Jeff Balazs

Why not get a set of new ones from VPW? That is what I did. Remember to retorque them a couple of times after it has gone through a complete heat up cycle. Jeff

I just can't get over how much nicer this newly rebuilt starter is. If I had only known I would have had this re-done a while back. My truck starts instantly with no choke and no pumping the gas. Holy smokes what a dfference! What an improvement. I guess I should have known that it wasn't right before. But I had never had one of these before or even drove one that I can recall. I just figured it had been gone over by someone who was supposed to know his business and never even considered that it could work a lot better. Now I know....... Jeff

Merle; I don't know off hand what size the bore is. I got it as a match to the Grand Cherokee rear disc's I have. I also matched the size of brake lines at 3/16". Of course the Grand Cherokee would have had a booster and as you know that is impossible with M/C in it's original location. I have played extensively with the adjustment on this arrangement. If I have it adjusted so that lock up is fairly easy......then I get very bad brake drag in fairly short order. When I have it adjusted as it is now I get no drag but a fair amount of pedal force is required to get close to lock up. It certainly isn't a perfect situation. It works Ok because the disc's themselves are just so effecient. Jeff

That is very good to know. I do understand that all this needs very careful consideration. I won't make this alteration until I am positive I have selected all the correct components. There is just too much at stake. Jeff

Yes exactly and the primary reason pedal assembly selection is going to take some thought. There does appear to be quite a few different single pedal designs available. Some of these have quite a bit of fit up adjustment built into them. I haven't gotten that far into this yet but it did look like there were a few that could be made to work. It doesn't hurt either to have a buddy that can literally do anything imaginable with metal. Jon is an absolute wizard. He has all the right skills and a huge shop full of tools and metal working equipment. I just need to come up with a combo that fits in without creating any other maintenance related interference. This is going to be the real trick. What I don't want to do is solve one issue and create another if you know what I mean. That would really suck. In the meantime I can live with it as it is. Jeff

True enough about the pedal action. It is driveable but there is room for improvement. Also the adjustment rod between the pedal linkage and the M/C is extremely fiddly. As a result the brakes while very good can't be locked up unless you literally stand on the pedal. A better arrangement would be to have a dual booster similar to the way the system is in a Grand Cherokee. Then the brakes will really shine with just a touch. I have a good buddy who is an amazing fabricator. He will help me with the mounting situation. I think the biggest thing is going to be choosing the pedal assembly that gives me the best fit up. There are a ton of these to choose from. I will leave the clutch the way it is as it is very comfortable. I just need a single pedal hanger so other than some wiring I don't think I will have to move much. I have a single wire alternator so there is nothing but wire loom on the driver side firewall right now. Jeff

Yes....yes.....yes! Newly rebuilt starter is back on. Man did I find the right guy this time around. And he is local. So much better than before you would think it was a brand new 12 volt system. Wow! And now I have an identical rebuilt spare as well. I couldn't be happier. I did slot the bolt heads as suggested and that really speeds up the install. Thumbs up on that little modification. I have left the oil filter off for now. I think I am going to move it over to the inner wheel well and have some braided lines made up. I want to leave the firewall clear for a future under dash brake pedal installation. I need to do some figuring....but it sure looks to me that there is ample room to do a dual booster M/C arrangement which would really make this old truck stop on a dime. If anyone has done this on a Pilothouse I sure would like to hear from you. I also got the Super White halogen headlights installed. They look bright in the daylight......can't wait to give them the real test. Jeff

Nice save Mark! . We had a similar experience a couple of weeks ago with our new dog Buddy. He is a bit of a gangster......3 time loser at the shelter.......plucked off death row. He is very quirky and more than just a bit cranky with everyone except my wife and I.......but he has potential. Our last dog had a similar background and she turned out wonderful. Any way he escaped by sliding a window open and tearing out the screen. My wife got home from work to find this and started searching right away. She called me but I was out offshore about 20 miles in a boat that was having fuel system problems. It took me almost 3 hours to get home and start searching. Unfortunately there is a lot of very rugged terrain near us that is covered with almost impenetrable brush and trees. Besides my family a few friends pitched in. Due to his personality I am not certain all of the search party was as interested in finding him as I was either. We searched until about 10 pm and finally gave up. I really didn't hold much hope of seeing him again as the weather was over 100 degrees and there are tons of coyotes around us. And we had only had him a little over a month. I was awakened about 2:30 am by my wife yelling "Buddy came back". He was at the front door crying....limping,very dirty and was acting more than just a little frightened.... but he was home. He spent the next couple of days hiding coming out only for water and to go outside for a couple of minutes. It seems he had a "scared straight" experience. God only knows where he was or what he had faced but he seems like he is home for good now. Time will tell. Jeff.

Paul has fitted a front disc brake kit on his truck. This can be done using the original type M/C. He chose to add the Cherokee dual res. M/C as an extra safety measure. I took mine a step farther and went with 4 wheel disc brakes. I used the Grand Cherokee M/C with 3/16" lines to provide a balanced match up to the system I installed. If you decide to stay with your drum brakes then there is probably no need to change over to a dual res. M/C. I chose to go with 4 wheel discs for a couple of reasons. My truck is a 3/4 ton and replacement drums etc.....are very scarce. Also setting up and adjusting the drums for best performance is a bit fiddly and requires the use of special tools. I live in a very heavy traffic region and I knew I wanted to use this as my daily driver. Discs all around just made more sense to me from a driving and maintenance standpoint. The 3.55 ratio Grand Cherokee rear axle gave me the gearing I was going to need and 12" rear discs. My truck slows down and stops nicely with no tendency to pull to one side or lock up at all. And all the brake system parts are readily available anywhere. As you may have gathered I am not a purist.....not that there is anything wrong with that. I knew I needed it to be a daily driver and have made a lot of mods to my truck.to get it close to being right for the way I want to be able to use it. I don't consider what I have built as a restoration. To me it is more of a recycling project. I have tried to retain most of the original look and feel but I am not afraid to change some details either. The one rule I have is that I do not want to change the general character of the truck. To me this means no frame or engine swaps and no drastic alterations to the body or amenities. What works for me is simply making this old truck work the best that it can ....safely and reliably.. Jeff

Plymouthy.......... Me neither. He scares the %$^@ ! out of me. Paul; Forget about these guy's you keep quoting. They may have put words together..........but they are no help at all when it comes to something like as serious as this. I suggest you dump your copies of their books and get in touch with the really talented British authors like Colin Chapman or Axiom of "Motorcycling" fame. Far more beauty and wisdom in these writings than ever came from the baird. Jeff

There is age.......and then there is maturity. I never made it past this many....IIII IIII fingers

This is one of the reasons I left plenty of scars and dimples in mine when it got painted. When they are too straight and perfect after all these years it just doesn't look natural to me. Kinda like it has had the botox and augmentation surgery some old gals opt for. I think it is OK to look your age. No one is ever fooled by too good to be true...... Jeff

The Grand Cherokee M/C was added when I swapped in the rear axle from one with disc brakes. My truck has 4 wheel disc brakes. The set up works well I just do not like the location of the M/C from an access standpoint......or the location and action of the brake pedal. The point Mr. Neal brings up about how you have to remove parts to get to other parts on modern cars is one of my pet peeves. And I am no longer a contortionist. If I can make a few carefully thought out alterations and eliminate some of this then I will. I care much less for originality than I do for function and ease of maintenance. Because this truck is my primary transportation it will see far more use than many of these do these days. it will undoubtably get pushed harder than most do just to keep up with our insane traffic flow.. I expect to put at least 10k miles on it a year and maybe a bit more than that. Besides frequent oil changes stuff like this starter will fail again at some point. There is plenty of room under the hood to re arrange things to make maintenance and repairs a little more pleasant. So that is what I intend to do. To me this is just part of fine tuning my build. I have already done a bunch of stuff like this on this truck and it has worked out pretty nicely. I have no reason to think that these mods I intend to do won't be an improvement too. It is all just part of using a 60 year old vehicle on a regular basis. A lot of this probably doesn't apply to most of the more original trucks here. But trying to use one of those here on a daily basis with stock gearing etc.....would not have worked out very well at all.

Well I put most of this back together when the body was off the chassis. I didn't much like the location of the M/C at the time.......and I like it even less now. Also the starter motor went on before the oil filter canister was in place. I just put it back on exactly where it was and didn't think much about it. Now that I have had a session with it ....it will get modified. There is plenty of room to re-engineer these items so why not make it easier to work on in the future? I own a lot of old equipment and machinery....and I can't think of one thing that I have not made some sort of modification on at some point. Just my nature. I have tried as much as is possible to put this truck together in such a manner that most repairs can be handled on the roadside or in my little garage. If I have to call a tow truck or put it up on a hoist then I figure I haven't done a very good job. At least that is my way of looking at it. Jeff

Paul; I just don't like the way the brake pedal feels or it's location and shape. For whatever reason it just doesn't feel comfortable or quite right to my foot and leg. And It gets used a lot driving here. As it is now it detracts from the driving experience. I don't think it needs to stay that way. I am pretty certain that another arrangement can be fabbed which will take care of this and get the M/C up and out of the silly (IMO) location that it is in. I am sure I am in the minority here but I am not satisfied with leaving it the way it is. I don't think you could find a worse location for the M/C than the one the factory chose. My goal for this truck has always been to make it into something reliable, relatively comfortable and easy to maintain. Unlike a lot of folks on this site I don't have any interest in owning a collection of cars or trucks. This one is it and it is the last wheeled vehicle I will buy. All I want is to get this truck just right....for me. And I will keep at it until I do. Jeff

They are not that bad to get to with the oil filter out of the way. I struggled and got those bolts out with the filter in place only to have the oil fittings on the block stop me from getting the starter out. I am thinking about relocating the filter canister and using braided lines to connect it. I don't care if it doesn't look original. Access and function are far more important to me. I probably won't win any popularity contests with this next comment....... but I have never thought that this area of our trucks was laid out all that cleverly. There is just too many critical components crammed into a relatively tight spot. Getting the oil filter out of the way is only part of the solution for me. The other part will involve moving the M/C location and ditching the brake pedal and associated linkage. It is funny but the clutch pedal arrangement is really nice......but as nice as it is the brake pedal just feels clunky. It is without a doubt the one item on this truck I despise. Makes an otherwise nice truck feel like a piece of funky old farm equipment. Jeff

PB Blaster has an aerosol product called Corrosion Stop that might work well. I have been using it on my leaf springs. It is a penetrating oil that develops a pliable film over time. A lot of folks use it on boat trailers that are exposed to saltwater. Works pretty well. Jeff

Yes......need to do something. From a maintenance / repair standpoint the current arrangement is unacceptable. Mine was made worse due to the Grand Cherokee M/C I added for the 4 wheel disc brakes.......but either way the oil filter and associated fittings were in the way. I may run without the filter for a while until I get a different brake pedal arrangement figured out. I don't care at all for the location of the brake pedal or the m/c as it is now. Must be a way to relocate all this and gain a power brake booster. With the filter and piping out of the way access to the starter is much better. I had cleaned up and reused the filter canister as I found it because I liked the look. This episode has cured me of that. I feel certain I can get used to more functional arrangement. As a side note I believe I have stumbled across the optimum spark plug for my engine. The Autolites and AC's I have tried worked ok but I always felt that they ran just a bit sooty. I had tested a set of NGK's.a while back but they ran too hot. I kept thinking they must have a better plug for this application and then I found a reference to the use of NGK BR6S plugs for these engines. I pulled them last night to take a peek while working on my starter. Man do they look great. A beautiful even light brown tan like you would expect to see in a fresh new car. Gotta love that! NGK does it again. Starter motors are in shop for rebuild. This time I sent my spare in too.......like I had planned to do all along. best laid plans.. Super white halogen headlight kit from Octane Lighting just showed up. First class. This should do the trick! Jeff

Ugh!!!!!! with many unwritten expletives. Turned out to be the starter. Now I know why I have come across so many low mileage Dodge derelicts. What a miserable design to actually have to work on when the truck is all together. Well it is out now ....... and so is the oil filter. Could not get the starter out past the oil fittings. Absolutely ridiculous way to put this together. Jeff

Had my first failure to start this morning. Not sure if it was the battery or the starter itself. Made a sound but would not turn over. Will investigate tonight. Strange as it ran fine yesterday and started on first try. Maybe I have a loose connection somewhere?...I did go over a few speed bumps rather quickly yesterday afternoon. Jeff

I would. It is a special purpose item.......no way it is sitting on the shelf at a local hardware store. VPW has them. Jeff

I am using my 52 B-3-C as my primary transportation. It is 6 volt positive ground and has several modifications to the electrical system. Alternator....electric fuel pump..pertronix ignition...auxillary fan.....stereo.......GPS speedometer....etc. It all works just fine....as far as it goes. But my system already has two 12 volt power converters. If I had it to do over I would go to 12 volt. Reason: Easier to find quality components and accessories. I am on my third go around to obtain truly functional headlights at 6 volts. A modification or upgrade like this is so much simpler when you have a 12 volt system. Since we are expecting an El Nino winter I am getting a bit concerned about the 6 volt wiper system. Again this would be so much easier to upgrade the system if necessary if I was running at 12 volts. I do realize that my application my be different than most others here.......but you did ask. Jeff

Fernando; Whatever you end up trying make sure it is a snug and concentric fit or you will certainly just end up damaging the cap. Jeff

Looks good Ed. Naked but good. Jeff

I think it is larger than that isn't it? Maybe 1 1/8" thread? I know it takes the biggest socket I own ........ 'cause I bought it just for that beast. Jeff