Dodge_48

I’m going to pull one of my ‘49s apart (strip it to the frame) next spring. I’m going to have the cab blasted inside/outside/upside down. I’m going to build a rotisserie so I can work on the cab. Here’s the question: how much does the cab weigh? The truck itself weighs about 3600. Seems like the cab oughta be no more than 750 lbs of that. Has anyone a actually weighed one, or have reason to think they can postulate an estimate?

I have several B1s. None of them have the inside rear view mirror, and I have never seen a B1 that had one. I understand that it was a rare option, and mounted on the inside center trim molding between the windshields. Because there is rubber molding behind it, there must be a raised mount or other provision. If anyone has pictures of the mounting arrangement and can provide a description of how the original mirror mounts, that would be extremely valuable to me. Thanks.

A year or two ago, I heard that there was a company in South America (Argentina maybe?) that sold replacement parts for old steering boxes, including Dodge truck (B1). Does anyone know the name of the company?

Yah I’ve got a spare one of those. I think I’ve found a guy on Facebook who has an extra choke knob.

I’ve been looking on eBay, and I ran a wanted add on this site for a Choke knob for a B1 (‘48-‘49), but am not having any luck. Anyone know of a source? I included a pic of a head light knob for those who aren’t sure what they look like.

Seems there are obviously several ways to skin this cat. 1) just change everything to 12v. On that approach, I saw a post that implied all they needed was a 1-wire alternator and bulbs. Well, that doesn’t consider the heater and wiper motors, the fuel gauge, horn etc. The kits are there for a reason. I know of 3 sources now that sell them, and they’re all around $750. 2) put in a hybrid system. I saw a post where the owner preferred the look of the 6v headlights at night. If you have a reason to prefer the 6v system but want improved cold weather starting, you could buy an 12v 1-wire alternator and a 12-6 volt converter to run everything other than the starter, safely. That would also be the quickest installation. The alternator might run you as much as $350, if you wanted it to look like a generator. If you’re resourceful and know where to find it, you can buy a 50A electronic converter and a spare for $75. Alternatively, if you want the advantages of 12v, you still need to protect voltage-sensitive devices, as mentioned above. You could buy the $750 kit, or protect the voltage sensitive-devices with a voltage converter instead of the resistance units, which can develop a lot of heat. You need to move the source leads for the devices to the converter, but that’s no more trouble than wiring-in all those other resistance devices. That’s what I did. It gave me the advantages of a 12v system, and provided protection for the horn, coil, , wiper motor, fuel gauge, and heater motor (if you haven’t already converted it to a 12v motor) for far less than $750. I also added an inexpensive fuse block under the dash for them while I was at it.

Your truck looks really straight from the pic you posted. Very nice. I actually have two. I’ve had my 48 for well over 40 years. I can’t tell you how many miles is actually on it, and it still purrs like a kitten. I really enjoy driving that truck. It was my everyday driver for many years. I picked up the 49 about a year ago for parts. It’s pretty rough, but it’s got some good parts. I’m planning to put together one really straight truck out of the two. Both have their original wire harnesses, but being fabric wrapped rubber (or whatever), the insulation will fall apart if you mess with it. I’m on the fence about whether to buy a factory-style wire harness made with the old-style wire, or just run all new modern wire and build-up a new harness myself. I think the last time I looked, a new replacement harness is about $800 these days. On one hand, I could probably use modern wire and do it for a lot less. On the other hand, I’m trying to keep it as close to original as is reasonable. I dunno. Gunna need to decide before long.

After removing the insulation on the firewall, behind it was an area of the firewall that formed an indentation, as well. Still, it’s going to be really tight. I found a picture of the installation kit in the Mopar accessories catalog for the B-1 trucks (pic below). On the left side of the pic is a depiction of the dash, with the radio on the left of it. On the right, is the installation kit. The kit has a short bracket that connects the back of the radio to the firewall. I can probably guess at its dimensions, or at least get it close enough to make it work.

I started quite the discussion on 6v vs 12v. On one hand, if it’s 6v and it works for you, why spend the money? If you want to go to 12v, you’d typically replace the bulbs and coil of course, but the biggest issue is that you have to figure out how to deal with 6v motors on the wipers and heater, and likely the horn. I have been told by many that the 6v starter will be fine. As I pointed out, the previous owner of my truck fried some stuff when he did it. If you want to go with a 12v system, you’ll need to find 12v replacement motors for the wiper and heater blower motor. One option if they aren’t available is to buy a 12v to 6v converter to drive the 6v motors. If you are buying a converter, they are dirt cheap right now, and rather than have mixed voltages in the vehicle, one option is to install a 12v alternator and battery, and buy a converter with enough capacity to drive everything on the vehicle with 6v. If you want to add a 12v stereo, you can drive it off the 12v side of the converter. It’s just an option.

It can Bevtough getting a car started on 6v in the winter, and generators are getting tough to come by, though I did find a shop that still rebuilds them. Problem is, they don’t look like original equipment at all. And, you’re right about Chinese parts. They do make some quality stuff. These converters appear to be well made and certainly worth the money.

I’ve been really busy lately, but was just out in the shop after posting the previous message. The more I thought about it, the more I was thinking you’re right. It must fit if it was listed as an option. I was looking at the card board covering on the cab side of the firewall in that area. It looks like it’s scored for removal. That’s suspicious. And, I can see a bit of a bump-out on the other side of the firewall that might be there to accommodate the radio. It isn’t much, though. There’s some wires going through a hole at the top of that area that the previous owner put in. I’ll have to move that, too. Additionally, there’s all the cables and wires associated with the heater/vent controls just below it. I’ve gotta pull all that stuff out and see if it will wiggle in. It’s going to be tight, at best. I attached a pic of the firewall with the area circled in red.

I bought a ‘49 B-1-D about a year ago. The previous owner “converted” it to 12v. Well, tried to. He burned out the horn, damaged the wiper motor and fried the heater motor. I was able to clean up the commutator on the wiper motor and rewound the horn coil myself. You can buy a 12v motor that will fit in the model 61 heater from Amazon. Search for “35482 blower motor”. I found a 25 amp 12v-6v “buck” converter for $75 on eBay and wired it to power the horn, wipers, and fuel gauge. Works great. But, since I had some stuff on 22v and some on 6v, I had to do a bit of wiring. I would advise anyone considering a 12 v conversion to take the easy and cheap route. Instead of buying a $800-$1000 kit and change over to 12v, just buy a 50amp converter and a single-wire alternator. Replace the regulator with the converter (have someone with electrical experience do this) and everything on the car stays 6v. I found the source for the converters. It’s AliExpress, the Chinese eBay that is operated by Alibaba. China is selling stuff on a fire sale lately. I found a 50amp converter from the same company for under $30 US, and bought 2 for spares. They are robust and well-made by a large Chinese electrical manufacturer - Szwengao. I wouldn’t normally recommend purchasing something from China, but no one in the US makes these. If you’re not averse to a little risk, download the AliExpress app, get a separate debit card to buy them with (just to be safe). 50amps is overkill, but they should last a long time. Hopefully.

I bought a Mopar 802 last year and had it rebuilt by a guy in Canada that specializes in rebuilding/upgrading vintage car radios. It’s got all the bells and whistles while looking like a new 802. Here’s the “issue” I ran into: while the Mopar Accessories catalog for the B-1 trucks lists an install kit that accommodates both the 602 and 802 models, I can tell you that the 802 is at least an inch too long to fit between the firewall and dash on my ‘49. Now, I’ll be the first to admit it was foolish not to check that critical dimension, but since I measured the opening on the dash and it was a perfect fit, and the catalog says it was an option, I just assumed it would. The guy who rebuilt it said every 802 he’s had were the same size. Fortunately, the new electronics don’t take up much room in the case, so I’ll shorten up the case a couple inches on the back side and it’ll be ok. I’m guessing the 602 is probably shorter due to a smaller chassis, but I don’t know. Seems unlikely Mopar would have built a separate chassis for the trucks, since so few radios were ever sold for them. Anyone else experience anything like this, or had an 802 that did fit? I’m curious. I posted this for those who are thinking of heading down this path. Yes, it was extremely expensive to convert.

If you want to make it easy (and as inexpensive as possible), replace the heater motor with a 12v unit. Search for Trumark 35482 blower motor on Amazon or Summit Tacing ($50), then purchase a 20amp uxcell voltage converter from Amazon ($20). That oughta be enough for wipers, fuel gauge, horn and radio. Just replace all the lights with 12v. DO NOT try to run either the wiper or horn on 12v. DO NOT buy the kits with the resistors. They can get really hot and could start a fire, with the exception of a resister used on 12 volt ignitions for the horn to free up load on the converter. The horn is used for such a short period of time, the resistor shouldn’t get hot. Wiper motor doesn’t care about polarity, but the radio has to be isolated as the system (and converter) is negative ground.

I also have a nice ‘40s 802 (I recently picked up on eBay) that I plan to install in my ‘49. I don’t have the bracket, either. However, I do have a copy of the Mopar accessory catalogue for the B1s, and there’s a picture of all the parts that come with the radio, which will give you a good idea what it looks like. My radio has knobs that don’t even look close to the originals. The pic in the catalog isn’t clear. Do you have a pic of the knobs on yours?