MBF

Those 5 minute jobs can sometimes be a bear, and then something you thought would be a challenge turns out easier than expected. Glad you got her back together. Enjoy the first ride-she must be anxious too if she started good in 17 degree weather! Mike

I think the reason is that this is a stepped cylinder (2 different size pistons on each side). The R or L designation is to make sure tha the proper sized piston is facing the correct direction. Can't remember which is which. Mike

Bio 54 real age 45.4 life expectancy-85.7 Guess I'll have time to finish a couple of projects yet. My Dad is 83 and still flying a plane so maybe there's still hope. Mike

Its only been a short while since I had mine apart, but I thought the outer seal was to keep it from leaking out of the axle end-and to divert the gear oil from the end of the axle to the bearings mmmmmmmmmmmm not real sure. I remember that there were 2 different type seals, and kinda recall one was flanged?.? I think I have the NAPA or industry part numbers written down in my maintenance records for my 1 ton if you need them. Man-I can't believe I don't remember what that looked like and I just replace my rear lug bolts earlier this Winter! Mike

That's what I did. Now if the weather would only cooperate here I could take her out for a ride and get it hot. Maybe next weekend-every day is a day closer to Spring. Thanks for the help. Mike

Go to any NAPA or similar store and tell them you want an internally regulated GM alternator. Sorry for the delay in the response-I just saw this post. Mike

Tom: If I were you I'd find a tire guy that has been in the business for a long time and see what he says, or hopefully someone on another forum can talk about his experiences on a 16" Budd w radials. A couple of other things to consider. 1) There were discussions on the ATHS website about using radials on antique trucks that sit alot. The theory is that on vehicles that sit-the sidewalls start checking long before the tire wears out. Sidewall checking in a bias ply tire isn't as much as a problem as it would be with radials. Make sure that the rims you want to use are in good shape-lock ring groove, lock ring, where center of rim rivets to the rim itself, and runout. If the lock rings are bent or fit on the rim loosely the tire co probably won't mount them for you. I took my fronts apart and cleaned and painted them inside and out, and cleaned up the lock rings and groove really well before I bought my tires. Now that I've cleared that up the choices should be obvious as mud! Mike

Agreed. I used to drive a road tractor that had radials on Dayton rims with a similar lock ring setup. We ran radials on the steer axle, and bias ply luggers on the drives in the winter. I know for a fact that the luggers had far better traction in heavy snow than the new Michelins another owner operator had on his KW. We were heading up a long bypass near Binghamton each w 55K of bagged flower on. I didn't know that the only thing that worked on my power divider that worked was the indicator light! I walked up around and past him driving just on the rear drive, and saw both of his axles spinning when I passed him on the hill. Anyway, yes, the tractor drove and rode a lot nicer w the radials. Since I breakdown and mount my own tires, I figured these dealers knew what they were talking about-wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong! I'm going to make a concerted effort tomorrow to see if I can get those drop center 16" Budds so that I can run tubeless radials on the back of my rack body. Gonna miss them old bias ply snowtires whining though! Mike

Thanks, but I do have a source for clean air on the oil fill tube. The filtered &vented cap has a fitting for a hose that I plan to run up to the air cleaner. The air cleaner would be the primary filter, and the mesh screening inside the oil fill cap would act as a secondary filter. My question is whether or not an actual PCV valve is needed on the tube going between the road tube fitting and the intake manifold, or will this vacuum line work fine w/o a PCV/check valve? I have it running about 180, but in this cold weather here in NY it isn't for a long period of time, and only when the roads are clean. I'm trying to get it ready for show / cruise season that will be starting up in a couple of months. Can't wait for warmer weather. Thanks GB-Mike

I know there are threads about this in the other forum. On one of my parts trucks I found where the previous owner (a very skilled mechanic) had cut the tube off the road tube and welded up a fitting to clamp a piece of hose on. He had a fitting under the carb on the intake(where the wiper gets its vacuum source) that he ran the hose to, with a hooded/filtered vent that he fabricated for the oil filler tube. I hooked this up w and w/o a pcv valve in the hose, but used a filtered cap from a slant six on the filler tube. After a slight adjustment of the idle circuit the truck ran fine. Goes down the road well, doesn't ping (well not in February). When idling, I can feel the vacuum on the intake of the oil fill. Is this too simple to work or what? Mike

Two dealers told me that radials on the 16" Budd rims with the lock rings would walk off the rim as they were never designed for a tubeless tire (I thought a radial tube would fix that), or flexing sidewalls. Both also told me if I could find a similar style drop center rim that they could keep me in 16" radial takeoffs for very little money. I have a line on a set of those, but nothing definite. Ford, IH used these same bolt pattern Budds during the 50's and early 60's on some of their 1 tons. I have new biased plies on the front. Mike

My 49-52 had brown door panels and seat covers. I found a good used seat cover that someone had made and when I did the door panels over changed them to black to match the seat. Started working the panels around the back window too-kinda quiets it down inside. Next I think I'll put some sound deadening on the roof-don't know if I've got the patience to work up a headliner-had enough problems with the back panels. Mike

I think replacing the rear with one from a late model unit has several advantages. 1) You get self energizing brakes, not the concentric mounted OEM type. 2) Higher gear ratios and part availability are greatly improved, 3) With some modification you get a true emergency brake setup at each wheel, not the driveshaft mount differential dependant type that came as OEM. The thing with these old trucks you have to be careful with is that you can easily run out of braking and steering capacity if you're running in speeds in excess of that they were designed for. Just my 2 cents. Greybeard I'm with ya on hating February, but there are 6 robins in my front yard as I type this (NY state)! Spring is only a few weeks away. Mike

I'm speaking from experience here (not sure what that is worth) but on my 1 ton w full floating rear I have always packed the bearings when apart as told to by a friend of mine that is a truck mechanic. The logicfor this is that the gear oil from the diff has to work its way through the outer bearing before it gets to the inner one. This process just prevents premature wheel bearing failure. I know for a fact that this can happen-a neighbor once did a rear brake job on a Winnebago with a full floating rear and didn't pack the bearings after reassembling it. Even though the rear was full of gear oil when he was done-he made it less than 2 miles down the road before both bearings on both sides disintigrated. A wheel lift tow charge, 2 sets of bearing and seals later along with a Saturday spent cleaning up the axle faces was the result. He repacked them the 2nd time around. Mike

If you've got the Budd locking ring rims radials won't work (according to my local tire dealer). I'm running bias ply on the steers and drive dual. If you want to go to radials I think you're going to have to find a set of drop center rims that have the 6 hole bolt pattern-like hen's teeth. I know where there is a set, but the owner won't commit to sell them as of yet. If you do find something, make sure that the offset is deep enough to use the rims in a dual configuration. PM me and I'll show you photos of the single and dual rims. Mike

We did a firetruck we were restoring a few years ago. We put tarps under the vehicle and kept recycling the used media through the blaster-did it several times. We strained it before putting it through the blaster again-just used a piece of window screen to keep the big stuff out. Worked fine. Mike

You've got to be very careful that you evacuate all of the DOT3 before going to a DOT5 or all the internal rubber will turn to mush. We had this problem with a fleet of forklifts years ago-finally a directive came down from the factory saying that the two fluids aren't compatible and suggested replacing the wheel cyls before migrating over to the DOT5. Once you have this done, you probably won't ever have to do it again-just make sure that you label the master cylinder for the guy your wife sells the car to after you head off to the dirt nap. Mike

I found a setup on one of my pilot house parts trucks. The owner had modified the road tube with what looks like a piece of heater hose running up to a fitting on the air filter. I don't know what type of intake filter he used on the oil filler, but I'm thinking of modifying the vent filter from a slant six to replace the existing filler cap. My question is would a setup of this type provide enough vacuum to make the system work effectively? Mike

When I did mine I went with the internally regulated GM DELCO alternator and made a bracket for it. I changed all of the bulbs and installed a 12v coil but you can put a ballast resistor on yours I think. I also switched to a voltmeter instead of the ammeter to monitor the electrical system. You'll need a voltage reducing resistor for the fuel guage too. Mike

I would bet that you have a collapsed line or two. I think there is a set on ebay right now. I just replaced the front wheel cyls, and lines on my 36 Plymouth, and then flushed the system. What a difference. Mike

What a great piece to start out with! Good luck and please keep us in pictures as you progress through the restoration. Mike

If you can find longer shackles for the rear of a Pilot House (C type shackles)-you will have found something! Removing leaves is in effect going to legnthen your spring as the spring flattens out-you'll want to make sure that you still have travel left in the shackle to handle the bumps your sure to hit. Good luck-Mike

I've found a use for the noise mine sometimes makes when the clutch pedal rubs on the floor opening. I like to think of it as a theft alarm Mike

I had a new unit that came w my truck that I used on my '36 plymouth over the summer in order to get it to a show w/o waiting for a rebuild. That pump was slightly longer than the one that came off the car (both were bypass type). Since the bolt patterns are the same, I can either have the core from the '36 rebuilt, or purchase a new unit-which I'm inclined to do-but I don't want to have alignment problems w the pulleys. Thanks-Mike

I need to replace the waterpump in my '52 1 ton. NAPA sells 2 different pumps but doesn't stock either in their local store. This is the longer of the 2 offered-any idea what the p/n is? Thanks-Mike F