help with identifcation 1944 dodge please

[gordon]

Normally 1" below the top edge of the chassis rail, just behind front left spring, front hanger.

The T116 engine may well have been the original. The 120" wheelbase marks it as a one ton WD20 / DD2, and if original the short running boards would be for either a pickup or a flatbed. Normally a pickup body would have conventional rear springs and single wheels, while a flatbed would have heavier springs and maybe overload springs, and dual rears.

Those rear hubs will take dual wheels, but the rear dual wheels had a special small offset rim.

I didn't see an answer to whether it was RHD and was the screen fixed in place. If it is RHD, are the holes in the LEFT chassis rail for the left hand drive steering box setup drilled through? Normally they would be blank in one thickness of the rail. If they are all drilled through it may have started as a LHD truck.

[Lang]

Gordon

The body number given is Canadian production DD-2 and not in any US number series.

Being in NZ this is more than likely to be correct.

The T116 engine is a mystery. Did the Canadian trucks have a Canadian engine or were they fitted with the American engine? Seems very coincidental that any postwar engine change would have used the engine out of the exact equivalent US model- possible but.......

I am still looking for DD-2 production dates.

PS

Another interesting thing I discovered is the T-116 motor changed size without changing serial number like the early 1/2 ton Weapon Carrier.

The early weapon carrier changed from 201 cu in to 218 cu in with no obvious external changes. You could only tell from the engine number following the T-112 XXXXX

This vehicle T-116 changed mid-production from 218 cu in to the 230 cu in without any indication on the block. If you are ordering pistons you need to measure.

DD-2 apparently was in the late Canadian production so could be as late as 1947 - almost certainly civilian.





Lang

[Lang]

Just found this.

Dodge may have used a small child with a tack hammer to strike the number die, as the stamps are often shallow, and may be hard to find. Here are a few tips to make finding the number easier.

1. Clean the area down to bare metal, a wire wheel in a drill works well for this.

2. Clean a larger area then shown in the images, the number may be in a slightly different spot.

3. Getting the area wet (water works fine for this, or some light oil) can help make some numbers easier to read.

4. If the area is rusty or the number is hard to make out, take close up digital images of the number, and enlarge them on the computer. This trick often helps make out a hard to read number.

[Brian Gallaghan]

well, I have sanded down to shinny metal with wet and dry paper and still no sign of a number, I'll keep looking and maybe widen my search area.
Yes, truck is RH drive and LH chassis rail is drilled for a steering box. Windscreen is fixed and has only one wiper.
Also was originally a 3 speed and the previous owner changed to a 4 speed which he said was more suited to the steep roads in his area.

[gordon]

Originally Posted by Brian Gallaghan

well, I have sanded down to shinny metal with wet and dry paper and still no sign of a number, I'll keep looking and maybe widen my search area.
Yes, truck is RH drive and LH chassis rail is drilled for a steering box. Windscreen is fixed and has only one wiper.
Also was originally a 3 speed and the previous owner changed to a 4 speed which he said was more suited to the steep roads in his area.

We are combining some trucks then. The 120" wheelbase matches the axles as a 41-47 one ton, either US or Canadian. I'd suspect US as the "chassis" number is on the door plate and not actually on the chassis, though it could be either.
The one ton would originally have come with a four speed, the three speed was only standard on the half ton. It would have been pickup or flatbed originally - there was no 120" WB panel van body, just 116" or 133"

The cab looks like an ANZAC export civilian cab for local assembly, possibly of a half ton 4 x 2, which would originally have a three speed in it and a T112 engine

T110 Engine is Canadian light duty three ton, most likely military ( although there was civilian T110 ). Steering gear and controls could have come from the T110 donor or the RHD export cab.

[David Herbert]

Originally Posted by Brian Gallaghan

Also was originally a 3 speed and the previous owner changed to a 4 speed which he said was more suited to the steep roads in his area.

It is possible that "originally a 3 speed" refers to the truck as aquired by the previous owner and that it had aquired the 3 speed with one of its engine changes.

David

[Mike K]

The T112 engine in my 46 ute was the 3 3/8" X 4 1/16" 25" block . Same engine in the 41 Plymouth utes I had.

I have never seen an example of that 120" 3/4 ton wheelbase here in Aust. , the Dodges here seem to be either 116" or the longer 3 Tonner

[Lang]

Gordon

I have the full production serial numbers for both USA and Canada. They had separate allocations from at least 1933 and I have looked at many pages of numbers and find no vehicle (even those "identical" models produced in each country) which carry the same number series.

The numbers given are unquestionably a Canadian DD-2

The USA production WD-20 and WD-21 were civilian vehicles produced in two batches 1940 and 1941 (before USA entered the war) and in a third batch from October 1945 to 1947(after the war)

I am still trying to get the Canadian DD-2 production dates which MAY include the "British" war period. if this is the case they may have found themselves painted green?

Lang

[Lynn Eades]

My book states:
T116 engine used in:
Truck model WD 20 (41 to 47)
Truck model WD 21 (41 to 47)
and Truck model WDX (46 to 47)
It lists the engine as a 3 1/4" x 4 5/8" which is a 230 cu.in. (same as WC 3/4 tonners)
Lang the block will be the same. The 218 cu.in. has a 4 3/8" stroke as against the 4 5/8" stroke of the 230. Probably the conrods are different as well. Every thing else could be the same.
This is a MOTORS Manual, so no military trucks in this book. Definately a commercial if not civvy truck.
The WC1 to WC11 had a T207 engine. (218)
WC 12 to WC20 had a T211 engine. (218)
WC21 to WC41 had a T215 engine. (230)
The above are all 1941 1/2 ton 4x4.
The T112 engines were only found in 4x2 trucks (also 1941 1/2 ton) I have no info on the size of these engines.

Sorry Lang, I just read your post #11.

[gordon]

Originally Posted by Lang

Gordon

The T116 engine is a mystery. Did the Canadian trucks have a Canadian engine or were they fitted with the American engine? Seems very coincidental that any postwar engine change would have used the engine out of the exact equivalent US model- possible but.......

Lang

The Canadian military production seems to have standardised on the 25" long block 236.6 cu in engine, but I'd guess a Canadian-supplied T116 may well have had a shorter 23.5" US version in it. Not sure they'd a 25" version of the T116 though, my T116 here is 23.5" long. People talk about Canadian and American as though they were built in different countries ( I know ... ) but if you look at the physical location of Mound Road Detroit and Windsor Ontario they aren't that far apart.