Merle Coggins

Not to nit-pick, but didn't the hub caps change for the B4's? I don't believe they are the correct caps for that truck. I did see the rear fender line, but he doesn't say it's "rare". That term tends to get thrown around on ebay to make their price seem more valid.

Ah Ha... So my book isn’t new enough to denote the change. Good to know. Thanks

That’s interesting. Could my parts book be wrong? It shows both B and C trucks using the same axles, and no variants for series years.

According to my parts catalog, 1/2 and 3/4 ton trucks have only 1 part number across all B-Series generations. P/N 113503. Calls for quantity 2, so left and right are also the same. This tells me that they didn’t change the axle shafts at any time during the B-Series run. Maybe they changed for the C-Series?

We got a little snow over night, and throughout today. I had to snap this photo this morning as I was out playing with the snow blower.

It’s a slang term for the blue rotating beacon, commonly used by Michigan State Highway Patrol. To this day they still have a single blue beacon on their cars, although they are now LED.

Did ya steal that bubble gum machine from a Michigan State Trooper? 😂

Have you verified the ignition timing? I have used a timing light during cranking to dial in the ignition timing. Often times when you get it close it’ll fire up. Then fine tune it and start the break in process.

I just know that, as a mechanic, I would have several unkind words for the engineer that caused me to jack the cab off the frame a couple inches for enough clearance to remove the valve cover. But since you are both at this point, you'll just be cussing out yourself... 😉 It might be as simple as raising the box on the firewall an inch or two. Now is the time to test, and modify, before welding it fully.

I agree that if the generator isn't producing a charge voltage/current then it would be fine to drive home, provided the battery is fully charged. However, if it is a failed bearing/bushing in the generator I wouldn't want to drive it much. You may be able to add more oil to the bushing oil cups to give it a fighting chance, and loosen the belt some. However, you still need to be able to drive the water pump. So, it all depends on the type of failure to the generator. If you can get more detail on that you can then make a better decision.

Is there enough room to get the valve cover off if needed?

If you want to be the envy of all your buddies, and are a tool junky, you could get yourself one of these tools...

You stated it yourself. Since the brake light load isn't going through the ammeter it doesn't sense the current demand. However, the voltage regulator does see the voltage drop in the battery and increases output of the generator, thus showing a positive charge on your ammeter. If the brake light circuit was pulling through the ammeter it would read a negative number for the current draw of the lights, and the positive charge from the generator would offset that. The ammeter would then only show the difference.

I usually try to focus my hammer blows to the cast yolk or weld area. I agree that you need to keep away from the main tube with a hammer. I also like to use a soft face dead blow when possible, but sometimes it doesn't have the persuasion power needed.

This is from the Service Manual. Basically, as shown in your picture, hammer down at the end of the drive shaft so that the u-joint cup on the bottom gets pushed out of the yolk. Then carefully slide the u-joint cross back into the upper cup and reverse the hammer force to drive the upper bearing cup out of the yolk. Now you should be able to remove the u-joint from the yolk.