jsd245

So this is what I came up with. I found a old Boat mechanical tachometer which I think matches the style of the original gauges really well. I've got my distributor with the tach drive just waiting on a cable. I'm pretty pleased with this solution.

I had 22.5 inch wheels made for my truck. 9r22.5 have the same OD as 8.25x20s . 38.3” give or take. You can still find a decent assortment of 9r22.5s.

Anyone have an image of what these looked like in these trucks? I assume probably on the bigger ones? I found a distributor with a mechanical Tach output.

Yes that’s why I got the optima. Was hoping it would hold its charge longer under infrequent driving. I really am amazed at how much quicker the truck starts now, which I guess is probably a function of the correctly sized cables so there is no voltage drop.

I assume it’s a standard thread? Yes probably over thinking it, regular but should work fine I guess.

So when changing my battery cable on Big Ben of course I lost the starter terminal nut So I used the one from the other truck. Anyone know where to get one ? It's an over sized nut.

Since the battery box was the only area of the new truck that was rusted I set about replacing it . It wasn't exactly straightforward with the DCM battery box. Maybe it was because it was a big truck, but none of the holes lined up great and it interfered with the running board mount, so some modifications had to happen. I also retained the original support which wasn't really rusted bad so it still bolted to the running board bracket and was supported. While doing that I also upgraded the battery cables, which were way too small (someone had replaced them with just standard 12 volt cables) and since the optima battery was so small I decided to parallel two. Holy cow what a difference in starting. Spins it over much faster and almost instantly starts, even when cold . Before if left any extraneous load on, even a turn signal running I couldn't start the truck. I guess with the small cables the voltage drop was too much. So technically I have 1600 CCA now and 200 minutes of reserve. Hopefully these optima's last a while because they are pricey.

Anyone ever do one of these on the big trucks? It seems fairly straightforward without a lot of the complications on rear ends with the crush sleeves. It’s seems I can unbolt and pull the yoke, and just replace the seal. Since the bearing races are shimmed it doesn’t seem like the torque on the bolt that secures the yoke isn’t that critical? The service manual doesn’t really have instructions for this style rear end I can find.

Interestingly CT has some of the best classic vehicle registration laws. No title required for anything older than 20 years. Anything over 20 years is eligible as is any GVWR. Only restriction there, is if the gvwr requires a Cdl you better have one to drive it. 120 dollar registration fee and the only restrictions are you cannot haul for hire. You can daily drive a classic vehicle if you want. I can load my truck up with firewood every day provided I am not using it for a business, Plus property tax assessment is capped at $500 value. So even if you had a vintage Ferrari worth $500k , you are taxed on 500 value. The year of manufacture plates are no fee, no restrictions beyond the classic plate restrictions.

So who else has a state that allows the use of “year of manufacture” plates? I found 1952 plates for my 1952 and was able to get the approval to use them. I think it’s pretty cool.

Yeah I hope not. With Vic’s gone there arent many left for these parts. Coincidentally I talked to them this week as well, I bought the exhaust system for My GA but the Down pipe didn’t fit. He had me send it back along with my original one which was still somewhat ok so he could get the correct one done for the 48-53 1.5 and 2 tons.

Love it Wally. Now that I have a running truck we should do some kind of Northeast get together.

X Put about 50 miles on him today. Ran quite good. Really quite enjoying driving the old guy and getting the hang of the two speed rear. I did it find it that difficult. I was also quite impressed with the headlights. Not nearly as dim as I thought 6v would be. The heater worked well too!

Yep two speed works. Dump works, the po did quite a bit of working cleaning it up brakes are all new, and he freshened up the interior a bit. I’ll probably swap wheels with the ones I had made for the B4. The tires on Ben are all new but they have really lousy traction tread.

So meet Big Ben. That's what the former owner called him so I will continue the name. 1952 B3-GA. while my 1953 B4GA is still a project it's gonna take me a good while to sort out the rust. This 1952 is from Idaho and doesn't have a bit of rust. I'm tickled with it. Engine is a industrial Chrysler 251 clearly a replacement but the former owner did a rebuild . It seems to run well. This will also be a fun project as there are a few things to sort out, but I can drive and enjoy it in the meantime.

Not much progress on the one you saw- but something new is coming-- you'll see pictures soon.

That cold snap did it. It was 8 below iN CT. Can’t imagine what it was up there. Did you every get any use out of those wheels you picked up?

This is awesome Wally- I’m amazed you had enough ice to cut this winter. In CT We had no ice.

Hopefully the shift diaphragm is good. On mine the shift diaphragm is ok but the return spring is so badly rusted it sometimes doesn’t return it back to low. I don’t see any way to rebuild these, and I haven’t found any source for a replacement. I have an air diaphragm valve I found I am looking to retrofit .

I saw this truck on Facebook. I briefly considered picking it up for parts. I remember it said it was a 5 speed which I thought was interesting g.

Yes! These are the ones I was looking for. Thanks!

So this site is dead now- I swear I saw a thread where someone was trying to pull all the data off the site- does anyone have the wiring diagrams that were on there to make wiring harnesses?

I put this in the off site referrals section, but in case anyone missed it…… https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/768928010829151/ it’s local to me. But I’m not selling it. But I thought it was pretty cool and not something you see often.

I dealt with him only through FB messenger too.