Desotodav

As long as you have removed the bolt... the pin should tap through. The pin has a groove in it for the bolt to slide through and prevent the pin from coming out. I tap mine out from the inside. There is a hole conveniently located in the chassis allowing one to get a drift in there and hit it with a BFH. You might also try raising or lowering the truck to slightly take weight off (or add it on) the spring. Sounds like your pin has been dry in place for years!

The steel tube on the lower radiator hose is original.

I was at a car show a while back when a fella came up with his friend and took a look at the 218 flathead under the hood of my 52 truck... and then remarked to his friend "it's got a diesel in it". Some people really have no idea about our old MOPARs !!!

I have done a truck 4.1 to car 3.54 swap in my 53 truck. The car axles are shorter than the truck axles. We changed the side gears as Merle suggested. I have another 3.54 diff center swap yet to do for my 52 truck.

Glad to hear Reg as I saw that the fires were not far from your place. Word has made it all the way here to Oz about the terrible fires over there in CA. Hope that all of our forum brother's and families are well, and hopefully the end is near to this tragedy.

Would fingernail paint work? I have heard of people using that before. Plenty of shades of red to choose from too I am told.

Quite an interesting colour for an old RX7. I have a mate here in Oz with 6 of them, but none in that shade!

Pull it out and strip it down... but be careful of the bolt at the bottom of the timing chain cover which goes through into the bottom hole of the oil pan front seal plate...

I drive my 52 blue truck according to both the vehicle and the road conditions, but it seems that travelling at around 50 mph on the freeways seems to suit the truck much better than travelling at the posted 60 (or 70) speed limits. I'm still running bias ply tires so there is some slight movement to the contours of the road, which has been greatly minimized by a rebuilt steering box! The old blue truck has done a few of short bursts at 75 mph, but 50-55 mph seems much better to me. I will change over to the 3.54 diff soon... not for more speed but rather to decrease overall engine revs whilst travelling. I recall back in 2012 when I took the original owner of my 52 truck for a drive around his block - he (Ernest) was only a young 95 years of age back then! I told him that we would go around the long block which would include a short trip down the freeway. He questioned me as to whether the old truck would drive fast enough for the freeway, so I thought that showing him would be the best way of answering his question. I stuck to about 55 mph as I didn't think that he would appreciate any quicker than that. It appeared to be the trip of a lifetime for Ernest and a day that he said he would never forget. In my opinion though, things are a little different here on our Aussie highways in comparison to driving in USA. I have driven with Hank (and Rod) from Torrance to the BBQ in Clements on 2 occasions now and found driving on California highways a real experience. It seems that most people over there drive at 15-20 mph above the limit, and they think that anyone who passes them wants to race! A lot of the driver's appeared impatient and agitated, and sounding of the horn and offering hand gestures was not uncommon! I am grateful that freeway driver's are a lot more forgiving here in Oz as that makes for more of a pleasant journey along the highway whilst travelling slightly below the posted speed limit.

I have seen some of those glass bowls which screw on... so might pay to twist the glass bowl anti-clockwise after you loosen the thumbscrew on the metal retaining piece. The thumbscrew fitting will usually undo with a small wrench or screw driver.

Most local shows here in Oz charge an entry fee, which in my experiences can range from $5 to $10. There is often an additional fee for showing or judging your vehicle, which can range from $5 to $20. Some of the shows allege that they donate a portion of funds raised to charity, and others use funds (as GregG suggested above) for administration costs of their car club. I visited the Peterson Car Museum in LA with Hank while I was over that way earlier this year for the truck BBQ at Tim's. They had something like a $20 entry charge for viewing vehicles... but well worth it in my opinion as they really had some great old vehicles there!

Welcome to the family Marc. Solid looking truck to start with. I can help you with RHD photos when you get to that stage.

An old friend of mine had the same issue trying to lift the heavy head off his engine recently... so he made himself some lifting handles from old spark plugs. He's always coming up with ideas for home-made tools, and he usually makes a second set for me to have at my shed too.

I had a few extra trucks a while back that were too bad to save, so I ended up with a few spare parts! 17 teeth is interesting. You caused me a great deal of work yesterday as I got to wondering how many teeth were on mine... I pulled 8 of them from the transmissions and they were all 15 teeth (part # S916416) - which is correct for a number of vehicles running a 3 speed with a 4.1 ratio diff and 16" wheels. I suspect that the pinion drives in the other 3 vehicles are the same, so I wont bother pulling them. I'm off to visit my instrument repair fella today to see if he can offer information as to whether I can change out pinion drive and gear sets in the transmission to allow for an accurate speedo after a 4.1 to 3.54 diff swap. I may have to look at a mechanical corrector like Joe did on the truck side.

I think that the seals which I found were made for hydraulic oil fittings. They were only about $1. It does look like similar to that G-758 from DCM. I found that my original seal had gone rock hard as well. I would be interested to know what diff ratio you are running in your car... and how many teeth are on your speedo gear drive. I have been looking for an option to make the speedo in my 52 truck accurate again after I install the 3.54 diff. Also, is that speedo gear drive you pictured from your P4?... as it does look to be a match for my truck one. I would rather find a gear drive from a car rather then installing an in-line mechanical correcting mechanism. I have 7 or 8 spare (3 speed) truck gearboxes at my shed, so knowing the correct teeth count would be a good start.

I found some at a local seals shop here in Oz for my truck/s. PM me if you cant find them in USA and I will post one over to you.

I wish you a speedy recovery Paul. Do those exercises they task you & I'm sure that you will back playing all things MOPAR in no time.

Best wishes to you Paul. I trust we will see back in your 'man cave' again real soon.

I modify my oil bath air cleaners to take a stainless steel cage which is covered by an oil-soaked sock. I don't travel too many unsealed roads, but I do think that my air filtration modification is now more effective than the original design. The modification is not really visible... even to the trained eye.

Thanks for posting the pictures Marc. Was this the red pickup you were talking about?... sure is an interesting looking ride! I imagine that they would be suitably interested in my (Aussie) DeSoto truck/s at the convention.

We matched my paint with what we found under the metal surround (as I mentioned earlier). The color is called 'Waterway Blue' - Dupont # 93-55093. We seem to be a couple of years behind USA here in Oz, so it was no great surprise to find that a 1949-50 year paint color was originally used on my 52 DeSoto truck. Search Google for 'paintref.com' and enter your vehicle details as they seem to have good paint information there.

I was at a car show recently when a fella showed me his 2 Mini's which were both fitted with electric power steering. The difference in ease of steering was amazing just with the flick of the ignition switch. I wondered if one of these systems could be installed in an old MOPAR truck. I will watch with great interest is someone her chooses to install one.

I found a sample of the original paint color on my 52 blue truck under the metal trim piece which presses against the inside of the windscreen rubber. It seems that time preserved the color there as it was not exposed to the elements.

Check the flat raised section on your diff for a ratio number stamped there as you might find a truck fella interested in buying your pumpkin if it is a 3.54 or 3.73 ratio.

Dave, try a search on 'gas tank springs' at the search field in the top right corner of your screen and that should return a number of threads with the information you require.