41/53dodges

I bounce between Platteville for school and home in Kenosha, you're somewhere in the middle!

There is one other option, I'm not a particular fan of it but this truck is almost a poster child for it. Some people like to swap the entire chassis out for i think Dodge Dakota? that would give you fuel injection, 4x4, etc. Just something to consider, and not a whole lot more work. I know if I knew what I do now after building and testing everything I would do things a bit different. Good luck, no matter what keep er' on the road! -Josh

My passenger side latch did this, a piece of metal wears out on the inside. We repaired it with a welder, just built the material back up and ground it to fit. It was like brand new until I replaced the doors!

A friend from work gave me a heavy duty hitch off a 3/4 ton suburban, had to make adapter plates though. Pics later!

Generally the 80/90 axle oil will take care of the bearings. Thats the beauty of a full floating axle!

I still don't get it, whats the big deal with P heads? I have two!

That is likely a car manifold then, trucks usually dont have auto choke. It appears you still have the truck carb though. And that thing on the intake manifold is a vacuum tap, usually for wiper motor or whatever else

I have some old trailer house from 1946 that I've been slowly patching up an upgrading. Sorry, it hasn't met the pickup yet so no pictures! But I certainly can give you insight on old trailers! The older you go, the cruder they get. Mine is pretty big, but pulling it home behind the Yukon was pretty easy, but it all comes down to brakes. Anyways, ask me if ya need anything!

That truck should readily do better than 45, try this calculator: http://www.teammfactory.com/gear-calculator My truck has all 3 mods below, Ive hit 80 without any issues, and that's before an overdrive. The key to high speed is nice tight steering, good tires, good shocks, and brakes in good shape. As for making it go faster in general, you have 3 options. 1: overdrive transmission, a T-5 out of an S10 is the ticket. There are threads all over for that, and it is so worth it just for the improved shifting. 2: rear axle swaps, a jeep cherokee swap is very common. 3.55 ratio is good, all that needs doing is welding on new perches. 3: tires! probably the easiest, I'm running 215/85r16 radials, some people even run 235/85r16. It's a huge jump over the old bias ply, both in speed and handling. The search function is your friend here, all of these topics are pretty well documented if you hunt long enough. As for the T5, just search overdrive. The search function doesnt like things less than 3 letters Don't be afraid to ask questions! -Josh

I wonder, does replacing the mounts make much of a difference? Mine are all still intact, but just curious.

your really shouldn't have to, but I'd at least pull the fan just so the radiator doesn't get beat up.

Really just use your brain, most everything on these trucks is very rugged. Worst part is lifting points. Some people put a chain under 2 head bolts in opposite corners, if you are lucky you may have found a factory engine lifting hook. Other than that its all about taking your time Good luck Josh

As far as the rims go, many of us truck guys run tubeless on stock wheels. Sadly I'm not one yet, I need to save up for new tires to go on my nicer set of rims. But usually they just paint the rim up nicely and get a 2-piece valve stem. Got some pics of the wheels?

There are many different filter setups, mine takes fram C3P or NAPA 1080. Keven's takes a sock type filter. There are dozens of them! do you have the original filter on hand? or at least a picture of the canister. -Josh

Most full floating axles work this way, I learned off my 41' 1: lean the truck to the opposite side to do something about the axle oil. Or drain it, your call. 2: take off the wheels on the side you want 3: remove the 8-10 nuts or bolts holding on the axle cap, the axle is attached and will slide out with the cap. It will likely take some gentle persuasion to get it loose. 4: there will be a large nut on a threaded tube, remove that. Make sure you remember the orders everything goes in and where it is set. Pictures help. 5: there may be another nut, if so remove it. Now the whole hub and drum assembly should slide out. Full floating rears are much like a front hub setup, just with a drive axle. That should do it! Good luck, -josh

Theyre meant for a jeep, id think it would take some modifications to do the trick

I considered the idea of two individual motors, figure these ones might be good. The 40's trucks and I think military vehicles did too www.ebay.com/itm/19101-02-Omix-Ada-12V-Black-Universal-Wiper-Motor-Kit-Jeep-CJ3B-CJ5-CJ6-/201006418978?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3AUniversal&hash=item2eccea8c22&vxp=mtr

I don't think that was proffessionally built... And it seems that the pistons are always first to go, not so much the rods or bearings. Either way, it never hurts to dream. even if it will never work!

Somewhere I heard that motor blew up pretty quickly, but I could be wrong. Race engines are kind of a dirty breed, they aren't meant to last long nor are they particularly good road engines. Great for race, not so much in daily driver. I think it's just the way they run? I will say they do sound sweet. I'm thinking a fuel injected turbocharged motor. It would be a heck of a lot smoother and more friendly than the old-fashioned racer.

Beautiful bike, mines kinda beat up. PO beat the heck out of it, I wound up giving it a whole new engine. But its probably the smoothest naked street bike money can buy! Good on gas too

I've made some interesting observations with engines too. Look at our old flatheads, then look at a brand new direct injected engine. Not a whole lot has changed in the engine, only the subsystems that make it run like ignition and such. Yet cars last hundreds of thousands of miles where ours went around 50k out of the factory before a rebuild. The primary differences: oils, filters, and fuels. Oil is so much better than it was 50 years ago, and lasts longer. Filters can take out most anything in the air, oil, and fuel. Fuels are engineered to reduce detonation and improve emissions. All of these things can be adapted to any old engine quite readily. There have been many discussions here how long a fresh rebuild will last with modern oils and such, I'd imagine darn near forever with the power we put out. If little honda four bangers with turbos can go up into the 200's without worrying much, why couldn't we? It's not too hard to wind our overgrown lawmower engines up to 4000, 5000, even 6000 RPM with some work. (even though it doesn't do a whole lot) The point I'm trying to prove is that I think our engines are capable of a whole lot more than we think they are. With the additions of modern turbocharging, fuels, ignitions, etc I have no problem seeing 200+ horsepower. The legendary jeep 4.0 does it pretty well factory, why couldn't we?

I'm only thinking because why not? Its fun to brainstorm, and just because it's not the best candidate doesn't mean it isn't a candidate.

My 82' Honda Sabre, its only 32 years old but still dusts off most anything!

I've been brainstorming, what is the max amount of power one could get out of a flathead six before reliability becomes a concern? primarily in the lower end. The crank journals are about the same size as a small block, and they can pump around 400 HP, so theoretically 300 out of the lower end of a flatty should be ok. THEORETICALLY. What is the general consensus here, just for the heck of it? -Josh

They did exist, they had both a standard clutch and the fluid drive, which was just a torque converter. It shifted just like any other standard 3 or 4 speed, just allowed you to not use the clutch at a stop