Forest Fire Pics... Old Dodge Saves the Day!

[timberlinetree]

Marci and I came home to a forest fire on the mountain across the street...



  

  

 

Someone from the city said, "You rely on THAT to go through the mud and put out forest fires!? It looks old!" .... We sure do!



  

 

Coming down the mountain



 

Don't know how many youngsters these days know about lock out hubs!

Any idea as to what year this power wagon may be??

[thecfarm]

Any major damage?
Them fires are not good. Had 2 around here. One bordered my land. They had their's logged and there was nothing of any size left.It was burning the slash. But would get into a 2-3 foot fir and that would get a 5-6 fir going than a 8-10 going. I was cutting down those 8-10 foot ones to slow it down. Than the fire dept shows up with a 2 inch hose that they ran through the woods and that did the fire in. The fire came on my side,but there was nothing for it to run on. Than it started to rain about an hour later.
The other one was up the road. Started with an old junk that got stuck in the mud, Hot exhaust and last years dry grass is not a good mix.
Both fires were in late spring. Neither one was a big fire,with flames in the air probably no more than 50 feet and that would be on the high side.

[HiTech]

Those old trucks were something. I think they quit making them in the late 60's or early 70's. They had flathead 6's with 97 hp and a 4 speed. I am pretty sure they just had 2 wheel drive and 4 wheel drive, no low range. The gear options were 4:88 and 5:38 or something like that...very low anyway. I believe they had 20 inch rubber. They were a Beast. Some had a very small cab, not much room for people. They were built for brute power and off road use. I know of one in my area that has a V-plow on it. The old fashion V-plow. The kids of today aren't familiar with them.

[chester_tree _farmah]

Darn right they still use em! Nice!

[Dave Shepard]

I think that style was made up until '68. I'm surprised it has locking hubs. Probably not original.

[thecfarm]

Top speed 35 mph!!

[North River Energy]

There's a job well done.

Based on the hood louvers, badging and flip out windows, might be mid 50's?
If memory serves, my '48 has a high and low range, tops out on the road around 42 mph, and came with 900-16s.  (You can drive faster, but the additional noise isn't worth it).  At least two different versions of hub locks. Door tag suggests 75hp for the 230(?)ci six.  Later models came with a 250(?)ci.  Either way, not much hp, but that doesn't seem to slow anything down off road.


I need to get that truck back in service...

[shinnlinger]

this is my local's forestry rig...

http://www.canaanfire.com/firefighters-association

[chester_tree _farmah]

Nice! I have a 67 j2000 short bed. 327 rambler v8, 4 speed, 4.09 axles. 33's.

She looked good 20 years ago when I did a minor restore but she was a local truck and just got too rusty to bother with.  Motor rebuild only has about 4000 miles on it. I hope to find a southern short bed and build a rust free one with my youngest. Dreams are good.

[HiTech]

Any of these trucks I ever saw had 20" rubber and flat head 6's. I guess the newer ones had a 250ci or something like that. The old ones didn't need low range...you could take off in 4th gear. lol Niagara Mohawk use these as line trucks for years. Anyone who has them doesn't seem to want to part with them. They sure put the "Power" in Power Wagon.

[Redbark]

I have 1950 PW and yes they have low range. Top speed 52mph but don't plan on having a conversation with your passenger with those square grears spinning.

[sawguy21]

That is the perfect truck for that application, the kind of work it was designed for. Good payload, DanG near bullet proof and will go almost anywhere as long as speed is not an issue.

[coxy]

if dodge still made a truck like that today I would buy a new one :D :D  I think the reason they were so good back then is they did not go fast enough or have the power the trucks have today to rip them apart      back then it was torque

[thecfarm]

I had an old Ford,'76 like that. Top speed was about 55 and it sounded like it was going to tear itself apart at that speed. 45 was much better.

[ruren]

That's a beautiful truck. We just retired our 1976 ford brush fire truck with 3000 miles on it and 'upgraded' to a used 86. I tried to buy it but the winning bid was twice mine. I love to see those old trucks that have been kept up and are still doing their job.

[timberlinetree]

Not any damage to any houses just woods but another one started deeper in the mountain but rain suppressed it until fire fighters got there. The truck seemed to have hi/ low( think a turtle is faster than this truck in low/ low :D) and was a standard trans.miss the good old days when things where made simple and built to last.

[coxy]

Not any damage to any houses just woods but another one started deeper in the mountain but rain suppressed it until fire fighters got there. The truck seemed to have hi/ low( think a turtle is faster than this truck in low/ low :D) and was a standard trans.miss the good old days when things where made simple and built to last.

x2 on that ;D

[chet]

That's a beautiful truck. We just retired our 1976 ford brush fire truck with 3000 miles on it and 'upgraded' to a used 86. I tried to buy it but the winning bid was twice mine. I love to see those old trucks that have been kept up and are still doing their job.

Howdy Ruren, a fellow Yooper.  8)  Are ya on Negaunee's Dept? If ya are on their race team we have probably met, I'm with West Iron County, 28 years now and counting.

[luvmexfood]

Don't know how many youngsters these days know about lock out hubs!
Any idea as to what year this power wagon may be??
[/quote]

Was thinking the other day. I have a son that is 23 and a daughter that is 16 and I don't think either one of them have ridden in a vehicle that didn't have power windows and locks.

[ruren]

Howdy Ruren, a fellow Yooper.  8)  Are ya on Negaunee's Dept? If ya are on their race team we have probably met, I'm with West Iron County, 28 years now and counting.

Yup, Negaunee Fire Department. I'm sure we've crossed paths at the races.

[sealark37]

Those old Dodges would climb a tree if you selected the correct gear.  Regards, Clark

[sprucebunny]

I always wanted a Power Wagon. Best I could afford is a nice metal model on my window sill  :D

The engines are 230 and 251 flatheads. Along with the Ford 300/6, they are "square" engines : bore and stroke are very near the same. Well known for their lugging power.

I know this because the 251 was installed in '50s, '60s and early '70s Bombardier J5s and one of my J5s has the 230 because it was 2" shorter than the 251 and whoever did the swap put a pump on the crankshaft.

[celliott]

Don't know how many youngsters these days know about lock out hubs!
Any idea as to what year this power wagon may be??

Was thinking the other day. I have a son that is 23 and a daughter that is 16 and I don't think either one of them have ridden in a vehicle that didn't have power windows and locks.

This "youngster" knows what that's all about!
Locking hubs, NO power steering, 4 speed stick w\ granny low and 4:10 rear gear. 390 carb'd V8   8)
Has those sweet triangle vent windows! And the foot vents just open a hole to outside  :D

I'd love one of those old Powerwagons though. One Dodge I'd be proud to own!

[mapleveneer]

Ah, yes, I thought that looked like Russell, Massachusetts!  Several Massachusetts communities used these Dodge Power Wagons for brush rigs.  In fact, the State DCR Forest Fire Control unit still actually has 9 of them in service.  Yes, that is nine fully operational.

http://www.massfiretrucks.com/MASS%20M%20STATE%20AGENCIES.htm

Scroll down through the list to see quite a variety.

Patrol 9-4 was assigned to my FD for a brief time.  A 1958 truck with 28,000 miles on it in 2009 or so.  Everyone liked to think that they would go anywhere.  They were pretty good as long as you kept them out of sight of mud.

yes, it had low range and locking hubs.  Two Pacific Pumper Wisconsin engine driven gear pumps on the back with a 200 gallon tank.

[Ed_K]

 We have one at leyden F.D. works great for burning blueberries.
I sure miss the triangle side vents  ;D .

[SFires]

I have to admit that truck is freaking awesome. I have a 70 something model dodge power Wagon 1&1/4 ton army truck. And it's a hause wouldn't trade it for anything.

[redprospector]

I'm glad the "Old Dodge" was able to save the day.  8)
This is what we usually wind up with when we get a forest fire around here.


 

I had a 69 Power Wagon in my youth, but unfortunately, sold it long ago. Tough old truck.

[thecfarm]

I am just about crying seeing that picture.  :(

[timberlinetree]

That was a bad fire! Around here they aren't that devastating. That blue ford is sweet! Saw a truck like sinnlinger fire department for sale $22,500 yikes! How much where these trucks new back in the day? Thanks for posting the link to mass fire trucks made my day  ;D

[sawguy21]

Don't know how many youngsters these days know about lock out hubs!
Any idea as to what year this power wagon may be??

Was thinking the other day. I have a son that is 23 and a daughter that is 16 and I don't think either one of them have ridden in a vehicle that didn't have power windows and locks.
[/quote]
:D :D Our grand daughters didn't know how to open the windows in my truck. Discovered it was a lot of work.

[North River Energy]

How much where these trucks new back in the day?

Don't know about the Kaiser/Jeep, but the book value listed on the last registration for my 48 WDX  was 1200.

[DeerMeadowFarm]

Nice looking power wagon!