Progress for Aug. 2005
Someone over the years decided the oak wood bed floor was too old/splintery and that the truck needed an upgrade to a steel diamond plate bed. They did a nice job fitting a single piece of diamond plate and welding it in. They welded it to the front of the bed, they bent it over and welded it to the base of the rear bed frame. They welded it down both sides of the bed.
I was able to cut the welds front and rear. The sides of the plate where welded to the bed sides with a continuous bead and getting the grinder in the 90 deg, corner enough to cut the weld but not the side of the bed was impossible. Instead I used a circular saw with a metal cutting blade and cut the floor sides as close to the edge as possible. I still have an inch or so to remove from the bottom sides of the boxes, but that should be do-able once the bed is disassembled.

The wood was still there... the bed skid strips had been replaced with sheets of steel, not the formed strips from the factory. For the most part the wood was original, but some strips had been replaced.

Found this bullet casing in a hole in the bed, I don't know that the US military used much 8mm though.

With wire brush, torch, WD-40, and some help from my wife holding a ˝ inch wrench under the clevis head on the topside, we managed to remove the five large clevis bolts holding the bed to the frame… there should have been six, but one was missing.

Then I used some straps, chains, and the engine hoist to lift the bed off the frame. I rolled it clear of the truck and set it down flat, then reset the chains to lift one side only and stood it on the driver's side. This allowed me to get to all the bolts on the bottom with heat and WD-40.

The day I finished removing the bed I found out our 12 year old dog, Taffy, had cancer. The vet said she is was in no pain from it, but gave her only a couple months, maybe less. I broke the news to our five kids… (no fun I tell you), but later in the day my wife says… "You know, Taffy loves to ride in the open trucks. Do you think you can finish the Dodge before she goes?"

How can you say no to that? I explained that I had a long way to go, and that I'd basically be living in the garage for the next month… and even then, there is a good chance we won't make it. Annette said she understood, but that she thought it would be worth it. I had to agree.

Now, I wondered if I ought to spend the time with the dog, rather than with the truck. She likes to ride in them… but would this really be her "last wish"? However, her condition leaves her tired. She's not up to romping or fetching, or even a walk. She seems to like to lay on the cool garage floor and watch me work. So I decided to press forward.

"Winther" painted on the passenger side of the bed just over the wheel well. When I asked the previous owner about it he said it had been there since they got the truck from the military, but he didn't know what/who it stood for.
Flipped turtle to help with bed support disassembly.

Here's the shade tree method I used to pull the steering wheel. I rented a large puller from Autozone and as the photo shows, "adapted" it to the old WC51 steering wheel. I think a similar method would work on Powerwagons, but I assume no liability for damage to person or property from flying wrenches. :-)

Oh, penetrating oil, heat, and tapping on the underside of the wheel once the puller was tightened down where all part of the final equation.

You know, I still haven't lifted an engine with my engine hoist... comes in handy for other things though!
This is the easiest way to get at the gauges... and yes, that's my actual skin color (or lack thereof), the tanning gods have never smiled upon me.