Tommy Manner's
1933 Dodge 2 Ton
Streetroddingusa.com
E-Mail: streetrodding@gmail.com
1933 DODGE 2 TON
Cartersville, GA
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Near retirement time, after 42 years in metal fabrication, I, Tom Manner, accepted the offer from a brother-in-law to sell a 33 Dodge 2 ton truck. His budget was strained from too many hot rods and he decided that the truck had to go. The truck had been headed for a build as a car hauler for hot rods. Other projects prevailed and priorities changed and the truck body and frame became mine completely disassembled and 90% there.
The truck came home as a literal basket case, frame here, cab over there, fenders some where, and all piled on a trailer and in the tow truck. The truck was bought with the feeling that he would probably just resell it. But the cab and other sheet metal was in such good shape that the vision of turning it in to a hot rod just couldn’t be ignored.
Work began with cutting 30 inches from the center of the frame and 12 inches off the tail end of the frame. It was dropped down over the front end and rear end with temporary blocks and the size and attitude made it even more apparent that it should be headed for a street rod.
Because I wanted to use the modern low profile tires (10” wide on 20” wheels) I went on a quest to find anyone who made wheels to fit these tires on a dually. There were none to be had. The decision was made to build the wheels that I wanted. The outer bands were purchased from Spin Works, division of Circle Ind., in California. The centers were cut from the original Dodge wheels and turned to fit the outer bands. After several sessions of tack welding, checking, and correcting, the wheels finally received their final welding. Then wheels were powder coated silver and the Goodyear Eagles were mounted and balanced.
Next consideration was the rolling part of the running gear. The original “dually” rear end looked like it had possibilities but the gear ratio was 5:56 and “Gearhead Randy” advised me that the ancient metal wouldn’t hold up anyway. So the rear end was replaced with a 14 bolt Dana 70 with 4:10 ratio. The rear end was shortened 4.25” to get the wheels in close to the frame. The original dropped I-beam front axle was retained and the front spindles looked good and strong but the drum brakes (all four) had to go. The original suspension was canned and four bar setups with poniard bars were fabricated for both front and rear. Square tube dummies were fabricated to take the place of shocks during the build up. The front axle was fitted with a bracket to mount a Maval rack & pinion power steering. The steering shaft telescopes to allow the steering unit to move with the axle. Finally the chassis was rolling.
From time to time the cab and fenders would be set on the frame to check the overall look of things.
Along in here somewhere is when a friend saw it and declared that the Chevy engines (big or small) that I had in mind “would just be sacrilegious in that Dodge. Nothing but a Hemi would do”. In spite of the expense that I knew that would bring on I felt that he was really right, if I could find one. I started the search and in just a few weeks one showed up on the Hot Heads web sight on the internet.
It was a 392 that had been built for a 1/8th mile alcohol drag racer and never installed in the car because of budget restraints. (Seems to be a trend, first the truck and then the engine). I went to Paducah, KY with $6500.00 in my pocket and came home with a Hemi. The good part was that it was complete from the intake manifold to the pan with all good parts, electric water pump, Hot Heads headers and two four intake manifold, Milidon pan, and the adapter plate for the 700R4 transmission that I intended to use. The bad part was that the compression was 13.5 to 1 and I knew that that had to change and the pretty aluminum rods had to go for some I beam steel rods for street use; just another couple of thousand. The water pump that worked best is a Meizere 55 gpm pump.
Mounting the cab and all the forward parts was easy enough with just the typical problems of minor missing parts and the scarcity of old Dodge parts. The 392 fit in the frame rails well and the distance from the grill shell to the fire wall was fine, especially since the plan was not to put a radiator in the front. The rear end was another story. The decision was made to go short flat bed like the “hot shot” trucks as they are called around the Louisiana oil fields. Fabrication of the bed was in progress when the challenge of the back fenders came along. The concept of covering the two 10 inch tires on each side was easy but getting it done was another undertaking. Then the space between the fenders and the original running boards became the challenge. I decided that the classy thing to do was put a radiator on each side like an Indy car. Just another touch of fabrication would handle that. Howe fabricated the aluminum radiators and a Vintage Air remote condenser and fan combination was separated and one of the radiators was sandwiched in the middle. The other radiator has it’s own fan and shroud. Because the original hood had to have openings for the Hemi muscles to flex through the louvered sections that had to be removed where reversed in direction and put in front of the radiators in the rear (sounds easy now). The fabrication of the tilting bed, uprights, rails, fenders, and radiator mounts were all done with the help of the company that I retired from, Sheet Metal Components, Inc. in Cartersville, GA. Part of my retirement agreement is that I can still come back and fabricate parts that I then bring home for the welding and grinding.
Willwood four piston calipers and 11” discs were fitted on all four wheels. This required design and fabrication of aluminum adapters for the discs and caliper mounts. The non-powered Willwood master cylinder was mounted to the frame right behind the cab so accessibility would be easy. This involved fabrication of the pedal, pedal mount, master cylinder mount, and linkage that is specific only to this vehicle. Check valves, proportioning valve and stainless brake lines were fitted.
The front motor mounts and transmission mount sit on cross members that came from Speedway Automotive. The transmission and converter is 700R4 from Phoenix Transmissions. The engine and transmission were mated up and installed in the chassis with a custom drive shaft from Drive Shaft Services in Marietta, GA. The fuel tank is a roundy round type unit from Summit with foam baffling, roll over valve, and 20 gal. capacity. A fill neck was added in a convenient location. The electric fuel pump is Holley and all the fuel system is SS braded hose with AN fittings from Godman. Fuel is delivered to two 650 Quick Fuel carburetors. Spent gases leave through the Hot Heads headers. All of the intake, valve covers, and exhaust system were ceramic powder coated by American Super Cars in Waleska, GA.
Once all of the principal parts were fit it was time to disassemble everything again and do all the finishing. The only thing that was not completely disassembled was the transmission. The frame went to American Super Cars for blasting and powder coating. All other suspension parts were painted at home. The body work and Viper red painting were done by Brad Cline and his team of great guys at Thunder Valley Customs in White, GA. Once the cab and chassis were together the interior insulation was installed and the wiring was done; again, at home.
The most unusual feature of the wiring is that the two marine type fuse blocks (one for keyed circuits and one for unkeyed circuits) are in a pull out drawer under the drivers seat. This makes for extremely easy access to the fuses. The same type drawer under the passenger seat acts as a glove box.
Finally it was crank up time. After tracking down and fixing a few water leaks, and some preliminary adjustments to the timing and carburetors things were sounding good enough for a place to start tuning. Next it was time to put the glass in. The side windows use the original crank up mechanisms but the back window and the cowl vent are motorized.
Then it was off to the upholstery shop (Dale’s Interiors in Canton, GA). The plan was to do the brown leather upholstery before putting the fenders and running boards on, thus making it easier to work around and to keep the fenders out of harms way.
Then the truck returned home for the rest of the body parts assembly. About this time the bed panels were taken to Kent Ford in Murphy, NC for the air brush art that adorns the bed. The SS tube rails around the bed, and the exhaust tubing, were bent by Grand Bending in Smyrna, GA. All of the design and fabrication was done and/or directed by me. I also did all of the steel welding. Aluminum and stainless welding were done by Michael Owen.
This article written by Tommy Manner