Scruffy49

Have been to the weekly cruise in and to the club's holiday weekend picnic. Had a lot of fun with both activities. The cruise in had everything from motorcycles to 30s sedans to modern muscle cars, a fairly late model Carrera 911 Porsche and a Ferrari, to farm trucks on air ride (laying frame). As to the little C10... air conditioning leaked out all its freon, passenger side power window won't roll down from either door switch, is in dire need of brake rotors and new tires, and I have never driven a truck that so desperatley needs polyurethane suspension bushings. It wallows like a pregnant elephant, stays in the lane fine, even at excessive cornering speeds, but you'll get seasick riding in it for too long... just shy of 100K miles on it, always little old man owned (still is, borrowed it from the farm). Some days, you just have to put the tools aside and go have some fun.

10.00-20 bias plies on the big truck. Work fine, for how we use it, strictly off highway. Never had a problem with 10.00-20 trailer tires either, under some very heavy intermodal loads.

As much as I dislike GM products, we're going to a club show today in our 85 C10 short wide. The 4bbl 4.3L V6, TH350 and 2.73 rear gears gets 23-26 mpg. And is 32 cubic inches bigger than the large small block L6 (23" head 230). If I swapped in a later S10 Blazer sourced EFI 4.3/700R4, it would likely get even better mileage. That said, both my Dodges are still Mopar powered. One has its original issue LA318/727 and 3.55 gears (whopping 9-11 mpg). The other has a 48 P15 218/3spd on the floor and 4.78 gears in the rear, slower than mud flowing up Mt Everest and about 12mpg the last time I drove it. Both are staying with Mopar engines, but the 49 is getting a modern rear end and a lowering job. Run what you want in it, but have a thick skin if you go to the show at the Pierce County fairgrounds every summer. Last time I went there was a separate section for non-Mopar engined vehicles. And the people showing in it caught a lot of grief for "destroying" their cars/trucks. I grew up in your neck of the woods. Run over to Hagen's Auto Parts on River Road, just west of Puyallup Toyota before you commit to an engine swap. They have everything you need to get the L6 running, and running well. Try it, you may decide you like the old flatty. If not, you can always swap it out later.

Racks brush painted in 2001, green rattle canned in 2005, pic taken in 2011... Nothing a wash and wax wouldn't cure for the green. Racks are getting brush painted white. Truck is currently in the field by the barn, will be towed to the front yard and set up as a pecan sales stand this fall while it is getting rewired.

I'm switching to a dual chamber master cylinder and modern brakes (with rear abs) on my 49, let me see if the junction block is any good. And I'll try to get a pic of the carb with the cables attached, have not pulled the dead 218 out yet and all the cables are still hooked up.

I grew up with Harold's grandkids. Great collection, well worth seeing.

The Dodges are so far out from being in service, I joined a 73-87 Chevy club. Something to do that involves more than just spinning wrenches. The 85 C10 short wide is definitely not my favorite truck, but, it runs, is licensed and has a/c. The 69 D100 has a stuck on open/high speed heater and needs rewiring, the 49 needs too much to be a driver for at least another couple years. Networking. Have to get back into the local vehicle scene somehow, the C10 needs the hood repainted and the wheels painted. One night a week to hang out in person with fellow real life gearheads is worth suffering through the Chevy's quirks. Maybe. I hope... If not, back in the orchard the truck goes.

1/2 tons are easy. Go find a 48-roughly 84 100/150 Dodge in the junkyard. They fit fine, my truck has 1978 Ramcharger 15 inch wheels on it while I clean and paint the stock 16 inch set that has wide whites. The 15 inch set will see modern tires and full wheel covers, like 5 Lancer, 53 Fiesta or similar. F1/F100 and real Jeeps (that means CJ series) are 5 on 5.5, I've owned plenty of both. Heck, you can run 14 inch spare rims off Rangers, they have locating holes already. I knocked the pegs out of my truck's hubs/rear drums to fit alloys, and never got around to converting it to modern studs instead of the goofy factory wheel bolts.

Whitewalls... are better than white wheels... And the whitewalls for mine are older than I am, but passed inspection at the tire shop. Not rotten, not dried out, with new tubes the one I had mounted up on the painted rim as a test is fine. Go for it. I REALLY need to finish painting the lines on that hubcap... that looks awful...

My Fords from 48-57 were all 5 on 5.5, same as Willys, which is too bad, because I have some Willys wheels around here some place. Let me check the barn and garage, I know the family plumbing business used 1/2 and 3/4 ton Pilot Houses. If I find the right wheel, I'll let you know.

Looks like where I live... I see chicken coops on old truck chassis all the time...

48 to 56 1/2 ton, and some cars. Call these guys, they sometimes have them...http://www.budgettruckwrecking.com/

Ya know, Rangers, Aerostars and Toyota trucks all have that type of flanged yoke... Have to break out the tape measure, my 49 B1B is getting a 92 Ranger rear axle... If the flange's bolt pattern is the same, or the yoke flange can be drilled and tapped for the Dodge driveshaft... What? They all have the same cargo rating.

That's entirely too complicated. The heater in my PH had a reostat to contol the blower speed, knobs to open/close the flaps by hand, and a manual shut off valve on the water pump top fitting. It's either getting hot water, or not. Needs a 12v blower motor or an inline voltage reducer and it will be good to go.

Swamp water and atf was only because the top tank seam sprung a leak and the title holder was too cheap to get the radiator fixed. I buy whatever coolant/antifreeze is on sale at the tractor trailer parts house, dump in a jug of it, a jug of water, and them make my own 50/50 in those two empties. I usually buy 3 jugs "glop" per sale. Sometimes tap water, sometimes well water, whatever is handy. My 77 F100 overheated going to New Orleans one day and the system got filled back up out of Lake Ponchartrain. Brackish, nasty, filtered the seaweed out through a rag and said good enough. It got a flush and proper fill the next day, along with a new thermostat.

Fragile wiper arms, I may have one left in the cab. Took the remaining one it had off years ago, had the acorn nut style covers for hiding the pivots. Can't find them, need to order a new set. The factory ones on my Sweptline fell apart as well, nightime downpour in the Cascades. Replaced them with much stronger 67-86 F series arms.

Width is close enough. New spring perches and bolt it in. The problem with B1 1/2 tons is the universal joints, some are normal, some are ball and trunnion. B&T work well if kept lubed, but fitting a modern rear in a truck that shipped with them gets expensive, you'll need a custom driveshaft. 3.90 could be a truck or car center section. B1 shouldn't have been geared that high originally, but, anything is possible with older Dodge trucks. The factory would build almost anything, within reason. And high gearing would likely have been "within reason"...

Not where I live, too much coal soot in the air. Very acidic rain.

Track down a member named Slick before you do a /6 conversion. His B1 panel was going that route, lots of firewall surgery, then he got a screaming deal on a 360 V8...

Standard cabs are quieter and more rain tight than Custom and Deluxe fish bowl cabs. Have driven both, prefer the standard cabs. The early wipers are awful, even with an electric conversion.

Sultan is still logging country and 4x4 country isn't it? Or has it become a Seattle/Bellevue bedroom community like Everett, Tacoma, Puyallup? I know there used to be a really good driveline shop up that way... Been a few years though. There were a couple decent driveshaft and parts shops in Monroe as well. You may need to run to Everett, you can get just about anything there, including bootleg whiskey... Gotta love Navy towns...

That site has become full of "authenticity Nazis", didn't start out that way. It used to be a fun place. Now I'll only go there when somebody links something interesting in it. If i want to get in a "why your idea sucks" contest, I'll tell the Sweptliners I'm melting down a 318/727 and putting in a 390/C6 combo... days of entertainment... bad back so I see small block and poly Mopars through the same jaded eye as a Y block (272-312) Ford or GM engine.

Heck, I'd have it on 13" Dayton wires, juiced (hydraulics), fancy paint, mahogany and curly maple headliner... maybe a small bed where the back seat and cargo areas are... My wife would have me living in it. She's madder than a wet cat that I "can't" fix her Subaru Outback (probably can, just don't want to, I hate her car)...

I grew up in Graham, lived in Puyallup and Buckley when back out there from 10/01-3/11. Still rarely went there unless I needed some braided wires the same day. Never did make it back in after the fire. I will say that they had same or at the latest next day availability on some cool stuff. I even got parts for my 1916 Packard phaeton from them. Kind of wish I still had that car, my road is so bad it broke my baby Ranger...

You may find it cheaper to work on, and operate, than a same era English built Ford. When our Squire needed new front struts, they had to come from the U.K. At such a stupidly, phenomenally high cost, that we swapped the front suspension out. 180 pounds per strut, 180 pounds per strut core charge, and 180 pound shipping... that's a lot of money. And your car is big enough to be on the road safely, ours was so tiny we could literally drive it down a municipal sidewalk... "Gumby", the car from Hades...