John Burke

It is cold out there...but we drove the dodge up to Wahoo in great comfort thankz to the VINTAGE AIR SYSTEM I have hooked up in the car...It would like to melt yer overshoes off if you turned it up to high...expensive but it works great...I am getting a growling noise out of the front suspention....don't know if it's a brake or a tire rubbing...I am takeing it in to the tire shop for a lookee see tomorrow..If you step on the brake pedal when the noise starts up, it goes away for a while...hhmmmm...guess we'll seee what that amounts to.....John:confused:

we took a ride in the 49 Dodge yesterday and it started to rain.after switching sides with the arms and blades they still did'nt clean off the windshield ...The wife noticed that the blades seemed to be made to fit a curved glass so she got out and physically bent the blades straight....now they work great....I have elctrice wipers but did not change anything when I went to 12 volt....I just use them in low which makes them run in high because of the voltage....I don't use the high position on the switch as I am afraid I will burn up the motor..nudder problem solved....john:D

yeah...specially when they are right and they work Greggy...It's supposed to rain tommorw night and my brother is coming in from Texas for his 50th class reunion....we planned on taking the dodge for B-B-Q...should have no problembo....John

a short time back I was asking for help on windsheild wipers....just could'nt seen to find anything that would work...So I stood there and studied them for a while and noticed that the wipers were mounted on the arms at an angle....then BAMM...it hit me...I had the arms on the wrong sides causing the blades to hit the trim around the glass.....I switched sides with the arms and presto.....the wipers work fine now with clearance all the way around when they are turned on....now I can cruize in the rain....a happy camper I am again:D....John Burke

Well, with the help of my mechanic, I got the tie rod issue staightened out on the 49 Dodge.....We made sure we used good old USA made cotter pins this time.....Took it for about a 50 mile ride to a gun show Sat......I had to buy some muzzel loading supplies for an antique pistol i am refurbishing to shoot...(Civil War .44 Remington that was converted to .45 cal. colt long after the war.....)You can still buy brass and stuff for those old guns from Dixie Gun Works.....anyway, I could'nt believe my luck...I found everything I needed on my list...and the Dodge drove like a dream...We use it for all of our driving unless we need to go to the hardware store to pick up plywood or partical board...and thanxz to Reggie, it looks complete with the replacement hubcap.....all is good.....nuff fr now....John B.

thanxz guy...UPS delivered in fine shape I am a happy camper......you'll hear from me later.....John B.

Whre can I get new wiper blades for my 49 Dodge that will actually work? I don't know where the ones I have came from but they seem to be to big and the blades hit the windshield frame and also, how do you get the blades to stay tight against the the glass so they wipe away the water? We will be using the Dodge for a daily driver and it does rain on us once in a while....thanxz, John Burke

Reg you da man....John Burke...868 co. rd. 13, Ithaca NE. 68033...I will at least reemburse you the postage....again, many thanks....now we will be able to drive the Dodge in proper style....I am still looking for 1 more for a spare.....john

We drove the 49 Dodge to Lincoln for supper a couple of nites ago and when we got home Nancy noticed we had lost a rear hub cap...We hit the local hubcap outlet but no luck....so now I am looking for a couple of 15 full disk caps with a Block letter "Dodge on it" If you have one or two to sell I am in the market....John B.

A freind sent me this pic...It seems to be close enoufg to Don C. that he should go check it out....John B. It's in Nashville

Yesterday, when pulling out of my MIL's driveway, the front end made a noise and started pushing gravel.....Nancy got out and looked and the front wheels were both pointed inward......The drivers side tie rod had come unbolted and dropped put of the steering arm.....WE had just come back from town and Nancy thought the car was handeling funny...Thank the lord it did'nt come undonewhile we were doing 65 down the hiway....I just can't understand how that came loose what with a cotter pin and all....anyway I found a Jesus nut to fit and got it together enough to get home.....WE also noticed another tie rod that looked loose as well as the pitman arm....Tues. It goes to my Mechanicic for a complete look-see at all that stuff....I am wondering if the power steering is to much for the old Dodge linkage???????...still fighting the cancer.....wends another heavy duty chemo.....starting to lose my hair now.....I go every 3 weeks...so I have 1 bad week and 2 preety good ones.......took the hotrod for a run this afternoon.....Lord was that great.....Nancy does all the driving as she does'nt trust me enoufg to do it.....Thats OK I can lay back and look cool....John

This will be it for a few months guys....I go in Friday to have my right kidney removed because of a large tumor....that will be followed by several months of chemo and radiation....My cars are ready and waiting for me when I get back and I will let you know how I am doing...Thanxz for all of the help in the past.....John Burke

Since the 49'er works so good now, we took another old car couple out last fri nite. We drove about 25 miles NW to town called Malmo. This town sits right in the heart of a hilly area that was populated by Bohemian immigrants back at the turn of the century. Hencwe the nickname of the area, "Bohemian Alps".....anyway it's a small place, maybe 150 people, with a post office, German sausage shop and a divey bar...On Fri nites it's deep fried Carp, french fries, coleslaw and quart bottles of Bush Lite. Lots of nice comments on the Dodge by people coming in...life is good:D ...john

I bought my adaptor kit from scarebird and added over the counter hubs, rotors, bearings and hoses (about $250 from car quest)....very slick installation....john

Well I finally had a chance to take the 49'er out for an extended test drive and gave the new disc brakes a good workout.....quite a difference from the old drums....I put about 60 miles on her stopping at every intersection I new on the highways around here....now I can drive up to the intersection and stop...no more slowing down a 1/2 mile before the stop sign...all I have left is to get the turn signals working again and seal up a couple of small window seeps...summertime where are you....john

On my 49 Dodge I have stock 2-speed electric wipers. When I went to 12 volt I did not change anything on the wiper connection but I only use the wipers on low speed. They run fast like they are on high speed and I think as long as I only use the low speed they will be OK....no problems yet anyway....John Burke...

It was'nt the push rod to the master cylinder..exactly...but rather that small nubbin between the booster unit and the MC.....we shortened that baby and they work great now....John:D

As if I don't have enough problems, for some reason the disc brake caliper assemblies I put on the 49 Dodge won't return after using the brakes..I have a firewall mounted, dual chamber master cylinder with a power booster from Speedway. I did not have this problem with the old drum set I took off....any suggestions welcome:( ...John

As mentioned, I had to grind a bit so the wheels would fit over the hub. No real big deal except those damn wheels and tires are heavy for old men like most of us and lifting them up and down several times to check the fit leaves one expended.....John....by the way I used a "Scarebird" kit

I took the Dodge to have the front end aligned, 10 mile drive to the shop, and it stopped really good. I told my front end man to go over my work and check everything out again for me.....Living in a small town has it's advantages when you know all of the shop owners and the mechanics.....They will do that extra for you to keep you happy....One more point, I would suggest, maybe, that you use stock wheels made for the hub/rotors. I had to tune on my Ford wheels I was using in order to get them to fit......John:D

I checked the clearance on the caliper to the shock assembly and find I have plenty of clearance.....now all I have left is to bleed the brakes and mount up up tires and I should be good to go.....A test drive later today and we will see how thet work....my instructions say to stop 30 times,letting the brakes cool between stops, in order to break them in? any comments on this......Thanks for the heads up on checking that clearance....I never slept a wink last nite worring about it....hehehe:D ....jb

This should have been a bolt-in deal and probably would have been except I had lowered my front spindles 3" and had a few minor clearance issues, all of it to do with the lower two bolts through the spindle. They were about 3/8" to long so I had to grind them off a bit. Then I had to grind the nuts down into "jam" nuts and the adaptor plates were then installed using red locktite on the nuts as there was not enough room to use the supplied lock washers. The inner bearing required a sleeve to adapte it to the stock spindle. The directions said to freeze the sleeve so it would go into the bearing but I knew from experience that does'nt always work that good so I heated up the bearing by setting it on a bare light bulb. That expanded it so the adaptor sleeve dropped right in. A test fit on the spindles showed one of them fitting a bit snug so a few laps with some emery paper cured this. A spacer was required to position the hub assembly in the right spot on the spindle. This also served as a new surface for the seal to ride on. This was an interferance fit so another treatment on the light bulb and they slid right on and shrunk up tight so the would'nt spin. I put the hub together and it went right on.

true enough

Alot of you read my earlier posts on my BIL's fire....here are some pics after cleanup and lined up for the auction April18th....The stuff that isn't burned up he had stored at home but he decided that everything goes...jb

Don, they want me back this fall for one weekend then up at Knoxville for the next..if'n ya,all around mebe we kin connect up....will keep you posted...WARNING!!!! I love B-B-Q and not those cheap sandwiches but rather big meaty, expensive ribs......save yer jack Don boy....I don't come cheap. ..hehehe...jb