MBF

I use a period correct turn signal unit on mine, but any unit can be used as long as you have a 6 volt flasher and of course bulbs.

I did a manual to power steering conversion on my 78 1/2 ton and used a Saginaw box from a 3/4 GM 4wd truck. It bolted right in in that situation. For the B series some type of mounting bracket, and steering shaft is going to have to be fabricated in addition to finding a pump that matches the gearbox pressure and brackets for that as well and then there is the pulley issue for the crank pulley. Some geometry is going to be needed to make sure that you have the proper amount of travel and angle on the pitman arm, and you'll need to find a drag link that has an end that will fit the arm as well. Not saying it can't be done, but its going to take some engineering and some bucks to make it work. Does your truck steer hard now? Both my 1 ton and 2.5 ton and steer very easy but they both have almost new components on the steering linkage including king pins. Mike

Years ago on my 36 plymouth the horn would sound every once in awhile. We found that the ground wire was laying across the bourdon tube for the temp indicator. The roadside repair was to route the wire over the horn until we could get it back home and fix it. Just a guess.

My 2.5 tonner has stainless bars and headlight rings. Like DodgeB4YA said, it was a firetruck in a previous life.

Foot starter and 3 on the tree make it almost theftproof for today's band of dimwitted thieves.

Whenever I'm doing a modification that I'm not sure that I'm going to keep I try to go with a solution that will allow me to reverse it if if ends up I don't like the finished product. I think the idea of a bed mounted rack in the stake pockets is a good way to go. I'm one of the elders here, and I think the tail lights should be just that, on the tail. If you want to add redundant lights that'd be fine, but most folks wouldn't think to be looking at the rear of the cab for stop, tail, and directional lights if they were the only ones that you had. When I was driving truck, my tractor had the lights at the end of the frame AND on the rear of the sleeper. I think you need something on the very end of the truck so that at night someone knows where the vehicle's end is-especially with today's texting tailgaters.

That's cool. There were three at our weekly cruise last week along with 3 other Dodge trucks. We convoyed home together-a great night!

Congrats guys. Having a good wife and an old Dodge truck are some of the keys to happiness. Best of luck... Mike

What DodgeB4YA said, I'll add that if after removing the nuts and washers on the axle shaft, and it won't come out with a decent hammer whack, those two holes at 6 and 9 o'clock are threaded for 5/16's or 3/8's bolts (can't remember which). If the axle was siliconed or gasket shellaces to the hub, by putting to of the correct sized bolts in these holes you have in effect a built in axle puller to get the shaft free from the hub. Mike

It could be a good find. Check for rust around the windshield frame along the top of the windshield, and in the floor around the front cab mounts. Good luck with the hunt. Mike

The field and armature posts should be marked on the generator-just make sure those wires are in good shape and go to their respective terminals on the vr. Make sure that your vr has a good ground to the body, and the body to the engine (you can make up a jumper wire from the mounting bolt on the vr housing to the engine block to verify this). I can't confirm this from experience, but I've heard that a generator can be burned up by running it w/o a good vr and batt connected to it. Some electrical shops want the vr and generator at the same time so that they can set them up together. I'd do the motoring test on the generator and see if it passes that, if it does, you'll have to start looking closely at your wiring, vr, and battery. It sound like your missing problem is completely separate from the charging issue so I think I'd treat them separately. Here's a link to do some the motoring test. Mike

Are the connections for the 3 wires on the VR clean, tight, and on the correct terminals? Same for the posts on the generator. You can check simple stuff first while you're waiting for the manual to arrive. Just went through the charging issue with my 2.5 ton. It ended up being a bad voltage regulator, but I did the testing and swapped in a known working used one that I had on the shelf. Mike

Been doing some cleaning and painting to preserve the patina. Boy she runs nice, and everything works except for the horn, and that'll be fixed shortly.

Whatever you decide to do with a visor, make sure that when you mount it that you can get both hood sides fully extended w/o hitting the visor. I had one that I sold. I figured that Dodge spent a bunch of money with their engineering department to design these new cabs that provide much more visibility than the previous design, and I'm not going to reduce that with an accessory.

Both of my bigger trucks have the behind the cab frame mounted booster with secondary master cylinders on the booster housing . Not sure which brand they are-I don't see any markings.

Jason, I can't speak to the disc brake conversion of the bigger trucks, but the power brake setup on my B2-JA and 46 two ton seems to be a lot more effective than the non vacuum assisted brakes on my 1 ton. There is a very noticeable difference in stopping power with the bigger trucks. Granted, it was designed for loads much heavier than I'm hauling, but I'm impressed with the setup. Good luck with your new project. Mike

I've got one of each style window. The vent windows do allow for more ventilation in the summer, but I still like the single pane style better. Less parts, and less chance of leaks. Just my opinion. Mike

I've used Rustoleum's rust metal primer for quite awhile now and it is much tougher than regular automotive primer. It is designed to use on porous surfaces and does an excellent job of sealing. It takes a topcoat well. Another alternative is True Value's X-Rust brushable paints. They're oil based as well and have excellent properties to protect against rust. Mike

Looking good Paul. I think I'd paint the interior with some type of topcoat (especially the exposed areas). That will prevent corrosion from condensation, and the exposed areas will be easier to keep clean as they won't be as porous. Just my thoughts. Mike

The 46 that I just bought had two stuck valves. The previous owner had had it running for about an hour and a half. When it was delivered I slowly dumped about half a pint of MMO down the throat of the carb while it idled, and then choked it off with a good slug. It sat overnight. Yesterday morning when I went out to start it I had all 6 firing. I know for a fact that for this application, this stuff is not snake oil. Smells pretty good too! I put some in the crankcase and some in the gas to keep it limber until it gets a good running. Mike

I got a call about this Sunday evening from a relative of a person I worked with almost 20 yrs ago. He had remembered that I was in to old Dodges and had seen my 49 1 ton when I got it in 85. Anyway, he told me he had this 46 2 ton dump for sale that had been sitting in a barn for many years. I wasn't, but went to look at it anyway. It's now sitting in my driveway. Everything, and I mean everything on this truck works-even the fuel guage. It has new brakes all the way around, and new king pins. The interior is complete with all of the original panels in very nice shape. The sheet metal is extremely solid. The only issue I can see is a stuck intake valve that I'll be working on. I'm not going to restore this one. This will be cleaned up, preserved, and used. And she'll be going back inside.

It may be more than just a bleeding, especially if you have a firm pedal. MoPar vehicles don't use a self energizing brake system. The bottom of the shoes are each mounted on a concentric to allow you to adjust the position of the shoe within the drum to obtain maximum shoe contact area with the drum. The bottom concentrics are called the "major" adjustment. In the 9 and 3 o'clock position of the shoe is another adjustment that allows you to adjust how far the shoe retracts when the pedal is released. The brake adjustment process is found in the tech ref section. It is much easier to do if you have an ANSCO or other tool to measure the drum and set the major and minor adjustments. I don't think anyone makes a disc conversion for the 1 tons with the 6 lug Budd rims, but properly adjusted, the brake system works well for what it was designed to do. Nice truck you've got there. Good luck with it. Mike

Nice score Paul!

What does an actual compression test show for each cylinder? If you dumped gas down the carb, and truly had a spark at each plug and any kind of compression it should have barked or backfired. That 39 Dodge would start and run on 2 cyls when the valves were stuck. It had no power, but it ran. I think you're overlooking something simple. I once did a tuneup on a V-4 Evinrude that wouldn't start after I switched in new parts. Turned out that the brand new rotor was defective, and I only found out about it when I started switching back old parts one at a time. Keep plugging-sorry-bad pun.

Long before ethanol was around back in the 80's I had a 39 Dodge dumptruck that we used on the farm. It it sat for a month or more, any exhaust valve in the open position would stick. They could usually be freed by removing the side covers and tapping the retainer. It sat for almost a year one time, and we had to pull the head to try to free them up and broke one guide. I've got a couple of Gravely one with the Gravely engine, and one with the Kohler. Neither will run good in the warm weather without mixing in a 1/2 shot glas of MM oil in the gas. The Gravely engine will run for about 20 minutes and then it will hang the exhaust valve and coast down to a stop w/o compression. If it sits for an hour or so, the valve releases and will start again and run good for about the same duration. With a shot of MMO I've used it all day mowing in the rows between the Christmas trees.