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Thank you! I was planning on building the "every day hot rod driver" that I lusted after when I was a teen. Then again,isn't that really what we are all doing? BTW,have an update on the cancer. Sorta. Cancer doc looked at all my test results from the second PET Scan in a month,and tells me there are positive "things" (I fIorget the word she used). Too many "positive things" for the cancer to be returning,so she scheduled me for another PET Scan to see what it tells her before she knows what to say and do. Well,she said more than that,but I have no freaking idea what any of it meant,so I kinda dozed off. Really,all that I needed to know was when to show up for the PET scan. Everything else is out of my control. It does sound better than what I was told after the last one,though. In addition to all that crap,I managed to pinch a nerve in my left hip somehow,and would scream in pain like a little girl every time I tried to stand up or walk. If there is anything that hurts worse than that,I don't even want to hear rumors about it. Went to the hospital,and spent the next 5 days hooked up to a morphine drip,and all the morphine did was make the pain almost bearable.Didn't even sleep the first 3 days. Had to sit in a chair because getting in and out of bed or swinging my legs over the side to use a urinal had me screaming bad words. The oddest thing about all this is it is my ex and her sister that are hauling me around free,buying me a hoodie to keep warm in the hospital,bringing me food,etc,etc,etc,and it is a 80 or 90 mile round trip to go to that hospital to visit me after they get off work. Both want me to move in with them so they can take care of me. The ex called me on the phone tonight to let me know she was bringing me a Thanksgiving dinner she cooked for me. Scares the hell out of me. Home now and the pain is bearable,and I am even able to walk some and go up and down steps,but I have to be VERY slow and careful. Can't even bend my leg enough to put my pants on. Have to lay them in the floor and use a pair of VERY long needle nose pliers to slip them up over my leg. Even that is hard because I can only raise my leg up maybe 2 inches before the screaming starts. You can bet your bippy that I am VERY careful with EVERY step I take. No tap dance contests in my near future.

Took a cruise up the coast today. Perfect weather. Wishing everyone a great Thanksgiving!

We’ll, I’m committed now. Last month, and after several months of research, I bought a 1997 Ford Ranger 7.5 rear end with drum brakes and 3.73 gears. Next, I pulled the stock rear end out of my B2B and cut off the spring perches. I had previously removed the Ranger perches. The Ranger rear end is slightly narrower than the Dodge, but I can get back to the correct width with the wheels. Two motivating factors in this way were my decision to go with a T5 transmission, which I did earlier this year. With that swap I lost my park/emergency brake. Doing the swap also allowed me to improve my rear end gearing. The Ranger differential is 3.73, which should work better than the Dodge 4.10 with my T5 gear set. Yesterday good buddy Charlie came over and we figured out the correct pinion angle and I’ll get the perches welded on within the next week. I’ll follow this up with some progress photos.

I first hurt my back on a parachute jump in 1964. Hurts like hell,but it is nothing compared to a pinched nerve in your hip. I had no idea that level of pain even exhisted. Morphine drips wouln't make it go away,just reduced the level of pain to bearable as long as I didn't try to stand up. Even now,I can walk ok as long as I remember to not use my left foot first going up or down steps,and NEVER try to bend the knee. I can pick my left leg up maybe 2 inches from the floor before I start screaming. Sitting here in the computer chair is ok,but I can touch the top of my left thigh witch my hand it it feels like I am getting an electric shock,and the top of my leg burns like it is sunburned. Trust me,I am going to be VERY careful to do everything I can do to help it heal. AFAIK,the only thing that will heal it at this point is time and me being careful to not stress it. At this point I wouldn't try to run if the house caught on fire. Never had anything like this before,and hope to never have it again.

Instead of plastic corrugated, heat shrink, or rubber hose, etc. you could use “auto loom” as sold by the vendors who stock antique car wiring supplies. For example: https://www.store.ynzyesterdaysparts.com/wire-cover/auto-loom.html

the dashboard chrome center trim is also from a ‘51 or ‘52. a ‘53 has d-o-d-g-e rather than the plate. the wiper switch is also ‘51/‘52. the ‘53 switch is round.

The B3 series were manufactured in ‘51 and ‘52. Yours may have been a late ‘52 production that was sold and titled in ‘53, thus reflecting that on the title. This was common back then. Many states used the year of purchase as the model year on the title. My B2C was built in December of 1950, near the end of B2 production, likely purchased in spring of 1951, and the title says it’s a ‘51. I still refer to it as a ‘50 though as it makes more sense to us Pilot-House junkies that a B2C would be a 1950 model.

When I got the car I thought the shifter was kind of stiff but it only had 37,000 miles. So I didn't think much about it. Over the time I've had it the shifter has gotten stiffer until I had to do something about it. I knew it wasn't the transmission because I had changed it to an Overdrive and it worked the same. I read the shop manual and that helped to familiarize me with the various parts but in the end that did not point to the problem. Finally I isolated the stiffness to the support bearing just under the shift lever. To remove it you take the shift lever off and at the end of the shaft (in the engine compartment) there's a 9/16 ths nut that holds the other parts together. If you're careful they all stay in place (held in by the coil spring) and the shaft will slip out. In order to get it past the steering wheel you need to remove the two screws from the column support under the dash and the two screws from the support bearing, then you can slide it out with the bearing. There was plenty of rust and dirt on the shaft so I wire brushed it before trying to remove the bearing. Once I had it out I dropped it in a can of diesel fuel and put that in my ultrasonic cleaner surrounded with water. That freed it up a little but it was still too stiff to use. While moving it back and forth I discovered it moved further counter clockwise than clockwise...indicating it was threaded. So I unscrewed it till the center came out. Inside the support bearing I found what looked like a Leather sleeve the center part was screwed into. That part went back into the ultrasonic cleaner while I wire brushed the center part. After drying the part off I liberally coated the threads with Vaseline inside and out and screwed it back together. Now it felt very nice indeed. I am thinking the leather is there to dampen any vibration with the threads offering some resistance. When the leather drys out it really resists being turned! Now it shifts nice and easy. A modern car would have a design that has plastic parts that you'll never find replacements for unless they break a lot.

Ratbailey, I think I have the kickpanels, but they are not original. Save those kick panel originals, no matter how bad. It will save a future upholsterer a lot of work. Maybe you could even make measurements and trace to make templates. Since you have a Custom model, the heater vents are built in, especially if you have dual heaters. My car only has a heater, ComfortMaster, on the passenger side. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving, and looking forward to more pics from you!

One of the benefits of a PCV is that it puts the crankcase under vacuum. Part of the combustion products are water vapor. When you put the crankcase under vacuum it de-hydrates the gases and by doing so it keeps the engine free of sludge. There is one thing to remember, if your engine already has lots of blow by a PCV system might not have enough vacuum to accommodate it. The hose to the air cleaner does two things, provides make up air for that which the PCV has sucked out (creating a draft) and providing an outlet for excessive blow by. My Dad tended to drive cars into the ground and when the law required a retrofit PCV in California, the blow by was such that the rear main seal started leaking like mad. So the rule is check the blow by before you install one. If it's not bad then go ahead. A PCV is the one smog device which actually has some benefits to the engine.

Thanks everybody for all the great information. I'll be on this site often as I work on the meadowbrook. Hope you all ate too much turkey!

I sure wish I were as organized as you. It would have made a lot of things go smoother.

They are new production from an outfit out of New York (Webco) Wheel cylinder set 2 cylinders; Fits Dodge 1 ton Truck REAR 1939-1952 I sent the guy an email asking if he would accept $225 for a set of four. So the actual purchase went through PayPal not eBay. I got two that were stepped bores but one of the 1 3/8 inch bores had 1 1/4 inch innards, the other two were 1 3/8 inch straight bores. After several non-responsive emails, I stepped it up to PayPal. Had everything boxed up to return, just wanted a $15 label. No response so I got a complete refund of $225, not sure what's wrong with people So basically both of the stepped bores were for the right side, I have the right rear which is weeping pretty good, so I have a replacement for that. Once under pressure, if all of the stepped bore cylinders hold I'll go that route if not I was thinking of using the straight bores on the rear.

First of all, congratulations on your new truck. Looks great. Secondly, before I saw the BrentB3B comment above, I had the same thought: the rear fenders, and the front of the truck, looks like a '51 or '52. Are you certain it is a '53? My '51 has rear fenders from a '53, so it is something I typically just happen to notice. The '51 came with rear rounded fenders, mine, the '51, has flattened out '53 rear fenders. Either way, both look pretty good, IMHO. ?

The other thing I discovered was that I can use all the brake lines from the Dodge on the Ranger axle. At first I thought I’d have to use some type of adapter fitting because the Ranger lines are smaller. What I discovered is that the Ranger fittings that go into the backing plate (and then into the wheel cylinders) are the same size as the Dodge. So, I can use the hard lines, the distribution/breather block, and the flex line from the Dodge with no modifications or adapter. Sometimes things just fall in place…

And bring some tools Dodgeed! You never know what I’ll bring……and it usually needs working on ?

I took a little break this afternoon and broke out the camera for some picture takin'...here's 1/2 of the PCV system I put together & installed on the 230. The crankcase adapter is a modified draft tube with a modified air compressor hose fitting brazed onto it. The PCV valve I found on eBay, looks very similar to the VPW valve but only cost $5. This setup is similar to the Power Wagon setup, and I reckon it works OK (haven't done extensive road testing on it yet nor have I completely adjusted the carb for the controlled vacuum leak). additional information - PCV upgrade installation