Merle Coggins

Welcome to the "family", from a fellow Wisconsinite. Nice looking truck(s).

While you’re back there, check the resistance of the sender wire to chassis ground. You should get somewhere between 10 and 90 ohms, depending on the level of the tank. If that’s an open circuit that would account for your “E” reading and you’ll have to diagnose the sender or the wire going to it. Temporarily ground out the sender terminal at the back of the gauge wit the key on. The needle should go to “F” quickly. If it doesn’t you have a faulty gauge.

It's quite possible that the electrical contacts inside your brake light switch have corrosion that inhibit the flow of electricity. It's down at the front of your brake master cylinder, just behind the steering column. Take a screwdriver and short out the two connections on the switch and see if the brake light comes on. You'll likely need a helper as your head will be down in the engine compartment, unless you can make a permanent connection and then go back to look at the lights. As for adding another tail light... you'll need to splice into the 2 wires going to the current tail light and run new wires across to the other side to connect up to the new light. This will only get you tail/brake lights. If you want them to be turn signals too that will involve adding a turn signal switch and an additional wire run to the back for the second light.

Thanks for clearing that up. I am now smarter than I was yesterday…

The signage… (Sorry, didn’t quite get it centered up)

I saw this Town and Country at the Savoy Auto Museum recently. The sign states that it has a 251 - 6 cyl. engine. I thought the Town and Country’s all got the big 8 cylinder engine. ???

You have stated that you connected your spark tester to the coil and it sparks. This would indicate that the points are working properly. I suspect that your issue is with the cap and/or rotor. The spark isn’t passing through between the cap and rotor connections to get out to the spark plugs.

The elbow that connects the heater hose to the water pump is just known as a Heater Hose Connector. I found this one on Napaonline.com that should fit that application. The other piece is your thermostat housing. That one appears to be the later version that should be available at most vendors.

Here are a couple of videos I made many years ago...

Late '50 and up have the newer, more common, u-joints. Search for a diff input flange from a B3 or later Dodge truck and that end should swap in without an issue. The trans output is also the parking brake. I can't be sure if a B3 brake drum/drive flange would interchange for you without a problem. It'll likely swap onto the trans without an issue, but the brake may be slightly different. What is the condition of your current u-joints? Do they move freely without any excess play? Are they well lubed? It may be an optical illusion, but in your picture it looks like the u-joint isn't centered properly in the yolk. Was it like that when you pulled it out, or did you start pressing it one way in the yolk?

Yup… cam phasers and/or cam chain adjuster. My 2013 F150 / 3.5 Eco Boost started doing that around 150,000 miles and had to have them done. Now my 2020 / 3.5 Eco Boost has just started the same thing at 85,000. I’ll probably have to take it in soon. Rattles and sounds nasty at startup but quiets down within a few seconds.

That’s still a ‘48-‘50 front end, but without the grill bars. Often times vehicles were given a ‘model year’ to the year they were first registered. If it’s a late ‘49 it may have hit the car lot in early ‘50 and didn’t sell until ‘51, and so it got titled as a ‘51. My truck, a B-2-C was built in December of 1950 and it titled as a ‘51, but I call it a ‘50 as that’s what the body design is. I don’t know exactly when they made the switch to the B-3 series in 1951, but that’s when the grill, hood, doors, and dash changed. If you’re ordering interior panels you’ll want to use the ‘48-‘49 B-1, or ‘50 B-2 panels. I don’t believe the headliner would be different, but the door panels are.

Welcome… Nice lookin’ truck. I believe the steering column bushing you are referring to is something the builder added. the original column had a rigid shaft coming up out of the steering gear all the way to the steering wheel. The column sleeve has a bearing, or bushing, at the top to support the end at the wheel. I’m guessing the builder cut the shaft and column to work with the IFS steering gear, and added that bushing to support the bottom end.

I used AW32 Hydraulic oil in mine. I believe you can get it in 2.5 gallon jugs at a farm supply store. I think I got mine at Farm & Fleet, but check with Tractor Supply if there's one in your area.

There is no Group 25 in my B-series parts manual, but in Group 23 - Body, it shows parts for 3/4 and 1 ton stake beds. Body Page 23-4.pdf