Bobacuda

These are great stories. The first car to traverse the width of the US was a Winton, in 1903. https://www.history.com/news/the-first-great-american-road-trip The feat was repeated by the first woman to make the journey in 1922 in a Maxwell. Hard to imagine how fast the roads and auto industry has developed. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/alice-ramseys-historic-cross-country-drive-29114570/

(I posted this back in 2009, tells how I did it, leaving the Bell Housing in the truck.) I pulled mine Saturday. Pretty much old school type job. Hope you have a good shed with a concrete floor. Get a reliable helper that is strong enough to help. Lots of "on your back work" if you don't have a lift. Lots of crawling up and down, chasing different wrenches, too. Block the wheels and totally disconnect your battery if it is live. Take photos before you remove stuff to help with putting it all back together. Put your parts and labeled bags of bolts where you will know how to and where to reassemble them. Sounds corny, but it really helps. I took the floor pan over the transmission and the first narrow one toward the firewall out to make access (and light underneath) better. Then I removed the hood, radiator, and disconnected every wire or sending unit to the engine (including the battery cable that is grounded on the top of the trans) and removed everything possible - starter, generator, oil filter and lines, distributor, fan and water pump, manifolds, carb and linkage (disconnect from linkage that is bolted to back of engine) and I disconnected the exhaust. Be very careful with your temperature guage's sending unit. They are made from "unobtanium" and break easily (guess how I know). I put the front of the truck on jackstands after that to have more room underneath. With that done, I crawled under the truck and disconnected the speedometer cable, emergency brake cable and the transmission shifter arms. Then I took the nuts off of the driveshaft yoke where it bolts to the back of the transmission. After that, I put the rear of the truck on jackstands and disconnected the driveshaft at the rear u-joint and removed the shaft (it is heavy).  Four bolts hold the transmission in. Best to use a transmission or floor jack or that really strong helper when removing the trans. Next, take the cover off of the bottom of the bell housing. This will allow you to get to unbolt the clutch. I popped the throwout bearing out, unbolted the clutch and removed it out the bottom. My truck is a fluid drive, so I still had to take out the "torque converter/flywheel." If yours is a regular old standard, you will have to remove the flywheel. Both are heavy and clumsy when you are on your back. To get to all of the bolts, you will have to turn the engine over by hand, either from underneath or with a big socket and breaker bar on the nut that holds the belt pully to the crankshaft (that is what I did). While I was doing this, my son removed two head bolts on opposite sides of the engine (R side, bolt #3 and L side, bolt #5). We put the chain for the hoist between the bolts. Hoist in place and a little lift, we took the engine to bell housing bolts out. There are two on each side and the two at the back of the engine that also hold the rest of the carburator linkage. Keeping the hoist tight, we removed the two bolts that hold the front motor mount's "saddle" to the frame. Now, only the hoist and two metal alignment dowels on the back of the engine into the bell housing were holding the engine. My engine was somewhat stuck to the bell housing, so I put WD 40 on the alignment dowels and used a long screwdriver between the bell housing and the block to get them apart-didn't take much. Once that was done we hoisted it up and out, then mounted it on the engine stand. Now that I have the engine out, I will have a much easier time rebuilding the brakes (master cylinder - put your new one on before you reinstall the engine or you will regret it) and I'm going to break down and rewire it. My kids have threatened to have me committed if I don't repaint it. From start to finish, counting numerous breaks we were at it about 7 hrs. I don't remember it taking as long the last time I took one out, but that was 15 years ago. This should give you some idea what to expect. I would suggest that no matter how little you plan to do to the engine that you consider replacing the water distribution tube (which is also a PITA to get out). Every one of my old flatheads always seemed to have corroded or blocked distribution tubes. Good Luck!

Quick look. If you were to buy it, you best be very gifted at sheet metal fabrication or you better have a real good boneyard to find the damaged pieces of that grille - or you better be ready to pay about 1/4 of what he is asking for the truck for them. I noticed the back wheels are too far forward, which makes me think it is sitting on the jeep frame. I also noticed the back fenders are welded to the bedsides...makes you wonder why. Take a good look at the profile - the "nose" of the truck looks elevated (that could just be my uncalibrated eyes) and the hood does not sit right (that is visually correct). Once again, probably a frame swap or the radiator support was cut up and now the nose is too high, the hood is not correctly anchored and the hood wings cannot close correctly. I am not a fabricator or a body man, and as much as I like these old trucks, I would keep looking.

My condolences to all in Alabama. This old rock has heated and cooled so many times in its history. The last ice age was not that long ago (Little Ice Age - 1300 - 1870). For you history buffs, look up the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. It took an estimated 6,000 to 12,000 lives in September 1900 and is considered the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history. It was reported that calls for help could be heard buried under sand and rubble, but no one could get to those people. Or there was the Indianola Hurricane (TX) in 1886. It is the sixth strongest hurricane known to have hit the United States, and by winds, it is tied for the fifth most powerful hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland. It completely removed one of Texas's busiest seaports from the map - it was never rebuilt. Only a few pilings remain today.

After looking at all of the winter snow photos, thought I would post one of my truck on Feb 17, a winter's day in Texas! About 64 degrees F, but the high for tomorrow is expected to be 48 degrees and rainy...

f_armer - it was 70 + just a couple of days ago just NW of San Antonio. I imagine Dallas wasn't bad, either. Would have felt like mid-summer for your daughter.

But just to make the Great White North feel at home, it is currently 33 degrees and we just had several nice, loud rounds of thunder followed by a round of freezing rain.

JB, I'm with you. Here in the Texas Hill County the agaritas are about to bloom, peach buds are swelling, all of the animals are feeling frisky and its freezing again. - but will be back in the 40's on Saturday. I will take our moderate to hot weather over ice and snow any day. I know that many of you prefer the Great White North, and I'm glad you do...fewer people here, and when I want to see really cold weather, I can come on here and see the photos that the Snowbirds post.

If that door was a brass monkey freezing his parts off this topic would have blown up...

When you do your fuel tank, replace the fuel level stuff in the tank while the tank is not in the truck. It will make it much easier to pull the unit in and out until you get the float set for an accurate reading. I didn't do that when my tank was out...so my fuel gauge accuracy is still "more like a guideline."

Now would also be a good time to replace old steel freeze plugs with brass ones. MUCH easier when the engine is out.

Snow Thanks! I think my ancestors had enough of that type of weather when they left Denmark and Sweden for Texas .

Pete - Make sure the starter you use has the same "starter arm" as your original. Some of the older models have different arms (the part the stomp starter hits to actuate the starter). Since it is all apart, you might want to consider "MC from a Cherokee" swap. It has been discussed on here several times. Raybestos still carries MC's for your truck ($100+), but it will be a single chamber. If you use an original transmission, make sure you have the shifter arms for it. I think the fluid drive trans arms are longer...but I could be wrong. Good luck finding a grille. might get lucky in a boneyard out west. If you can get the entire nose section with the grille, take it. It will be less expensive than fixing the one you have. Jocko - Here in South-Central Texas, I do not have a heat riser in my truck.

If you need any photos of a '53 for reference, or if you have general questions, shoot me an email. I finished (are they ever finished?) my '53 a couple of years ago. The wiring (I made my harnesses), brake and fuel lines were definitely easier to replace with the engine out. I see on the side of the hood that you have "Fluid Drive" emblems (mine is a Fluid Drive, as well). If you are keeping it Fluid Drive, make sure your new engine's crankshaft has the same thickness "flywheel flange" with the same number of holes as your original. Also, the Fluid Drive has a longer bell housing to accommodate the Fluid Drive coupling than a "standard transmission" bell housing. If you are installing the engine & bell housing (with Fluid Drive or flywheel installed) as a unit, I would recommend mounting the starter and the master cylinder before putting the engine back in the truck - much less cussing involved. If you are not going with the Fluid Drive, consider changing to a modern 5 speed while it is all apart - less gear grinding and an overdrive for cruising. Several of the folks on this site have done this modification. I kept my truck predominately original, so it is still Fluid Drive. But I did go with a '90 Dakota diff. When I rebuilt the front end, I replaced my spindles, hubs and brake with those from a '70 Dodge Sweptline truck. I did this to make the brakes easier to work on and to make parts readily available. Overall, finding some of the small parts was a challenge. However, the folks on this site were great at helping me figure things out and some even had spare parts. One of the things you will get a kick out of is whenever you take it out, your truck will not look like everyone else's.

I cut mine out of an old mud flap.

Look up "24 Hours of Lemons" races. A few years back, a '48 Dodge truck with a Jag front suspension did well. I have seen the video on their website of it on the track. You can probably find that person through the Lemons folks and ask how he did it.

Pecan Grove Store is an old Sinclair gas station between Fredericksburg and Llano, TX (on the way to Enchanted Rock) that has been repurposed as a bar and grille, live music venue. This past Saturday, they held a car show to benefit the local food bank. Although I am not in to car show trophies and such, I took my '53 B4B to give folks something to different look at (everyone loved the fact it was a Dodge and it had a butterfly hood). My truck was in the 50-59 Group that included a really nice '55 Chevy, a slightly modified 50's GMC and a heavily modified 50's Chevy truck (think Gas Monkey style). Surprised me when my truck won the division. I wish I could get the photos to load easier for this Luddite. B4B at Pecan Grove.pdf

Texas drivers are bad...? No, you just have to remember that we own the road . In Texas the speed limits on all backroads have no meaning unless the weather is lousy (wet or icy), someone is moving livestock on the road, the deer population is contemplating suicide, the city drivers are sightseeing, or the damn bicyclists are on the road. Worst city drivers I have encountered are from Austin or San Antonio. When on the interstate, unless you are in a city (lots of cops), move fast or move out of the way.

Clesters is a "one piece" that fits my '53 better than the one I had from Robert's.

When I put the Dakota diff under my '53, I tried using my existing under-the-dash housing and the Dakota cable to the rear. Problem was I could not get enough mechanical advantage to set the emergency brakes. After lots of attempts that did not require lots of fabrication, I gave up and went back to the original parking brake.

Thant thing looks like a multi-car collision on one set of wheels.

Wait...you saw the US Olympic Soccer Team beat the Russian Olympic Soccer Team? After the Russians lost in hockey to the US Olympic Hockey team, that must have really upset them. BTW, just having fun with you and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!