bosworth

Well, I may need to have my head examined, but the B3B-108 is now mine (or is it the other way around?) She is still sitting out on the farm, but after New Years, we'll take a trailer out and bring her home. There are a number of parts missing off of the engine and I have no idea if it will turn. I don't have any more invested than would be recovered at the scrap yard, but I just didn't want to see the old girl scrapped! Here we go! Bill

Thanks Dan; I printed out all of the forms and will start the process. I've heard a lot of horror stories about trying to go through this process. I'm sure it would be a lot easier to buy a new truck. Bill

Good thought, when I get up to 50 or so, get the noise then push in the clutch and coast, things quiet right down. You still hear a little gear noise but very minimal. I figure that with nothing under load there wouldn't be much in the way of gear noise. I tried reving the engine back up while still coasting and can't bring the noise back, it only returns when I let the clutch back out. I would imagine that if it was the fan I should be able to duplicate it by revving the engine. There is a guy in a neighboring town with a p15, I think I'll give him a call and see if I can take a ride with him to get a better idea of how the old girl should sound. Thanks Bill

Dan I did move forward with buying the truck, I'm getting anxious to get on with the project. Our initial hangup will be paperwork. This truck doesn't have any. It hasent been registered since about 1974, since then its been sitting at a farm. The past two owners have passed away. So we get to deal with NC dot, I'm sure they will be very helpful! If I can get the paperwork straightened out I would like to talk to you about your engine and transmission Thanks Bill

I thought I should report that I was able to slip the new gasket in place by just pulling the transmission back as suggested, it went quickly and easily, and yes the split was on the bottom. But I am still plagued by what I think is excessive driveline noise. Everything is relatively quiet up to about 40 MPH or so, then it sounds like I should be shifting into 4th gear. When I get up to 50 or 55 I'm afraid she's going to come apart, at the very least I should be shifting into 5th . Only problem, I've got a three speed. I checked the numbers on the rear end and found a set of stamped numbers that are 3.9F, I assume this is the 3.9 rear end which was the standard. I really would like to figure out why the old girl is so loud, I'm pretty sure its not the engine although the sound seems to be coming from up front as opposed to the rear end. The engine, outside of a a ticking valve when she's cold is quiet and smooth. I checked her compression today and found all the cylindars to run 95 to 105 lbs. Any suggestions for a trouble shooting strategy would be appreciated. Thanks Bill

Dan; Sounds good. I have the original drive line in my Plymouth. I assume that they are very much the same, I have no problem with that concept either. Will keep in touch Thanks Bill

Thanks all; This my be more of a challenge than I can handle, but you all have me thinking, the Dakota sure does sound like the best way to go. I could of course try to keep it stock as I did with my 49 Plymouth, but I would like to try a more modern suspension, brakes and power train. I guess this is what makes this such an interesting hobby! Thanks Bill

I have a chance to buy a model B-3B-108. I think the truck is about a 1950 and the body is in reasonable shape. Parts are missing from the engine. I'm thinking of putting the truck on a new frame with modern driveline etc and wonder what might be the best choice, I wonder if an S-10 would work. I need another vehicle like a new hole in the head, but am having a hard time passing it up. If I don't take it it'll probably go to the crusher! Thanks Bill

That sounds good. I should be able to move it back enough even with the drive shaft in place. Looks like a weekend project, I ordered redline MT 85 gl4 so that will go as well. See if my neighbor talks me into replacing the needle bearings while were at it, he has more nerve about rebuilding the transmission than I probably cuz it's my car, not his! Thanks again Bill

I looked at the gasket kit and guesswhat, there is one, this is something like "read all instructions before proceeding". The gasket does have a split I don't know if it is bottom or top but the cut out is there for the bearing retainer and front shaft so it can only go one way. I wonder if the split is to allow any leaked oil to drain away rather than go into the bell housing. The worst part of pulling the transmission was getting the top left bolt, it would be easy if I wasn't to lazy to pull the floor board. I will see if we can sneak the gasket in without pulling the transmission all of the way. Thanks all! Bill

Greg That is very interesting! There was no gasket in place so I didn't look in the gasket kit for one, well looks like the transmission is coming out again! Thanks Bill

I think your right, the 80w-90 should be all I need, I put the heavy duty Lucas in to see if it would abate the noise and slow down the oil drips. I wasn't getting any drip from the back end of the transmission but from the front of the case, when we pulled it out it was very oily on the front face, so it seems that it must have been leaking from the bearing retainer gasket. Its an interesting system on the front with no seal and a return drain for the oil. I'll look into oil types and see if I can determine which ones are compatible with bronze and brass. Thanks Bill I just spent the past 2 hours reading about gear oils, sure can see their not created equally. Redline MT-90 GL4 looks good to me, any other recomendations? Thanks Bill

Actually we didn't drain the oil before we pulled the transmission and didn't loose any changing out the bearing. What is in there is half 80-90 gear oil and half Lucas heavy duty oil stabilizer. I think the mix is a bit too thick, I plan to replace it with Lucas 80w90 gear oil, I hope that's good stuff. I notice that I have to be careful shifting into 2nd when the gear case is cold or it will grind into gear. No Problem after it's warmed up. Next operation, speedometer! Bill

Success! This has been a great weekend! I started by pulling the manifolds and fixing (eliminating) the heat riser which was frozen in the full open position. Then this afternoon my neighbor and I pulled the transmission (he has a lift) and replaced the input shaft bearing. We followed Bob's instructions which worked great! Upon examination of the old bearing I became concerned that the noise might be coming from the needle bearings because the input shaft bearing was a bit sloppy, butnot as rough as I expected. We put everything back together and took her for a drive. It is now hard to hear any noise at all, even when the transmission is warmed up. So thanks to the great members of this forum, another couple of problems are fixed. Thanks everyone, I am a very happy camper tonight! Bill

I decided to add some trim rings to the old girl. My daughter got me a very nice set of chrome plaited stainless ones but I don't think they are going to fit. My wheels are 15 inch and when I measure from the rim edge down to the bottom of what would be the tire bead I only get about 1 3/8 inches. The rings I got measure 1 3/4 deep so when they bottom out in the rim they still stick out at least 3/8". I don't think this looks right and I think I'd loose the rings. It seems like the standard ring depth is 1 3/4". It looks like many of you guys have trim rings, what did you use? Thanks Bill

Bob Thanks for the input, I think I understand the procedure, sure sounds better than pulling everything apart, obviously I can't change the mainshaft pilot bearings doing it this way but I think the culprit is the drive pinion bearing. Is this a fairly common problem? Bill

I decided to try and replace the input shaft bearing in my 3 speed transmission. I ordered a gasket set, small parts kit and input shaft bearing. I really don't want to tear down the whole transmission as it seems to work well, shifts into each gear ok, only makes noise that is consistant with a warn input shaft bearing. My question, can I just unbolted the input shaft bearing retainer from the front of the transmission and pull out the input shaft? It would appear that the input pinion bear is ingaged with the gear cluster and houses the mainshaft pilot bearing. I ask this because the my manual indicates that when rebuilding the whole transmission, the input shaft and input bearing are the last to be removed. I would like to just replace the input bearing and the mainshaft pilot bearing. Thanks Bill

Don, Thank you, if a picture is worth a thousand words, yours are worth at least a million! There may be a gage opperation in my future. Bill

Hi James, I'm having the opposite problem with my speedometer, at low speeds it seems pretty steady and accurate but once you get up to 45 MPH or so all bets are off, the needle swings from 40 to 100, if the needle does steady out it reads 15 to 20 MPH over actual speed. After following this thread I am suspecting dust in the mechanism. Did you have much trouble pulling the head and opening it up? Bill

Greg When I put it in second, I assume that the clutch is depressed, or should I be moving? I will try it in 2nd and neutral and report back Bill

Lots to think about. I changed the differential fluid a couple of times. When I first got the car the fluid was low and was very ugly looking. I put in new fluid. I then changed the pinion seal and changed it again. Then again recently I put I Lucas oil. I tried pushing in the clutch and coasting at about 50 MPH and much of the noise went away leading me to think that the rear end is ok, of course the drive line wasn't under any load like that. When everything is hot, I'm sitting still in neutral and I push in the clutching I can briefly hear the sound spinning down leading me to think that the input shaft and whatever else is spinning in neutral is involved. I hope I'm only obsessing! Bill

Now that I have the old girl on the road and the exhaust system fixed I'm hearing noise that may be warning of problems to come. First when the car is at idel in neutral with the clutch pedal not pressed there us a noticeable gear or bearing noise, when I press the clutch pedal the noise goes away. Some suggest that this might be the throwout bearing. I would think throwout bearing noise would occur when the pedal is pressed. When cruising at 30 to 45 the car is relatively quiet, gear sounds when the car is accelerating or decelerating with changes in throttle. Things get pretty loud at 55 to 60. If I press the clutch in and let the car coast most of the noise goes away. In summery, how noisey are these cars should I be considering a transmission rebuild. I should have mentioned that I have a 3 speed, no overdrive. As always, thanks for your great input Bill

Well that sure answers my next question, I will not rebuild the heat riser, but I do have to get it open. I'll continue to try to rotate the shaft but in the next few minutes I think I'll order new gaskets! Thanks again everyone Bill

The heat riser is frozen on my early 49 p15 Plymouth club coup. I believe that the engine is a 50 dodge 230. What remains is the valve shaft and the stop stud. If the valve is in the open position I will put the heat riser project on the back burner, but if closed i think I should address it sooner. The shaft has a split in it for the spring, the split is orientated at about 2 and 8 o'clock position, does that give a clue as to the position of the valve? I will continue to shoot it with PB blaster on hopes that I can work it free. As always thanks for your help Bill

Oh I do like the look of those beauty ring! The wheels are 15 inch. The car was in reasonably decent condition when I got it last year. The worst rust was floor boards, rocker pannels and braces, pans between the bumpers and the body, trunk lid, areas below the tail lights, front fenders below the head lights, pan below radiator. I used almost a full 48" x 96" piece of 18 GA steel to replace the rusted areas. As far as I can tell she is rust free now. I was able to work out most of the dents with body hammers and dollies. Mechanically I started by replacing all of the brake parts, including cylindars and lines, the brakes seem to work very well now. The only things I've done to the engine include a lot of rewiring, replaced the distributer, rebuilt the carburetor. I dropped the oil pan to see how things looked inside and clean out the gunk, I was thinking that I needed to replace the rear seal but the oil drip seemed to go away with the new pan gasket. I had to replace the radiator and gas tank, both were to far gone to save. One fun project was rebuilding the radio. I still need to finish the trunk, get the heat riser working, and mess with the valve clearances. This has been a great project, I think I'll feel a letdown if and when iI finally get her finished. Sorry I got so long winded, Bill