David A.

Beautiful truck! I wish my projects would go that fast!!

Boy that looks like a hard hit. Glad you’re ok!

This is just my opinion and someone more knowledgeable may want to chime in, but you may have created a future problem using bondo on your water pump. Body filler absorbs water which will allow the metal plate behind it to rust. Eventually the body filler will flake off and may plug up your radiator causing over heating problems. If it really needs smoothed out, you may want to consider fiberglass or epoxy. David A.

Beautiful truck!

Looks very nice. Congratulations!

Nice job!

I’m not sure what model truck you are working on, but my 1950 B2B is completely stock other than having a 2.76 rear end from a Chrysler New Yorker under it for many years. It didn’t have any power, but it would move right along on the interstate. I have since put my original differential back under it with a 3.54 carrier from a plymouth sedan. I have never had any steering issues. On one trip I drove mainly interstate, running 60-65 mph, from the tip of the eastern shore of Virginia to Harrisburg, PA and then back home to South Carolina. About a 800 mile trip.

This is what the machine shop recommended I use for the welch plugs. So far I haven’t had any leaks and it’s been a number of years since I installed them.

Nice truck. Enjoyed the pictures and the video!

Yes that is correct. Eaton Detroit Spring. I don’t know when they added the Detroit to their name. It’s maybe been there all along and I just never paid any attention to it.

Eaton spring made new original style leaf springs for my 1950 B2B. It may be worth a try calling them to see if they would give you that measurement. David A.

That’s two mighty nice looking trucks!

It’s been a good while since I installed mine, but it was metal with a small rubber seal that slid over the edge and formed a seal between the edge of the shroud and the back of the heater core. Also, the shroud part is slightly smaller than the heater core so it still allows air to be circulated just inside the cab when the fresh air vent is closed.

You can mount your heater as is and it will recirculate the air inside your cab. There were washer type foam rubber gaskets that slid on the water tubes that would seal out dust and outside air when you tightened the heater to the firewall. For that installation you would not remove the black circled knockout. Most heaters were installed in that fashion. If you find the fresh air option kit that was available for that heater, it came with a square shroud that was sandwiched between the heater core and the firewall. The black circled knockout would get removed and there was a round diverter valve that is mounted over that hole. Then a flexible duct was run from that diverter valve up to an inlet scoop of sorts that was mounted to the inside of the fender splash apron, beside the radiator support. The temperature control valve mounted to the top back of the engine head. There was also a defroster option that could be mounted to that heater. The controls for the fresh air diverter valve, the defroster, temperature control, and fan speed were mounted on a rectangular assembly that mounted under the left side of the dash. Sorry I don’t have any pictures at the moment. I’m at work. If no one else has pictures, I can try to take some this evening when I get off.

The best I can remember, the only fittings I could find were 3/8-24. However it didn’t want to screw in exactly right. It acted like it was tightening down but it leaked something terrible. Turns out it was just the threads getting tight and it never actually compressed the ferrule. I used a thread pitch gauge and found the oil pressure gauge was 27tpi. I never could find a fitting with that thread pitch, so I ordered a 3/8-27 die and used it on the fitting. It seemed to do a great job on the soft brass threads. It screwed right into the oil pressure gauge and tightened up against the ferrule. No leaks as of yet.

I’m certainly no expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I have only seen that early arm rest offered as an option for the drivers door. However, the metal part of the passenger door was made to accept that arm rest as well.

I believe it’s a Telemecanique XCK-L limit switch. David A.

Just be sure to warn whoever mounts your tires that they are different widths. I had 4, 4” wide wheels, and 1, 4 1/2” wide wheel. The worker carefully set his mounting machine to one of the 4” wheels thinking they were all the same. When he mounted the tire on the wider rim it took all the new paint off the edge of the rim.

Thank you for all of your responses. I’m really anxious to get this truck finished. Been working on it for 12 years now and I’m ready to drive it again!

I’m not sure how to post links to previous threads, but a search for build card turned up a post that I copied and pasted below. It was written by Kevin Clause. I don’t know if he is still available to answer questions, but it might be worth a try. He seemed very knowledgeable when I communicated with him a good while back. David A I wrote an article on decoding Dodge truck build cards (including the punches). It appears in the March 2008 Power Wagon Advertiser for anyone interested in it. Anyone interested in a no cost evaluation of their build card can contact me at kknglenn@yahoo.com. Thanks, Kevin Clause This

I would have bet the same thing until I took the bed apart. Finding the factory blue between the assembled panels showed it was painted before it was assembled.

Ok, thank you. I know you could pay extra to have the bed painted the same color as the cab which this truck apparently was, because when I disassembled the bed I could tell the bed was painted blue from the factory before it was assembled. That’s why I was wondering if they took the time to paint the bolts, or just left them zinc plated. Since the bed was blue, would the carriage head bolts in the side shovel strips still be black or would they have been painted the bed color to match the shovel strips that are attached to the bed sides? Sorry for all the questions, but I just want to make sure I get it as close to how it looked from the factory as possible. Thanks, David A.

I am about ready to assemble the bed on my 1950 B2B, and had some questions about bolt head finishes. I’m trying to go back as close to original as possible. 1. Should the bolts holding the bed front panel and rear Cross member be painted the bed color, or left unpainted? 2. Should the Phillips head bolts holding the rear fenders on be painted, or left unpainted? 3. Should the large and small carriage bolts in the bed floor be painted black, or left unpainted? Thanks for the help, David A.

I put my side panels in after my heater was already installed. It was no problem at all.

What a beautiful truck. I know that is a great feeling to get it back on the road! David A.