Merle Coggins

I bought one of these from Mitchel Motor Parts a little over a yeat ago. When I wanted to install it a few weeks ago I couldn't find where I put it. So I bought this valve from Napa, P/N 935036 Of course after I got the Napa valve I found the other one. But because the hose comes off at different angles I deciced I'd see which one works better before returning the one to Napa. Merle

Note the tool sitting on the roof in the first picture... The tape marks where this tool would be used for the "Chop".

Bob, here are the couple that I took of your car. And I knew that this was just for fun, but I had to get a shot of it anyway. Other pics from the show at http://s66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mac2026/World%20of%20Wheels%2009/ I mostly took pics of the Mopars that I liked, but there were MANY nice cars. Most of them you can tell never see the street anymore. What a shame. Merle

Residual valves are also available through places like Jeg's and Summit.

That's 4700 lbs. Gross Vehicle Weight. GVW includes the empty weight of the truck plus the maximum payload. Does anyone know the empty weight of these trucks? I know it's heavy compared to a modern vehicle. Merle

Vinyl works great if you have access to it. I have a friend with a very successful vinyl graphics/sign business http://www.blastgraphicsllc.com/ I dropped off my speedo face and gauge faces. I got back nice looking gauge faces that make my gauges look good again. She wasn't going to charge me anything, but I kept pestering her about sending me a bill. She finally sent me a bill for $35. I had a thread about this a while back, but but here they are again. I asked here about doing more, but she wasn't interested. These tedious little projects just aren't cost effective for her. Before... After... Merle

Yes Dave, I'd also like to see how you mounted your retractors behind the door jamb. I studied that corner for quite a while before I finally settled on a location between the fill pipe and the rear cab wall. It seems to work for me. Another angle... The Julianos kits come with anchor plates that go under the floor. They are larger plates with nuts attached. The edges of the plates are curved away at the edges. The theory is that in the event of an impact, with a sharp pull on the belts, the anchor plates won't cut through the sheet metal with a sharp edge. Merle

Isn't that stuff marketed as sound damping material, like Dynamat? But it would probably work for what you want too. On my truck the anti-squeek material that was between my front fenders and the nose piece appeard to be some type of tar or caulk. When I reassembled the truck I used some Butyl Rubber roofing caulk. It seems to have worked well enough. Merle

Makes sense that they're flocking up to head north. We get a similar thing happening up here in the fall, as they flock up to fly south. Merle

Nice pics Bud... which one is you? There was a similar thread over on the car board recently. It was fun to put faces to the user names. http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/showthread.php?t=13540 Here's one of me and my truck at a cruise night, at a little drive-in, burger joint/ice cream stand, last fall. Merle

Well then... on a '51 the only stainless you'd have up front would be the "DODGE" name badge on the grill. The headlight rings and hood side "DODGE" emblems would be chromed pot metal. There were a couple different versions of the center "Job Rated" badge, I think some were pot metal and some were stainless, but I think most were the pot metal ones painted a silver color. There was a thread about these a while back. Maybe a search will find that info. Otherwise the previously parts can be had if you can't clean off the paint. The hood side "DODGE" emblems are reproduced and available at places like Roberts Motor Parts. The headlight rings are also reproduced, but there was also a post recently regarding using Jeep headlight rings as a direct replacement. These parts pop up frequently on Ebay, along with the grill name badge. I also may have a grill name badge for a '51/'52, but I can't commit to it's condition until I can dig it out and have another look at it. Merle

Here's one for you... Bob (rearview) can fill you in on the details of it. It is parked right in front if his Dodge at the World of Wheels show this weekend. As he explained to me, it's mostly non-functional.

I've been playing on both forums since I first came on board. There are a bunch of great guys over on the car forum, and many of them cross back and forth too. There's a lot of knowledge that they share, and much of the technology is common to out trucks as well. I only hope that someday I'll be Cool enough to have both too. I also understand Bud's statement about some of the "opinionated" members. When I read those posts I usually think about Archie Bunker, chuckle, and continue on. Just remember that opinions are like _________'s, everyone's got one. Merle

A brass drift may help, but if it's a farily large one it may still damage the pin if hit hard enough when it's stuck tight. My recommendation... if it doesn't move easily, soak it, then soak it some more, and it it still won't move use lots of heat. When I removed my doors I took out the bolts and pulled them off with the hinges. Then I got some replacement doors and had to reuse a couple of the hinges. I had a couple pins move easy, and a couple were quite stubborn. Merle

Yup... I found out that O'Rielly Auto Parts stores are Gates hose dealers too. And now that O'Rielly bought out CSK my back up plan was to go down to my local Checker/O'Rielly store and have them order it up. Merle

Thanks for the info Norm. However I need 1 3/4" hose. I actually found some in a Gates Hose catalog that we had. Motion Industries (our Gates hose supplier) has some coming for me. The JC Whitney prices are a bit better though. I'll be paying around $30something for a 6 foot piece. Merle

I got my belts from Julianos and read through that install on the Chevy Panel truck. Being a Chevy, and a panel truck, makes things quite different than our trucks, but it can give you ideas on how to do it. I also studieds Jim Shephard's thread, from way back, and sort of copied him. I see what you mean about the differences. You will probably have to make up a filler piece to go into the corner, to mount the anchor point. Get creative. Merle

I must also agree with these guys. But I'll also warn that if you beat too much on the pins, you risk mushrooming the ends. Then no amount of Panther P!$$ (penatrating oil) or heat will help. Also, like Byron says, watch out for cheap replacement pedals. I got one from Roberts... it fits well, and works, but it'll also bend quite easy if you don't hold your foot right. I've still got my original and have been contemplating whether I want to send it to Steele Rubber to be redone. However that won't be cheap, so I'm still contemplating. Merle

Remind me again what year your truck is. As I remember from Don Bunns book, in 48 and 49 the light trucks (1/2 - 1 ton) had stainless grill bars as standard. With the change to the B2 trucks in 1950 the grill bars changed over to all steal, painted to match the body with a cream pinstripe along the lower edge. Then the only stainless at the front is the piece just under the front of the center hood piece. Also the "DODGE" emblems on the hood side are chromed. I gave mine to a co-worker at our Eau Claire branch, because he was working on setting up a small scale chrome plating shop in his garage. He's had them for almost 2 years now and I haven't seen them. He also quit the company a while back, to move on to another job, so I thought they were lost forever. I recently tracked him down and he claims that he has them almost done. Only time will tell... Merle

I've purchased similar plugs at my local Ace and True Value hardware stores. Merle

Very true Dave. The inner one seals the axle oil from getting to the bearings. The bearings are packed with grease and the outer seal is just a grease seal to keep grease out of the brakes. When I replaced mine Napa was able to cross the original Mopar p/n's and sold me these... P/N 14359 outer seal... 14423 inner seal... 17145 front wheel bearing seal. These are SKF seals from Napa. Below is a cut-a-way picture from my service manual showing the seal and bearing arrangement. Merle

I've got a complete axle assembly, with springs, if you need one. I also have a parts truck that I was going to strip down to a bare chassis. The cab is junk, but the frame might be usable. It was cracked near the rear spring front mounting areas, and was repaired badly, but with a better repair job in that area it would probably be usable. Let me know if I can help you out. What part of Michigan are you in? I'm in S.E. Wisconsin. It sounds like you've got a bit of time, money, and sentiment tied up into this one already. There are guys that have done more with less, so it can probably be saved. The rust around the rear of the front fender attachement area, around the rivits, is common and repairable. The floor has 3 replacable panels. Is it those panels that are rotted out, or is it part of the main cab metal? Merle

Apparently the book is out of print and becoming scarce. That would account for the high prices on Amazon and etc. Maybe we can convince Mr. Bunn to do a reprint, seeing as he is a DEPTCA member and all. Merle

Did you check the axle breather when you replaced the seals? Often times the breather gets plugged up and pressure build up in the axle has to go somewhere, and you get a leak. Try cleaning the breather first, then see if the leak stops. Merle

I don't have to ask. My engine was seized up tight and was partially disassembled when I got it, so I had no choice but to pull it and see if I could rebuild it (and I did). From that point I started pulling more apart until I had a bare frame. Than came the reassembly.... It's a huge commitment once you get to that point. but I loved every minute of it. You can see how my project progressed on the DPETCA gallery page. http://dodgepilothouseclub.org/gallery/v/mac2026/ Merle