Dan Babb

Definitely soak them with good penetrating fluid for a while. I had to use my largest breaker bar with a cheater pipe on the end to break one of them loose. On another one, it was so frozen that the shackle snapped. Hope yours aren't as bad as mine were.

Was just cruisin the net and saw this article. Awesome looking truck. http://www.dieselworldmag.com/feature-old-school-1949-dodge-power-wagon/ Looks like a pilothouse on major steroids.

Not sure how much weight you want to haul, but I took one leave out from each corner and the truck didn't settle down that much...but the ride is smoother. I took out the second one from the bottom. Unless you're going to max out the weight limit in the bed, I'm sure you'd be fine. Tomorrow, I'm going to be driving my truck to my daughter's apartment with a dresser, nightstand and mirror...truck didn't drop much at all. I loaded it up with about 16 large bags of mulch at home depot in the spring...no issues. I wouldn't be afraid to remove a spring (after you get the rod ends/alignment/tires done) since those are your main problems.

You can probably sand down where you have the bedliner. That will help the mat products stick better. The stuff I got at Lowes is called Peal & Seal. It's in the roofing section. Basically the same formulation that dynamat used to use when they started out, but way cheaper. My floors weren't perfectly smooth and it stuck well. I wouldn't use it on the roof though. Not sure it would stay up there if you were on a long drive in the summer heat...the stuff isn't light. I also put some strips inside the doors..helped with that tinny sound when you close them. You don't need to fully cover the surface to get rid of the thin metal sound...a few spaced out strips will do the trick. I did fully cover my floor though. Didn't do the firewall though..I will one day if I ever make up a cover to hide it.

Shipping on such short notice might be tough. I recently had a car shipped to me and use this shipping broker. Price was fair and the service was very good. Give them a call if you want to see if they can help. Towmax Transport Corp. Darlene 239-772-5949

Great looking cars. If your Pilot-house turns out half as nice, you'll have a stunner.

I used Peal & Seal...got it at Home Depot or Lowes. Read about it in my post here. Made a big difference in the sound (and I didn't carry it up the front of the firewall because I don't have a trim panel there). Later on, I wound up doing under the seat and the rear cab wall (up to just below the top of the seat) and that made a difference too. http://mopar.pairserver.com/p15d24ph_forum/topic/28191-peel-seal-poor-mans-dynamat/?hl=+peal%20+

Looks good. Tell us more about that second image. I have my original data plate...but the last owner painted over it. Been hesitant to try to remove the paint because I don't want to take off the paint underneather. I guess I have nothing to lose and should try a paint remover.

I remember reading that you can shave a bit off the head to boost compression and power a bit. Dont remember how much though. A search should turn up the info Its basically free hp, so I would do it.

Would love to see pics. Lots of the trucks here are restorations, but we have our share of modifieds too.

Here's a link to my Hemi swap thread...in case there's any ideas in there you can use. http://mopar.pairserver.com/p15d24ph_forum/index.php?/topic/18782-dans-hemi-swap-project/

Sounds like a cool project. Would love to see how the smaller HEMI fits. I wound up putting a 354 hemi in my 52. Was a lot more work than I thought it would be.

Oops....didn't see page 2. Nevermind. Is the radiator out of a 52 1/2 ton a replacement for your truck? I have This one from my truck in my garage. Not looking to retire on a sale, but i could use some money for a power steering conversion on my Cobra. Maybe someone here could confirm if it would work for you. I took it out because I needed more room for the hemi conversion. It didnt leak and cooled the flat6 just fine.

I found a low profile/low draw pusher fan and mounted it in front. There is room to mount it...just remove the lower filler panel and slide it in from the bottom. I will see if I can dig up the part number when I get home. But I am running a 12v generator.

Sound deadener does wonders. I put it on the floor, under the seat and along the back wall (up to the seat back so you can't see it) and the noise is greatly reduced. Won't stop wind noise, but you'll be surprised at what a few rolls of Peel & Seal from HomeDepot or Lowes will do to eliminate noise.

You're very lucky...mine were totally seized and I had to replace them. Put some fresh lube in the grease fittings and you're done.

I pulled mine out as one piece....but it was a royal pain in the ass. The pedals hit the steering column and you can't get the pedals off once they are installed in the truck. Would have been way faster for me to drop the transmission first. Live & learn.

One of my rods was bent. Brought it to a friend's house and used his press to straighten it....it was really simple and made a big difference. Once that was done, I brought it in for an alignment to set the toe. Made a huge difference. There is a nut on the steering box that can adjust it a bit...I think it presses on the worm gear inside. Do a search to see if you can find info. If the wheels have too much wobble, then kingpins could be worn (as mentioned above), so check that out too. Don't know about parts interchange...I wish there was a power steering box that would drop right in...would be nice to have that as an upgrade.

Here is a pic of the job rated grill plate

Very cool. Look forward to seeing how they turn out. I'd like a set if they look good. Taping and painting the letters on mine were a real pain. I would like to do them over in the proper red. How about doing the front Job Rated plate? That would be nice too.

When I pulled the wiring out of my truck, there was a lot that had no insulation. On the ones that did, the cloth covering closer to the ends of the wires was just crumbling when I touched them. Wonder if there's a way to test the regulator. Since the problem is intermittent, maybe it's the regulator going back and not properly 'regulating' the current. I'd think if it were wires that were crossed or touching, it would be more constant (unless it's loose wires that only touch when you hit a bump).

I also have a more modern rear. I used the lower shock mounts off the original PH rear and put those in the same location on the newer Jeep rear end. I used the original frame mounts too. So my shocks are pretty much in the same position...but maybe a bit of a different angle. Is there a difference in the shock mounts between the years? Mine is a 52 if that matters.

I used a 9 circuit harness from rebel wire. Wires are well labeled and the price is right. When I had some questions about how to wire it up for the generator, I called the company and got great support from the owner. My only issue was the horn wire is too short for our application (it's setup to run on a GM column where the wire isn't as long), but that was an easy fix. I mounted the fuse panel in the glove box (made my own glove box out of sheet metal so it would support the weight). Here's a link to a picture. http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/DanBabb/53Dodge/LocalHemi/GloveBox2.jpg

Which leaf did you remove? I removed the second shortest one on each of my springs. I'm using a set of Monroe shocks with part numbers that I found here for a stock replacement and don't have any issues. I wonder if one of your shocks is bad? I wouldn't think that removing one leaf would change the shock angle that much.