coW52Dodge

You should just be able to look under the truck and follow where the positive and negative leads go. On mine, having a positive ground, the positive is bolted directly to the block. The negative goes directly to the larger terminal on the starter.

Welcome, Paul - cool truck! Rem in CT.

Thanks - tested it and found that the oil pressure gauge also works like a chimp. I am a very happy camper. Not bad for a $10 ebay find. I will need to fix the scales because they are almost gone. I could probably cad a new scale up and print it on sticker stock, unless someone here has a better idea.

Thanks, guys. Does that converter need to come out for me to put this new on in or do I just loosen the nut behind the old bulb and put the new one in? Do I have to drain a bit of the coolant? Since the plug is towards the firewall, I was wondering if I could just tip the truck forward by putting the rear on stands so not too much will spill out of the plug. Is that right?

My temp gauge's capillary tube was cut by the PO so I bought a instrument cluster for a 48 off ebay. The parts manual has the same part number for a 48 and 52 gauge so figure I can just swap it out. I received it yesterday and it seems to work when I stick it in hot water. I'll have to figure out how to test the oil pressure gauge as well, since mine isn't working. Is the thread for the temp sender part NPT or regular? It is hard to tell.. In other words, does I need to wrap Teflon tape around the threads before I install it? If looks like I can just take the old one out and put this one in. Is there anything I should be aware of, other that to be careful with the capillary tubing?

I stripped all the rotten out wood from my bed and ordered some fresh white oak. It will look nice, once I pull the bed off and do it up right. It will give me an opportunity to paint that end of the frame as well. I'd like to replace all the hardware with stainless, which is a little harder to find all in one place. What's a good vendor for this stuff? I came across Mar-K. Is that place okay?

Welcome! I had a similar conumdrum recently, also being a new PH owner. That thread may be of use to you, as it has been to me. The truck came with 700-16 and they crossed to 215/85R16. Other guys here apparently roll with those tires as well.

Welcome, Jerry! Post up some pictures of what you have. I have a 52 1/2 ton and am located in Connecticut. Rem

That looks beautiful! I'd be happy with half that^ result. Thanks for the suggestion.

I'll try that as well, then, when I park it for the wintermonths. Thank you for that suggestion. Does the wheel come normally off easily or will I need a puller?

What's a good place and how expensive are these places? Is there a way I can fix that myself? I've seen repair kits but are they practical? My truck's steering wheel is cracked but also appears like it is made out of black licorice: I can wipe that thing down with cleaner until the cows come home - the cloth remains dirty. After I've driven it, my hands look like I've been working in a coal mine. I'm tempted to seal it in urethane but don't want to screw it up.

I did this morning and there's a little less grinding and can now float the gears into position with a very light touch. If I yank it into gear, it grinds without double clutching. It is also near impossible to downshift, even with double clutching. but perhaps I don't have a good feel for the required engine speed yet. On top of that, my gears are very hard to find. The PO thought it was a three speed but I found a fourth gear. I now have a pretty good feel for all the all gears but the tranny definitely needs some work so am taking Mike up on his offer.

Wow - judging by those two pictures, that project has come a long way. Great job, man!. Rem

Looking at my pedal just now, I have about 2.5" of play before it feels like it engages. Is that's too much? I wonder if my clutch isn't fully disengaging or something like that..

PM sent!

Thanks, Merle Mine is a synchro mesh 4 speed, with the drain plug pointing straight back, from what I remember - been laying under the truck a lot over the last month. I'll drive it around for now as is, I guess, because it is way too much fun to drive right now. I'll have to drop the tranny at some point. It would make for another good winter project, unless someone knows of a good replacement transmission. Rem

Went out for my B3B's maiden voyage yesterday. I had rolled it around the neighborhood before but wanted to do a couple more things before I'd feel more secure in driving it around in real traffic. It stops very nicely now. What a blast! I got a bunch of waves, thumbs up and had a nice chat with an old dude at a gas station. Apparently his dad had one when it was new. One soccer mom apparently didn't appreciate me going slow (40 in a 35) but that was the only finger I got - not bad for SW CT. We are close to NYC so seeing fingers flipped while driving isn't unusual. I definitely need to double clutch to not get these gears to grind. Could it be some sort of adjustment, maybe back the clutch up a little bit? First gear seems to want to drop out when you start rolling but that gear isn't very useful anyway.

Looks great! That black and green scheme is a good looking color combination.

You're welcome - I'm not an expert, though. I just did this job recently and had a similar experience to yours. An impact gun on that other threaded piece will get it off but will give your compressor quite a work out. Mine was ON so opted for the hammerhead/sledge hammer approach - even that took a lot of pounding. On the plus side, it was good to get some of the day's frustration out of my system. Rem 52 B3B

Okay, by way of an update: There's a load of gunk down in the pan! I cleaned it off best I could and will just change oil very frequently for now to wash whatever is left out.

I took the filter cover off and it is definitely getting oil up there. The PO did not change the oil very frequently, I suspect, because it was downright filthy. You're probably right, saying there's a lot of sludge in the pan. Taking the pan off is great suggestion. I'll try that. Rem

Thanks for those suggestions, including the info on how to fix the temperature gauge. I went back out just now to look at it again and don't feel any pulsing with my hand over the filler tube. The engine runs like a clock, very smoothly. One weird thing was that the oil stick measured over full. This will sound stupid but am absolutely positive that I only used five quarts - there are five empties, now used them to store the old oil. This sock filter takes in a lot more space than t the filter the PO had used. Could that be a problem, somehow? I drained off a bit of the oil bringing it up just to max and the smoke seems to be gone now. On 52 half tons, an oil change requires five quarts, right?

Today I was fiddling around with my idle because it was high and noticed a slight bit of smoke coming from under the exhaust manifold. Initially I thought it was some spillage from my penetrating oil but it didn't really stop. It wasn't pouring out but just a trail of smoke, as if some oil had spilled onto the manifold. When I stopped the engine, I noticed some slight smoke coming out of the oil filler tube. I don't remember seeing that before but haven't really run the engine very much as I'm still working on the truck. The oil level is normal and smells normal. I don't see evidence of gas or water being present. My head temperature gauge is not hooked up (the PO cut the line) so have no idea how hot I'm running. The only thing different from before is that I've changed the oil a week or two back and replaced a metal filter (didn't seem to do anything) with a sock filter, as seems to the normal filter for this truck. Could this be blocking oil flow somehow? .. And, while I have your attention, is there a way to hook the original temperature gauge back up? Rem 1952 B3B

Welcome, Nat! Rem 1952 B3B

Mine came off with a drum puller but had to really whack the hammer head hard to the point where I thought something was seriously wrong. I broke the wooden handle of my mini sledge in the process. It will come off, though. I've read another suggestion here that suggested to loosen that nut but keep the cotter pin in and just roll it around the block to pop it loose. While it sounds like good advice, I have not tried that approach, though.