MBF

I don't know who thought of that design, but bolting the bell housing solidly to the frame of the larger trucks, and then requiring you to remove the flywheel to pull the engine with the bolts facing the crank to me leaves a bit to be desired. If they didn't have that front flange on the bell it would have been so much easier to yank the flatty out and reinstall it. I did a slant 6 in my pickup years ago and that was a piece of cake compared to this one! Thanks for the photos!

On my B2JA I removed the nose for the engine o/h and painted everything underneath. When trying to remove the right inner splash panel I couldn't get it to come out through the top with the nose still in place. I had all the bolts out but also couldn't sneak it past the heater lines. I walked away and it fell out through the bottom! So that was my lesson learned-installation and removal through the bottom eliminated the problem for me. Not sure if this works on the smaller trucks.

There are some very clever and talented people on this forum. Not to add to trying to divert the thread-this brings back memories of my project 2 yrs ago. I rebuilt the 251 in my 49 B2JA and while it was out sent my clutch out to have it overhauled early on in the project. It wasn't giving me any problems, but I was 70 at the time so to avoid a future teardown I sent it out. Had the flywheel cut to add to all the machine work being done right to only have to do this once. Got everything back together and running and the newly redone clutch slipped. This truck has the heavy 5 spd in it so pulling it apart again wasn't going to be a picnic this time either. Pulled the clutch sent pics to the remanufacturer and he said the company had been sold but to send it back. Turns out when they did the overhaul process they only put half of the springs in the pressure plate so it didn't have much clamping action. I pointed this out to them after taking pictures of their overhauled PP and an original I had out of a parts truck. Long story short-its together and running fine, but doing stuff twice is aggravating to say the least-especially with such a heavy trans. Thank God a friend was able to lend me a commercial trans jack.

Mine is an Iphone-I went into the settings-gotta look around more-didn't find anything like you folks are recommending.

I’ve got a bunch of photos of the engine rebuild and under hood work Imdid on my B2JA almost 2 yrs ago. Having problems doing an upload on them.

Boy this brings back some memories!

I’ve got one of those switch brackets in a parts truck.. never knew they fit in the center of the dash w the floor mounted parking brake lever. Thanks for the photo,

On these old vehicles I run redundant grounds. Batt to engine, engine to frame, and frame to body. I also fuse individual circuits instead of the original setup. Don’t forget that the headlight switch has a circuit breaker mounted on it and that may be the culprit.

Yes, we've eliminated the water and fuel pumps as the sources, checked the clutch mounting bolts, changed distributors and replaced the new oil pump w another new one. We've been inside the engine from the bottom and found nothing. The noise only appears at idle and goes away as soon as the engine revs up a little. It is getting noticably better. Strong running engine that I'm convinced would have come apart by now if it was going to. The saga continues............

I find this thread most interesting. Two years ago I broke the crank in the 251 at the number 6 rod cap in my ‘49 B2JA. After machining and rofessional rebuild by long established machine shop it ran fine. .030 over, crank turned, new main, rod and cam bearings. New oil pump, block boiled twice (before and after machining). 3 angle valve job, new guides and springs,, cut flywheel and head, new timing chain/gears et al. After clutch replacement it Developed a knock at idle as soon as oil pressure came up that went away as soon as rpm’s increased. No noise at run speed. Machinist dropped pan, rechecked all main and rod bearings all looked fine. Checked chamfers on crank journals, no signs of anything hitting inside block. Crank end play fine, depressing or releasing clutch has no effect on noise. Checked bypass valve and spring. Took fanbelt off and installed block off plate on fuel pump noise still these. Told to run the truck and if it fails he’ll repair/ replace at no cost. As of now noise is becoming more intermittent at idle and goes away above idle. When engine is up to temp sometimes noise will reappear at times after idling for awhile. Appreciate the article and input on this.

It's a short rod that pokes out through the panel over the windshield. Each motor has one as they're controlled individually. Has a rubber button/bumper that slips over it. You can control wiper speed by how far the lever is pulled (well somewhat). Must have cause a lot of forehead injuries in the days before seat belts!

Yup, but I've got the entire nose off the truck and the trans sitting on a jack. It isn't bad working over the fenders of my 49 1 ton, but this 2.5 ton is a bear, and it came off pretty easily. While I have the nose off I'm replacing the fender fillers and doing some cosmetic work in the engine bay. I'm going to put the bell housing and pedals in and leave the floor out so that when I install the engine I can easily get to those top two bolts that the accelerator linkage mounts to. I think the most aggravating part of this job was the pedal return spring and pedal removal. I can't imagine doing this job on a PH COE!

Thanks for the response. I did pull the trans w a trans jack (did it 2 yrs ago too when I did the clutch. I did pull the floors and pedals. Mine was a former firetruck and all of the original fasteners came apart easily. I think I'm going to mount the bell in the chassis and start buttoning up the pedals/floor. This was the longest engine pull I've done-did a Chevy 235 in less than an hour, and my slant 6 in less than two. Really appreciate the info and pics. Thanks again! Mike

I'll post some pics when I get them. I have the 251 engine out of my 49 B2JA. Crank broke at #6 rod journal. Pulled an engine out of a parts truck to salvage the crank. While I'm waiting for machine work I'm doing some of the stuff that wasn't done before like painting the firewall and inner fenders. On both engine pulls, I removed the nose assemblies, then pulled the engine with the bell housing still mounted to the engine. With the front inspection cover off of the bell, can I install the bell into the frame, and then when I get the engine back together install it into the mounted bell housing? I know the flywheel will need to be installed afterward as it'd be a tight fit trying to sneak it up between the front of the bell while hanging from an engine hoist. Anyone done it this way? Trying to use up some of the painted parts while waiting for the machine work to be done.

Make sure your heat shield is in place over the fuel pump. I covered my pump to carb line with some rubber hose to provide some insulation for it.

Did the adjusting collar come loose on the pivot shaft or is the keyway missing from the collar?

I’ve been running my blower motors on 12v w a ballast resistor mounted on the firewall for years. Granted they arent daily drivers but they do go out on nice winter days when the roads are dry and salt free.

IH and Ford both used those 6 lug Budd rims up through the late 60’s. They also made a 17.5” drop center rims with that bolt pattern. I’ve got a 1 ton that has 16.5” lock ring Budds. The .5” tires are hard to find.

Make sure that your vacuum valve is getting full travel throw at the firewall mounted valve. I had this problem w mine and it was just that the cable had slipped in the clamp. Also check the cable housing to make sure it isn’t sliding in the clamp in the shift lever. Simple stuff first.

I’m going to go through the 251 in my B2JA. I’ve got a good running 230 that is ready to bolt in. How much of a deal is it to make this swap from the longer to shorter block? I want to take my time on the build and of this is a fairly easy swap I’d rather not keep the truck down. Will the 230 bolt to the bell housing on the 251 so that I can leave the 5 spd? I know the exhaust is different, but I’ve got a complete setup for the 230. Thanks folks!

You need a Runtz type resistor that doesn’t require a lot of amps to function. If you’ve converted to 12v + ground you’re probably going to need to reverse the wires on the gauge to make it work properly

A late member of this forum Grey Beard had a PH that he painted w a brush and roller. He chronicled the project on this forum. I had the pleasure to meet and talk to him and his brother at a truck show in Macungie, PA. You could not tell that the truck hadn’t been sprayed and it had a nice old looking gloss. I got tired of mine being in primer so I rattle canned it and rubbed the heck out of it 15 years ago. Still looks good and gets a lot of compliments.

There was a guy on another forum that removed his Budd center from his 20” rims and had them welded into Dayton 22.5 hoops. This should be fairly doable given that the 22.5 Daytons are a bolt on replacement for 20” locking ring hoops on Dayton hubs. The biggest issue would be getting them true and then find a certified welder willing to accept the liability.

I bought 7.50’s for my truck this year from Simple Tire. Nebraska Tire has them too. As long as they’re locking ring rims are serviceable any truck tire shop will mount them for you. I did 3 of mine myself, and found out the local truck tire shop would do them. Cost me less than $25 per tire. Where are you located?

ESPO Spring should have the pins and bushings and likely the shackle pins too. I'd look for a white haired guy at NAPA or a machinist to match up the king pins. They can order by dimension not just application. Good luck!