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Pilot-House Friends


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Made a new Pilot-House friend today. Kris is new on the forum, but not new to Pilot-House trucks. I'll let him tell the story when he's ready.

As he was reading and researching the forum he saw that I lived nearby (Only a few miles away) and contacted me via PM. I got the Ol'  Dodge out today and went over to meet him and check out his B-1-D-116 Express. It's the first 116" 1 ton truck I've seen. They all seem to be 126" versions. Anyway, we had a good talk, cruised around in my truck a bit and had lunch at a local drive-in burger joint. All in all a great way to spend the day. Sorry, no pictures. Too busy talking about trucks to get the camera out. 

It's nice having other Dodge trucks guys so close. Now I know of 3 in the Fox Cities (Appleton) area. Mine, Ted's and now Kris'. With Todd B only about 45 minutes away, and Ed (from the FB page) about 30 min drive out of town, maybe it's time to arrange another Pilot-House party/cook-out. There's got to be others in the vicinity... 

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5 hours ago, Merle Coggins said:

It's nice having other Dodge trucks guys so close. 

I spotted a nice one in a CL ad and called the guy.  He was asking $10,800 for it.  He lived 4 miles away.  I asked a few questions about his truck and told him I owned one also.  He asked if I wanted to buy his from him.  I responded "No, I called to see if you might have some spare parts you wwere interested in selling and would you allow me to come see your truck"?  He kind of rudely told me he didn't want to talk if I wasn't interested in purchasing his truck.  Go figure?

I've met some really great friends on motorcycles.  Just starting with the Dodge Trucks.

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7 hours ago, Merle Coggins said:

It's nice having other Dodge trucks guys so close.

Amen! I went to a car show last weekend and was thrilled to see a pilothouse in my area! turns out he is neighbors with a member here. so with these two guys and Kevin, these three are in a 30mile area of me.

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I agree sure is nice!

  

Edited by Brent B3B
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Plan was to hang in the weeds a bit longer.  Excursion and chatting with Merle (plus many forum posts) made it clear that this a “safe place” for even non-mechanics like me to be part of.  Merle, I greatly appreciate your insights and offer to help.

We’ve all got our history with these trucks - the stories shared have been fun to read.  My history goes back a bit.  I like the story, but its long - read as much of it as you want.

The truck is a B1D – based on serial # it’s probably a late ’48 production date.  It’s a custom cab model.  Original owner is unknown.  A farmer in Millervile MN bought it in 1960 and used it until he retired and sold the truck and farm equipment at auction in 1978 (photo).  Note the green grain bin sides.  If the title transfer is reflective of true cost, my Dad paid $300 and drove it back to Minneapolis.  The plan was for me to use it and someday we’d “do something” with it.

In 1979 I blew the motor coming home from work.  I’d been taking the side streets to avoid rush-hour freeway traffic, but one night I worked pretty late and figured what the heck.  Bad decision!  With just the one (dim) tail light I didn’t want to be putzing along when everyone else was doing 65 mph plus, especially going through “spaghetti junction”.  Motor couldn’t take it.  Lesson learned!

Truck sat in grandma’s garage until August 1980.  I had gone to college, but Dad had a few bucks and had a rebuilt motor put in.  (Photo of Dad).  During the early 80’s Dad played with it and I used it for summer jobs.  Tank sediment clogged the fuel pump a few times requiring repair, but overall it ran good.  The brakes had “gone soft” and life events happen so the truck sat in grandma’s garage from the mid-80’s until 2003. 

 

In 2003 my wife’s job got transferred.  For 20 years I looked at that truck virtually every week while taking care of grandma’s house and grand plans to “do something” with it never faded.  I didn’t want to walk away from it.  When we found a house with a 4-car tandem garage I smiled.  We’re taking that sucker with us.  A friend with mechanic skills and old cars helped me out.  With a battery, points and condenser, a bit of fresh gas, oil in the cylinders, and a few sprays of ether that sucker fired right up.  Ran for a few minutes – smoke billowing out of garage as the oil burned off – but then died.  Sediment again!  Moving company was being paid by the job and wasn’t thrilled to haul it from grandma’s and then from our house to Appleton, but they did it.  (Photo).

 

Life events happen.  The truck sat again. (Photo).

Fast forward to October 2016.  Not having mechanical skills or tools, the plan was for a local shop to work on the truck.  Only thing I had to do was put on spare tire so it could be hauled to the shop.  A 3’ breaker bar in the hands of a novice is bad!  (photo).  Lesson learned …. read AND understand the shop manual – left hand threads.  Took a couple of months to find a hub and then I waited until it got warm for the next step.   In June it saw daylight for the first time in 14 years (photo).  $2,000 in parts and $1,500 labor, the shop got it to run, steer and stop.  A neighborhood tavern was my first stop with a friend (photo).

Original color is green so I used graffiti remover to remove the farmer painted black.  It looks a lot better (photo).  Front tires were toast so I got new ones for the front and spare ($200 each – ouch!).  Had I known how bad they were I would not have been driving it the little bit I did.  Radials on front and bias-ply on the back doesn’t work.  So plan is new back tires.  BTW ….. I got left and right tires swapped out without a problem.  :)

When you’re old and have been sitting in a chair a long time, even a short walk around the block can be bad for the body.  Same goes for the truck.  Wheel cylinder leak plus some other items has the truck laid up for a bit.  Hopefully I can get it drive-able by October when my Dad comes to visit.  He’s happy that “do something” is finally happening and is excited to go for a ride.

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03-July Fidelis Move 3.jpg

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17-8-4b Paint Removed Ready for Finish.jpg

17-8-5 One of Coat Gibbs Applied (1).jpg

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  • 1 month later...

Shared a bit of history and photos end of August.  Truck was laid up at the time with hopes of having it going again for my Dad's visit. New wheel cylinders on the front, tires for the back and all tires balanced.  Running pretty good - 50 mph per gps unit with pedal to spare.  And it stops.

See above post for shot of Dad back in 1980. 

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Few additional photos for kicks and whistles

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17-9-11_2nd brake fix and new rear tires_50 mph on gps (10)r.jpg

17-9-11_2nd brake fix and new rear tires_50 mph on gps (12)r.jpg

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