Dennis_MN

As I bought it While I was cleaning it up And with the original bumper

And this is what the 215 86 16 look like

Or as some wag on facebook commented: A Antique truck, driven by a Antique Guy, picked up a Antique Motorcycle

Drove 75 miles this morning to pickup this disabled motorcycle for my son. He was out for a ride yesterday and his clutch failed. So Dad's old pickup to the rescue. As an aside, I put on 117 miles and got 15.6 mpg.

mrizzodpm started me thinking with his post about wanting to buy a Pilothouse, then Merle asked why the pilothouse? Thought this would be a good thread and I didn't want to tack it on to that one so here is my story. Each of us must have a story about our labor of love. When I was 8 years old, a neighbor came home with a brand new 48 Dodge pilothouse pickup, green cab with a black box. He worked as a butcher and he was going to make a delivery after lunch so his daughter and I got a ride in that pretty new truck. Years later I asked his daughter if she remembered the ride but she didn't. I never forgot that truck and always liked the looks of it. I restored a Model A Ford Coupe from the frame up, in fact I bought it disassembled and put it all back together, then 7 years later I bought a Dodge Challanger Convertible and restored that with a paint job and body work. Then I wanted a pickup and made the mistake of adding up the cost so I bought a brand new 86 Ranger instead. After I retired, I got the hankering for a old pickup but since I live in a townhouse, it would be a little tough to restore one but I could work it out. I happened to be in a grocery store with my wife and was thumbing through the Hemmings book when I spotted this red Pilothouse for sale in St Cloud, MN just 30 miles from me. I went up for a look and came home and told my wife that I found my pickup so I bought it. It was all complete with a shiny red paint job. This was October 2006 so I didn't have much time to do anything with it until I stored it in a neighbors barn. I was the third owner and it only had 46,000 miles on it. The previous owner damaged the bumper and when it was painted, he cut off the dodge frame and welded on the frame ends from a Ranger and had a Ranger bumper on the front and back. I didn't like the looks of all of that shiny stuff on the front so I was hunting for a original Dodge bumper. One evening, Young Ed posted that Craigs list had a free frame and it looked like a Dodge. I was the first to call and got my bumper and the frame ends that I needed to weld back to the frame. I pulled the front clip of my Dodge and cleaned and painted everything and welded on the frame ends with the Dodge bumper. Its all back together now and makes a wonderful driver. I added Disk brakes to the front during the second year along with radial tires, and now I have one more rim to paint to have the 4 original Dodge safety rims all around. I think of my old neighbor everytime I drive it. My Dodge now has 54,000 on it, 800 came from driving it to Merles town to show it in a car show. The box wood is still the original, 61 year old oak, I'd like to replace it with new shiny wood but that is for another year. This truck is pictured in the Pilothouse 2010 Calendar as the March entry. My seven year old granddaughter just loves to ride in that pickup because she is high up and can see everything. Maybe one day she will want it.

The pictures were helpful, BUT the pickup pedals do not come off. I lubed up the new rubbers with a gob of vaseline and fed them over the pedal and down the shaft and through the floor so that they rode with the pedal arm when depressed and then fit up against the bottom of the to seal the dust from getting in the cab when you were underway. As you slip it over the clutch or brake pedal, just start it so it will be correct when you are finished. good luck

I took my 49 Dodge out of storage yesterday and I have a heck of a oil leak from the pan gasket. Looks like it dryed out during the winter. Any suggestions for any additive that could be used to seal up the leaks? I hate to have it marking it's place every time I stop. Sure fun to take it for a drive again. Dennis

We usually go up the weekend before Memorial day so that my wife can decorate the graves. Won't be driving the pickup though but if you have a timing problem we can store that at my wifes cousins farm south of East Grand Forks. Let me know

I'll buy one as well. The book that I use for my bible is called "Dodge Pickups" and it was written by Don Bunn and Tom Brownell. It has a section on the B-series and it has a section on Restoration.

That would be North WEST minnesota, however it is my home town and I do get up there on occasion and could haul stuff for you.

Speaking of experience, reminded me of bringing my truck in to the local Goodyear store to get Radial Tires for it. There was a guy working there who was about 66 years old and a kid in his 20's. The old guy sent the kid out to move the truck into the shop. The first problem was that the key wouldn't work the starter. Had to show him how to stretch his leg and use the foot push rod to activate the starter. Then there was the matter of the clutch and the four speed transmission. The kid gave up and asked the "old" guy to move it in. That was entertaining but it sure pointed out the differences between modern and yesterdays vehicles. Dennis

I found a Light Truck Radial (LT215/85/16 )that worked just fine on the stock rims as long as I used the two piece valve stem. I was able to run tubless and the ride is great compared to the 6 ply tires that I took off. They are a little tall so the speedo is off by 10mph The two piece metal valve stem is one of the keys to keeping them tubeless because they fill the oval hole on the rim. There is a picture of them under Search --special valves http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/showthread.php?t=11573&highlight=special+valves Found the picture in the tubless tire thread...... Dennis

Yep, that original sprial dropped the end to line up with the town main street and highway 61 but once they removed that, they needed a little more run way so it extended past the original end.

Nope, that was torn down in the 60's when the new bridge was constructed. The end of the bridge is about a block out of the way when you want to go on US61 That was a neat film, thanks for posting

During the restoration of my first project car, A 1930 Model A Ford, my wife remarked that the Ford was better than another women. And at least I know where he's at. After the first year of every night in the garage she said that she changed her mind, another women would have been better. She said that she could compete with a women for my attention but not with that dang Ford! She is ok with the Dodge truck as my physical abilities limit my time to simiple projects. Dennis

I restored a 1931 Model A Ford and used it as a second car during the summers. One day the starter just spun, so I pushed the car a few inches in either direction while in gear until I found a spot on the flywheel with teeth, then it would start. This went on one entire summer until the flywheel got so bad that it was hard to find a spot with teeth. The following spring I went to a store called "Little Dearborn" in Minneapolis to buy a new ring gear. Do you want a new one, or a used one was the first question. I wanted a new one because I already had a used one. In that case I could get a new old stock or a new manufactured one from South America. I think I paid $16 for it (1973) and then I jacked up the car and pulled the rear end and the transmission out and I also pulled the flywheel out so that I could freeze the flywheel and heat the ring gear and let expansion and contraction hold it in place. If that happened to my old Dodge today, I'd find a place like the one pictured and have someone else put on a new ring gear.

I've been thinking about this for a few days, or ever since Toyota issued a recall on floor mats to fix the run away condition. Can you imagine say 60 years from now and someone has just found a Prius in a barn, stored there in 2010 by a grandmother who was afraid to drive it. Now they have a microprocessor controlled accelerator pump. How will forum guys help solve this problem. Or will there be kits available on E-bay to replace that function. It just blows my mind to think about restoring a 2010 automobile in 50 or 60 years. On the other had, what if Microsoft did all of the programming... 1. Car speeds up, just hit cntl,alt,del (Radio on button,Disk Eject,bass) 2. Car doesn't stop, Press and hold CD Eject and hold for 5seconds 3. Your car will take 3 minutes to start up because of the boot sequence ..... Are there more?

I was laid off at age 58 and I found a job as a contract employee for a software firm doing Y2K stuff. I was kept pretty busy until 1 week after 9/11/2001 then the conversion project plug was pulled. I never did try to find work after that, I was going to turn 62 in a couple of months so I applied for Social Security. So good luck to you and be flexible. Dennis Sullivan

As long as this old thread was active, I also posted about a year later to replace the straight Grease Zirc with one on a 45 degree angle so that the king pin can be greased. http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/showthread.php?t=17667&highlight=grease Here is the link Dennis

http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/showthread.php?t=9391&highlight=disc Here are pictures of my installation and I think Merle is in the process of installation right now. Dennis

http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/showthread.php?t=13933&highlight=diesel+wrecker Take a look at this creation from about a year ago. He added the 49 body to a 93 one ton truck. I especially like what he did with the tilt front. By the way, those gauges were sold to a fellow from Minneapolis (The old post mentioned gauges for sale) Dennis

It was interesting to note during the Desoto Auction sale a couple of years back that the outfit responsible for starting the cars had a portable battery and a portable fuel tank that they connected directly to the input for the carb. All the cars for the auction started except for a few on the back row. Dennis

I guess that's the case, he has detoriated since I first met him at Mopars in the Park when it was in Shakopee, MN. This is a picture of him and his son at last year's Mopars in the Park.

I'm sorry that I don't have one to part with but I wonder if there are rare editions and really rare editions. I went on a motorcycle ride one day sometime around 1995 or 96 and our destination was Osceola, WI and to a car show on the grounds of Motorbooks international. They also had a 1/2 price sale tent for books plus you could roam around inside and buy anything else you wanted. I noticed a pile of these books called Dodge Pickups history and restoration guide 1918-1971 and it had a section on pilothouse trucks so I bought one for 1/2 of $21.95 Looks like I should have bought the pile of them. But me thinks something is amiss because on one of our discussions, I mentioned something about chapter 10 which is on replacing your wooden floor in your box, Grey Beard said his book didn't go that high There is actually a part II restoration guide which includes chapter 10,11,12,13, and 14. Is Dave the only one with a short edition or do I have a really rare one? I suppose that I could improve the value if I drove down to Bloomington, MN and had Mr. Bunn autograph it. (I think Mr Brownell has died)