my48stake

I also had mine done by Gas Tank Renu (here in Michigan). I highly recommend them!

Thanks for the kind comments everyone. We're sure having fun with this. This past summer he rebuilt my grandfather's '51 Farmall M and started driving that to local car shows (since he can't drive a car on the road yet he thought he'd start on the tractor!) He's gotten quite a reputation with the old timers around here. At one of the shows they announced over the PA that they had "351 cars and 1 tractor in attendance". This upcoming summer he'll have his driving permit (we can get those at age 14 and 8 months here in Michigan) so he'll be able to drive the Pilot House to those same shows. Should be fun!! Again, thanks for all the comments and I'll pass them on to my son as well. p.s. ice fishing didn't make the cut yesterday. He decided to pull apart the master cylinder and clean out the brake lines instead. Master cylinder was seized so it looks like I'll be ordering a rebuild kit next.

My son would agree with you. He feels there is far too much hunting, fishing, and car fixin' to be done for there to be any time left for video games. So far today he's shot a squirrel, fixed the pilot house, replaced the rear brakes on his mom's Avalanche, and is currently (2 pm) plowing the driveway with the tractor! I'm guessing ice fishing is next (last week he pulled a 37" 12 lb Pike through a 6" hole)

Not sure why the snow day. I think the roads were wet last evening and froze overnight so it was slick. It was 18 deg F this morning so salt wouldn't work. I agree, there really wasn't much snow.

Taking advantage of a snow day from school today my 14 year old pulled our '48 B1D out of the garage under it's own power for the first time that it has been driven since 1973! He's been working on it since this summer. Rebuilt carb, starter, generator, pulled head and did valve job, painted everything in the engine compartment, replaced water pump/thermostat, complete ignition system overhaul, new radiator... Yesterday he put the rear axle back together and today changed the diff fluid and trans fluid. This has been a great learning experience for him! He's beaming!! Still no brakes (other than the parking brake) and they're not bleeding so we either have plugged lines or need a master cylinder rebuild next.

I bought an aluminum radiator from these guys for my '48 B1D. Perfect fit and cheapest I could find. http://www.wwwsuperiorradiator.com

I bought Dorman 610-233 studs for my '48 B1D. They are a little longer than the stock ones (1/2" or so). I had to "clip" the head since the stock ones have a flat to prevent them from rotating and the Dorman's do not. There is also about 1/4" under the head that is .640" diameter. I had to turn this down to the .625" which is the diameter of the stock studs. On a related note, I also bought Dorman 611-126 lug nuts which are a direct replacement for ours.

Success. I bought the TAN-ORG you suggested. Installed it per the instructions (no need to reverse the float). At empty it reads 80ish ohm and 10ish ohm at full. I confirmed that this is correct for my gauge. Thanks everyone!

The drums are in great shape. My sons just damaged the studs turning them the wrong way (didn't realize they were left hand thread on the drivers side.) I'll give the powerwagon folks a call after Christmas and see if they have the right size. Thanks everyone for the input!

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

Correct... need studs and nuts on my 1 ton.

Thanks Merle! My son is 14 and is really digging into this project. The temp gauge repair will be a great learning experience for him.

I need a fuel gage sender unit and a cylinder head temp sender. First the fuel gauge: I had the gas tank redone by Gas Tank Renu (which I highly recommend!) but the mounting flange for the sender unit was too far gone so they cut it out and welded in a generic 5 hole mount. I now need to get a new sender unit. There are several "generic" 6V sender units available but a company that rebuilds ours indicated that there is something special about the output of the sender for our gages. Anyone here familiar with the input needed at the gage in the dash for it to read correctly? Second the cylinder head temp sensor: We damaged the sensor that screws into the head when we pulled the head. I've been quoted $225 to rebuild the broken unit and told that the gauge/capillary tube... is a single assembly. Has anyone tried converting this to an electronic gage with the stock gauge face or similar modification to get away from the capillary tube design?

Okay, tried the vendors on the resource links page and no luck. Also checked the local bolt & screw distributor with no luck. The only thing I've found is through LMC Truck et. al. who have stud kits for Chevy and Ford of this era but I don't know if they're the same. Any other suggestions before I roll the dice on a Ford or Chevy set?

My son didn't realize that the drivers side wheel lug nuts and studs were left hand thread and twisted one off my '48 B1D. Any idea where I can get new studs and nuts?