JBNeal

Just to add my 2¢...I've had a few folks ask me about the differences between the internal & external bypass blocks/heads and water pump applications, specifically when installing the newer NAPA water pump which can work with either setup. While going through some boxes of parts I've acquired recently, I found an external bypass water pump with an internal bypass backing plate, as well as a newer NAPA water pump (pictured on the right). The external bypass pump casting does not allow coolant flow through the internal bypass backing plate, and drilling through this area of the casting can be difficult without cracking the rest of the casting. Also shown in this pic is a '50 218 without internal bypass; the location of the internal bypass port would be in the area pointed to in this pic, and a sharp eye may notice that an internal bypass water pump & head gasket have been mounted to this external bypass block. The red block pictured is a '54 230 with the internal bypass. The bypass passage is pointed out in the block & the head; the 'hump' in the head can be seen as well. The assembled engine is a '52 218 with the internal bypass head and thermostat housing (water neck). The fewer parts required made for a more economical assembly; with one less hose to leak, it also is a more reliable assembly.

the linings that the brake & clutch shop installed were about 1/8" too long, so when they were riveted to the bands, the ends were contacting the drum, like the tip of a fingernail on a file. After so many revolutions, them ends wore down enough that there was some clearance between them and the drum. But them li'l tips took a while to wear down, so in the meantime they really stunk up the place. The park brakes still work great, and the drums show no discoloration and still brake smoothly when engaged. the brake shoe can be removed without dropping the driveshaft. There's a lock wire & a spring behind the shoe mounting bolt...pay attention to how the brake is installed, ya might want to take some before pics so ya won't have much trouble re-assembling.

I took mine to a clutch & brake re-lining shop...the pad they got for the shoe was a li'l thick, so after I made the adjustments so that the brake would hold when engaged, the ends of the pad dragged on the drum for about a hunnert miles, which kinda stunk up the cab...the heat build-up also baked the paint I put on, so that kinda stunk up the cab too

truck picture B-1-B-108: shakin' the yellowjackets out of the '48 after sitting in the barn for a few weeks:

The pads on the '48 only have marks left on the sheet metal where they once were, but I've got a remnant of the hood bumper pad on the '49, dunno how thick it needs to be but judging from the rub marks on the hood, it probably wouldn't hurt to put some sort of anti-squeak on the radiator shell to cut down on the chafing. The Spring Special still has its hood bumper pads intact, but the ones on the flatbed are long gone.

FWIW: I found a spare tire rim back in '95 that had some of the hubcap clips, and since my original rims had a few broken clips, I drilled out the rivets on the 'new' spare rim and put the usable clips where I needed them with new rivets I found at the John Deere dealer (same rivets are used on most sickle bars). It may not be correct, but I don't plan on runnin' round with my spare for too long...although back in the day, I recall that the spare tire was used in the tire rotation pattern so that when the time was right, the driver had the option of replacing all 5 tires at once. Anyhow, as long as ya can find something that fits, who's gonna know if the wheel ya use is 'correct'?

This B-series comparison shows some of the similarities & differences...I don't have part numbers to compare, but I'm almost positive that the '53 B-4 tanks are the same as the '54-mid '55 C-1 tanks.

The '48-'52 tanks are made the same as shown here; the '53-'54 tanks are similar, although they would require some sort of bracket to be fabricated for the forward frame mount. I don't have a comparison with the Tanks Inc. unit or the Dodge Central unit, but the '39-'47 tank is apparently shorter in length than the '48-'52 tank. My two cents: if a vendor isn't replying to emails within a week, I dunno if it's a good idea to do business with them cuz what're they gonna do if they have your $$$ and you have a problem with the product -OR- the product fails to be delivered? I just received a couple of fuel level sending units from Tanks Inc. for modification to my malfunctioning units, and they appear to be of a quality construction, similar to the ones Datcon made that were sold by JC Whitney up until recently. The price was competitive, and the item shipped via UPS to my house without incident (this has been a problem with JC Whitney and other vendors using FedEx or USPS), so for now they have my vote of approval

there's a few runnin'round here & there...that one looks like it could use a headlight, a set of tires, a gas cap and ya might be good to go

I've put about 10 miles on the odometer since I got this thing rolling again, making 1/2 mile trips hauling water, and got it up to 15 mph rolling downhill without foot brakes ...using the hand throttle is useful when operating in bull gear, as this thing tractors its 2300# load uphill nicely now. It's not spinning tires just yet, but it doesn't hesitate to take off now (loaded or unloaded) like it was doing the first few trips I made. Without the floorboards in place, and with air temps well over 100, the heat coming off of the engine turns that cab into an oven quickly. If I can knock out a few other projects this week, maybe I can have the foot throttle & brakes working with the cleaned up floor boards installed

I found this out by accident, didn't see anything about it in the Help Topics, so I thought I'd post this li'l nugget: if'n ya want to post an external link in a forum posting: in a second window, open the target link to copy the url to the clipboard; then in the forum posting window, type the text ya want seen for the link, then highlight that text, then click on the 'insert hyperlink' icon to paste the target url...when doing this method, instead of the target url appearing as text within the post (i.e. http://www.rust-cure.com/), desired text will show for the target url (i.e. Rust Cure)...it's snazzy internet editing

yep that sounds like how I prepared the rims on the '48: hammered the rims back into shape, sandblasted in the barn with a temporary booth, washed & treated with Rust Cure, painted them with rattle can Krylon semi-gloss black. They still look decent, considering I didn't know what I was doing back in '99 and put only 3 thin coats of Krylon on them old thangs...subsequent practice on some Farmall 1206 rims found that foam brush painting Krylon with wet sanding in between coats gave superior results, no runs and a better shine

VINTAGEPIC: saw these over on The HAMB:

It took a bit of finaglin', but I pried the lock rings off of the rims of the '51 dually and the '49 1-ton. The '51 tires must be from the 70s judging from the DOT numbers and are as hard a rock. The tires I put on the '49 are about 12 yrs old and are starting to dry rot. But since the '49 tires were a li'l newer, they were actually stuck to the rim; the old tires on the '51 were so dried out and hard that they popped loose from the rim. And the dually rims had no flaps...hmmm. Anyhow, from the measurements I took, the '51 does take 6.50x16s and the '49 takes 7.50x16s. I'm only hoping the newer tires, tubes & flaps will go on easier than the old ones came off...I'd hate to straighten & clean up these rims only to beat the tar out of'm trying to install some new rubber

After I got the engine running on my '48 back in '95, I heard about Hemmings Motor News, found a reproduction shop manual, stuck a check in the mail and 6-10 weeks later got some highly informative reading in a brown paper wrapper. I've amassed a small collection of Service Reference Manuals featuring Tech the trainer; they're entertaining to read, full of useful information, including service charts, exploded views, and allll kinds of diagrams. I've also collected a few sales brochures from back in the day...pictured in the corner of a B-2 brochure is a small black & white picture/sketch of a Spring Special...others have cutaway views of cabs, motors, transmissions, axles...GOOD STUFF

when driving to town a lot, the '48 w/ 218+3spd+4.10 and the '49 w/ 230+4spd+4.10 got around 12-14 mpg...this was when I would drive them upwards of 45 mph, I reckon if I took some of the lead out of my right foot the mileage would go up a tad

I'd be a li'l nervous about putting more amperage thru the gauge than what it's rated for on a regular basis. I recall reading somewhar that with the amp gauge connected in series with the charging circuit, that amp gauge failure or malfunction can adversely affect battery charging. I haven't looked too much into it, but wiring the amp gauge in parallel seems like it might help, but I don't know how accurate the gauge reading would be. I wonder if anyone has tried some sort of Hall-effect amp gauge or how accurate it would be...

my 2 cents: lubricate the cable with weedeater drive shaft lubricant...pull the cable out of the housing, clean it & the housing of the old lubricant, then take the tube of new lubricant with the nozzle in housing and feed the cable into the housing while applying lubricant, twisting & running the cable in & out of the housing every few inches to coat the cable. Then chuck the cable end in a drill and spin that cable for a little bit to slick up the housing a little more btw weedeater drive shaft lubricant is very similar to water pump lubricant

that 3 spd is funny like that: there's an output shaft seal, but no seal on the countershaft that's held in place with a metal bar. I dunno if there is a fix for this as there's no provision for a seal in the transmission case, there's not a lot of gasket surface to make a difference, and putting silicone on the outside of the case is only a temporary solution. Checking the fluid level regularly and putting some cardboard or kitty litter down under the truck when parked are about the only ways I've been able to deal with this bit of old Dodge character

a trailer supply store?

I think the trick is ya have to crack the vent windows open a li'l bit so that there is less of a dew point gradient inside the cab. I've driven a car where the AC didn't have a charge, so when I would set it on defrost, the windows still fogged up cuz I was blowing warm moist air onto the cool glass

I've pulled the oil pan by removing the front wheels, then jacking up the frame to let the suspension drop out of the way. Removing the dipstick tube increases clearance, and the oil pan should tilt down and slide out

truck picture B-1-D-126: '49 at sunset:

In 10 yrs, I put 10k on the odometer on my '48 B1B...recently I emptied the original oil bath air cleaner and put the oil in a glass pickle jar to observe what might be floating in there. The oil was a little darker than fresh oil, and there was some crud at the bottom of the oil bath, but that was it. And I drive on a fair share of dusty back roads and cattle pastures. On a couple of occasions, I misjudged the pasture I was driving thru & caught a li'l air, so the oil bath sloshed a tad, and on one occasion, I forgot to tighten the ring clamp and that first right turn spilled most of the contents onto the engine. I like the idea of the paper element conversion cuz it would not have been as messy as these spills, but I'm gonna stick with the oil baths on the flatheads...I've even got a conversion I'm testing that routes PCV gases into the original oil bath air cleaner housing

I've dealt with the Renu folks in Waller & Austin, and the results have been good. The '48 had a hole in the top that I could put my arm in to scrape out the sludge that had built up from sitting next to the barn for 20+ yrs. I had patched that hole and painted the tank, but the perimeter seam was peppered with pin holes. So I bit the bullet from reading about Renu in Hemmings Motor News back in '96. They cut holes in each end of the tank, cleaned it out & coated the innerds, then patched them holes and coated the outside (drain plug included). It has stayed intact, hasn't flaked off any of the rubberized coating...a sound investment. Did the same for the tank in the '49 back in '04, even though it appeared to be in decent shape (with a 1 inch thick layer of sludge in the bottom). The perimeter seam is prone to pin holes if the tank is left dry for years, so coating the inside & outside is a good repair to make on any truck that's been parked for an extended period. A few hunnert bucks spent on the tank have provided me with peace of mind for decades...I highly recommend'm