Dodge AT4 675 (1970?)

Hello chaps, it's been a minute.  Life etc, you know how it goes.  So I didn't get to buy the truck I really wanted, it was just worth more to the bloke as a grouper bin, but I did buy a 675, 318, 5 speed, 2 speed diff.  Truth be told I would have liked a D5N, but you gotta take what's put before you.  It's a tray truck rather than the tipper I was hoping for, but the price was right!

So the story goes (and I see no reason to dispute it) that the truck was being used for carting hay and lived in the shed the rest of the time.  One hay season she wouldn't light, and hay season being what it is, they dragged it out to look at it later.  Of course later never comes and here we are.  Before that it was hauling potatoes, and although I never name vehicles, this one has to be called spud.

It was shedded for many years but she's just on the cusp after many years out in the weather.  Engine turns over but I haven't had a chance to check for spark yet.  Another few years and it would be scrap (at least the cab) I reckon.  I haven't got a shed for it yet, but I'll sort something out.

Came with a spare grill with no busted bars.  The observant among you will note the hinges are missing - they're in the cab.  Need the trim off the front of the bonnet and quarter window frames, but first priority is get it running and driving.  Clutch and brake master cylinder are stuck 

 


 

Brake and clutch parts should be reasonably easy to get or get rebuilt

Stainless sleeves in these is a must for a hobby truck, or at least thats my opinion for what its worth

Dunno about body parts fir the these

Looks like a lotta fun to be had


Paul

How many of these Dodge body parts are interchangeable with the Inter??? Possibly more are available???

That looks like the type of truck I learnt to drive 42 years ago, but with a 245 heavy duty six in it , non- sincro first gear and I think it was just a three speed, prior to that I’d not driven anything bigger than a short wheel base land cruiser, my idiot father didn’t think I needed to learn how to drive trucks and got upset that I was allowed to drive the dodge.
Gumpy

I will give you my 10 cents worth. I bought a D5N about 12 months ago that had sat in a shed for the last 23 years (when the farmer retired). I like my vehicles to be smick so just getting them on the road is hard for me but as I can't start the resto on this one for a couple of years I decided to just get it roadworthy, put it on club plates and then restore it fully in a couple of years. I have spend over $5k so far, $1750 to have the clutch and brake masters sleeved along with 4 brake and the clutch slave cylinders and new rubber hoses (Power Brakes in Adelaide). I spent $700 to reline the brakes and machine the drums (they are oversize as couldn't buy new ones). $1100 on the radiator recore, $575 for new headers (old ones rusted out) + another $2000 on bits and pieces. It still isn't roadworthy as it would need at least front tyres and the screen is questionable (+ probably some other bits and pieces). I have put it back in the shed as the roadworthy would cost another $500 and I don't want to have to do things twice eg replace the screen and then pull it out again when I want to restore it so I have decided to wait and do it all properly and it then should look as I want it to. My point is that nothing is cheap and decide how you want it to look before you start as doing jobs once is a lot cheaper and faster.

Ive wrecked a few of these,and IMHO ,the Dodge AT4s had the most rust resistant cabs by far of the Inters and Dodges .

JOHN.K. wrote:

Ive wrecked a few of these,and IMHO ,the Dodge AT4s had the most rust resistant cabs by far of the Inters and Dodges .
 

I only found one hole in the floor, drivers side near accelerator.  It's early days yet though!  Compared to a 690 I was looking at in Dalby where I was lying on the ground and could see into the cab, I'll call this one OK ha ha.

Oilman wrote:

I will give you my 10 cents worth. 

Thanks Oilman.  One thing I've finally, finally learned is that I don't have full restorations in me.  I'm going to do absolute bare minimum required to get this on the road (probably $3k worth of tyres alone).  Then I'm going to drive it and enjoy that sweet V8 note.  Actually, I'll be doing that first because job #1 is get it running!

OIlman

You have hit the nail on the head!

In 60 years and a few hundred vehicles I learned this immutable truth:

No matter how cheap you buy it or how good your skills a major restoration is a work of love. You will NEVER come out the other end better off financially than buying someone else's work. If you place any value on your time the equation becomes insane. A restoration is all about a hobby and satisfaction easily justified by "I don't gamble or smoke or drink excessively so I have the money those other blokes are pissing up against the wall". If you do those things you have to revert to "Yes, dear, it is a great investment"

If you really want to own a particular vehicle and not get yourself a project it is ALWAYS better to keep looking on Marketplace, get an idea of prices and bite the bullet, pay the dough and be at the truck show next weekend. If you nearly fall over at the cost of a nice truck and think I can get that roughy and restore it for much less - you can't. If you can not afford the $30,000 for that lovely show Step Tank Inter 180, buy the one with rust and smokey engine and noisy diff for $5,000 and have the satisfaction of building a lovely $40,000 Step Tank Inter.

lemmiwinks wrote:

JOHN.K. wrote:

Ive wrecked a few of these,and IMHO ,the Dodge AT4s had the most rust resistant cabs by far of the Inters and Dodges .

 

I only found one hole in the floor, drivers side near accelerator.  It's early days yet though!  Compared to a 690 I was looking at in Dalby where I was lying on the ground and could see into the cab, I'll call this one OK ha ha.

 

Up under the dash is where you need to look for rust. It's where they go first and the hardest to fix (around the vents). If it's mild, you can get away with fibreglass if you can keep the truck under cover.

Jarrod.