These pictures reflect My "project" as I bought it.  As you can see it has a 440/727 engine/transmission combination.  In addition it is on a 1978 Dodge M300 MH chassis with 17.5 inch wheels.  My intent on buying this was to restore it as a "truck", I'm not into the "slamming school", though I respect the right of others to pursue their vision; there are just too few of these particular trucks to deny them there place in history.  Having said that, I always do what I call a performance upgrade to most of my projects; in this case I have opted to replace the 440/727 with a 1996 5.9BT low miles diesel and a 47re transmission.  Following submissions will include the "teardown" of what became my chassis, then the "fitment" challenges (of which there were/are many).  I do need some help in one area (that I know of), I badly need a 2WD wiring harness, my intent is to use a 96-98 wiring harness which accommodates the 47RE 2WD transmission.  More to follow.

 

Part 2:  As I mentioned previously I wanted to build a truck, the smaller M300 Dodge MH chassis was too small for my objective.  I had seen a 32 foot Executive MH in a local wrecking yard that was built on a 1977 Dodge M500 MH chassis with 19.5 inch wheels which I picked up for $800.00 delivered (so now I have two 440/727 units), also got a low hours Onan 6.5 kw generator which runs great.  These pictures reflect a couple of the steps in demolition, my only concern was not to do damage to the chassis/suspension.  I say to those of you who motorhome; I hope yours is better built than this one was.

Edited January 22, 20196 yr by Dodge48
Starting over with better clarification.

I see now. Mt uncle was a farm machinery dealer back around the time that truck would have been on the road. I thought perhaps it would have been a machinery hauler and would have been someone he would have known. Your project is really looking good. I wish I had the time and facilities to tackle a project like that. Thanks for the updates. I enjoy following this thread.

@Dodge48 I looked up that name on the truck and after doing some digging I think Hayden Printing in Ardmore, PA could point you to some info on that cabover. Can't hurt.

 

 

 

Timd32.  Thanks for your research of the Haden 48 Dodge COE owners; great job, you should be a detective.  I contacted the Hayden company a couple of days ago; the person I needed to speak with was not available, we'll talk next week.  Thanks again.

 

Part 10: Again it has been awhile since I posted, life gets complicated; I hope you haven't lost interest.  I'm going to present what to-date has been one of the most difficult of the modifications I've had to  address-steering.  As might be obvious to some, the MH chassis had the steering gear set out from the left frame rail by about 15 inches and just behind the front panel of the coach.  I removed the framework for the steering box and hydro-boost brake system and intended to mount the Saginaw box forward of the driver front wheel and on the outside of the frame rail.  This became a "big deal"; no matter what I tried I had significant wheel and draglink interference.  I tried several attempts to fabricate different brackets to accomplish an acceptable result - no luck; no matter what I came up with I ran into the driver wheel coming into contact with the steering box; and, the draglink was totally out of alignment with the pitman arm and the driver side wheel control arm.  I tried several of the Seattle/Tacoma "specialty" steering shops without resolution; I met some nice people but they were not into "fabrication"; if you gave them year, make, and model they could help you with an off the shelf item - no luck.  Then came the internet search; after many calls I made a find, Mark Mason at Straight-line Steering in San Jose, CA.  Mark took the time to listen to my problem, I sent pictures and in a few days he had a proposal, if I paid the freight he would send me an HFB52 series steering gear from an early 60's Ford (I think) to establish fitment.  It is a box that sits vertically and is integrated with a hydro-boost system which I was already planning to use in my brake system.  After determining it would fit I decided to take the leap and make the frame modifications to accommodate the HFB.  The HFB has a trunnion shaft that extends through the chassis rail and to which the pitman arm is attached.  Since cutting into the flanges of the chassis rail would weaken the chassis and given the forces that would be substantial given the location of the HFB I fabricated a modification to" stiffen" things up (I am lucky to have a young man who is an accomplished welder and a retired machinist from the local naval shipyard to assist me).  Finding a pitman arm with sufficient length to work with the hub steering geometry was the next challenge; again Mark came through with an 11 inch pitman arm with the required off-set, and the machinist turned out a drag-link - it all lined up.  I'm going to attempt importing pictures that give a little better understanding of the above.  Hope you found this interesting, Jim  For some reason I cannot insert pictures, I'll try to find out why.

No problem at all, glad to put a little leg work in, it was late and I ran across your post on another build, it was quite the story and project, I read the whole thing start to finish was intresting for sure, Inwas hooked.

 

 I have a 48 willys pickup since HS, its on the maybe one day list. But as you say life gets complicated. Nothing bad in my case all good things, have a 21mo old, one on the way, do some volunteer stuff for some different folks.

 

Best of luck with your project. Will keep checking in for sure.

 

Thanks again.  You obviously have your priorities in the right order, well being of the family first.  I'm an older guy, kids are long on there own, if it wasn't for my "projects" I don't know what I'd do.

I think I'm a subscriber to the forum now so I'll try to post the pictures for "Part 10 "Steering".