Zeph's Dodge VC1 Command Car Restoration

[zepher11]

Well, I've had this Command Car taking up room in the shop for a few years, and since I'm pretty much done with my Carryall, I thought I'd give it a motor pool restoration like the others. I figured I'd post a few photos here thanks to Ron.

I've actually completed a few little projects for the VC1 the past few years. The replacement engine is completed. I've also rebuilt all of the gauges, the regulator, and the generator. I also have the restored grill stainless steel parts. Came with five new, but fairly old I would suspect, McCreary NDT's. Also and NOS radiator, so won't have to search for one or have the old one I have rebuilt. Probably the nicest piece I stashed away that is still in its original box is the NOS windshield frame, glass and rubber all ready to drop in. That'll save some headaches. Also came with a new wiring harness, so that saves a little dough and time.

I'm missing a few things and don't have a lot of knowledge regarding the VC's. Already have a lot of questions as I have been dinking around with it.

Here's what it looked like when it arrived a few years ago:



Oops, that's not it. I wish. Here it is:



The dogs were high fiving when it rolled off the trailer:





First thing I had to do was clean out the classic basket case to see what was all in there. Did this a couple of days ago:











Pulled the body this past weekend:



Re-employed the rotisserie for the body:











Time to start cleaning some parts...

[wc56daveyboy]

darn that’s in good all around shape, John!
I’m
Jealous for sure!!

I wish that I had a VC command car!!

[zepher11]

darn that’s in good all around shape, John!
I’m
Jealous for sure!!

I wish that I had a VC command car!!

Thanks Dave,

I know there are a few VC1's out there. Not sure how many. Would be interesting to find out how many are actually still out there. Hopefully, I can do this one some justice to get 'er back on the road.

[70th Division]

Hello Zeph,

This will be a great and very interesting thread for the restoration.
Congratulations on getting this Command Car started !!!

It does look to be in excellent shape to start with, very rare for any vehicle to so nice.
Most of the parts look like they are there in your shop !!
I will be looking forward with anticipation for you updates.


What an interesting one !!!


Best Regards
Ray

[superdave]

I wish all of my basket cases were that nice.

[zepher11]

Hello Zeph,

This will be a great and very interesting thread for the restoration.
Congratulations on getting this Command Car started !!!

It does look to be in excellent shape to start with, very rare for any vehicle to so nice.
Most of the parts look like they are there in your shop !!
I will be looking forward with anticipation for you updates.

What an interesting one !!!

Best Regards
Ray

Yes, very happy to have most of the parts. More so than some of the projects I start with for sure.

I wish all of my basket cases were that nice.

This is the first basically rust free project I've had. The previous owner replaces a lot of metal on this one. It's pretty wrinkly all the way round, so if I want it to look fairly decent when painted there will be a lot of body work. Have never had one this wrinkled before. Something new to see if I can do it justice.

[twinflyer17]

Zeph - I'm looking forward to following this thread like all your others! Looks like a great project and I'm sure it'll look great when you're finished

[zepher11]

Zeph - I'm looking forward to following this thread like all your others! Looks like a great project and I'm sure it'll look great when you're finished

Thanks Sean,

I'm pretty versed on the half-ton Dodge WC's, but keep running into odd things on this VC. Tried to pull the front hubs and it's a 2" axle nut. Well, search on the net for that...hard to find a 2" thin walled axle nut.

It's a fun experience though. Enjoying something a little different. Tried to pull the yoke. Used to the Mechanic joints and not the Detroit style. Rube Goldberg would have been proud. However, I think I ruined the internals of the pinion trying to get the yoke off. Still on there!



Took some doing, but I did get the axle nuts off. Seems like there should be a bendable washer in there, but only a nut against the bearing:



The brakes and drums look pretty nice and appear to have never been used. However, someone went crazy on that grease seal and hammered it into submission. Probably the worst install I've ever seen of a seal like that. lol:

[70th Division]

Hi Zeph,

That looks like a pretty new looking brake area !!
Another bonus factor for this rare beauty !!
It's amazing what can be discovered out there


Good luck on the pinion and yoke issue !!

Best Regards,
Ray

[zepher11]

Hi Zeph,

That looks like a pretty new looking brake area !!
Another bonus factor for this rare beauty !!
It's amazing what can be discovered out there


Good luck on the pinion and yoke issue !!

Best Regards,
Ray

Thanks Ray,

Yeah, a lot of the axle housing components look good. However there are some issues here and there I'll need to work on. Took some shots of the brake shoe locations, etc.., to remember which pad goes where. I can never recall which brake pads are the front or the rears based on the differing surface size:







The rear axle bearing that's pressed on the rear axle was an issue getting out of the axle housing. I tried a slide hammer, but that didn't work, and then was worried I'd ruin it somehow:



I finally put a large nut behind the axle nut and used an old flywheel to pound it out. Worked really well:







I was then able to pull the differential gear cases. Always looks like a knife fight occurred in the shop after that battle is over:



As I mentioned I couldn't get the yokes off, so I took the gear sets to a local gear shop. They popped the yokes right off, but said they were super tight. The yokes looked brand new with nice shiny surfaces, and they said the bearings and spider gears look brand new, so that's nice.

Had to make a little pulling tool out of some long bolts to get the pinion seals out. Those things are always a pain in the:





Had some new pinion seals:



Popped those in:



Ready to blast or strip the paint off these now:



Both axle housings are nice and all treated internally with that Glyptal coating. The only place the axles leaked were at all the seal, or lack of seal points:



After pulling the front axles, I could see that there was an axle seal in the front housing, however one can see how distorted it is from the installation. Like why it leaked I would suspect:





Now to blast the differentials and the axle housings and get those all primered and painted.

[zepher11]

Pulled out the inner front axle housing seals wit a little tool I made the last time I did this. It's a thick washer that I ground down to allow it to insert past the seal. Then use a slide hammer to bump out:

img]http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data/4434/CC_3228.JPG[/img]



After that, I want to blast the axle housings and trying to figure out how to keep as much media out of the housing. Had a laminate board that looked like it might work if bolted down tight to keep the media out of the diff opening:





Cleaned up the yokes for the diffs:



Now starting to work over the brake wheel cylinders. They are actually in pretty good shape. I will re-hone them and go with:

[70th Division]

Hello Zeph,

Great rapid progress in this area !!

Looks like great work, and the building of your own highly effective tools !

I am going to be doing my GPW axles soon, so am looking forward to learning that process.

Best Regards,
Ray

[zepher11]

Hello Zeph,

Great rapid progress in this area !!

Looks like great work, and the building of your own highly effective tools !

I am going to be doing my GPW axles soon, so am looking forward to learning that process.

Best Regards,
Ray

Thanks Ray,

I have a lot of good axle rebuild photos on my GPW rebuild thread. I recall taking a lot of photos that may be helpful to you.

I buttoned up the axle housings for blasting yesterday on the VC1. I found a nice rubber pipe plug for the rear housing at the ACE Hardware. Had to do a tiny bit of grinding on it to fit in the tube, but worked great. I shrink wrapped the knuckles on the front axle as I couldn't find anything that would work any better. I wanted to protect the bearings. Seemed to work well.

Anyway, all blasted now as well as the backing plates and the U-bolts for the leaf springs. Trying to determine if these leaf springs were dismantled and each leaf primed and painted, or if they just shot the outsides like some do. I'm thinking the latter. Really do not like dismantling the leaf packs and blasting each leaf. Takes for ever!







Some crazy welding went on during the housing assembly. Interesting how each housing is two pieces and sectioned together. A lot different than the WC axle housings:







Nice to get to the point of painting some of the small parts:

[70th Division]

Hello Zeph,

Those parts look great !
I will be taking a close look at your jeep thread, thanks for the tip !!

The factory welding seams look pretty darn interesting, and really well done.
I can imagine all the labor at the factory that went into making the axle housing, and all the parts.

Saving these vehicles and restoring them, is also paying tribute to those workers of yesteryear, who labored making them, a job they did well, and to the Veterans that used them during Wartime !!!

It is really coming along nicely !!!

Keep up your great work !!

Best Regards,
Ray

[zepher11]

Hello Zeph,

Those parts look great !
I will be taking a close look at your jeep thread, thanks for the tip !!

The factory welding seams look pretty darn interesting, and really well done.
I can imagine all the labor at the factory that went into making the axle housing, and all the parts.

Saving these vehicles and restoring them, is also paying tribute to those workers of yesteryear, who labored making them, a job they did well, and to the Veterans that used them during Wartime !!!

It is really coming along nicely !!!

Keep up your great work !!

Best Regards,
Ray

Yeah, those are interesting axle housings vs. the Dodge WC housings I'm used to working on. Amazing the work they did back in the day. I love that era and the pride they had in knocking this stuff out. I save any motor pool or factory shot from the war ear anytime I can find them.

I found a 2" axle nut. Not an easy thing to do. Virtually no one sells them. I still had to modify it by grinding on the outside to allow it to enter inside the hub recess and still fit the nut. Really tight in there. Since I can't find any VC axle bendable locking washers, I'm going to repurpose these Jeep washers I saved. I knew there was a reason. I will have to grind around the outside to allow them to fit inside the housing as well. I think they will work



Cleaned up the differential cases and prepped them for paint. All ready to go once I install the yokes:



A little chilly out as the weather is cooling off now. Only like 85 degrees yesterday. Had to wear a sweat shirt as it was a bit cold in the moring:



Nothing like a fresh coat of primer after all the work to clean up the housings:



What's better than primer? OD of course!







I really enjoy finding these data tags. The one axle housing was rebuilt by the Fort Lewis Ordinance Motor Base. The T202 represents that it's a Dodge VC series axle housing. Rebuilt on December 16, 1942. Wow...79 years ago this December. Amazing it's still around. Also, I wonder why it had to be rebuilt two years into service. The other thing is the time it would have taken to drill for and install the rivets to attach the data plate. Now that's pride in one's work for sure: