58 Dodge Power Wagon 3.0 build thread

bigstacks95

bigstacks95

Diesel Doc
After breaking the chassis on the old truck, my wife and I decided to build something a little different. One of my customers at my shop had this old Power Wagon at his maple sap house and sold it to me for $500.

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Started with a new frame from a 2nd gen Ram and weight box from Kevin Panacek in Jersey. From there I cut off every bracket and mount on it and started fresh with mounting the front end, which I salvaged from the old build.

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We set a mock up engine in and started building from there

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My wife welding in the engine mounts

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Starting getting the rear in

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To be continued..............
 
Mocking up the weight box mounting

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Rear axle trussing

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Front end and steering

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Some billet parts to lighten up the front end

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Looking forward to this thread! I noticed you updated your avatar and was wondering about it. I loved the look of your old truck, I’m curious to see this one come together. It looks great in your new avatar.
 
Sorry the pics are showing up so huge I am linking them off my facebook album.....

Started to strip the body down which honestly took like an hour and every bolt came out without the torch

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Yes this is Jon Manns' old weight box

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Starting to make the body so it sits on the frame

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Mocking up the nose.

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And seat. Its a little tight for a 6'3" 285lb guy like me

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I forgot to mention it was going to be a tilt body. Mocking up the frame work for that.

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Resha welding up the tilt body framing

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Some of the bed framework, I guess this is a little out of order

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In cab, steering valve, data logger, throttle, pedals all mounted

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Floor framework

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Once most of the chassis stuff was fabbed up we decided to pop the body off and get it ready for color. I hate body work but fortunately my dad is very good at painting. Him, Resha, and myself did all the prep and paint

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Then we got some color on it

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I put the body in the garage at my house and continued on the rest of the chassis stuff.

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Cutting the rear cover off the 20145

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Boxed up the frame, mounted the lift cylinder a little better

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Painted up the aluminum center for the 20145, billet pinion support, mini spool

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Driveshaft shielding mock up

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Center shaft shielding

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Full chassis in paint finally!

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More pics later..... gotta get back to work!
 
Ok heres some more....

Proformance pros shocks on the front end

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Setting the body on the frame

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Brakes and locking hubs set up on the front end

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Some more shielding

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More shielding and the rear driveshaft installed

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Front end shields and tethers

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Man this is impressive. Not to take away from all the hard work you and the wife put in, but I bet you’re one of those guys that makes everything look easy haha got straight to it.

Very cool rig.
 
Steering cylinder plumbed

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Profab reverser I picked up from my buddy Tom (rawdog) rebuilt with a new input shaft installed

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Rules state the bed must be covered so I built this lightweight aluminum diamond plate cover for it. Also reverse and neutral lights installed

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Cockpit area coming along

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My dad painting fenders

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Front fenders on

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Intercooler plumbing done, batteries in, fuel tank on, steering hydraulic pump and aux pump for body lift installed

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Finally got our heart, 6.7 Cummins from Castners Performance in Penn Yan NY

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Clutch installed 4 disk valair. Couldn't afford a Crower style at the time I bought this used on marketplace for like $2k

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Installed the short block since we were still waiting for a few parts for the head/valvetrain

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and started plumbing

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Head and pump on

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Turbo tucked down next to the block

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A couple grand worth of AN fittings later :bs:

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3 way dump valve and injection pump shutoff levers installed

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Outside for the first time!

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At our first pull...

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My wife Resha and I getting ready to scale. She's the best crew cheif I could ask for and understands how it all works

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First time out the truck never made it off the line..... we ended up fighting a few oil issues including our breather tank not breathing so it was pushing past the rings and turbo seals. Finally got that straghtened out but that was at the end of last season so we never made a good pass until 2023....
 
Here's our first pass at Fonda NY back in May. There was a little fire at the end but no big deal. Just some oil on the header wrap on the exhaust. Also kinda forgot how to drive there for a minute! I was just stunned we were going the right direction!

Must Be Nice 3.0 Limited Pro truck pull Fonda - YouTube

And another video from Goshen CT about a month ago

Must Be Nice 3.0 diesel Goshen CT - YouTube

And in case you didnt see it in the pics here's a full walkaround video:

Limited Pro Stock Diesel 3.0 Cummins Dodge Power Wagon - YouTube
 
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Thanks guys, its been a fun but painstaking process. It looks easy in the pics but it was far from that. I've been building this thing for like 2 years now. Resha and I have done most of it ourselves but Ross Castner has been a huge help, along with Kevin Panaceck on the rear end stuff, Proformance Pros with some driveline stuff, my local parts supplier Canaan Auto which amazingly has nearly every piece from the Russel and Aeroquip AN fitting catalog on the shelf, and my wife's cousin Jacquier Welding who gave me most of the steel for the chassis and body. It takes a village as they say!

Here's a few more pics from this season

Waiting out the rain

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Pulling family hanging out after a pull

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I found this broken valve spring retainer doing normal maintenance.

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Updated with some thicker pieces, I had to pull a few shims out from under the valves but fortunately Castner's got me going in only a couple days

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And we went out and got our first win that week at the Westfield Mass fair!

Must Be Nice Westfield Mass - YouTube
 
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