Jeff Balazs

I went with 4 wheel disc brakes and a better ratio for exactly a tenth ($1200) of that quote in parts. That included a 3.55 disc brake rear axle out of a 2002 Grand Cherokee....the Rusty Hope conversion on the front and all new rotors, pads, M/C etc. No IFS......but it sure stops when and where I want it to. Best of all it still looks bone stock until you remove the wheels. Jeff

Yep; The nose of the later Pilothouse trucks and the C series trucks is fairly wide open. I like the look and it probably has better airflow through the radiator than the earlier nose??? But there is nothing there to stops rocks etc. No big deal though as it is easy enough to put some "protection" in place without changing the looks or disturbing the air flow. I am definitely going to do it as this is my only vehicle and I enjoy the bullet proofing process. It's "little stuff" like this can make all the difference of enjoying the ride .....or being stuck by the road. Jeff

Ever since you started this post I have been looking at making a stone guard. I think I have settled on some heavy hardware cloth midway between the nose section and the radiator. Stuff is always getting kicked up on the freeways here. Not always rocks....I think something to slow it down could be well worth the extra effort. Jeff

Hey Davin; True enough on the majority of things.......but I think an as new Carter B & B is something that you have to move quickly on. How many of those are you likely to see these days? And particularly the exact model DTG1 for a fluid drive truck you are looking for? All I can say is my truck sure likes it. And the price was very reasonable. Jeff

Mark; That is exactly why I brought this topic up in the first place. There are still some goodies out there to find. And some of them are pretty amazing. Just gotta be persistant and keep looking. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever find a correct model carb in "As new" condition. Jeff

That would be Gary Roberts......call (978) 363-5881 and ask to speak to him if you get someone else on the line.

This used to be a common problem on cars and trucks back in the 70's. You need to have the tires balanced again.....and by the sounds of it by somebody else with a properly calibrated machine. This always shows up at around 55 to 60 mph and usually goes away at speeds above 70 mph. I can't tell you how many times I have seen this happen only to go away when the tires are properly balanced. Jeff

Where is the fun in that? You don't get the red badge of courage for tackling that you know. Canadians are supposed to be so polite and here you are taunting the rest of us? All I can say is you have missed out on a life changing experience. OH ya and Jeff

Hank; Thanks it's a DTG1 for a fluid drive equipped truck. It was quite a score as these are not that easy to find in any condition. I had been looking for the better part of 2 years. I had gone over the old carb several times and even after all that it never ran as sweet as it does with this fresh one on. All I have left to do now is get a weight certificate for the DMV and I should be good to go. Yeah!!! Jeff

Good deal on that scoop. Just goes to show you that some goodies are still out there. Jeff

Not to take anything away from any woody.......but I know what you mean about them all looking alike after a while. Compared to the Fords the Dodge woody just looks so much more interesting. I wonder what happened with Charles? He was on here a lot for a while during his build........then nothing? Hope all is well. Jeff

Your fresh air vent may be stuck down to the gasket area as well. Besides using penetrating oil on the lever linkage you could try pushing up on the vent while someone operates the handle. It may take a bit of coaxing to get it to free up but if you get a little movement to start with it will probably free up. It is a very cool feature when it works properly. The bezels (and some other parts) can be easily repaired with JB weld. I had a couple of the threaded sections of my bezels strip out and was able to repair them in this manner. This stuff works a treat on cracked sections of the steering wheel too. Jeff

There are still some goodies out there.......but you gotta be quick. I saw this recently and reacted like I was on fire. It was on the very top of my wish list. I am not absolutely certain if it is NOS......but it sure looks like it was never installed. Well It is installed now and it works great. It sure is nice to have something as critical as this with no wear at all. With the old carb my truck had to be running for a while before it felt like it wouldn't stall. Now I can move off after only a very short warm up. Best of all it was offered at a very reasonable price. Sometimes Ebay is really...realy good. Keep your eyes open you never know what you might find. Jeff

I had an upholsterer friend rework my seat cushions. He started by retying all the springs. He then used foam and nylon batting before putting the covers on. They turned out nice and comfy. Plush compared to the dried out stock material. I made a modification to the front mount to raise it about an inch......which kicked the back towards the rear a bit. All in all it is about as good as it is going to get and I am a fairly big guy 6' 1" 225#. I would say it is good for 2-3 hours which is all I would ever do without stopping and going for a stretch. In my mind these old trucks were built in a time when most people drove differently than they do today. Long trips were an adventure and you stopped along the way to enjoy the sights and refresh yourself. And of course check the oil and radiator. 8 hours behind the wheel without a break? I don't know about the rest of you but that certainly isn't why I got this truck. Besides I can't hold it that long any more. Jeff

Mattias; Do your spark plug cables have a solid metallic wire core? or are they suppression (resistor) type cables? If they have a metallic wire core then that may be causing a problem with the Ignitor. Jeff

Tim; I wondered why I didn't see your name mentioned in the Back to the 50's postings. You got a little side tracked there fella didn't you? Hey....a man has gotta do what a man has got to do right? Congrats!!! If it makes you feel any better about missing that event.....I think you did the right thing. From what I have seen of the photos of "Back to the 50's" it was 12000 cars and a handful of TRUCKS. You certainly did better than that. Jeff

Let's face it.....he is very, very jaded. And then there is his ego. Can we just say that some of these guy's have shows for the wrong reasons? I like his old mechanic Roger......and some of the cars he gets to play with. But he is not on TV for any other reason than the money... and his own ego. Jeff

Yep. Until you have been through it all it is hard to imagine just how much time and effort goes into something like this. It's mind blowing really. It has been 3 1/2 years and I am finally ready to put mine on the road.......and when I started I figured less than half that. And have had to learn or re learn a fair amount of lessons along the way.. Hey it's almost done and that is a good feeling. Hang in there.... the finish line is in sight. Jeff

Paul; The Isle of Man was one of the main places a lot of the suspension in use today was tested and perfected. Because of the varying surfaces it was and still is one of the most demanding courses in the world to lap. Just imagine what it was like to race there before WW2 when most of the bikes had girder type forks and a hard tail. If you have ever ridden a rigid rear bike with a sprung seat you will be amazed by the speeds the racers were able to maintain. When they finally did develop rear suspension a lot of it was quite odd and often made the bikes handle strange. Plunger types, Anstey links and some of the friction based units gave some relief to the riders but at a price of weight and unreliability. The stuff these guy's have now is light years beyond what any of the racers back then even dreamed of. And it wasn't really all that long ago. Jeff.

Merle; I am sure you are not too happy about the damage........but it is another chapter in the history of your truck. Heck I purposely left dents and dings like that in mine before it was painted. No big deal. In fact I think they look much better with a few here and there. Shows you use it.....and that it can take a lickin'. It is after all a truck....and not a cream puff. Jeff ps....that wasn't the regulator I gave you was it?

Interesting. Perhaps the metal lobes just need a good cleaning in order to work properly? Looking at the photo of this installation it does not appear that there is any provision for adjusting the air gap between the ignitor and the lobes. I suppose this gap has been accounted for in the mounting plate? My ignitor with the magnetic sleeve was similar in this regard......no provision for adjustment. All I can say was that mine was about as easy and painless an installation as I could ask for. Jeff

Well like I said you can count yourself lucky...... on both counts! When they get real bad like mine was curse words don't begin to cut it. Mine came out in several fairly small pieces over the course of several days. Jeff

You will never know how easy you had it. Jeff

Yes I feel the same about this. I am not sure how it would sense the metal lobes.......but if it could it would still be gap sensitive. Jeff

Mattias; What model number distributor do you have? Is it an Autolite IGS or IAP? If so then this may be the correct ignitor. I thought all of these units required the magnetic sleeve though.....so I suppose I could be wrong? Jeff