type thermostat and bypass housing to keep things flowing properly.

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t-stat 2.JPG (125.87 KiB) Viewed 1563 times

Thanks, David

[D.R.H.]

Here is a good shot of the 4x2 showing that some did have a grille guard. This photo is from the Life Magazine Collection and was taken at Ft. Warren, Wyoming in 1938.

I love how these boys are still wearing Cavalry Boots and Breeches. Instead of riding Horses, they're riding trucks. Nice truck, nice work David!

[David DeWeese]

I love how these boys are still wearing Cavalry Boots and Breeches. Instead of riding Horses, they're riding trucks.

Thanks D.R.H.,

Yes, I'm sure it was a period of major changes....

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Thanks, David

[kelley]

Hi David,
This truck and thread of yours is really interesting and the period photo's are amazing.
Going back to the first page, Can I bother you to explain what a "dedicated 2:1 under drive box" is? I have never seen one before.
Thanks!

[David DeWeese]

Hi Kelley,

The underdrive unit and transmission are manufactured and assembled to be one complete working unit. I guess my term "dedicated underdrive" really doesn't describe it very well. From the photo, you can see that the input shaft for the underdrive is actually the output/mainshaft of the transmission.

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The transmission had water in it and has to be rebuilt, but the underdrive had clean gear oil in it, and the gears look great.

underdrive gears.JPG (123.52 KiB) Viewed 1495 times

Spent the day doing a "spray can rebuild" on the motor. Only real oil leaks evident were in the valve side cover gaskets and the draft tube was loose and had leaked a lot of oil . Scraped and wire-brushed everything good, gave the motor some new gaskets and two good coats of "cast aluminum" engine paint. I hope this motor turns-out to be in as good condition as I remember....an engine rebuild is not in my budget right now.

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Thanks, David

[D.R.H.]

Take a look at this page guys. It may help some understand more about the transmission that David has.
http://forums.aths.org/PrintTopic31310.aspx

[Gordon_M]

The under drive transmission is one of the reasons why I thought the truck may be an original dump truck, as a 2:1 under drive is exactly what I would expect to find on a dump truck - or a two-speed back axle.

[tankjeepman]

Looking good Dave.

[forestry4evr]

David,

Although I am not a Dodge guy, I have enjoyed watching your build. Thanks for taking the effort to post images and your findings. It appears that few KH31's survived. Do you know what happened to the four wheel drive version of your truck that was sold somewhere in the Atlanta, Georgia area?

Paul

[David DeWeese]

Thanks everyone for the replies and kind words,

Paul, I spoke by e-mail to the new owner of the 4x4 within the last month. He has bought a bed and better sheet metal for it, and has future plans to restore.... I will contact him again, and make him aware people are asking about it.

Thanks, David

[David DeWeese]

Hi,

Got the transmission and under drive box sorted out this week. The original transmission internals were so rusted they were unusable. I had a nice donor transmission here which had gears and bearings with virtually no wear, so I cleaned out the original case and swapped over all the guts, and installed a NOS parking brake band I had.

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There was only one perishable seal on this entire trans assembly, and it was on the output shaft housing of the under drive unit. I took measurements of it to the local auto parts store, and luckily they were able to find me an exact match.

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Got another throw-out bearing which used the original type grease hose. My original hose was shot, but I found a great fix for it at the local auto parts store. A hose for a grease gun had the exact length and fittings size to replace the original...

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Stabbed the trans unit onto the motor and was able to get the whole assembly back in the frame today. Still have a problem to fix on the trans shift tower before I can install it...

motor and trans installed.JPG (218.13 KiB) Viewed 1364 times

I've been very lucky so far that one small hard-to-find part hasn't brought this whole project to a screeching halt.

Thanks, David

[Gordon_M]

Good stuff. You can see where the later engines evolved from - full water jacket, sealed throw out bearing, that sort of stuff.

[David DeWeese]

Finally got a transmission top shift cover completed and installed today. The original top cover was completely worn out, rusted and unfortunately unusable. From the photo you can see that the hole where the shifter alignment pin is inserted was broken out, and the ball socket in the housing for the shifter was totally ground away.

2-worn shifter socket.JPG (124.67 KiB) Viewed 1255 times

Luckily, the top cover from my donor transmission was still serviceable. Only problem was it didn't have the casting for the pin to mount the under drive shifter linkage to it...

3-top covers.JPG (152.83 KiB) Viewed 1255 times

Made a bracket from plate steel to go between the ribs in the housing, welded a nut to it and rounded the edges of the nut.

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Pressed bronze bushings into the under drive shifter to remove the wear in it, and to match the size of the bolt I was using with the new bracket.

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Installed the shifter and linkage, and it works smoothly and sits in it's original location. I'm glad to get this finally worked out, as I certainly wasn't looking forward to the hunt for another good original housing...

6-installed shifter with linkage.JPG (122.81 KiB) Viewed 1255 times

Thanks, David

[D.R.H.]

Now that's what I call good old plain and simple American Ingenuity !! Nice work Dave. I really am enjoy this thread of yours.