Newbie intro

Hi all
Most men buy a sports car for their mid-life crisis......
I bought a truck!
But i sense some kindred spirits in your forum.
I have been a fly on the wall for about a month on the forum thought i should reveal my folly to all.
I have bought a Dodge D5N 700DT with a Detroit 6V53 and ten speed roadranger. a picture says a thousand words so here it is :


She's not real flash and has plenty of issues the main ones being a very rusty cab and the engine is actually a "5V53" (lol) not running on all cylinders, also we think it has a cracked head.
Water fills up a cylinder if added to engine :'(. Even on 5 cylinders the screamin' Detroit still sounds fantastic (to me any way! ).

Some of you may have recognised it as it was a Melbourne Tip truck for Newtown Pools & spa's so whats left of the stickers on the door says.
The Previous owner was just going to wreck it but i had the rose coloured glasses on that day and decided to save it from an "early" grave, so we had the old girl transported to the NSW Central coast

Even the truckie who bought it up said "gee mate you got ya work cut out for ya there!"

Well i have had it here for 8 weeks now and..... not much has changed. My 18 year old son Blake is my "partner in crime" we have pored all over the ol' girl and come the the reluctant conclusion that we will have to re-cab it, the rust is worse than we thought .

We found some acts of "bodgery" like COMPLETE removal of the park brake! (thanks!), the power divider removed switch/ actuator etc., the airbox drains blocked with self tapping screws???!!, Body filler EVERYWHERE! often a 1/4 inch thick, airlines missing/ not connected, a rats nest of electrical wiring, but then again nothing i am sure you have not already found in your projects.

One thing that keeps us going is parts are not all that uncommon for the D5N and the commonality with the D series Inter, so hopefully it wont be too much of a project unlike some rarer trucks that some of you have, but i am sure we will still have our moments.
The reason i went for a Dodge D5N this was the truck that i went for my truck licence in when i was 18 albeit only a 245 petrol powered 300. I did an apprenticeship as a diesel fitter for WABCO distribution in Brisbane. WABCO Scrapers mostly used Detroit Diesel engines and this is where i fell in love with them. One in particular was the WABCO 333FT scraper which used 2 12V71T's which had a lovely set of pipes and NO mufflers! The sound of this at full throttle used to make my hair stand on end amongst other things!
We also have 2 Valiants which we are restoring so the Chrysler connection with the Dodge made it a perfect fit. We will have plenty of questions in the not too distant future so i hope i don't wear out my welcome.

Best regards
Harleigh.

Nice old dodge, it would be great to see it back on the roads.
Hope you get her back on the road ASAP.

G/day Harleigh well i would like say welcome our forum and i hope get a lot fun out it we have lot of experts here, i for one am one of those people who owns a rare beast.

But all i want to say is enjoy the truck and fun restoring her and wait for the day you run her highway and get her out there and she will love it. Dave

G'day Harleigh,
I had that midlife crisis too, but my addiction is Internationals. You've picked a good truck anway. When I got my first job driving, the mob down the road (was either Thomsons or Huntingdale Cranes) had a couple of these that were pulling extendable trailers. You're right that there is nothing like a Jimmy at full throttle under load.

I don't want to put you off, bit I got my first truck ten years ago,and I still haven' got it going. I've had a lot of fun along the way though.

Great truck there Harleigh, There is a fellow floating around on the forum called Lance who is seriously into Dodges. He is currently doing a book on the Aussie ones.

Hi all
Most men buy a sports car for their mid-life crisis......
I bought a truck!

Welcome Harleigh!

Congrats on the purchase! Looks like a cracker of a truck! Your 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th purchases wont be far behind it!

I hope you've got plenty of room!

A new tipper going on it?

Cheers, Duncan.

Welcome, Harleigh.
Good to see another important piece of Aus truck history saved.
Take those screws out of your airbox drains though ! You might end up with more work to do if she runs away on you one day when your having a screamer fix.
Give me a yell if you need any help with the 6V-53 when you get to that stage.
Barry

Did someone say tipper?!

G'day Harleigh and welcome. Looks like a cracker of a truck you have there even if she is a little "challenged". Sincerely hope you enjoy the forum and your project. I'm looking forward to hearing how you get along.

We've got a couple of Detroit gurus on here (GM Diesel and podge66 at least) so if you get stuck, this is the perfect place to come.

Again, welcome and well done on picking up an awesome truck.

gooday harleigh..its good to know im not the only one here with a 700series dodge(but mine is a 1970 AT4 with the 361 V8)..also im in newcastle so only a hour up the road..there are a few cabs around for the AT4/D5N series..ive got a mate whos spotted a few down in Bendigo

Hello Harleigh,

Great truck & I love the sound of the "bird scarer". What year is she, I'm guessing pre 1977?
Lance