Dennis_MN

Gotta love it when you can add a tractor part to your car

More front ends

More front ends

We had a car show in my town on Saturday, blocked off a few streets, took over the parking lots, had food and wine tents the whole deal. Organized by a local bunch of customizers called Old School Kustoms. The ad said Greasy Kennys Burn out and Car show.. The biggest bunch to show up was a group called the Frankensteiners. Art expressed in cars and on the people. People watching as well as a car show and art show, all rolled into one. The group has a web site with all of their members cars... www.frankensteiners.com I was most impressed with their front ends and their creative use of parts such as hub caps made into air cleaners, or machine gun bulletts to wrap the cowell. They are just the opposite of street rods or restored vehicles. No paint... patina is a color. Loved the use of sickle blades as a decoration. So I took pictures of nothing but front ends. So sorry about the next 20 pictures, they were interesting to me..

http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/showthread.php?t=4524&highlight=inverter theres a link to a previous thread about inverters. This one actually puts out 18 volts but you get 12 when the positive/negitive stuff gets worked out. I use it for running my GPS and the CB radio when I'm on the road. When I went to Waukesha last weekend I did not use the CB because I stuck to the old two lane road and there were very few trucks on it. In fact there was little traffic at all. Lovely way to travel.

Positive ground is correct as stated already. When you get down messing around you will need to polarize your generator. I think there is a current thread on the car side of this forum. Dennis

I'm still on the road back to Monticello, tonight I'm in Eau Claire, WI. My friend Charlie Miller rode back with me with his Scooter in the back of the truck. So after a good nights sleep we will part ways and he will head back to Waukesha on his 650 Burgman and I to Monticello in the Dodge. Trouble free so far at the 670 mile point. Here are a few pictures from the show....and of my load Two Pilothouse Trucks Merles Truck Merle in the shade New Tailgate Paint Scooter as the load Sullivan in Sullivan Here is a link to the rest of the pictures http://s126.photobucket.com/albums/p85/Dennis_MN/Waukesha%202009/

I'll be driving my 49 Dodge Pickup to Waukesha on Saturday and returning home on Monday. My route to Waukesha is US 12 until it connects with 18 just after Madison. Route home is mostly 18 until I can connect with 33 someplace. Pretty loose going home. Will be at a car show in Waukesha on Sunday. There should be two pilothouse pickups there, mine is the red one. Dennis Sullivan Monticello,MN

I've been busy cleaning up my rim. Sandblasting proved to expensive so I'm using my wire wheels on it. The inside marking says: Bud Rim 16 x 4.00 L44755-E-1 4 46 Is this a correct rim for a pickup or should it be 4.50 wide? I know that the cars used lug nuts so this one doesn't have the extra holes for that little stud holder thingy while you put the studs in. I'll mount it on the front where I have the disks and use lug nuts. Dennis

A Horse, A Chicken & A Harley: On the farm lived a chicken and a horse, both of whom loved to play together. One day the two were playing, when the horse fell into a bog and began to sink. Scared for his life, the horse whinnied for the chicken to go get the farmer for help! Off the chicken ran, back to the farm. Arriving at the farm, he searched and searched for the farmer, but to no avail, for he had gone to town with the only tractor. Running around, the chicken spied the farmer's new Harley. Finding the keys in the ignition, the chicken sped off with a length of rope hoping he still had time to save his friend's life. Back at the bog, the horse was surprised, but happy, to see the chicken arrive on the shiny Harley, and he managed to get a hold of the loop of rope the chicken tossed to him. After tying the other end to the rear bumper of the farmer's bike, the chicken then drove slowly forward and, with the aid of the powerful bike, rescued the horse! Happy and proud, the chicken rode the Harley back to the farmhouse, and the farmer was none the wiser when he returned. The friendship between the two animals was cemented: Best Buddies, Best Pals. A few weeks later, the chicken fell into a mud pit, and soon, he too, began to sink and cried out to the horse to save his life! The horse thought a moment, walked over, and straddled the large puddle. Looking underneath, he told the chicken to grab his hangy-down thingy and he would then lift him out of the pit. The chicken got a good grip, and the horse pulled him up and out, saving his life. The moral of the story?? (yep, you betcha, there is a moral!) 'When You're Hung Like A Horse, You Don't Need A Harley To Pick Up Chicks!

Just had the oil and filter changed this morning and I reminded the owner that we had trouble last year when we stuffed one in. He pushed and grunted and mashed as much as he could, then he opened up the center hole using the bolt that goes there. He really had to work at it to get it opened up to accept that bold. Finally he got it and then put the top on and torqued it down. Just like stuffing a sock into it except that sock cost about $16. I seem to remember the first one that I got from Roberts to be a much better fit, but that was two years ago and I've used NAPA since. Dennis

The original size on a 1/2 ton is 6.00 x 16 inch The 3/4 Ton used 15 inch wheels which apparently increased the torque just by using a smaller tire size with everything else being equal. Those 16 inch wheels are worth their weight in gold as I'm on my way to sinking $100 just to restore one. 1. used wheel from French Lake Salvage = $35 2. Paint to match other wheels =$30 3. 1st sand blasting estimate $60 I choked at the sandblasting and will find another estimate tomorrow or I will use a wire wheel and clean it up my self and save a few bucks. I did have a tire shop switch tires on my spare tire rim and swapped wheels for $30. So you can see wheels aren't cheap. Dennis

Wow, that is an impressive story of documenting your work with pictures. Nicely done... those flat nosed Dodges are pretty rare. Here is a barn find from Minnesota...

Made the trip to French Lake Auto Salvage yesterday and found one 48 Dodge automobile with the back wheels still on. There were no Dodge Pickups in the entire place that I could see and I walked quite a bit of it. However I did get a wheel off a Dodge Car with the slots width and the safety rim feature and paid $35 for it. Then I noticed another difference, the trucks used studs and and the cars used lug nuts so there were no holes for that little mounting aid that sticks out of the truck hub. Not a problem because I'll use it on the front where I have disk brakes and use lug nuts. Off to get it sandblasted and then I'll apply my $30 paint. Looks like one finished wheel will cost about $100 bucks by the time I'm through. Never thought it would be difficult to find a 16" rim. Reminds me of the time I restored a model A with solid rims, took me all summer hunting old trailers with spoke wheels on them.

Wow, I never noticed that difference in gaps, now I really will have a job finding a rim. I'll need to drive the truck out to French Lake Salvage to compare before I buy.

At a show a couple of years ago one spectator pointed out that my rear rims were not original to the truck. They must have been aftermarket snow tire rims. The difference I asked? "Mopars had the safety rim with the extra lip so that if you had a flat the bead would stay on the rim." So yesterday I took off the spare from underneath the bed and it was the correct rim but the tire was a 6.50 x 16 so to make it fit, in was deflated. Great spare! So I need to find one 16" safety rim with hubcap clips. I'll put one of the snowtire rims as the spare. If anyone in the Milwalkee area has one, I'll be at the Waulkasha show with Merle on Aug 9th. If I don't hear from anyone, I'll check with French Lake next week. Here are pictures of my rims, bad and good.

After Merle pointed out that none of our trucks had the "Dodge" painted on our tailgates, I've pondered and came to the conclusion that the letters on the tailgate should match the wheels. I also considered that the simplist method to do that would be to use a hard rubber roller and just coat the top of the letter. So here are the pictures, the deed is done.

I was on an errand yesterday so I checked my steering wheel position. The spokes are positioned so that I can clearly see my speedometer but the lowest one would hit me in the stomach if we met. And I did leave go of the wheel for a moment and it went straight for a while and then it drifted toward the south. Could have been a north wind a blowing. It rides and steers great so I'm happy with it.

I had a 1997 Micron Laptop with a maxed out hard drive. I swapped some cables and stuff to a guy for three laptop hard drives with about 80 gigs each. Simple adapter connector came off my Micron and on to the Dell hard drives and I was in business. I used one hard drive for my normal windows stuff and another I used for a version of Linux. That was a fun way to experiment, just swap hard drives.

After installing the Disk Brake kit, there is about 1/2 difference because of the thickness of the adapter plates. After I installed the kit, I made a 1/2 change in the steering adjustment. I've never had it in for an allignment and I don't run it more than 55, but she goes down the road just fine. I also have Radials on it. It will get a test on Aug 8 when I head for Waulkesha for the car show. Dennis

I sent the registration in under class "A" Looks like a plan is coming together.... so I'll see you on the 9th Dennis

Merle Right now its a very strong possibility. I'd leave here on Sat, stay with my friend Charlie do the car show on Sunday and return home on Monday. I will send in my registration today and in Class A Looks like I'll take US 12 just past Madison and then hook up with 18 into Waukesha. It's about a 400 mile trek for this old girl. Maybe I'll have my tailgate "Dodge" painted by then Any other Wisconsin Pilothouse trucks?

So Merle, are you going to register as class A or O? I'm checking, I may drive my truck there to visit my friend. Dennis

Jim, The operative word in that picture is "minor" The guys who worked in a shop back then had two methods for adjusting the brakes. 1. is to use a tool to make the shoes match the brake drum, and the other was to 2. adjust and remove drum and repeat as many times as needed. I have no idea who figured out that the main adjustment was inside the drum. I now have disks on the front and no longer contend with them stupid brakes. Dennis

Here is the link to the song which Merles Post made me think of. Dennis