Scruffy49

You could try a more modern clutch type mechnical fan. I test fit one just because I had a spare laying around. It fits the mount on the water pump fine and fit the truck before I took the front end apart. Came off a 4 cylinder Ford. Peel and stick foam tape under the floor board panel seams also helps. Transmission cover plate, battery cover plate, removable toe board... Helps cut heat, dust, fumes and wind noise. And believe it or not, the 3 piece hood adds a lot of sound to the equation. The center seams over the hinges can whistle, roar, rattle, clank... Add some extra sound deadener under the seat. Maybe put plates over the access holes for the fuel tank. Anywhere air can get to is going to make some form of sound in the cab.

For that price on a bearing I'm rather hoping the mechanic tracked down the sealed version. Standards ran me $20 per side.

The other 364 days we try to find parts for them...

Have an ag co-op with tire supply nearby? They carry 6 ply bias tires in 14-20 inch rim sizes. Paper catalogs, but the tires are usually imported. Some years Northern Tool's Master catalog has truck tires, some years it doesn't. Not cheap but these guys have standard and mud/snow tread in that size:http://mgrassroots.com/light_truck_trailer.html The mud and snow look a lot lke the 7.00-15 BFGoodrich tires on my 49 right now.

$50 each? Mopar Performance "green" conversion set that eliminates the adjusters? Ouch. If standard bearings join the Sweptline forum (sweptline.org) and look up setting the bearing/axle play... 8.75s with "normal" bearings are a bit of an odd duck. You have to adjust the axles, not just stab them in and bolt them up like a GM, Ford or Dana 44 rear end. Good to hear it will be up and running this weekend. The re-rebuild on mine is still going strong 2 years later.

I'm going to bolt mine down. Right or wrong, I lost one of the factory mounts a couple years ago and don't plan to drive myself bonkers looking for a suitable replacement. Plus, having all 4 bolted down eliminates a source of squeaking in the bed. Glad I snapped a few pics before I take the bed off. I've got a fairly photographic memory for placements and such but, it's getting about as fuzzy as old sepia tone tin types...

1/2 ton the short one is the next to the last and floats on rubber mounts that have fingers into the frame. It is NOT bolted down. Front, 2nd and rear cross members the side angles bolt through the bracing. The main bed bolts hold the wood to the crossmember to the frame. This bolt has never been out, and the lack of wood makes it easy to see... Rear most crossmember is bolted in like the front one. I replaced the factory bolts with 1/2" shank eye bolts in 2011 when it had a 3/4" CDX temporary floor. Wood was over the rear valance, and those are 3/8" galvanized carriage bolts... Just went out and counted on my truck, 49 B1B with no bed floor. Front to rear you have the front angle, 2 hard mounted cross members, floating cross member, hard mounted rear cross member, and then the filler panel/rear valance. I "think" the wood rides ON the front angle and rear valance. When done should look similar to the attachment below: Hope that helps.

Trim rings? Start with: Robert's, Wheel Vintiques and Night Prowlers. Throw in Sacramento Vintage Ford for good measure, they have full wheel covers also, including stainless Lancer versions. I've seen and purchased cheap generic trim rings from Pep Boys, Autozone, Advance and O'Reillys for other projects. Usually around $11-20 each for chromed aluminum ones.

Not bad. And it should be a 65 or up axle, tapered 5 lug stuff through 64. Mine failed on my 69 D100 in middle of nowhere (okay, Trementon) Utah during a cross country move. Idiot who rebuilt the rear end did not know the bearings were greased instead of splash lubricated. 2 days for parts to be sourced, ordered and arrive. Less than a day for the re-rebuild. Nice truck.

B1"B"eater thread.

Every truck has to start somewhere. Mine is getting a lowering job, Spring Special style paint, all the bent parts straightened. As for the "things" welded to the rear valance, they are where the cattle load ramp hooked to the truck. I'll probably leave them be, have never seen another 1/2 ton with them. And if you look close enough, you'll see the hitch ball is welded to the plate, which is welded to the bumper, which is welded to the frame... And those rear light stanchions are welded on, badly, with an oxy-acetylene rig. The red showing through is real lead primer. The blue is real lead aviation paint from 1958 or so.

And yes, the springs are dead, the frame is on a stand. I plan to pull the bottom 2 leaves from each pack, all it will ever haul again is produce, camping/fishing gear, a couple 30s-50s bicycles or an old motorcycle. Random shots: Don't like the stock armrest door pull combo, made my own but they delaminated. Making new ones from solid stock. These were scrap from a remodel job at Beauvoir, Jefferson Davis' manor in Biloxi MS: I have the stock glovebox knob somewhere, but... and an extra nameplate so, why not... The red thing is the chain guard off my 1937 Henderson bicycle. That's all the further the door has closed for as long as I can remember: Yes, I know the front bumper is twisted, one headache at a time. And as you can see, it was packed full of other stuff, including 2 or 3 more rims that were the temporary seat when we towed it around the yard.

Someone asked about turn signals... mine are on welded brackets in the rear: I bent the rear bumper and valance in 1994 loading it on a different U-haul to go from Grandma's barn to where I lived then. And had it running back then, engine has since given up the ghost, will be replaced with a 230... I think there is an extra small leaf in my spring packs. Wrapped are 5 front, 6 rear, each has 2 small loose leaves under it... The gray is old cow manure, grease and sand.

The white wheels in the trailer pic above are 1978 Ramcharger 4x4 with 7.00-15 BF Goodrich Silvertown truck tires...better view, on the original 49 rear axle, all I did was break off the long locator rivet in the drum/hub: Same size wheel/tire, but with the covers I'd prefer to run on them: Kinda funky, but I like it, and the cover was a test run since I only have one of them. It will be getting these instead for "show" duty, keeping 15s for everyday use, tires are a lot cheaper... They are older than I am by 12-14 years, but, they've been inspected and deemed fine... I need to finish the cap but here it is up close... Guess I need to wash the tire again.

How it came to Tennessee from Washington state: How it looked until 3 weeks or so ago: Current: Told you not to eat or drink and that it's rough...

Since there have been a few requests... and don't eat or drink while viewing, it was a working truck from 49-74 and then a potato storage bin in the barn from 74-94... it's rough. Really rough... First off, to fill some old photo requests... Factory jack: Truck slipped off a taller jack and destroyed the factory one. Looks okay but no longer works. Rear wiring for the tail and turn lights: Factory spare: According to my Dad, it's never been out. Grandpa had 9 wheels for it, so they never wrestled with that one.

As soon as I find the camera cord. No front sheet metal, no bed floor, bed sagging since the angles have all rotted away, half the rear lights/brackets are off, driver door won't close... Looks like a junkyard reject at the moment. It does have tinted glass, wonder when he changed that out, the rear is a funky "blurple", side glass and windshield halves are a gray/blue. At least the running boards are near perfect. I hate banging dents out of those.

I was going to just weld mine up and body work it, but my wife likes the idea of "free a/c" too much... Mine was a family work truck, I'm still scraping cow manure off the frame, and the last time a cow was in the bed was 1973 or 1974. In western WA, with the rain the truck saw, I'm not surprised my grandfather (trucks original owner) caulked it shut. It also had asbestos house shingles on the cab floor to cut heat/vibration intrusions. Blow foam in the kick panel pockets, 3/4 ton spring packs (7/8 front rear), panel truck bumper with hitch (all welded, including the trailer ball), extra lights on welded brackets... They are trucks after all. Function before form when they were new and in service as working trucks.

Hush puppies? I always give mine to Lisa if I forget to tell the waitress to hold the "deep fried rocks"... Good way to keep the beagle out of the food if we are cooking fish or such though (usually outside, hate trying to unstink the house). Maybe in a couple years mine will be up for a cross country run. Probably have to replace the 1960-62 wide whites before hand... ... dreading that expense, nothing but age wrong with the www it's getting.

Are they supposed to mount that low? Mine are a good 4-6 inches higher than that... must be to clear the bumper. My rear stake pockets have mounting cage nuts on the front and back side of the pocket. I plan to run mine off the rear most, upper most set of mounting holes. I've found that people around here don't see low mounted tail lights. Mine are just a pair of generic Advance Auto Parts left side buckets (with plate lenses), need to get a right side w/o plate lens. Looks really nice Merle.

Hmm... wheel spacers it is... Not very many PH parts junkers around here, most people want you to buy the entire truck (if they don't come flying out the door with a shotgun).

Chroming is still pretty cheap in Mexico, Taiwan and red China... most of the aftermarket stuff comes from/through one of the 3. There was a really stellar chrome shop in Surrey B.C. that did show grade triple dip for less than 1/2 of USA prices. Not sure if he's still in business or not. You can get stainless trim rings cheaper than chromed ones. I'm doing that for my factory 16s (and my headlight rings, one is chrome, one is stainless, swapping with the motorhome stainless versions... our 60s motorhome uses 40s headlight rings, go figure).

Did Roberts quit carrying hub cap skins? I know they used to be listed in the print catalog...

Mine was caulked shut.

When did they get the mini tubs? I wouldn't mind adding a set to my 49's bed, might help the tires clear with the Ranger rear axle slated for it... Decided it wasn't just classic truck day. Found out the 4 white wagon wheels with P215/65R15 of the junk camper will fit both Dodges and the daily driver 94 Ranger. Will swap them out with the 14" mismatched alloys when it stops raining (need a new tire and I'm short of funds, so, 4 like new for free, on clean rims...). Worked on my 72 Super Beetle, need to charge the replacement battery out of the scrap 92 Ranger, the bug battery was run w/o caps (father in law is in his late 80s, it happens) in 2005 and then parked w/o them as well... Found a sheet of new 18g steel in the garage, can fix my rotten door bottoms, with the never had wire in it 110V welder that was hiding in there as well. And found a spool of wire, still in plastic, in the cab of "Ancient Blue" (the 49), along with a bag of replacement tips. And found a 6v worklight that plugs into a cigar lighter, takes a standard 7" 6v headlight. I'll take a couple pics and post them when I find the camera cord.