Assembly line

[MoparCarGuy]

The original article PDF plus two more about assembly.

 

[Xcudame]

@Snowdog, thanks for sharing you stink at the factory plant. Should try to write down as much as you can remember! Knowledge like this is so great to share!

 

[Challenger RTA]

Factory dip process.

 

[Snowdog]

Thanks to everyone for you kind comments and additional info. I do remember seeing the one PDF on the complete history of Dodge Main before, very good article, thanks for posting. The body dipping article above is how I remember it. Of course, I couldn't go inside chambers for safety reasons, but when the line was down for repair you see a little of the inside through the access panels when the mill wrights were doing their thing. The one thing on body dipping that was different was for the Aspen / Volarie was that the rear attachment points were large hooks that hooked on/under to the rear wheel well sheet metal. The front attachment was to the dash area by a 3x3 sliding square tube. It was dropped into holes for the front speakers (I think). I lot of times the sliding fixture wouldn't fit and we used our trusty bass hammer to bash the sheet metal in to place. Most of the time it worked, if it didn't we would pull it out of the line and put put it in the repair lines behind us for the repair man to do his thing.

 

[Snowdog]

Ok, here's another another Dodge Main installment. So the farthest or closest to the end of the assembly I worked at was in the pit as an inspector. The cars were about 90% completed by that time, aka, body on the chassis, wheels and tires on, etc. The cars rolled overhead on tracks and we were in the pit under them. Usually, and a repairman or two worked with the inspectors. It could get crowded at times. The inspectors had large light greed cardboard sheet (Tabloid size?) with a bunch of components listed on them for your area to mark up. I really wish I would of kept one of those. It had shy (missing), loose, repaired, etc, to mark up the components. They also gave the inspectors a pencil with a stamp on the end of it to "Buy Off" on the repairs. It wasn't too bad of a job, they usually a fan going on down there. The one thing bad was all the stuff dropping in your eyes because you were constantly looking up, brake fluid, anti-freeze, oils and other stuff, from over fills and other reasons. Anti-freeze stung the most. PPE wasn't supplied or enforced and didn't exist at that time. The one thing I always remember was the brake bleeding station before us, it was some sort of C-clamp arrangement the attached in the master cylinder reservoir and was supposed to bled the brakes. It had a lot of down time and would shoot brake fluid all over the engine compartment. The line went down many, many times because of it. I always wondered how many accidents were caused by no brakes at the end of the line. I steered clear of the end of the line for that reason, and those guys drove like maniacs, them and the HiLo drivers. I think the HiLo drivers wanted to finish unloading stuff so they could get back to their Euchre card game or whatever else.

 

[moparlee]

Ok, here's another another Dodge Main installment. So the farthest or closest to the end of the assembly I worked at was in the pit as an inspector. The cars were about 90% completed by that time, aka, body on the chassis, wheels and tires on, etc. The cars rolled overhead on tracks and we were in the pit under them. Usually, and a repairman or two worked with the inspectors. It could get crowded at times. The inspectors had large light greed cardboard sheet (Tabloid size?) with a bunch of components listed on them for your area to mark up. I really wish I would of kept one of those. It had shy (missing), loose, repaired, etc, to mark up the components. They also gave the inspectors a pencil with a stamp on the end of it to "Buy Off" on the repairs. It wasn't too bad of a job, they usually a fan going on down there. The one thing bad was all the stuff dropping in your eyes because you were constantly looking up, brake fluid, anti-freeze, oils and other stuff, from over fills and other reasons. Anti-freeze stung the most. PPE wasn't supplied or enforced and didn't exist at that time. The one thing I always remember was the brake bleeding station before us, it was some sort of C-clamp arrangement the attached in the master cylinder reservoir and was supposed to bled the brakes. I had a lot of down time and would shoot brake fluid all over the engine compartment. The line went down many, many times because of it. I always wondered how many accidents were caused by no brakes at the end of the line. I steered clear of the end of the line for that reason, and those guys drove like maniacs, them and the HiLo drivers. I think the HiLo drivers wanted to finish unloading stuff so they could get back to their Euchre card game or whatever else.

These are great stories. You could probably write a book about them.

 

[Challenger RTA]

Before OSHA.

 

[Snowdog]

Thanks for that pic! Yep, that looks just like what I saw when I worked at Dodge Main, the only difference is the Volare & Aspens had their hood and front fenders on, must be a Uni-body thing. No masks on the workers and some guys would sneak a smoke or two when the line was down.
Additional notes, you can see the vents in the spray booth ceiling above the cars, those blew forced air downward back on the vehicles to minimized overspray. You can't really see in that pic, but underneath the cars was rushing water to take away overspray. Basically, a assembly line downdraft spray both. Also, note the bunch of hoses on the right side in middle of the edge of pic. The hoses contain the different color paints, it was pressure fed spray gun and the painter would just change the hose for the next color, squirt a little out to get rid of the old paint. Then start painting the next car. The sound of rushing air & water was extremely loud too, so hearing protection would of been nice to avoid Tinnitus later in life. But hey it was the 60s & 70s. Also, check out the guy's hat on the right also. Something else from that era. Cool pic, thanks again.