Desotodav

I will watch this build with great interest Tim... but I'd still be happier if you'd just load that panel truck into a shipping container and send it to me here in Oz!

I'm sure that Hank would be pleased with your kind words Tim. He did a great job on his steering box and his truck drives really nice and very straight on the road. He has been quite busy with family matters of late. He has recently been cleaning up some original rims readying them for his truck. I am trying to lure him back here, and I'm pretty sure that Rod is doing the same! I had a couple of 53/54 Dodge truck steering boxes rebuilt last year. I was fortunate that a tenant at one of our commercial properties repairs CV joints and car rack and pinions... who'd have thought that he'd be very good with old 50's truck steering boxes hey! I'm still hoping to have my 53 Dodge 'coupe' truck back on the road later this year.

Scott, I sent some stainless springs over for Mark a while back. He had photos in this thread... Mark had done some homework on the springs before I sent him that stainless set and has the specifications here...

John, your photo is too small for me to view. I took a couple of photos of the spare tire carriers I have down at my shed. The overall (end to end) length is 3 foot 7 and 1/2 inches... the mounting holes are just inside that measurement. One of the carriers has a bigger kick-up on one end for some reason.

Money well spent Paul !!

Removing the hub without the drum should be easier. The axle is tapered with a square locator key preventing the hub from turning on the axle. Maybe a little heat and a harder pull? I'm not sure what your link issue is all about. Try a Google search on 'Tanks Inc' and go to their 'fuel tanks' section. Your truck will be listed as a '39-47 Dodge truck tank'.

So many questions Steve Keep 'em coming! Q1. The puller is your best chance with the rear hub. Some of them do get stuck on there hard. I haven't found one yet that my puller and a hammer couldn't remove. I'm thinking that you would have backed off the brakes with the adjuster nuts on the back of the backing plates. Try tapping the drum with the hammer some... but not too hard that you will distort or damage the drum! If that doesn't work... maybe a little heat or a more heavy duty drum puller. Q2. 80-90 compression is alright. A new engine will push out closer to 120. Your readings are consistent between each cylinder so I reckon that should work fine. Q3. Your gas tank looks like one from Tanks Inc. I can't help you with which hole the sender goes in sorry as I have not bought one of their tanks (I'm in Oz and the freight to me would be ridiculous). Here's their link... http://www.tanksinc.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=349/category_id=68/mode=prod/prd349.htm

There's a fella on Ebay at present selling a good set of the vent-less (if that's a word?) regulators and windows... https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1952-Dodge-B-Series-Truck-Drivers-Side-Window-assy-1948-1952/263378560216?hash=item3d5295e4d8:g:o-sAAOSw9mpaLHEr The 'search' box at the top right of your forum screen can be your best friend when chasing information on a particular topic - try this thread for information on vent window removal...

Looks great Brent. Have you got it running good now?

Best bet is to see if you can find a parts manual. Hope these pics from that manual help...

I seem to spend only a small amount of my spare time on my old MOPAR trucks these days as my main hobby seems to keep me very busy. My hobby involves collecting and supplying medical and educational supplies to third world countries. We (Mom and I) have a few hospitals who are kind enough to supply us with large amounts of stock which we bundle up in shipping containers and send them around the world. Those stocks pretty much include anything which you would find at a hospital, and then school desks/chairs and school library books on the educational side. We have recently been working on countries like New Guinea, Fiji, Africa and Indonesia. This past week has been quite busy for me... I have been on vacation leave from work and frantically working on readying stock for a 40 foot shipping container which leaves for Cambodia on Monday. I have a full shed and 5 shipping containers in our yard at present! My fellow Officer's laugh when I tell them I only go in to work for a break as I seem to do far more work when I'm off duty... it's quite funny but so true!

The only intention I had when restoring my 52 DeSoto truck (back in 2005) was to make it as original as I possibly could... mainly as I intended to take the original owner for a drive once the project was completed (which I did a few years back - Ernest passed away recently not long after his 100th birthday). The decision of whether to restore to original or to resto-mod it (for improved safety) can really boil down to a huge dollar difference in my opinion. I spent a lot of money on my 52 truck buying NOS (or very good condition) parts in order to maintain originality. In reality, I have actually ended up with a truck (painted in 2-pack rather than enamel) which is probably far better than was originally turned out from the factory back in the 50's as I don't feel that they weren't too fussy back then with body gaps and finishes etc. The point I am trying to make is that the decision to remain original or improve with modern day components is one which requires quite some consideration. I do wish you well with your venture. Food for thought... Hank and I spent some time with Jay Leno in Burbank CA before heading to the BBQ last year. He sure has some beautifully restored cars in his collection. I saw in an interview with him recently where he was of the opinion that old car prices in the future would be far higher for those in original 'patina' rather than those which had been restored.

That photo was a bit fuzzy... the one I took of the measurement from the transmission face to the shaft end came out better. Although, I should use a ruler which doesn't have a gap between the end of the ruler and where the measurements start!

Paul, I measured from the 'retainer' outer edge to the end of the 'shaft' and it looks like 7 inches... but add 0.11811 inches (between 7/64 and 1/8) as there was a small break before measuring starts on that ruler.

I regularly check my carb bolts as I have found them loose before. I suspect that one can strip the threads if one tightens those small bolts too much (hasn't happened to me yet though). I wondered if the moist gasket at the top had something to do with the float level being slightly off?

I will be down at my shed shifting shipping containers around later today Paul... so will get you a measurement from the transmission/s I have sitting there.

You and Julie better come and stay with us in Oz then and we'll send you home with some good old Aussie Coke... I wonder if our Coke swirls out of the bottle/can in the opposite direction here???

Could this be Paul's local Chinese takeaway? ...

Wish i could make it again this year, but will be travelling to London later in 2018. Hope that those who attend will post up plenty of photos. I'm aiming to be back at the BBQ in 2020 (with wifey this time).

Good score GK... now you just gotta buy the truck to fit that part hey!

I wondered what those signs meant. I better watch out for these crazy bicycle riders doing burnouts and stunts ...

2018 is the completion year for my 53 Dodge coupe truck. The old "Pop truck" will get final paint soon. and full assembly will be completed before our Chrysler Expo car show later this year! It's been a long and expensive project... but well worth doing it right!

May God bless you and let this Christmas season bring comfort and joy to you and your family. Merry Christmas my forum family, and best wishes from Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

Those DCM Dodge lenses do look good! The tail light housings were quite universal back in the day, so you will most likely find that style now in most good old car part places. I found a stainless steel one and installed it on my 52 truck. I looked into installing a 'DESOTO' lens, but the tail lights are turned sideways on our Oz 'style-side' trucks to cater for the number plate location.

I thought about using the old floor boards in my truck bed, but they were too far gone so I ended up making a work bench with them. I ended up having some Aussie 'Spotted Gum' (hardwood) planks ripped down to the right size and painted them in 2-pack clear. They have lasted for about 6 years, but a couple of those boards are starting to show signs of deterioration so I am thinking of sanding and painting them again. I would eventually like to get rid of all of the (90) screws in the back there, so I might even consider installing new boards with bed strips. It's funny as I had a fella come up to me after looking at my truck last week and made mention of how all of the screws in the back were facing the same way... I told him that he better not look at the rest of the truck then as he might notice a lot more of the same. Things we do hey!