JBNeal

As far as I can tell, leaf springs came from the factory without anything of consequence between the leaves for every truck made by every manufacturer, even today. This part of the suspension bears the weight of the vehicle, and the leaves themselves are not moving much or at a high speed with the dampening effects of the shock absorbers. Leaves stick together when their surfaces corrode and there is not enough movement of the leaves to break any oxidation buildup. Any extra effort to protect these leaves from oxidation with paints and plastic covers may ultimately do no more good than to just applying a surface lubricant that displaces moisture as well as reduces surface friction. I know from experience that vehicles that have sat for extended periods are rough riding and squeak like there's no tomorrow until their suspensions have cycled full travel several times (without being oiled). The last time this happened was on a truck that was not that old that had not been used for a few months; after it pulled a very heavy trailer with a full load in its bed, that truck was a dream to drive, as it had shook off all the rust. I stuck my head under there and could clearly see the bright orange rust powder on the edges of the leaves which had been ground up and displaced from between the leaves. I did something similar with the '48 as I had been motoring down a lumpy paved road and hit a dip a li'l hot...by the time I got back to the house, that stiff and squeaky old buggy was smooth ridin' and quiet, almost respectable enough to drive it to church. I have considered treatments and dividers for spring packs on my yard art, but my experience tells me they would not perform any better than thoroughly cleaning each leaf to bare metal then applying a rattle can coating of semi-gloss black with annual application of lubricant at the areas of the leaves that show some abrasion + corrosion...after all, if ya really want to see the suspension, ya gotta crawl under the vehicle, and few folks want to perform that exercise, they just want to go for a ride

Maybe your head bolts were too long...

additional information - Pedal Stops

Dodge started to disappear from Ram trucks by the time Daimler had thoroughly run Chrysler into the ditch, somewhere around 2006...by then, Plymouth was gone, Jeep and Dodge Truck were still making money, Chrysler and Dodge cars were seriously lacking in many areas with the few bright spots being Charger, 300 and minivans (PT Cruiser suffered from a weak powertrain)...if not for Cerebus, Daimler was planning on selling Jeep and Dodge Truck to the highest bidder and letting Chrysler and Dodge cars fade into history just like Plymouth...Cerebus attempted to fix what Daimler botched, but then the economy tanked, and Cerebus was ready to complete Daimler's strategy, but no one had the cash to buy any car brand that was seriously lacking in development... Fiat wanted to have a global truck brand for marketing purposes (think GMC), so Dodge and Ram were officially separated in 2009...I get a little irritated when I see the Ram medallion on a tailgate and RAM on the grille, it's totes bass-ackwards...and when I saw T-shirts for sale at a local Dodge dealer with a '48-'50 Dodge truck on it where the Dodge logos were gone but the shirt had RAM above the truck, I said something to the parts guy about that, he chuckled and said "yeah, nobody is buying those things, but ppl sure are pointing that out"...I was hoping Dodge would bring back the fratzog, the current slanted red bars is lame-o

Installation depends a little on the location of the cam lobe...the arm rides on the lobe; it doesn't hurt to put some engine oil on the arm prior to installation... torquing the mounting bolts so the pump flange contacts the block begins pulling down on the diaphragm, so that when installed, the diaphragm does not fully bottom out during normal operation

The pinched tube towards the firewall on the intake manifold is the port for the vacuum wiper motor, where a rubber hose would go up thru the firewall to the wiper motor. As for your horn button, the 3-eared brass plate locks into the collar, with a compression spring on the steering wheel that keeps that plate in place; the wire and Bakelite feed thru the hole in the brass, not under it

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additional information - Flathead Rebuild Information

A follow-up magna-flux check may be in order...

additional information - NOS B-4 hubcap

Agreed, that's a spammer...the bogus account operator can see who is currently or has recently been online on a forum and start their hijinks from there...I have other accounts where I exchange information and about the time I am active, I will notice an uptick in spam activity... proceed with caution...

additional information - Drop Center Replacement 1-ton Rims

Get out the rosebud and some coat hangers and get'r done

That'll buff out...

I think the engine would also need supporting while the front engine mount is removed...

My shop manual lists spark plug gap at .030" and breaker gap .020"

additional information - 2x4 Engine Stands

A simpler version of this was supplied by our slip ring vendor, and there were issues with them on the floor and in the field...sub-assembly had trouble "threading the needle" towards the end of the work day, and the occasional warranty claim root cause analysis showed that the acrylic body could hold condensation then freeze, splitting the body, during transitional weather during late fall and late winter...compact? Yes, but not perfect

Those plastic fuel filters aren't designed to be located that close to a heat source...I soaked my stone filter for a week in lacquer thinner, then repeated with fresh lacquer until it was clear after a week...ran with it for years, with an annual lacquer soak to flush it out

additional information - Heat Riser Advisor

Those flywheel studs are most likely installed at the factory on the crankshaft so that they act as pilot studs when the flywheel is being serviced in the vehicle... as DC has shown, a properly sized bolt with adequate shank can be modified and installed, with the downside that bolt modifications will remove any metal coatings that protect against corrosion. Also shown is that the fasteners need not be grade 8 nor stainless steel, as the original flywheel studs were neither...this is a Dodge flathead, not a Titan rocket

additional information - Brake Sleeving Testimonial

additional information - Brake Sleeving Testimonial

since these bolts are not obvious to the casual observer, you could make something work that fits...

Finally, furniture that I can put in the yard that will match everything else in the yard... One of the drunks that I went to high school with keeps pestering me with this idea, but he wants 1 of my pieces of yard art that is intact to hack'n'whack...luckily, my art collection would take quite a bit of work to extract, so that's what's keeping him at bay...