David A.

Ok thanks for looking that up for me. I guess I’m probably stuck with trying to get the bow out of my side panels. Been working on this truck for 12 years and I’m really ready to get it finished!!! The bed sides are the only thing holding me up.

Thank you! That should tell me if the fender radius is the same by comparing it with my B2B. I did check with Horkey’s and Mar-K, but didn’t have any luck. Thanks again to everyone for all the help and suggestions. David

That last drawing has the measurement I need for the rear fender radius; however, when I enlarge it, it’s too fuzzy to make out the dimension. Could you please tell me what it lists as the dimension for the back fender radius. Thank You for all the info. That dimension will really help me out. Thanks, David

Thank you for taking the time to post all that information, there are a lot of dimensions there, but I didn’t see any dimensions listed for the rear fenders. Thanks again, David

I actually did call VPW. He thought the sides might be taller than the Civilian trucks, but he may have been thinking about the short side boxes. He wasn’t sure about the fender radius. He suggested asking on some forums to see what info I could come up with. This is the only forum I’m familiar with, so I was just hoping to get some first hand info. I’d sure hate to lay out a bunch of money only to find they won’t work! Thanks for the suggestion. David

My B2B high side bed sides are pretty rough. I saw Vintage Power Wagons sells reproduction sides for the Power Wagon that look very close to the B2B. They are 8 foot beds, so I know I would have to shorten both ends, remove the center stake pocket, and weld in a flat piece of sheet metal to replace the recessed area where the fenders mount. It’s a lot of work, but I still may come out ahead rather than trying to repair my bent and stretched out bed sides. I have two concerns however; 1. Is the bed height the same between the Power Wagon and Civilian beds? 2. Is the fender radius the same between the two beds? If the height or fender radius is different, that would pretty much rule out trying to make the Power Wagon bed sides work. Can anyone enlighten me on whether the sides are different in those two areas? Thanks for the help!

The bracket on that radio on eBay is not the correct bracket to mount the radio in a truck. The truck bracket went from the stud on the back of the radio to a bolt through the firewall behind and slightly above the radio. At least that is what my research seemed do show.

The pictures aren’t the best quality for zooming in, but it appears the riveted attaching points for the front fenders may have been rusted out. It looks like a very fast coating of body filler to cover the hole then quickly painted to cover up the quick fix. The passenger door does not align properly with the cab or front fender. It appears there is a piece of diamond plate welded to the top front of the running boards. The rear passenger fender has been welded to the bed side. There are other body problems, but the big ones I mentioned point to the fact that the repairs were done haphazardly, and not much if any thought of quality workmanship. I would be worried about how the mechanical modifications were thrown together.

Glad to hear neither you or your truck sustained any damage!

My grandfather had polio when he was a child so stepping over his car running board wasn’t an option for him. He cut out a square piece of rubber backed carpet, punched a hole in the edge of it, and tied a piece of cord to it. He would lay the carpet on the running board before he got in. After he was in and seated, he would pull up the piece of carpet with the cord. Before he got out he would just drop the piece of carpet onto the running board before climbing out. It may be a little more challenging dropping the carpet onto a truck running board since it’s further down than a car, but you could probably use the cord to lower it into place.

I had a problem with my 38 Buick. It would run fine around the yard and short slow trips, but if I tried going more then 5 miles or running at higher speeds, it would die. Someone on another truck thread was having a similar problem and was told the reproduction gas caps were not vented. Longer trips and faster speeds caused a vacuum in the gas tank and was starving the engine. I checked my Buick gas cap and sure enough, no vent hole. I haven’t had nice enough weather to try it with a vented cap, but I’m hoping that will solve my problem. Might be worth checking as it seems you have checked everything else.

One of the choke knobs should say throttle.

I may order a part from these people in the future, but I would never have them make a part for me! I had them make a transmission cluster gear shaft and it was horrible! The machining marks were terrible. It would have destroyed the needle bearings in short order, plus it wasn’t heat treated properly. I was suspicious after looking at it so I took it to a machine shop and asked them to check the hardness. It was just unhardened mild steel. They did refund my money, but I wasted a lot of time.

I used steele’s windshield seal and i am very pleased with it.

That sure is a nice looking truck!

Nice looking truck!

I sanded and buffed one of my original wheels that still had an area of good paint on it. Then I took it to Finish Masters and had them match it for me. I’ll try to attach a picture of my finished wheel and a picture of the formula. I thought they did an excellent job of matching the original color.

Kind of makes you hate to have to cover them up!

It’s hard to tell in the pictures, but it looks like you painted the shoe contact surface on the inside of the drum. Won’t that gum up your brake shoes? I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking.

I had a similar problem on a 1938 Buick. It turned out to be a bad intake manifold gasket. It was pulling plain air in rather than the fuel air mixture. When I would spray starter fluid near the leaking gasket it would pick those cylinders up. Just watch out for the fan and for safety’s sake, I did it when I first started the engine before the exhaust manifold got hot. Good luck! Some problems can be a real bear to figure out.

That is really neat! Rarely does that information survive the years. I saw you are from Aiken, I’m about 100 miles from you in Greer, SC. I am hoping to finish restoring my B2B this Summer.

The bolts I got were polished stainless. I almost hate to paint them!

Ok thank you. I wasn't sure, and I couldn't find any pictures in Don Bunn's book that really showed it good.