kencombs

The first time I picked up a wrench it was drilled into me that, all left/right identification was when setting in the drivers seat. Holds true in planes, trains and automobiles as well a construction equipment. It's only confusing when on a tractor converted to a forklift and the seat is facing the back. If buying parts for the tractor, from the dealer, not the converter, it can be fun.

More likely that the shafts were built up in a totally different production line and shipped to the factory. That's the way most things are today anyway. The 'factory' is a assembly point and actually makes very few 'subassembles'. May have been different in the 40-50s as business were more vertically structured. Like Ford and there lumber business to turn logs into car parts. Even started the charcoal thing with leftovers. Back in the day I knew a guy that used one of the Mopar programs where you could go the assembly plant and pick up your car to save shipping. This was is the mid 60s that I knew him and this had happened years before I think 55 or so. He was amazed at the speed even then and lack of testing before the vehicle was started and driven to the storage lot.

The hydraulic solution will work. But, will not pass inspection in states with that system as the park brake is required to be independent of the service brakes. Any tiny bypass leak in the master or a leak at any point will result in brake release at some point. I can do that here as OK has no inspection. But wouldn't rely on it for anything beyond a few minutes. Parts to do that are available as something similar is use by drag racers to lock front brakes when doing burnouts. When I messed with that the product was called Line-Loc I think. I know it is not good practice, but I almost never engage the park brake. I parked my Tundra the other day and wanted to leave it running for a few minutes, so I set the brake and had to look for the release. It had been that long since last used, I forgot where/how to release it! One solution is a brake on the pinion shaft of the differential. I have parts of one of those, caliper and disk but will have to fab the brackets as they were only made for Ford 9" as far as I know. The bracket for that is no where near fitting my Dodge.

30mph is a very low speed for a driveshaft vibration, at least in my experience. To help isolate it I'd try these things. 1. put the rear end on stands so that it is supported by the springs, not hanging. Remove the rear wheels. Run the car in gear up to and past 30 and see what you feel. Any vibration would point to the driveshaft, but not necessarily balance. Bad ujoints, a ball and trunion whose trunion is not centered, or even just dry joints can cause it. If not vibration at this point put the wheels on and repeat. If that doesn't reveal and issue, see if you can find a front end shop with one of the old on the car balancers. They will reveal exactly which corner is causing the shake. Slightly bent wheel, tires out of round or otherwise distorted, brake drum out of round etc will all show up with that test.

It's funny, the best things for easy low speed steering, lots of air pressure and narrow bias tires are the worst things for at speed handling. Power steering, radials and correct air pressure are my goals. Got the parts, just have to get them together. Back in the mid 60s 14in tire/wheels were the thing. So I bought a set of 14" six lug farm wheels and 8:00/14 tires. It didn't take me long to go back to 6:50/16s until I could find a set of 15s! Those wide tires where murder at parking speeds and because to offset was wrong it darted badly in ruts and cracks.

The clearance between the roller and worm is measured in thousandths. The screw acts directly on the roller mechanism, so 1/16" is a huge amount. On the other hand, if the measurement was of rotation not axial that's a whole nuther thing. If the adjustment is too tight it will begin to bind as it moves off center as the worm gets bigger toward it's ends.

I've seen a few steering gear failures over the years. They all had one thing in common, a serious wreck. Some were immediate, others happened some time after the wreck and the vehicle had been repaired. Probably cracked or severely weakened by the impact and later failed. Pin on older Ross boxes, roller on some and one or two worm gears. Wear didn't seem to be a major part of the sudden failures, but surely possible. But a quick inspection would reveal any worn that badly. I'd bet that if they are worn too thing it would be impossible to adjust the play out and still turn all the way both ways. It would bind badly on the ends where not much wear happens.

If it's the seal, that year should have a two piece neoprene seal. MUCH easier to replace than the older versions.

JMHO, but I chose to do the slant six conversion. Using a GM HEI module to switch the current. All stock parts that can be replace in minutes on a Sunday if needed.

Another commonly available PCV valve that works well in retrofit systems is the early Chevy that has a 1/4" pipe thread to attach to the manifold Very similar that bkahler pictured.

So many things can cause a low speed miss. Low compression due to a valve leakage is one, either a sticky valve, leaky valve or not enough clearance. Slight leak will cause too much loss past the leak to avoid a miss at low speed, but faster piston upstroke will retain enough mixture to make power. Since yours misses only when warm, I think I'd recheck valve clearance and maybe use some magic in the gas to lube the stems. Can't hurt. edit: And a compression check of course. I don't think I've ever encountered a carb issue that caused cylinder to misfire at low speed only. Unless my understanding of a 'miss' is different than most. A miss in my vocabulary is one cylinder that fails to produce power. Carbs have never done that IME. Maybe a condenser? Random miss on all rather than one specific?

If it had rust locking it up I'd try putting the piston in all the way down to the bottom. Then use something like plumber's putty to seal the edge of it to the cylinder wall.' All that to prevent the vinegar you pour in from escaping. Let it set overnight, remove piston and rinse well. If the rust is gone and no pits are evident, run a rigid hone through and and see what it looks like. I have no use for the ball type hones as they don't expose defects like a rigid will.

Reminds me of a story from several old mechanics in the 60s. If a re-ring job didn't seat well they would run it at a fast idle and sift some Bon Ami into the air intake. According to legend that removed cylinder glaze and/or lapped the rings to the cylinder. I've heard that often enough that I actually believe they did it and it worked.

It is my understanding that Powells were not assembled on a new chassis. Used from the ground up with new sheet metal. If that's true then mother Mopar had no part in parts sourcing, just the local salvage yards, and maybe used car dealers.

I think you will find the car wheels to be smaller OD than the truck thus less leverage. Depending on use that may not be an issue.

Cleaning whitewalls brings back old memories. Worked in service station '59/60 where a lot of our business was hand wash and wax jobs. We had a whitewall cleaner, 30gal drum of concentrate that we mixed with water. Put it in an air-up spray container and spray it on. Then just hit it with a wash mitt and done! Westleys Bleche-White is the closest thing I've seen since.

Overcurrent protection is a good thing. But, as I mentioned earlier, IMO a maxi fuse (or breaker) makes much more sense than a fusible link. More than on car fire has started due to those. Some have been know to heat nearby insulation above the kindling point. Fuses don't do that and are much easier to replace when and if needed. Just like the 10/15/30s we carry in the spares kit, just add a big one and you can be back in action in minutes. Most newer cars incorporate them. My old ('97) F150 has a couple inches from the battery. One for the fused circuits and one for unfused.

Folks forget I guess, but it is critical to max tire life. My 'good' vehicles get them done at every oil change so I don't forget. 5k intervals as specified by Toyota for the Tundra and wifes Town and Country just to be consistent.

Excellent idea but can be improved by using a Maxi-Fuse instead of the fusible link. I've seen a few fires caused by those. And, sometimes a failed link isn't obvious as it is hidden under insulation. Fuse is easier to tell that it's blown. My old F150 (1997) has TWO! 175A next to the battery.

I still remember the first Toyota engine that I worked on. Everything looked like a Chevy six. Clearly the Japanese studied the Stovebolt very carefully before building it! But it is not a copy as nothing interchanges. General head bolt placement for instance, looks like the Chevy, but the actual measurements are not the same. That one out of line head bolt has stymied many a shade tree mechanic. We sold more than one head to replace those damaged by using chisels or such to force a 'stuck' head off the block. Bolt still in place! I think GM stayed with cast iron on all the 216s, but switched to aluminum on the babbit versions of the 235. All full pressure sixes had aluminum pistons. Lots of them had the cast pistons replaced with aluminum at rebuild time. And usually without any balancing, a testament to the great inline six configuration. Sure couldn't do that with a V8!

Agreed, stroke does effect the max rpm, but lots of others things do too. Probably the most significant is the weight of the rotating and reciprocating pieces. Starting and stopping a long cast or steel rod is hard on everything. That's also why chevy 216/235 with iron pistons were so tough on soft babbit rods.

Most likely rear shackles on the front springs are worn. Front anchors may be ok as they only move a little bit.

The two red statements above seem to point to an issue. Sound like the sending unit is a mismatch to original equipment. Nevermind, Plymouthy answered while I was typing.

I don't know for sure, but I've never seen that part in any repo catalogs. But, they should be fairly easy to form from steel stock.. The welding is the real issue. One could probably jack the body up a little to allow access. Of course body off is more convenient for welding and grinding.

Take a look here: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/overseas-jack-rebuild-help-tutorial.51105/ More info than you'll need but a good read anyway.