Jeff Balazs

You are welcome. I feel like it was added at some point to counter deflection issues that may have been part of the original design. I believe it was on all of the PH trucks in one form or another. And yes there are some shims present on my FD variant. Jeff

From the PH parts manual this is called Brake pedal reinforcement bracket. Part # 567 997 for non Fluid drive applications. Hth, Jeff

Yes left as they were originally built..... that by itself would be a very effective speed limiter. I decided to eliminate that condition when building my truck. It can be done. At 65 mine is on a par with your average 10 year old pick up truck. Cruising at legal road speeds in heavy traffic is doable but in my opinion there are several mod's required to make it an enjoyable experience. Gearing, brakes, suspension and soundproofing all need a fair amount of attention if that is the goal. The real limit to top speed in a Pilothouse is the unfavorable power to weight to shape equation. Jeff

It is not uncommon for the contacts in old switches to be bad. Also there is a breaker on the headlight switch that could be acting up. Sounds like it is time to get familiar with the wiring diagram and start testing. We have all been there and there isn't any easy way around the process of elimination.. Jeff

Yep.....no point in talking about top speed without the brakes to go along with it. I have 4 wheel disc's on my 52 and it slows and stops pretty much like a new car or truck.Took me quite a while to get used to it. When you are driving around in a 64 year old truck I think the natural tendency is to start slowing down sooner to allow the old drums to do their job. Not so much with this disc set up. I really recommend it if you are planning on using one of these truck's often in today's traffic. There is nothing like having total confidence in your brakes. Even when cruising at 65 is pushing it in the aerodynamics department......... Jeff

That's got to a place to stow strap on ski's for the front wheels.........

And here I was thinking wires carry juice......and when the juice leaks out it makes smoke.

Well the wires sure can smoke when they get too old...........

It seems to me there was a lot of static surrounding Tesla.......... As far as wiring one of these trucks goes it is a satisfying job. No smoke here either. If you are not worried about being 100% authentic it is about a 2 day job to make a harness from scratch and install it. Jeff

Wouldn't Tesla have perfected open air power transmission by 1948?

Dennis; I know that ideally you would like to rebuild this yourself and get it back on the road. Hopefully someone here can shed some light on potential parts sources for these transmissions. Jeff

May I just throw another wrinkle into this?...IMO all kits out there are not created equally. Some are much better than others. I started off with a kit from Napa.....then somewhere else.....for my money Roberts sold the best quality rebuild kit. Included stuff that others did not. Jeff

Throw some mattresses in back and tell them they are going for a ride in a bouncey house!

Man is that nice. Looks like something that Mark really needs.........

Reg; That is a great photo ........ really drives the point home. Jeff

Ah-So. Still I would think that making sure this radiator has a working vent tube would be part of any repair. Jeff

Don; Surely that would get fixed? On the truck radiator it is right at the neck of the filler. Pretty easy to check. Jeff

Not sure if it is of any interest but when I had my original radiator re-cored the shop tested it at 15# for 3 hours. Just guessing here but I would think you could run an 8# cap if you had a fresh core and that it might help at that altitude. Also might try adding Water Wetter to your cooling mix. I saw an immediate drop of 6 to 8 degrees in my running temps after adding it this summer. I am still running my truck with a non pressurized cooling system. Jeff

Dan; Well you don't have to pull the WDT now. I was just suggesting it as you have it exposed, It is very hard to get a decent flush of the water jackets on these engines without pulling the expansion plugs. If the jackets are full of debris as I suspect you may be plagued with overheating issues and stoppages. Once these engines get full of rust etc.....there really isn't a quick fix. Jeff

If you do not have it running at this time here are a few things you may wish to consider. The water jackets themselves may have a lot of rust and debris in them after being stored for a long time. Mine certainly did. Also the WDT may be going bad or partially plugged up. Since you can already access the WDT it might be a good time to go ahead and pull it out. With it out and the expansion plugs and drain valve pulled you can do a better job flushing the block out. Hi pressure water such as a pressure washer may be helpful in getting some of this stuff loose and out. Once you get the majority of the rust etc... out then plan on flushing the system with an agent like vinegar or a commercial preparation multiple times. It usually take a while and several heat up cycles for most of this stuff to break loose. As it does it will work itself into the radiator so that will require attention as well. Hth. Jeff

Sounds like an interesting truck. Were you running a pressure cap on this radiator? What altitude are you running it at? Jeff

Sorry but I think you are losing control That switch is not a solenoid. Due to the configuration of these truck starters the foot actuator needs to function properly. It is either that or you find a late 50's starter that actually has a solenoid and run it off the ignition switch. A large starter repair shop should be able to correct this alteration with no harm done.

You are not always going to be able to get what you need from Napa etc. There are specialty suppliers listed on this site that usually have this kind of stuff in stock, Also a good starter repair shop will have them. I had two rebuilt last year and the shop fitted new switches to both of these. I am sure you know this but that foot actuator in the cab needs to function properly with this starter arrangement. I know it looks very simple but getting it lined up correctly is critical to safe operation. Jeff

No sealant needed there. Bolt or stud should work fine as long as you don't bottom it out. Jeff

And then there is always the possibility that the foot actuator in the cab may not line up with the lever for this switch. This can happen even when you have all the correct components. Hopefully you don't run into this issue as it can be a fair amount of work to correct this. Getting this sort of stuff straightened out on an old Pilothouse truck is not for the feint of heart. Jeff