Jeff Balazs

Thanks Guy's; I am going to keep a real close eye on it. Will try to get my buddy over in the next couple of weeks to try and get some measurements. I just don't have those sorts of tools. In the mean time I don't have to run it.....I am in the middle of wiring and finishing the interior so plenty to do. What do you think of running a heavier grade oil and maybe some STP or another additive until I get set to actually correct this? Jeff

Thanks Frank; I appreciate your comments. It is totally frustrating. I think what I will do is get a machinist buddy of mine to help me check this. He has all the right types of equipment to measure this accurately. And he is an old car and bike nut. Maybe we will try and get a reading at the inspection pan and the front pulley first. The noise is not that bad yet. Just a faint squeal that goes away after it warms up. It is more annoying than anything else. To be honest when it first started I thought I had overtightened the fan belt. I would like to try and nurse it for a while. I am trying to get it ready to register after almost 2 years of ownership. It would be great if I can keep it running for a while so I can save up for a proper rebuild or a new engine. I am thinking I may put straight 40wt in instead of the 10-40 that is in there now and just keep my fingers crossed. Jeff

Thanks for your response Frank. So I take it these manuals have more information in them regarding these sorts of repairs ? The shop manual I have....Dodge Trucks Shop Manual B-3 series......does not have a lot to say. I honestly don't know that much about this topic. I guess I have been lucky up til now as I have never had an auto or truck engine that ever had crank related problems. What little I know is all motorcycle related and does not help at all with this. Is this a common wear area with these engines? Or is this something that was brought on by poor assembly when it was rebuilt years ago? I am really bummed. Other than this the thing runs very well. I have put a ton of work into this truck and at this point I really wish I would have gone another route with it. Jeff

Dollydodge; Hang in there man. I have been missing your adventures. For what it is worth I have seen a few engines on Craigslist from time to time that looked pretty good. There was one that came out of a pilothouse in San Diego recently. Also you could put a posting in the classifieds here. I am of the opinion that it would be best to find a DT engine or at least one that is fairly close (3-4 years) to the production date of the engine you already have. Going this route should I would think help reduce or eliminate some of the little surprises that seem to come along in swapping components. Jeff

Thank you Merle; This sounds do-able. This engine had been rebuilt and when I dropped the oil pan things looked really clean. Bit of sludge but nothing to indicate any serious issues. In fact it was so clean that I did not think it necessary to probe too much. It has 50 over pistons and 10 under bearings according to the tag I discovered. The bores looked good and mic'd out close to perfect for the 50 over pistons. Based on what I found I figured it still had a lot of miles left on it. I had a few friends look it over when the head was off and we all thought that the way the bores looked it probably only had maybe a hundred hours or so on the rebuild. In retrospect I suppose I should have delved deeper. I did install a new timing chain.....had the head resurfaced......new distribution tube......new head bolts etc...etc... It runs really well....at the moment......and of course I would like to keep it that way. Jeff

Frank; Thanks for your response. Do you know it is possible to replace this bearing shell with the engine in place? I am not at all familiar with the bottom end on these engines....so excuse me if it is a dumb question. Jeff

What Merle said. There is a port just forward of the distributor that is fairly easy to get to and is where my oil pressure gauge is connected. Jeff

At this point I am pretty sure there is some end play in the crank. With the inspection cover off you can see the whole FD including the ring gear move forward when you depress the clutch. Also you can see a bit of movement at the front engine pulley when the clutch is depressed. When I checked the FD with the inspection cover off I could not feel or see any movement by just pushing on the front section by hand. You probably could get movement if you used some sort of lever....but I chose not to. I don't have the equipment to measure how much it is moving but I can definitely see it move. I put it back together and ran it for about 15 minutes. The sound goes away after about 10 minutes running time. I suspect this has to do with the metal expansion at operating temp. I don't really want to do a rebuild at this point. I am finally about a month or so away from being able to get this registered after almost 2 years of ownership. I think I am going to try running it as is for a while and maybe start looking for a spare engine to have professionally rebuilt. Preferably by someone who has done several of these and knows all the ins and outs. Jeff

No appreciable play in the FD. Looks like it is end play in the crank. I suppose that would explain why the noise goes away after it gets up to operating temp. I could have done without this. Shame as the engine runs sweet. 135 # compression and 45# of oil pressure at idle. No smoke and tan plugs. Jeff

Yes.. ....I was just waiting for a helper to check this. So is there a simple fix ? Or am I in for big job? I had this apart last year and replaced the timing chain. It doesn't have a harmonic balancer....just a pulley.... and nothing is leaking. Jeff

I spent some more time looking into the source of the squealing noise I am getting with this. It still comes and goes but it isn't going away altogether. One thing I have done is pulled off the inspection cover and looked at it while running. There does dot appear to be any wobble in any of it. The noise goes away with light pressure on the clutch pedal. It does not seem to be coming from the throw out bearing or the transmission. Noise seems to be generated farther forward. When the clutch is depressed the entire fluid drive appears to move forward slightly....1/16" or so. Is this normal or is this an indication that the FD bearing is going bad? Not sure what to make of this. As always any suggestions or ideas will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Jeff

Hi All; I getting things together to make my wiring harness. Does any one have an idea what sizes and quantities of asphalt coated loom material is needed to do this up right? Thanks, Jeff I kind of remember seeing a mto for this once but I'll be darned if I can find it now.

Richard; Give Gary at Roberts Motor parts a call. He probably has the manuals you need. There are a lot of items that are specific to your model and don't crossover to the rest of the trucks. You should get a parts manual as well as the repair manual. You are going to have to get extra familiar with the details of your model Jeff

Welcome Richard; Very cool truck. I am certain you know this already......but you have something pretty rare and unique. I kinda doubt that you could find much in the way of an "economical swap" for that rearend. Just a guess though. My gut feel is that you will want to take very good care of the one you have and look carefully at a tranny swap instead. There are many views of what makes up a good daily driver. A lot of these are personal preference based.....but to me there are two essential characteristics. They are safety and reliability and I think they go hand in hand. Take a hard look at how you intend to use this truck and base your decisions on what you know has to be done to operate the truck safely. I would do a thorough investigation on the condition of the existing braking and electrical systems as well as the drive train. Get familiar with what is there and what all the various options and possible upgrades are before you tear into it. Start hunting down any missing essential components as this can take quite a while. Don't be afraid to ask lots of questions. You will probably need find some mentors here too. Looks to me like you have a great start. Have fun and enjoy it. Jeff

Sounds like you ticked off Heckal and Jeckal.......... bet you won't leave the truck open again. Jeff

I hate it when that happens. Be thankful it wasn't a Great Blue Heron......let me tell you they take this action to a whole new level ! You almost have to see it to believe it. Jeff We have quite a few screech owls that roost in the large trees around our house. They are particularly adept at dropping neat little packets of rodent parts on hoods or windshields. I can't tell you how many times I was called out by one frantic daughter or the other. It got so I thought it was pretty funny.......and of course they did not.

Paul; You do know I am just giving you a hard time........right? I was only half kidding about a woodie treatment though. If you get a chance look at an episode of My Classic Car that was done with a 49 Merc Woodie. I really do think a faux woodie treatment is possible and could turn out fairly cool given some careful thought. And maybe a custom grille. Have fun with it. One thing is for certain.......hardly anyone will put you down for making some stying improvements. Jeff

Geez Paul; Now that I see it out in the daylight......well it is not too sleek looking is it? The homely / clunky look works Ok on the trucks ....... but you would have to get real crazy with it at a chop shop to get one of these looking speedy. They really should have spent the money to hire Raymond Lowy. Maybe you could make a faux Woodie out of it? With a little practice you could learn to hand paint a wood grain or there is always the self adhesive stuff. Jeff

Paul; I have no idea what a drowning dilla is ........ but a skeg is the fin on the back of a surfboard....... or at least it was. Looks like you are having fun........and so far have not hurt yourself... ....so I say keep at it. Maybe you will become the next Big Daddy? Or maybe MoonDawgy is more like it. Jeff

Paul; Still keeping an eye on you and your project. I like the patina....and the surfboard idea. If you mounted a large old school board with a huge skeg on the roof....the skeg could double as a stabilizer fin at Bonneville. Keep at it. Jeff

eek! Ice pick or small phillips ...... either way they could do a lot of damage! Jeff

Hey Brad; Mark hit it right on the head. You should not have to remove the latch to get this to work. It will work when you have the square shaft inserted in the correct manner. Thanks to Davin and a reclaimed Oz left hand door mechanism ..... I just went through this exercise on both of my doors. Btw : I found an ice pick very useful for use as a guide tool when inserting the square shaft and cylinder into the door latch. Put the pick in from the interior side and the tip will fit into the small indent in the end of the square shaft. Then just keep light pressure on it and push the shaft and cylinder home. Tighten up the set screw and you should be in business. Hope this helps Jeff

Bob; Good I am glad you agree about the bearing. It seems like sometimes you have to be a real Sherlock Holmes to trace some of this stuff down. And believe me I do appreciate your assitance. There does not seem to be any undue vibration in the drivetrain. In fact the engine is running as smoothly as anyone has a right to expect. The one thing I have not done is run it with the inspection pan off and look. When I was working on it yesterday I was by myself. Wish I had a rack as that would make this a bit easier. The area I am most suspicous of is the fit of the bearing retainer in the crossfork. I think some uneveness or slop in the mating surfaces there would be very difficult to diagnose and correct. I guess I am just used to seeing bearing retainer that uses a more positive feature like a captured fork to retract the bearing. Or if like they did with the autos of the period Chrysler had designed this with some sort of retainer clip we probably would not be having this discussion. This system probably worked fine when it was all new and unworn. 60+ years later there is certainly some wear in the various components and trying to come up with a practical solution is a challenge. Jeff

Bob; I did not look at it to see if it was chinese. It came from Tennessee Clutch. The truck was making this exact same noise with the old bearing in place. I really think the issue is not with the bearing but the linkage and yolk assembly. A bit of play or flutter in this maybe? Jeff

Bob; Yes it was going away with very light, even hand pressure on the clutch pedal. At this point I am fairly certain that it is a clearance related issue. That is why my efforts were concentrated on the pedal adjustment and trying to compensate for some slop in the linkage. It isn't making any other type of noise and is functioning fine otherwise. I am hoping that the addition of the spring I added will for now keep it at bay. If what I have done continues to work for a while then I will know for certain that it is the wear I found in the pedal linkage that is causing this. Not sure what else it could be but I would like to know for certain before I go through the exercise of reconditioning the linkage. This particular linkage and TO bearing yoke arrangement seems awfully "sensitive or fussy" for use in a work truck to me. I certainly was not expecting it to be this way. This is not the first time I have been "surprised" by something on this truck. I suppose it is a combination of a bit of wear here and there that is causing this but then again it could just be my lack of familiarity with old mopars that is causing me so much head scratching. Don; As Young Ed mentions the trucks do not utilize any form of retaining clip. I kind of wish they did as I feel certain that there is a bit of the "float factor" occuring in this location ..... and that is probably what has caused this noise to be so hard to track down. Oh well. I did get it to go away for quite a while yesterday.......and when that noise is gone .... all is good. Jeff