Posted by Clint Dixon [172.70.126.14] on Sunday, December 04, 2022 at 20:01:59 :
In Reply to: Re: Conclusion posted by Vaughn [172.71.154.138] on Sunday, December 04, 2022 at 16:26:19 :
I went to the next MoPAR parts list that supersedes the bound #D15788, issued April 1956, as well as the loose leaf version #D-15790 of June of 1956. This newer list was issued in June of 1957 as #D-16325. It superseded the previous two 1956 lists and is also Power-Wagon specific, although it now contains parts for the new models W100 and W200 series conventional style truck, it still covers the newly remodeled W300 (previously the C-3-PW6 of 1956). (Keep in mind that the W300 model designation was applied to the old WDX-WM300 style Power-Wagon for this one year [1957] only.)
This parts list also shows a very limited list of parts available for the platform and stake bed. All parts are exactly the same, number for number, as those found in the 1956 parts list except for the left and right side skid rails. They are now numbered 1096 889 and 1096 888 respectively whereas in the previous list for '47-'57 they had been given the part numbers 1562 358 and 1562 357 respectively. The numbers in this new list are shown as NOT being new whereas the part numbers shown in the older 1956 lists were indicated as having never been used previously (new).
This all makes sense because the 1957 parts list, even though it covers the W300, it does not show and image of a W300 with a flat bed, and it also does not list ANY of the individual parts as being available for the W300. In fact, the only Power-Wagons listed as being available with a platform and stake bed are the W100 and W200 models with 116" wheelbases.
This is not all to surprising because the '57 parts list shows the W100 and W200 platform and stake bed as being only 90" long - a full 6" shorter than what would have been considered normal for a W300.
I then moved onto 1958 and newer parts lists starting with D-16452 that superseded all issued in 1957 including D-1632.
This is the first non Power-Wagon specific parts list inn that it lumps all Power-Wagons into a single list with the 2-wheel-drive trucks. It covers both 1957 and 1958 models. For 1958 the model W300 (old WDX-WM300 style 1-ton) changed model designations again to "W300M". The new 1-ton conventional style Power-Wagon took over ownership of the "W300" model number.
This book, as well as those that follow, now list platform and stake bodies in the lengths of 90", 108", 144", and 168" inches with still not mention of a 96" which would be correct for the W300M and all model designations that it was assigned previously. The W300M model Power-Wagon is mentioned nowhere within this "Platform and Stake" section of the parts list. The same holds true for parts lists that follow. I stopped at 1962 as those that follow tend to get less and less detailed on the W300M and later WM300 that replaced it.
The 1958 part list shows the same part numbers for the limited number of common parts associated with the platform and stake as what was shown in the 1956 and 1957 editions. One exception being that now a few more numbers are listed for unique parts used on the larger trucks. However, these are still for common stakes and connectors. The other exception is that now some U-bolts are listed that attach the whole platform and stake bed to the truck's frame.
The old numbers from 1956 for the left and right side skid rails (that were presumably 8-feet long) were shown as being new, but were never listed again.
Dodge's attempt to offer an 8-foot long flat bed for the old style 1-ton Power-Wagon appears more and more to have been an idea that made it only as far as that one single edition of the parts manual.
If any actually made it off the assembly line and out to the public, they would get my vote for the rarest of Power-Wagon options.
Junior
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