Stepside

My father's 1956 Chevrolet pickup truck, the only one that he ever bought new.  I've bought two new ones in my lifetime.

The box on my 2007 Dodge 3500 has some rust and I need to do something about it. That's caused me to ponder truck boxes.

The 3500 has, of course, a fleetside box.  Dodge made stepside boxes at least up until 1980, although they were clearly on their way out then.  I'm not sure of the mechanics of it, but the stepside boxes Dodge had at that time appeared to be identical to the ones they had dating back to the 1950s and they may have actually been.  I can recall at least one crew cab third series Dodge D model, the ones they quit making in 1980 or so, being retrofitted with a long box stepside by somebody locally.

Indeed, I'm halfway tempted to do that to my 3500. . .  

assuming it'll fit, and I don't know that it would.

Why on earth would somebody even consider that?

Well, in pondering it, I'm not too convinced that the traditional stepside isn't just as useful as the fleetside.

Okay, what are we talking about anyhow.

1/2 ton Dodge pickup truck from early World War Two.  This truck is a classic stepside.

Stepsides are the type of pickup truck box every single pickup had until 1955, or maybe 1958 depending upon who you read, when Chevrolet introduced the Cameo and started pickups on the long trail (road?) to being ruined.  Ford followed suit in 1957 and the race was on.  The characteristics of the two boxes are quite distinct.

Military M715 Kaiser pickup, the last purpose designed military truck that was a stepside.  Dodge W300 crewcabs, some with stepside boxes and some that were fleetsides served contemporaneously with the M715, but had been designed as a commercial truck.

Stepsides are like the trucks pictured above. The box is truly a rectangle.  Outside of the box are fenders that cover the rear tires. The steps are the small metal pieces attached to the exterior of the box between the fender and the cab.  They do allow a person to step up to the box, or to mount things, like gasoline cans, to them.

Fleetside boxes, on the other hand, are flat on the exterior and have wheel wells over their rear wheels. All modern trucks are now fleetsides.

The popularity of the fleetside can't be denied and its certainly the case that hte first Chevrolet fleetsides are striking to the eye even how.  By extending the gunwales to the exterior of the wheels, moreover, a little more room was created within the box.

Indeed, my father, who had owned both, had no use for stepsides after fleetsides came in.  He didn't understand why anyone would want a stepside, and I've held that view for many years myself.

But I'm beginning to change that view.

I have owned a stepside, that being a heavy Dodge 1960s 4x4 truck. At no point did I find the capacity of the box really diminished and frankly I found the steps really useful. That truck had been fitted for external Jeep cans, which I also really appreciated, and the spare tire was carried externally as well, which was really handy.  Indeed, in thinking about it recently, it seems that those features may outweigh whatever extra carrying capacity I gain with a fleetside, which isn't really all that much.  

And perhaps its my imagination, but stepsides didn't seem to rust as much and, because of their construction, their boxes were really tough.

Hmmm . . . . 

I wonder if an old Dodge stepside box would fit?

Truck Forums and the Lack of Cogent Comment

Humvee military vehicle.  They're diesels.

One of the pages on this site is the Dodge 3500 Project, about the slow motion of working on my 2007 Dodge 3500.  As people stopping in at that post will be able to see, the discussion there is the work that's slowly taking place on that truck, which is a mere thirteen years old the way I view it.  It has about 176,000 miles on it, as also noted, which doesn't seem that much to me in terms of a modern diesel vehicle.

Anyhow, one of the things I've tried to do as the project has advanced, slightly, is to learn the technical details on various things about the truck.  As I have one really old truck I had grown accustom to the really good Dodge Power Wagon Forum.  Otherwise I'm mostly familiar with the really good forum of The Society of The Military Horse.  From that I slowly picked up the idea somewhere that all forums must be like that, i.e., populated by really knowledgeable folks.

Not so much.

Indeed, my efforts to learn some technical details from forums on modern Dodge trucks was a complete failure.  Questions about such topics as the differential type (open, as it turns out) on my truck went completely unanswered.  Its become pretty clear that fishing in those waters is fishing in a pretty shallow pool.  That's probably, quite frankly, the way most forums are.  I just didn't realize it.

Anyhow, in looking up one recent item I saw a comment along the lines of "of course, diesels aren't real off road trucks".

Eh?

Every military in the world uses diesels for their vehicles, and they are very off roady.  I have no idea what the person who stated that thought was the case, but the comment is stupid.

Of course, what he may have meant is that modern "off road" 4x4 pickups aren't diesels.  But frankly, I don't get those anyhow . They're one of the odd developments in trucks that are hard to grasp in general.

Dodge 4x4 pickup of early World War Two. They were all "off road" back then.

When I was a kid, there were pickup trucks.  Most were 2x4 and some were 4x4.  Most of the 4x4s were owned by ranchers or companies that had back country work on a regular basis, but some were owned by outdoorsmen.  The belief that 4x4s required a lot more maintenance than 2x4s kept most outdoorsmen, however, from buying them.  As time went on, however, that changed and more and more outdoorsmen bought 4x4s.  At some point in the late 80s or early 90s it seemed that every pickup in this region became a 4x4.  Today, I'm surprised when I see a 2x4 truck.

Anyhow, there was no distinction at all between work trucks and trucks you used to go hunting, fishing or camping, etc., except at some point Chevrolet, at least by the 1960s, marked 2x4 trucks as camper specials.  None the less, any truck a person had was useful for any purpose a person could put a truck to, whatever that was, within its weight classification.  By the 90s at least Chrysler had introduced the "Sport" truck which seemed to mean a 1/2 ton with nicer than normal features.  But it was still a truck.

Now things have indeed changed and at least Dodge and Ford both market 4x4s that are specifically "off road".  It's weird.  Any 4x4 should be off road.  Otherwise, what's the point?

Of course they're marketed as sort of super off road.  I don't know that much about the Ford offering the Ford Raptor, but it's a 1/2 ton truck with a high horsepower engine and special off road features.  The Chrysler offering is the Dodge Power Wagon.

The current Dodge Power Wagon takes its name from the old Power Wagon which was introduced after World War Two and made all the way into the 1970s.  It was a really heavy duty truck and there was no doubt that it was intended for off road use.  But the intended use was off road working use.  People didn't buy the 6 cyl version to go hunting, fishing or camping. They were feeding cattle and putting up power lines.  They were really slow too. The later 8 cyc versions had wider use and were useful for anything that other 4x4s were,, but they were really heavy duty trucks.  Dodge is borrowing from that old cache for the name.

That truck is a short box, automatic transmission, 3/4 ton. Why a short box?

Indeed, why a short box on anything?  If you can't put a sheet of plywood in a truck, it's use is impaired.

Anyhow, both of those offerings  have special off road features and at least the Dodge has locking differentials.  I wish my 07 had them and that's part of what I need to do.  The interesting thing, however, is the development of these specialized, and expensive, 4x4 pickups designed to do what any old 4x4 was expected to do.

Blog Mirror: Driving an 'underwater' car is no fun

PURCELL: Driving an 'underwater' car is no fun

I agree.

Solid logic, I think, for keeping the paid off ones I have.

What’s the best car on the road? One that’s paid off.

Blog Mirror: WHAT KILLED OFF THE MANUAL TRANSMISSION?

A question I've pondered myself.

WHAT KILLED OFF THE MANUAL TRANSMISSION?

This article does as good of job explaining it as any I've seen.

Frankly, whatever it was, I hate the fact that it's happened.

Underlying it all, however, is the fact that a lot of modern trucks are; 1) used in cities, and 2) just haul toys.  That's the real problem.

For those who use their trucks in the out back, and yes I've heard the arguments that have been around for ever (including the absurd one "you can rock with the transmission when stuck with an automatic) there's no doubt that manuals are superior transmissions.  Allowing the driver, rather than a bunch of liquid, to choose the gears in tight spots, while climbing, or going through a mud hole is infinitely better.

But then, for that matter, so are mechanical, rather than vacuum and electronic controls.

Again, no matter. The Big Three caters to the market and the truck market is driven by urbanites who are more likely to haul a boat to a lake than an elk from the high country. And even 1-ton and 3/4 ton work trucks are likely to be driven now by a workman who has no real exposure to manual transmissions and can't really use one.  Besides, in dense town traffic, automatics are better.

I've been pondering this because, as readers here know, my 07 diesel is at the point where I have to.  It needs new tires, all four, it has a cracked windshield and its starting to rust above one of the wheel wells.

Added to the problems I face, however, finding the time to simply address all of that is problematic.

And the truck has had certain issues that are long lasting, the most particular one being that even though it's a 1-ton 4x4 truck, the clearance isn't what it should be.

So what to do.

Based upon a little research, including this article, I'm now aware that the calendar year 2019 is the last year Chrysler has made an standard transmission for its trucks. Even its off road "Power Wagon" (not a real Power Wagon but only a truck appropriating the honored name) is fitted with a slushbox more appropriate for a Barbie Jeep than a real truck.  Indeed, I wouldn't regard it as a real off road vehicle for that reason.

The 2019 manuals fitted by Dodge are available in their 1 ton trucks but in the 2018 model. That's right, Dodge oddly made 2018s and 2019s in 2019, and so far as I know, it has't made 2020s yet.

I knew that earlier in the year, somewhat, when I looked on the lot.  I found a nice used one, but it sold quickly, belying the "manual's don't sell" story that the manufacturers are putting out.  There were several standards on the lot, but they were all plain Jane tradesmen models with street tires that would have required thousands of dollars in investment just to make them prairie ready.

Making one last effort to find an option to ponder, I entered the material details on the "build your own" option in the Chrysler site last night, and that site claims this can still be done.  We'll see.  I suspect that the answer will disappoint.

And even if it doesn't, the cost will likely detract from the option.

Which orphans my options.  I may have reached the point where what I've been pondering is the only option.

The 2007 is a decade old and has over 175,000 miles on it.  It has some downsides.  Those include its lack of clearance, but it doesn't have locking differentials and manual hubs.  Those can be retrofitted.

And the retrofits I might want would cost a lot less than sinking money into a new truck that still had the defects the existing one does.

And I'm not buying an automatic.  I know that everyone else, including the newer ranch trucks, are automatics, and that you have to go down to the light off road sport trucks, or up to to commercial haulers, to get a manual, but I'm not going there.  They're a bad option.

So making the 3500 a project it may be.  Which would make 100% of my own vehicles projects.

Sigh.