JBNeal

HOLLYWOOD after The Hall of Fame game, the next channel over on the TV had the tail end of The Graduate on...Dustin Hoffman stumbles out of his Alfa Romeo

Optional Wiring Diagram

anybody tried the ones from DCM classics? Or the new listing at Mopar Mall? Or the listing at Roberts?

I have opted to do some work on the place, which required me to move the '49 & '51 1-tons off to the side so that I could expand my driveway, giving me more room to work. I aired up the tires on the '51 & dragged it out of the way, slowly & carefully, having to stop every few feet to adjust the steering wheel to aim it into its temporary parking space next to the parts trucks. Alignment was crucial so that I could sleep at night...haha I had tried to fire up the '49 a few weeks ago, with a fresh charged battery & topping off the carb float chamber. All I could manage was a quick sputtering attempt to fire at first, but then subsequent attempts to fire up the engine were for naught. I kinda figured the spark plugs were fuel fouled, but had other things to do so I put that off for a few days…I think that was before Memorial Day, so where did the time go once again… Recalling this again yesterday, I pulled plugs #1 & #2, and they were quite fuel fouled. I took a little brass brush to them to spiff’m up, then put #1 back in its place. I reattached the plug wire to #2, cleaned off a head bolt, then wedged the plug+wire against that head bolt & the water neck. Turned the key back on, went back under the hood, and went to crank down on the starter lever to check the spark when I noticed the ground wire between the coil & the distributor. I had not touched the original wiring on this truck except for scabbing on new terminals at the dimmer & brake switches years ago. Most of it is in decent condition, but there are several areas in the engine compartment where the terminals are in rough shape. But this ground wire looked different, as it had electrical tape from one terminal to the other, and that tape had come unwound at the distributor. I pulled it out & examined it to see that ALL of that wire’s insulation was gone, with the copper strands covered with old tape, allowing the copper to oxidize. I opted to replace that short piece with new vinyl insulated white 16 AWG wire to improve the coil ground. (Looking at my notes after sundown, I suppose I should have used a red 14 AWG wire.) Checking the spark showed a bright white bracketed by faint yellow, I attributed this lower color to my poorly grounded setup. So I put the plug back in #2 & reattached the plug wire, shot some starting fluid down the carb, then cranked on the starter. The engine fired up almost immediately, sputtering that quickly cleared up to a high idle that I bumped down to the low idle that didn’t quite sound right. I then remembered to put the #1 plug wire back on, then the idle smoothed back out. With the seat bottom sitting near the garage waiting to be cleaned out, I grabbed a 5-gallon bucket to stick in the cab, then piloted the beast to its spot next to the ’51. It has dried up considerably since all of the flooding rains we had this spring, so it’s time to start running water to trees & whatnot. I was asked if I was going to use the beast to run water again, and I had to point out that the engine runs well enough, but the tires are the issue now as I do not want to load them up. I had tried to get all of the tubes replaced 5 yrs ago when I needed to replace 2 of the tires, but there was a communication breakdown with the tire place and they re-used the old tubes and didn’t touch the other 2 tires as the guy said “they looked fine”. I didn’t have time to argue with the guy, so I loaded up the four tires and haven’t been back…I lost one of the tires awhile back as the valve stem separated from the tube, and I fear the others will do the same, so I won’t chance it. For now, the truck is under its own power again, so I can move it around to do this & that without the use of a length of chain

the one on the bottom, although very similar to the B-series Dodge truck dome lens&bezel, I believe belongs in a Dodge car...the truck would have a slot cut on the right for the manual switch, whereas the car light was actuated by door jamb switches.

That perforation might not be so bad: it's parallel to the channel neutral axis with no visible radiating cracks. This can be gouged of loose material and a flush filler patch welded in place & ground smooth. It also may be possible to just gouge the hole, maybe run a weld bead along the hole perimeter and grind smooth, install the hanger & run with it, as the hanger is bridging this area and reinforces the channel web. DC brings up a good point with the blue wrench: oxy-acetyl can be used to melt out a rivet or bolt without damaging the surrounding material. This is my preferred method when dealing with cast iron, as it has a much higher melting temperature than any bolt broken off in it. The trick is to focus the flame tip at the center of the bolt/rivet and slowly work in a very small circle once the metal starts to flow, eroding the little cuss that necessitated the extra heat. Gravity is your friend, so try to angle the work so the metal will flow away from the heat asap. Things don't have to be turned up on end, just enough so that there is a gradient for stuff to flow. Another thing to consider is that rivets & bolts, even though held tight in place by the wedging action of their engagement, are not a complete engagement of components, as there are verrry small gaps between the fastener & mating items. Heat should transfer through the fastener before completely bridging this gap, so the fastener should heat up faster than the surrounding components. With the fastener melted out, the threads can be chased out or the hole can be reamed to clean things up for assembly. And this all requires a great deal of patience and attention, because if ya get hypnotized by your flame, you may do the damage that you are trying to avoid...flame carefully

VINTAGEPIC: saw this B-1or2 short dually hauler on the FB

VINTAGEPIC: saw this B-1or2 panel on the FB

truck picture money pit: with all the rain we've had, my parts trucks have sunk a little in the black dirt...as nature appears to grasp these beasts in order to drag'm under, some of the varmints are enjoying their artistic sanctuary

here's some info on parts involved in a steering box rebuild and the steering box adjustment

I've kinda wondered about addressing the repetitive technical questions with some sort of FAQ section that can be contributed by members & edited like a Wikipedia page. The technical issues could be broken down into sections following the factory shop manual as a layout guide. I had started to do something similar to this with my build post, but I have had a LOT of delays over the years so even this isn't anywhere close to what I want done. And the multiple contributors to a topic could become a headache to moderate...it's all pie in the sky at this point from member #2888

mechanism locked in the closed position; note the lever tab is engaged in the cam upper notch, and the location of the cam lower notch. mechanism in half-open position; note spring under tension. mechanism locked in the open position; note spring not under tension. It does take a little extra oomph to get the lever to open & close the vent...as shown, the '48 probably could use a little more lubrication on this mechanism to reduce the required oomph

Build threads are nice

the pitted metal can be cleaned off, the voids filled with an epoxy, then painted or hit with the rattle-can chrome...the rubber gasket can be made from sheet gasket material. The fresh air vent is bolted in place and the mechanism is probably rusted shut. Marvel Mystery Oil or other penetrant applied to strategic locations and let to sit for a day or so, then see if anything can be moved...try not to apply too much torque that would break or bend anything, but work things back & forth then reapply the MMO and repeat. The vent in my '49 was also stuck, and after a week of this approach, it worked itself loose & has operated normally since

VINTAGEPIC: saw this B-4 Spring Special on the FB captioned "1965 Platte River Flood, 50th anniversary"

hop in the cab, see how much of a crunching noise it makes...if the answer is "...and how!", then walk away

the Dodge truck starter has a pinion that is manually (well, podiatrically) engaged to the flywheel ring gear to get the crankshaft to turn over, with a fork mechanism engaged by a foot pedal...it's a simple design that works well, so ya don't want to fork that up

I thought it might be a Jeep FC, but after further review, I'd say it's a 50-53 B-series that has had something flatten out the back of the cab, maybe the rump of some livestock if the bed had some sideboards at one time or a shifting load of square bales. If ya look at the big girl's eyes and draw a horizontal line, the cab break line can be faintly made out. The driver side corner window appears to have a distortion underneath it, and there appears to be a similar distortion below the other windows. The windshield division bar & vent windows also have the same shape/location as the 48-53 cabs...anyway, that's my 2¢

VINTAGEPIC: saw this B-4 car hauler on the FB

truck picture money pit: in between rain delays a few weeks ago, I climbed atop the roof to work on the TV antenna...took a picture of my junk for the ladies that appreciate my sense of humor among other things

Here is a quick comparison of the cartridge vs. sealed filter units additional information - flathead oil filter discussion

additional information - B-3 survivor

NAPA has a nice looking water pump...take a look at some other water pumps for comparison I made the trek to Terrill Machine back in '04...the business is run out of his house out in the country, and they have had some rough weather in those parts for the last 3 weeks, so he may not have phone or electric service at times. There is a wealth of information in that house, so ya may have to be patient & call back some other day to do some business.

VINTAGEPIC: saw these B-3s at Munson-Smith on the FB

here's a wiring diagram that might help...it has an optional headlight relay circuit, among other things...here's some info on the dome lamp that references some good photos in Bunn's book