• Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!

  • Microsoft MSN, Live, Hotmail, Outlook email users may not be receiving emails. We are working to resolve this issue. Please add support@steelsoldiers.com to your trusted contacts.

 

1944 Federal 606 C2 Wrecker

Jeff Lakaszcyck

Well-known member
174
397
63
Location
Mims, Florida
The only work she has done is pull a few trees out of the ground. It's just a toy that I will bring to a few shows that are not far from home. I'm getting it a little more roadworthy now.

In Florida there are two types of antique vehicle tags, a Permanent Antique tag for vehicles at least 30 years old but built after 1945, and a Permanent Horseless Carriage tag for vehicles 1945 and older. There is a one time fee and it is good for as long as I own the vehicle. Horseless Carriage does sound funny for a truck built in the 1940's.
 

Jeff Lakaszcyck

Well-known member
174
397
63
Location
Mims, Florida
It's been a few months since we have had an update, and I have gotten a good bit of work done. Since my goal is to get the red Matt's Garage Federal road worthy, there were several things that needed to be done.

First we would need some lights. The headlights worked, but not both at the same time, and there were no tail lights. I found some old tail lights on ebay that looked like they would work. I wanted them to look like they had been on the truck for a while. I found some rattle can paint with a stone texture that looked like rust and had the texture of rust. So I stripped the tail lights and primed and painted them. Even the plastic looks rusty now.

All the wiring to all the lights was junk. I did find that the ratty looking turn signal switch in the cab wrung out perfect, so I included it in the re-wiring as it would also give me 4 way flashers. Everything in the chassis got re-wired, including the headlights, tail lights, turn signals, brake pressure switch, and brake light switch. So now all of the above works as it should.

Tail Lights 1.jpg Cinnabar Stone Texture.jpg Tail Lights 2.jpg Tail Lights 3.jpg Tail Lights 4.jpg Headlights and Flashers.jpg
 

Jeff Lakaszcyck

Well-known member
174
397
63
Location
Mims, Florida
More recently I replaced the front driveshaft yoke seal in the transfer case. This seal is one of the low points in the transfer case and when it is leaking you lose most of the oil too. It turns out the seal is the same part number as the same seal in the M series 5 ton military trucks, so the seals are readily available. I also installed a speedy sleeve on the yolk. This cured the bad leak in the transfer case.

Since I got this truck it has been operating on a 5 gallon can of gasoline, which the big Herc sucks down pretty quickly. I can't even make it to the ethanol free gas station on that lol ! So it was imperative that I install a real fuel tank on it. The truck came with two rusty fuel tanks sitting on the bed that I thought were the original tanks, but unlike the original tanks they were two different lengths and also had no provision for a sending unit. However they were the identical diameter and were obviously fabricated to replace the originals. It also came with a set of straps and several sets of wooden cradles. I looked in both tanks with a borescope and the shorter tank had some nasty looking rust inside but the longer one looked salvageable. I had the outside of the tank sandblasted and put a coat of primer on it. Then I got a gallon of KBS Tank Sealer. I thoroughly cleaned the inside of the tank with KBS Kleen and a bucket full of bolts, and rolled the tank back and forth on a set of rails I built out of landscaping logs. After rinsing with water I let it dry thoroughly. The next day I etched the inside of the tank with KBS Rust Blast, rolling it as before, and again rinsed it with water and let it thoroughly dry. Finally on the 3rd day I applied the sealer, again rolling the tank to get full coverage, then drained out the excess. Once this is done you let the sealant cure for 4 days. I painted the outside of the tank with the same rusty looking paint I used on the tail lights.

The next problem was how to mount the tank as it originally mounted to the wrecker crane frame. I got some 1-1/2" square tubing to simulate the crane frame, bolted it across the truck's frame rails, and mounted the tank to it the same way it originally mounted. I calculated the capacity at 55 gallons, which should be plenty. So now the old red Federal is licensed, insured, and pretty much road worthy, at least for short trips.

Fuel Tank 1.jpg Fuel Tank 2.jpg Fuel Tank 3.jpg Fuel Tank 4.jpg Fuel Tank 5.jpg Fuel Tank 6.jpg
 

Jeff Lakaszcyck

Well-known member
174
397
63
Location
Mims, Florida
Drove to a local car show last Sunday, won "Best Rat Rod", go figure lol. I didn't see any rat rods there. But they were pretty impressed with the truck and especially the inertia starter so they wanted me to get a prize. People really love this truck. Plans are to bring it to the Vintage Trucks of Florida Antique Truck Club of America Winter National show in Leesburg February 13-14-15, and then to the MVPA show in Mt Dora the next weekend.


Federal 1943 606 C2 at Sand Point 1-19-2020 1.jpg Federal 1943 606 C2 at Sand Point 1-19-2020 2.jpg Federal 1943 606 C2 at Sand Point 1-19-2020 3.jpg
 

Another Ahab

Well-known member
17,815
4,139
113
Location
Alexandria, VA
Drove to a local car show last Sunday, won "Best Rat Rod", go figure lol. I didn't see any rat rods there. People really love this truck. Plans are to bring it to the Vintage Trucks of Florida Antique Truck Club of America Winter National show in Leesburg February 13-14-15, and then to the MVPA show in Mt Dora the next weekend.


View attachment 788698 View attachment 788699
Well, YEAH, they love it. Count me also in that crowd!

Congratulations on your prize!!
 

Jeff Lakaszcyck

Well-known member
174
397
63
Location
Mims, Florida
I put the Federal up for MV of the Month. People are already lining up to vote ! Just kidding, but you can vote at this link if you like.


Leesburg Federal 606 2020 1.jpg
 

Another Ahab

Well-known member
17,815
4,139
113
Location
Alexandria, VA
I put the Federal up for MV of the Month. People are already lining up to vote ! Just kidding, but you can vote at this link if you like.


View attachment 796400

It looks like "bees to honey":

- Pretty clear which rig is the crowd pleaser!
 

Robo McDuff

In memorial Ron - 73M819
Steel Soldiers Supporter
2,857
1,389
113
Location
Czech Republic
I put the Federal up for MV of the Month. People are already lining up to vote ! Just kidding, but you can vote at this link if you like.


View attachment 796400

Already did so. Want to switch it for my M51A2?

All these nice trucks and everybody is looking at the piece of rust.
 

Jeff Lakaszcyck

Well-known member
174
397
63
Location
Mims, Florida
I made a video of a ride around the block in the big Federal. The transmission is a 5 speed with overdrive on top. We start out in 2nd and get to 5th pretty quick, as the rear ends are 10:22 to 1. It will pull 10 mph in 4th gear easily, so no need to downshift below 4th. Even in OD I don't drive it much faster than 25 mph. In the video I said there is no exhaust system, that is not exactly true but the exhaust manifold is full of cracks and there is no muffler. Hope you enjoy this, the camera was a little shaky.

If you would like to vote for my Federal in the April MV of the Month you can do so here: https://www.steelsoldiers.com/threads/steel-soldiers-mv-of-the-month-2020-april-vote-here.195477/ Many thanks to everyone who has voted so far.

 

Jeff Lakaszcyck

Well-known member
174
397
63
Location
Mims, Florida
Big news, we located the "Holy Grail", an original Gar Wood US6 C2 wrecker boom ! Best part is it was only 5 hours away in Bainbridge, Georgia. It will need a lot of work but is mostly unmolested with only the main PTO sprocket being relocated from its original location. So hopefully the Federal 606 will be a C2 wrecker again sometime in 2021.

By virtue of being the MV of the Month in April, the Federal is currently up for MV of the Year. It is quite an honor just to be considered. The competition is pretty stiff with all the competitors worthy of the award, but if you feed so inclined you can vote here:

Steel Soldiers MV of the YEAR 2020 - VOTE HERE | SteelSoldiers

IMG_8339.JPG IMG_8333.JPG IMG_8337.JPG IMG_8093.JPG IMG_8065.JPG Federal 1943 606 C2 6x6 wrecker with aircraft tire jack Lae, New Guinea 23 January 1944.jpg
 

zebedee

conceptualizer at large
Steel Soldiers Supporter
1,604
654
113
Location
Central NY
Nice find there Jeff. Looks quite similar (but smaller) than the Ward one...

Hope to see you in '21. ATHS......

Howard. (Sterling to the UK Chris's mate in NY)
 
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website like our supporting vendors. Their ads help keep Steel Soldiers going. Please consider disabling your ad blockers for the site. Thanks!

I've Disabled AdBlock
No Thanks