48 Dodge Power Wagon Test Drive 

Great info, thanks for posting! Yes, someone upgrades this to the later 251 engine. Previous owner(s) probably kept it maintained fairly well since everything still works today.

That's for sure, Thanks!

I hope so too! :)

I was about to comment the same thing. We’ve owned those kinds of trucks all my life. Super low geared. Always 2 gear starts on flat ground. Good old trucks. My dad has all the parts to build two 41 Dodge weapons carriers in a storage truck. Those won’t be built until after his death because he won’t get off his lazy rear end and get the projects moving forward. Pretty pissed off about it to be honest.

@@richfranks9161 -- Perhaps you should take over and start building them!! Great trucks and great learning experience!!

That's true to even a lot more modern 4WD trucks. 1st gear is like a reduction gear. When the wheels start to roll - you need to shift to 2nd otherwise you rev far too high. We only used it to start in the cold with a fully loaded truck AND a fully loaded trailer either on soft ground or up a steap hill. 99,5% of the time you didn't need it. In the cold on the other hand - you couldn't shift into 3rd before the engine had warmed up. So it was better just to warm up the engine. 1st gear was almost never used. My guess is you could get the truck going with a very cold engine as the reason for having it. Hopefully not having to use the 3rd gear. You needed the revs on the high side for the turbo to be doing it's job. Not so great in an offroad truck - We would joke about the truck being designed at Ferrari - because of the special choices and the trucks being Italian. We had fun using the horns in traffic - nobody would believe in a big truck having a horn hardly suited for a moped. I guess that was a deliberate choice make some confusion in traffic creating a hole in the traffic you could slip into.... That was stealth right there. The perfect truck for city traffic.

Any time!

What’s fake steel? Modern trucks will out carry, out pull, out everything this as cool as the power wagon is

​​@@flight2k5only if you are maintenance intensive and spend a lot money will the newer trucks have a chance at a long life just look at the newer Ford's they have a lot of expensive repairs to keep them going. some have had engines that needed replacement in less than a 100;000 miles that's not good but built rugged? not really.Not to mention Transmission repair I don't think the newer trucks are meant to stay in use for 25 years it'd be too expensive to keep them going be cheaper to replace them than try and repair them.

@@AntiZOGZone uh yea old trucks are heavy maintenance intensive 🤣

@@flight2k5 simple maintenance Compared to a computer controlled FI DIS no scanner needed at All but you do have grease fittings and oil is much better now than then so oil change are further apart do you have to lift the cab to pull the cylinder head?🤣 Do you have expensive fuel system repairs on the old carb models again No! What are you thinking with? Gee Whiz guy.

@@AntiZOGZone is this even English?

Thanks for the reply- I hear ya. Found it's best to get it rolling in first to avoid a lot of clutch chatter. Might have high spots or just a bit of rust from sitting a long time. Maybe a project for another day.

@@GasandOilGeekMy 1980 PW chattered after installing a new clutch, flywheel and pressure plate for the first few hundred miles but it works fine now.

Any time!

Glad you liked it!

Thanks 👍

The tires are probably 40 years old- I'm happy they are still holding air ;-)

Thanks!

was yours a 251 like the guys in the video? I have several of this vintage, but they're all 230's I'd like to know where to get the 251, never seen one. Thanks

Thanks, I'll check it out!

Thank you!!

Sell it before the gods of rust take it too far.

When i first started driving it I found that the clutch chattered quite a bit if I started out in 2nd gear - I think the clutch/pressure plate surfaces may have been rusty from sitting so long. Found that getting it rolling in 1st gear seemed to work pretty good. Now that I driven it quite a bit, it's starts off smooth in 2nd gear, so I think the rust has worn off. It's much easier to drive starting in 2nd for sure. Thanks for the note!

yea, there's a little learning curve with this one ;)

I hope so too! thanks!

High range. 40 maybe 45 is tops.

I didn't add a spare mount to the bed side since I may be installing larger tires on it and the spare may not fit in the stock location. Thanks for asking, but it's not for sale.

Most came from Vintage Power Wagons

Has old Bosch electric wiper motors, 6V on one side and 12v on the other ;)

@@GasandOilGeek sweet. The best truck ever made.

I can't remember for sure but they may have been vacuum operated originally.

I like how mechanical these are . They are high maintenance compared to a new truck but that makes them special

It's a challenge for sure! Hardest part is pulling out of my driveway on a county road and not slowing traffic down too much. 40mph is probably the top end.

yea, 40-45 mph is about it. Everything is heavy on that truck ;)

I year ya