austinsailor

I'm getting more parts up in Minnesota from the guy I mentioned and will travel up there later this month. First, I'll have a big, empty trailer going from Central Mo. To Duluth, Mn. It would be no problem hauling something like a motor or a rolling vehicle. A little help with gas money would be nice but not required. I'll help as much as I can without going far out of my way. Second, I'm trying to get as many parts salvaged before they are crushed and get the guy a reasonable price. He's glad to just get more than scrap and he'd like to see things saved as well. He (or I when I get there) have to take the parts off, so there is a bit more involved. Parts spoken for and in the process of being removed and shipped are: Fuel tanks, electric wiper motor setup, steering box (I'm going to get it if nobody else wants it just because it's nice and I'm not going to see it scrapped) and some of the knobs and cables. Some of the things that come to mind that could be of use are: -Gauges, speedomotor, cables and other dash parts -heat gauge is probably good -removable parts of floorboards -motor that is free, from a half ton ($100 is a price he and I agreed he'd sell it for) -radiator that looked to be ok - one nice bed with fenders, surface rust, no dents or rust through. would sandblast and clean up nice. This is the later one with the modern looking fenders. -nice front bumper -at least one seat bottom and back, would need new coverings, but I recall someone was looking for one a few months ago. -drive train from a 1 1/2 ton, except the motor (I bought it already) -power brake booster assembly from 1 1/2 ton -pair of quarter window glass Of course there are horns, metal panels, brake drums, springs, and lots of odds and ends but there is no way I could ever figure out those bits and pieces that might be needed. If you have a need, ask and I'll try to get it saved and shipped. All the prices he and I have discussed have been very reasonable. I can also haul the parts to central Missouri and you could pick them up there. I'm not far from I-70, so it might be easier than out in the boondocks of north Minnesota. At any rate, we're always looking for parts. Some of the parts I've listed I've spent time searching for and spent a lot more money for than they'll be here, so maybe something here will get you on the road. Gene G.

I put the 215 85 16 radials on my B1B recently, using 4" wide rims. It has worked just fine. Wheels were sandblasted and painted, no tubes. One thing to think about, the only advantage to the bias ply tires, is that radials have a lifespan of about 6 years. At the end of 6 years, they are likely to just fly apart. On vehicles driven very much, they'll be worn out before that time has elapsed. On our trucks, that is most likely not the case. We've lost many tires in my family due to this on trailers. About 2 years ago my father decided he'd just head to Florida with his travel trailer and not replace his 7 year old radials on his travel trailer. By the time he got there, he'd had one tire on each side fly apart, tearing the heck out of both sides of his trailer. In the last year I've lost 2 older ones on our car hauler. Some tires stores will tell you about the problem, but it's not commonly known. There have even been a few shows on the national news about it. So, if everything else is equal, you might be better off with the old type bias ply tires. If you want a better ride and handling, and the tire lifespan will not bother you, go with the radials. My half ton drives pretty nice with the radials. Far better than my 40 Dodge car with 7 year old Coker bias ply tires. Gene

I still have to go get it, but he sent me 2 pictures of the interior. Pretty rough, but certainly usable.

The frame rails are 3' past the rear shackle, pretty long frame. The previous owner, some years ago, jacked up a 2 car garage,backed into a 2 car garage, backed into it, slid 2 by 12s across the frame rails, lowered the garage down, and drove the garage about 20 miles to it's new location. Can you imagine a garage coming down the road, no truck visible??!!

Just bought myself a cabover. Hope my wife doesn't slap me too hard! Motor is free, has a title, how much better could it be?

If you have decent NAPA or bearing supply house they can use the old one to identify one that will work. They've found every seal I needed on my 47 3 ton and my 48 pilothouse.

I talked to Bill this morning, the fellow with the 2 parts trucks. He's going to let me know what cables are in it, as they look new. I'll post them when he gets back to me. I suggested $10 each and he was ok with that. The speedo and gauges look nearly new as well. I didn't ask about pricing as nobody had asked for them, but I'm guessing someone could use them He asked me to take care of the communications, as the phone time really takes away from his time in the yard and chasing down other things, auctions, etc. There is also a good set of floorboards in the one truck that are unspoken for if anyone is interested. I'm not sure what else - he's going to check to see if it has a fresh air heater. I didn't look in that truck. If there are other parts you might need let me know and next time I talk to him I'll have him look. I hope nobody is upset that I'm putting a sort-of for sale ad here - I'm getting nothing, except the satisfaction of seeing some parts go to good use instead of the crusher. If this is a big no-no here, please let me know.

The hubs and 15 inch wheels say it's 3/4 ton.

I posted this on the HAMB today. It may be of interest to others in Missouri, so I'll repeat it here. I was researching ways to title old vehicles and found a bonded title process in the statutes and went to Jeff City today to the main DOR office to ask questions. It is real, and might be of benefit to someone else. In the past, I'd hauled 2 trucks to Texas and got bonded titles there, not knowing, as most do not, that it is also an option here. ************************* Ok, I've been to the DOR. Bonded titles are real, they do a few. Not many. Since almost nobody knows they exist, that is understandable. I'll put a writeup on my website sometime soon, along with scans of their internal instructions they copied for me. But for now, I'll list some things to help you figure it out. But, before you set out to do it, I'd recommend doing some asking yourself and make sure you don't waste a lot of effort doing things in the wrong order or extra things. And, I can tell you that just because you have their word in writing, it might be different the next time you talk to someone. But knowing it exists is the big step, from there on out it is just filling in the right blanks. Here is the statute: http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/C300-399/3010000192.HTM The vehicle must be at least 7 years old. It must be worth $3000 or less. Here are the steps they said have to be done: -Buy a form 551 from the license office, cost $27.50 -Take the vehicle and form to the Highway Patrol, who will verify the serial number and make sure it is not stolen. (There may be the possibility that they will come to you, you'd have to check. I've had them come to me for other things, not sure about this.) -Take the form to the License office, along with 1. a bill of sale (no need for notary, and surely someone can "sell" it to you), 2. a notarized statement of facts, a paper you write to explain how you came into possession of the vehicle and why you have no title. 3. 2 estimates of value from licensed car dealers (or go by the average bluebook value, and I can assure you you'd be better off using dealer's appriasals) 4. A surety bond in the amount of 2 times the value of the vehicle. This is a minimum cost of $100, will not be over about $150. 5. Title application. I would recommend that you take everything to the license office and ask if you've got it right before buying the bond. I didn't ask today, but the other type bonded title can only be done at the headquarters in Jeff City, I assume this is the case here. You might be able to work through the local office to get questions taken care of, but like antique tags, I'm sure it's going to be handled in Jeff. For what it's worth, there is also a statute allowing for bonded titles of vehicles over 25 years old, but you get a salvage title. This leaves you another whole can of worms to deal with. The above method gets a real title. There is also a provision for a title for an abandoned vehicle, one left on your property. This might be of use to some. Say, if you have a car that for some reason is sitting on your property and the owner doesn't claim it. My imagination says this would be the case when you buy a car and get no title. It's on your property and nobody claims it. You get the idea. This is covered at: http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/C300-399/3010000193.HTM An advantage of this is there is no bond involved. (cost savings) It would involve the 551 inspection, sending certified a letter to the last registered owner (if one is in the records) or siging a statement that you have used all reasonable efforts to find them.i In the end you would receive either a salvage title or real title, depending on the condition of the vehicle. Then there are Street rod, and custom vehicle titles discribed here: http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/C300-399/3010000132.HTM If this doesn't give you enough to think about, spend some time reading the entire set of statutes on titling and registration at: http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/c301.htm

"By the way, the 4 speeds on the B1 and B2 trucks are not syncronized. You'll have to double clutch in order to shift smoothly. The B3 and B4 4 speeds are the syncromesh type and shift more like a modern trans." Is this true of all 4 gears? I've got mine on the road now and was surprised how worn out the syncronizers were. Maybe it's because they don't exist - like the '53 domestic version of a VW that I once owned.

I would think it would fit, but you need to make sure. I really don't have a way to know. If you find it will I'll be glad to help work out the deal. I sent an Email to his neighbor to print out and take to him with the requests this morning. This is more the old fashioned methods, not the electronic age way. Gene

I just tried to call him and got some different generic mailbox message. I've emailed his neighbor to find out what's going on. I'll pass along info as I get it. I would have liked to have bought the whole half ton, but I was full already. Oh, well, too much fun! Once I figure out why his phone is acting up I'll pass his number to you if it'll work.

I asked first for "SRVIVR" but it was taken. I was also surprised this one was available.

I can't say what all the knobs were, but there were about 7 or 8, the whole dash looked amazingly nice. I did get a fresh air heater off the other truck. I got the part that mounts on the firewall, the loop to hold the hose and the part that goes on the firewall, along with the heater. The cable on that one had been cut. It all needs cleaning up. I don't plan to use it, but do plan to restore it and sell it down the road. If someone is interested we can talk. I can ask him to look to see if it had a fresh air heater, but I didn't think to look at that one. I wish I'd had more time to just get parts, but I was sort of overwhelmed trying to figure out what was worth taking off of them and hoping someone could use. It's hard to speculate. I even overlooked a few things I could have used myself, didn't think of it until I was on down the road. I considered buying the whole truck and just selling parts to pay for some of my gas, but already had my '51 Fargo and would have had to make another trip. I may do that anyway in a month or two. Not sure why, but I find it sort of interesting saving parts to these things.

My new tags finally showed up.

There is a guy in northeast Minnesota who has 2 pilothouse trucks with some parts that might be of use. I got a few parts and I'd hate to see the rest get crushed if anyone can use them. His prices will be very reasonable and he's easy to deal with. Here's a partial list of what I recall that might be of use: From a 1 1/2 ton: -whole drive train (engine is there, but manifolds are gone and I have no idea if it's stuck or not, 25" block) -2 quarter window glass -brake booster, the whole unit is there (would need rebuilding, but it's a core) -front axle with brake drums -electric wiper motor and the rest of the works for it. -ignition switch without key (I pay about $10 for a new key, I know I've talked to a couple people who need switches) -gas tank looks to be usable at first glance Might be a few more parts usable, ask and I'll check From a B4B (I believe this is a 53 half ton) -Excellent cab, dash, gauges and knobs, etc. look great. Has a lot more knobs and cables than I recall seeing in others. No rust or dents, only right side of floor has some rust through. It has 2 cuts behind the fuel fill, not sure why, but they can be hammered back and welded. No doors, I bought them. -motor, is not stuck -radiator -excellent bed with fenders and tailgate, surface rust but not dented -front clip is too damaged to be of use, but the grill portion looked good, along with the front bumper -4 speed transmission -steering box with no play (This might be a real find for someone) -it had 4 wheels, I think they were 15", not sure. -gas tank looked to be usable Probably more on this truck as well, ask if you need something else and I'll check. He doesn't have any internet at all, and he's not at the phone much. I'll get in touch with him and put you in contact if you're interested. (He has a neighbor I can go through if I can't reach him, but I don't want to give out their info) They are near Brimson, Mn. He was willing to meet me in Duluth, but I went on up and got my stuff. Anyway, I hope something here can help get one on the road. Gene G. in central Mo.

Parts were near Brimson. 4 doors, 3 hoods and a few odd pieces. One fresh air heater for the pilothouse, which I'll restore and sell. He has a set of curved windows if anyone needs a set. I can put you in touch.

Here are a couple pictures, taken before I bought it.

I just crossed the border at Warroad, Mn with my "new" Fargo 1 ton with a hoist (dump) under the pickup bed. Heading on the way to central Mo by way of northeastern Mn, where a stash of parts are waiting. Pictures to follow soon.

There is a good chance we'll never know the truth, even if they figure it out. There are a number of aspects to this. As far as shutting it off, putting it in neutral, etc - most people wouldn't think it through at the panic time. A few years ago, there was a Ryder type truck that had the throttle stick. The woman burned up the brakes, someone else who figured out what was going on got in front, burned their brakes up trying to stop it, then she finally crashed. There was a big story on one of the major networks, they interviewed everyone, made a big story out of it, and never mentioned either shutting off the key, or putting it into neutral. What?? What an opportunity for a good community service announcement, they missed it. A trained guy, maybe. Average guy under pressure, even a cop? Probably not. Even with that, and and me explaining it all to my wife, some time later the throttle stuck on our old Mercedes wagon. It never occurred to my wife to do it either. The next problem is, all this info about what happened - like he alternated between the brakes and throttle 255 times. All this information is being reported by the very unit that we suspect may be bad. Talk about questionable sources. Like my Mercedes alternator that had a light to tell if it was charging. If it's broke, do you rely on it? and 255 times? That is just an 8 bit register that counts. An oscalation in the circuit could run the count up in microseconds. Do you really think a guy would alternate that many times in a minute even if he was trying to do a scam? Why would he? Doesn't make sense. He may have been trying a scam, but this evidence is pretty bogus. And, the biggest thing is, electronics fail. I was on a project with Motorola that went on for a year or more. We'd have failures in a system that happened very rarely. The chip guys said it absolutely couldn't be caused by their chips, it had to be in our design that we used the chips in. After a year we were finally able to prove it was a fault in their manufacturing process causing a very infrequent failure under a very narrow set of circumstances. And we could repeat the test billions of times an hour in the lab, with a failure happening every day or two. How many times can you repeat the start, stop, acceleration sequence in a car? One car, might take a million years and you'd best have your test equipment set up right to catch it, or it'll be another million years. Then, you think they'd tell us, even if they found it? I doubt it. "Oh, there it is, guys, that glitch in the circuit we suspected. Let's tell everyone now, so we can pay out 100 gazillion dollars in damages." I doubt you'll ever know.

Add me to the list.

You can cut the cost of your water pump by having it rebuilt. There is a guy who's specialized for years in older water pump rebuilds. Try "The Flying Dutchman" at http://www.fdrbp.com/. A friend and I have both used him and found his service to be very good. Cost is most likely around $100. It'll be a much better pump than an original one, using modern seals and bearings.

I guess I'm pretty lucky. My local NAPA has spent many hours finding the parts for all my vehicles. None are older than 40, most in their 20s. It's a challenge, because they have few older parts books. That is really the biggest problem, finding the numbers. The companies tell them to toss the books, they try to keep them. My local NAPA has many older books, but few go back to the 40's. Frustrates them as much as us. I can tell you that if I hear of an old parts house going out of business, I'll do my best to grab all their books. Once you have a number to start, you can get someplace, it's the lack of books that is the biggest problem.

That 51 might be more tempting if it was closer and/or cheaper. I did have a brainstorm a little bit ago, though. Scares the heck out of my wife when she hears that - usually involves a road trip or major change in her life. Not so this time, though. There really isn't much to a panel fender. I also have a few rust holes surrounding then on the panel side. I could take seine front fenders that were too rusted to use, cut the part out thatsurrounds the wheel opening and graft it on the wheel opening on the back. Sort of like filling the fender seam. Before anyone flips out thatit's not stock, this one should go to the crusher under most circumstances. So, if anyone has a front fender or two that is too rusted to use but is solid around the wheel opening I'm interested . Thanks, Gene

I have a 48 3/4 ton frame if that will work. Gene g.