JBNeal

I set up a separate account to link to my PayPal and keep a small amount of $$$ in it...I am very leary with linking up my everyday checking account with anything that can access it without my consent. Yeah I know there are safeguards to keep them thievin' folk out, but I know for a fact that it takes weeks for an account to be fixed after being wiped out electronically, and months to clear up any checks that may have bounced in the meantime. I have been notified twice in the past 3 years that my credit card information may have been accessed by an outside source (Chase & Wells Fargo were both hacked), so the separate account seems like a decent safeguard from fraudulent activity.

truck picture B-1-D-126: 4/8/07: brief snow on bluebonnets, and the 1 ton was 15 months shy of that tow truck mishap...

have ya tried the trick of tightening a stuck bolt before trying to remove it? put the hub nut back on, tighten'r up, then take a hammer and rap that non-crescent wrench a few times (without a cheater bar), pull the nut off, and see if the hub will budge. Hammering on the shaft might damage some bearings or seats; likewise, hammering on the hub might transfer that force into some unwanted area.

since those are stamped steel, I reckon it's possible to carefully form them back into shape and re-use if they are not cracked. A quick way to check for cracks is to submerge them in water for a few days and see where the rust starts to bleed out. Any cracks can be gouged out, welded up & ground smooth.

The original mounts I've replaced look like pancakes compared to the replacements. That old rubber was hard & cracked, while the new rubber was stiff but pliable. The clue is that the original mounting bolts were not snugged up.

Before the next round of cold weather hits, I was doing some work outside and eventually grabbed a can of Liquid Wrench to oil up sticky door hinges & latches. I was surveying the engine compartment, got a hold of the fan and gave it a tug. The fan, generator & engine all turned with that decades-old cracked belt, and after several spins I could hear the wheez of air being pushed out of the bores. It made no creaking noises like the spare T306 was making when I spun it a few minutes earlier. Anyhow, I'm interested to see how the innards look as the blue paint on the engine make me think this is a rebuilt motor that may or may not be original to the truck (the block & head casting dates are 7/22/53).

this looks familiar...

FWIW, my '49 B-1-D had the brown seat, door panels & interior, similar to a '48 B-1-D I raided in OK. My '51 B-3-B has black cardboard panels, with a black seat cover. My B-4 SpringSpecial has the burgundy looking seat cover, cardboard & door panels. The interior of my '48 B-1-B was redone back in the '60s with a light tan vinyl seat cover and light tan door panels; most of the cardboard was gone, but there were a few scraps behind the seat that looked brown. The literature I have doesn't say explicitly what interior colors were available, but the B&W photos and color illustrations in the B-1 & B-2 brochures appear to show tan interiors.

I didn't catch this the first time I looked at your pics, but it looks like that starter switch can be adjusted to vary the length of the shaft between the button & contact. I had a similar problem before, and it looked like the contacts were not meshing fully, as arc scorches were present on the contacts, as well as some of the melted slag look that you have. I cleaned up the contacts to make for flat surfaces, and turned the button to increase the length of the shaft to put the button closer to the lever. This allowed for shorter engagement of the foot pedal and more pressure on the contact surfaces, eliminating any arcing that could occur.

if ya wanna attack some of that caked on oil+dirt, maybe poke at it with a screwdriver or gasket scraper. I spent about an hour scraping crud off of the rear axle on the 1 ton when I finally found what was left of the fill plug, and another hour on the transmission housing that resembled a Tootsie-Pop cuz it was so caked over. I ended up scraping enough crud off of those items that I when I scooped it off of the shop floor, I nearly filled a 5-gallon bucket. Afterwards, pressure washing was quick & effective. If I'm looking at the engine pic correctly, that rebuild tag is below the boss where the original engine number was stamped. Don't be too surprised if ya got a Plymouth flathead in that truck; my '48 B-1-B has a '53 Plymouth 218, and a spare motor I removed from a '57 1/2 ton is a '55 Plymouth 230. The transmission is a 3spd, and the rear axle ratio will be somewhere near the fill plug.

the deflection might be from the gearbox internals that need some fine tuning adjustments to get rid of the free play, or a tie rod might be a little worn. If ya can get a prybar in there, see if the gearbox moves away from the frame any. I took the gearboxes apart, and the B-1 steering shaft is bent, but the worm gear is purt'near pristine. The B-3 steering shaft looks straight, but the worm gear on it is a little pitted. The sector gears are both good, but I booger'd up the threads a li'l during removal. The B-1 tube sheared off at the gearbox mounting clamp; I can probably straighten out the bend with an old wooden closet rod. I could flip the tube over and cut it to match what broke off, then sleeve the end that is towards the steering wheel. Or just make a new tube from a piece of conduit or chain link fence rail. Anyhow, I'm gonna stew on that for awhile, as well as figger out how to rig up some kind of mounting bracket for some Signal-Stat turn signals I want to install in the future.

The mounting holes on the steering boxes just aren't the same; I didn't get around to comparing the bolt holes in the frame to verify the angle of the columns.

After numerous delays, it is CONFIRMED: the steering column for the B-3 is different than the B-1 in several ways so that a direct swap is not possible. The steering boxes do not have the same mounting holes and the pitman arms are not the same angle. The steering columns are not the same length, but according to the parts manual, the steering shaft is the same part number for B-1 & B-3. Measuring from the top of the steering wheel to the windshield, the B-1 is 3" while the B-3 is 6", something I hadn't noticed before. Next is to disassemble the damaged B-1 column to see if the mounting tube is the only part that needs to be worked on (or replaced). I laid the column on the corner of a flat surface and turned the steering wheel, and it appears the shaft is straight, with only the tube with damage to be repaired. I found a replacement steering box mounting bracket awhile back, so I reckon the B-1 steering box will be cleaned up & refurbished (once I find the replacement seals I squirreled away years ago). And that box will get greased up instead of going back with oil, that's for sure. But first, removing a couple of vintage steering wheels to get them cleaned up...I'm stoked.

Ol' Gene took my starters apart, cleaned out old oil&dirt that had accumulated over the years, put in new motor contacts and cleaned the starter switch contacts (did similar work with my generators)...cleaning out the crud reduces internal resistance, making for less current draw for the starter and more current output for the generator when in use.

these trucks were originally built with that ground cable running to the transmission case cuz it's a short run (cheaper to build). But over time, corrosion at all of the thread surfaces of bolts & tapped holes increases resistance cumulatively to put a drag on the starter motor, etc. Ol' Gene at the starter/alternator shop in town told me awhile back to run that 1/0 cable from the battery to one of the starter bolt mounting holes to reduce this cumulative resistance. I did so on the '49 with new 1/0 cables with new soldered lugs, and WOW that starter spun fast and cranking time went waaay down to get that 230 to fire up. It's an easy modification that yields instant results and only the trained eye would know that this cable routing is not accurate to the original manufacture but could have been done back in the day because the technology (i.e. longer cables with soldered lugs) existed back then.

welllsir this is a new one on me, I ain't seen a '48-50 grille panel modified with part of a '51-53...looking closely at the front, I can see discoloration that parallels the welding that was done to get the top of the '48-50 grille panel modified to use the filler from a '51-53 grille panel where the hood meets...how'bout that! knowing that black dirt like I do, I reckon that front axle and part of the rear axle are into the ground...that beast will need to be dug out or dragged out, don't think it'll roll without quite a bit of effort to get it clear.

The problem with trucks parked for decades is that ya don't know what will keep it from rolling. Brakes could be locked up, bearings could be frozen, etc. and ya need to tear the truck apart just to find out what needs fixin' just to get it rolling. The trick I learned with yankin' an old truck out of the ground is to not mess with the tires & wheels until the truck is ready to be torn apart. Old flat tires that will be discarded can be used to keep the rims from rolling on the ground/pavement/trailer. With the wheels locked up, the truck can be dragged with the old tires sliding on the ground/pavement/trailer. Eventually, the tire beads will break loose from the locked up wheels, and the stiff old tires will spin on the locked up wheels. It'll be good enough to get that beast moved short distances (with a lotta oomph needed).

another problem is that the original drums have an alignment stud that would have to be removed in order for newer wheels to fit.

http://dodgepilothouseclub.org/know/blueprints/index.htm

looking at your pics in your album, my guess is that ya got a B-4-C-116: the floor shift is for a 4spd, the wheels look like 15s, the rear of the truck looks like it's raised up like a higher tonnage rated truck (my B-4-B-116 sits fairly level, the wheels are 16s, and the 3spd is on the tree). Removing 8 inches from the frame & driveshaft sounds like a lot of work just to swap a bed out, considering that extra 8 inches can give ya a smoother ride (my B-1-D-126 floats down the road compared to my B-1-B-108).

the mirror bar I saw was on a B-1; maybe I'll be able to take another shot at it before somebody decides to sell what's left of the truck for scrap. I think I might have some of the windshield washer kit installed on one of my parts trucks...the nozzle and foot pumper are about all that is left (the reservoir is shot to pieces), and they look similar to what I've seen in the accessory catalog. But this is the same parts truck that has some sort of shut-off valve under the seat that was plumbed from the fuel neck to who-knows-whut, so I'm not certain if that nozzle contraption is factory or aftermarket.

my '48 was bought new by my great grandfather, its first 20 years were as a farm truck, Dad drove it to college after high school, did some more farming before a stuck ring retired it to the side of the old barn for 10 years before I started tinkering with it in junior high, couldn't scrape up enough $$$ until after college to get it running again...since I'm so hard-headed, I figgered after I got started that I was going to finish, even if it was going to be more expensive than them other more popular brands...plus the uniqueness made me want to keep on plugging away, as bragging rights to hard work & ingenuity rather than ordering something in a catalog or picking up a part at AutoZone.

the lawn equipment stores have weedeater cable grease that's the white lithium variety and kinda sticky. Clean as much of the old grease off with diesel or parts cleaner. Put some grease in the housing, feed in some cable, work the cable back & forth, repeat...

I've seen one factory interior mirror center bar at a wrecking yard but didn't have the time to pull it off for my driver. The factory B-3 hood ornament has been something I've never seen as it has a different part number than the B-1 / B-2 hood ornament. The B-3 / B-4 passenger mirror short arm is another rarity, as well as the accessory fender steps that mount on the B-1 / B-2 / B-3 rear fenders, but I've seen a few of those now & again. One of my greatest eBay finds is the NOS B-1 / B-2 passenger mirror short arm with parts tag attached, but I found that back in '99 and haven't seen another come along since.

verify that the oil pressure bypass piston & bore are clean & smooth so the piston doesn't stick... verify that the fuel pump pivot pin is staked so that it won't fall out... when using the oil bath air cleaner, verify that it's clamped to the carburetor before going on that first test drive...