DollyDodge

Thanks to everyone at the picnic for such a great day. I had a wonderful day, and met so many nice people. I enjoyed the BBQ a great deal, an amazing amount of wonderful food. Thanks for all the help unloading and loading Dolly. I will post more pictures, but first I have to reduce thier size and will do that tomorrow. Dolly and I left Bishop at 3:15 AM and got home at 8:30 PM, it was a grand day. Dolly loves her trophy!

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Dolly is loaded on her trailer. It is an old trailerr and tires not so good, but it was all I could get. Wish us luck. It will take us about 5 hours. I will round trip it on Sat.

Dolly Dodge has plans to attend. Still working on getting a trailer for her. UHaul won't rent one to me for her. I have one lined out that friend said I can use. I will have to go over and back in a day, but at least she will make one of the BBQs.

Hi all: I have been absent for quite some time, and that is because Dolly Dodge has been running like a champ with no issues, yippie. The photos are from Sunday I went to get 5 bales of hay at a local hay ranch. Gorgeous day.

Two links to DD cruising https://youtu.be/uScpKhjkx2Q https://youtu.be/0AsDx9wTKyc

Dolly got to enter in her first ever car show. There was only one other Dodge pickup at the show (a old Powerwagon, you can see it in the background of one of the photos. She didn't get to be judged on Saturday because on the way home on Friday night the she quit charging. I found the problem on Sat ( a frayed wire), but we missed the judging part. But she got to enter up, drag main street, and hang out with the cool cars. Lots of folks commented on her-most say don't paint her.... the sunset picture was last week. I like that picture.

Thanks, the manual you posted says for 46-52 TDC, which is where mine (1950) is, though that recommendation is for low altitude.. My 1950 manual says TDC with a range from 4 before to 4 after. I wish I had the timing mechanism shown in the manual. I always foget I have the manual, and forget to check it when I have questions- silly me

Thanks Merle.. I set the points about a month ago, I will check again.. What should be the timing at 4,000 feet?. The guy that rebuilt the engine set it at TDC.. It was cool this morning and I took her for a spin, definetly ran cooler, just off rhe 160 markf, idled about where it ran yesterday, 180. Given how it ran a year ago, it doesn't see. quite right.. My timimg light died so I need to get a new one.

New thermostat is 160.. I put the old and new in a pot on the stove side by side and turned on the heat, they opened at about the same time.. My old thermostat is the original design, it also has a much larger opening than the new one.. I may just wait and see what happens as cool weather arrives.. It is a bit of a baffle for me, the was radiator was rebuilt and cored during the restoration project.

Thanks

It is about 90 today.. My concern is it didn't do this last summer (a year ago). It didn't all of a sudden start running at 180, at the start of this summer I noticed it creepping up.. It runs just at the edge driver sid edge of the 0 on the 160 mark.. Whe ai idl for a long time, or climb hills it movess up to the passnget side of the 0

Which way is the correct way for the thermostat?. I put the old thermostat back, put it all together.. Runs at 180 or a little bit less. If I spray water on the radiator the temp drops.. I see no movment of water in the radiator tank, but there is a long tube where the cap goes, down into the tank, not sure I wouold see water moving.. Top tank is now hot when running.. Baffles me.. Will running at 180 hurt anything?

When I tried to take the radiator cap off there was pressure so I didn't take it off. I have the the spring facing the ground on the thermostat, is that correct! I took the water pump off and the impellers moving.. The pump seems ok

My B2C started running at about 180, been running 160 since the rebuilt.. I thought it was the thermostat so I got anew. one, put it in the morning. At idle it went to 212 fairly quickly,.. The top radiator tank was cool, top hose cool, bottom hose hot. Could it be the water pump. I put the old and new thermostats in hot water and they both opened about the same time.. I need help.

I got vinyl lettering for Dolly's sign.. When I was in High School I had a wood headboard with the same sign.

three pictures of my B2C, 1952, 1965, and 1974. My dad and grandfather are in the 65 one, my grandfather in the 52 photo. I was driving her in 74 in High School.. Two photos of our old 49. My brother has it now. The photo with the hay on the truck was about 1970. My brother and me on the back hauling hay from the field. The other is of Will and Joe Warlie, they worked form my grandfather. Will was killed in Korea (marine) in 1950, so the photo was between 49 and 50 when the truck was nearly new.

Well it was a busy few days with DD. I put on the old springs and found the driver side was about 1/2 lower than the passenger side at the axle to frame measurement. So I decided to take the old springs off and put the new springs on and after that there was about a 1/4 inch difference between the two sides at the axle. The rear frame measurement raised about 1 inch on the driver side, and about 1/2 inch on the passenger side with the new springs, but there still is about a 1/2 inch difference between the driver and passenger side. I emailed St. Louis Spring and they think the frame is twisted. He said he would build me a pad to put on the driver side to raise the truck 1/4, but I think I will let it be. He also offered to make me a main spring with the reverse lope (front loop up, back look down so the look like the old springs), they have been really helpful. I now can change those rear springs really quick...Attached are a couple of pictures of the new springs installed. I think eventually I would like to get my old ones re-arched and put them back. The thing I noticed about the new springs is they are much more stiff feeling. When I would step on the bumper with the old springs she felt spongy , now she is firm. I also ordered new rear shocks, the old ones are shot. I know they are at least 40 years old. I got new front ones last year.

Kendall, I wonder if you aren't correct, that flat spot is very precise looking. I noticed that second groove near the rivets too.

Hey, the spring hanger only looks shiny in the photo. It is rusted. Mainly the flash makes it look shiny, and I took a wire brush to the hanger to clean all the old dried up grease and dirt. Both sides were completely covered with crud. It was the hardest part of the job, cleaning those hangers/mounts off. You can see on the attached photo before I took the springs off that there was crud on the underside of the mount and the top of the old spring, on both sides.

I agree Merle, that is the story I came up with in my head too. I wish that old truck could talk.

I don't think the truck will sit any higher with the new springs. I put them side by side (old and new) on concrete, loops on the concrete and the eyes match up the same, and the height of the springs are the same, with the new ones being 3/16 lower. I don't think there is anything wrong with the old springs. They are the same height, arch the same.. I think the only issue was the shackle. That being said check out the photos of the rear spring hanger (driver and passenger sides). The driver side had a lot of contact with a spring at some point, it is nearly warn through on the bottom. The current driver side spring has no wear on it where it would have contacted the hanger, and it had a lot more paint remaining than the passenger side. I will bet it was replaced at some point. Anyway, the old truck cant tell me her story. SLS will not let me return the springs. Drat. Also attached is a photo of the new shackles and the old set (short and long).

Reg, it wasn't a matter of wanting it to ride higher, but that the driver side was 2 inches lower than the passenger side, folks always told me it was that the driver spring was worn out. But what it was instead was a short shackle on the rear of the driver side.. I also noticed tonight looking at the rear driver side spring hanger that it as a lot of wear on it from a spring rubbing, will post photo tomorrow.. I don't expect they will take the springs back either.. I will try and sell them or make wall hangers out of them, expensive mistake.

Hi: I am going to contact them. Trouble is it cost $100 to send them back. Anyway I will contact them. Thanks.

I got the old springs off, and they came out easily. All the bushings, nuts, everything came out easy. when I looked closely at the ST. Louis Springs I saw they were a bit different. My old springs the rear lope is toward the ground (front one up, rear one down). The SLS both loops are up. I sent them next to each other and they are the same height (SLS are about 3/16 lower, but with the design differences there is less arch in the SLS. I decided to clean up the old ones and put them back, both the old ones have the same arch. They seem in fine shape. There was no wear at all in any of the old bushings, the front pin is like new. I was surprised how good of shape everything was. In any event I will put the SLS for sale on the for sale section. A couple pictures, one of the old springs after cleaning the mud and rust of, then one of them after POR 15 and chassis black paint.. They look like new.