grey beard

Pilothouse trucks use no fender beading anywhere. The front (grille) panel seam to the front of the front fenders should have sealant or black tape sealer inside the seam to keep the splash from coming through onto the paint. Rear fenders have no bead at all, although some folks add it when they do restorations. The top rear edges of the front fendrs - where they meet the cab - have a thick rubber filler piece. Otherwise, no beading on Pilothouses. Check out Mr. Bunn's hook and factory photos. JMHO

Merle, Had exactly the same experience - new points from NAPA that lacked the steel spring in the box. Never noticed it till I hit the same snag as you did. Second spring sure helps with the higher rpm. Sometimes it's hard to know if a problem is fuel or ignition-related. One thing Iearned when diagnosing engine drivablilty problems with these engines - hook a timing light to the engine and watch it flash. If it changes with rpm, you know you have an ignition problem - simple as that. It's a good diagnostic tool and easy to hook up. I also found another neat tool for diagnosis - Waekon Arc KV Probe. A little pistol grip with a digital KV voltage scale in the handle. Just hook it around any secondary ignition wire and a bright led light flashes with the spark. Gives the voltage reading digitally, and when you disconneft it from the wire, a light comes on - red or green - to show you if your coil polarity is right or wrong. Costs like sixty nine bukzz at tooltopia.com. A neat little diagnostic tool I learned about whilst sitting at the feet of the master, himself - Dean Coatney. Thanks, Don

Most of the discussion on this thread has centered aroujd the idea of air-drying enamel from various manufacturers. Please know that two-part urethane paint is not in the same world as this old type air-dry enamel. Two part paint does not dry in the usual sense or the word - it cures chemically. Once cured, it is nearly twice as durable and hard as anything that dries by air - all the old frashioned stuff including all rattle can paints. I just finished restoring a Ford 8N tractor. Everything was sand blasted and primed with fast-fill epoxy two part primer made to go onto bare metal - U-Tech 350 primer, then painted with two-part urethane paint. I've painted almost one hundred tractors in my shop teacher life and I'fe [aomnted my Pilothouse truck. For any one of these projects, you need only a few quarts of paint. I painted the 8N with one quart of red and one quart of grey. I painted my Pilothouse with one quart of green and one quart of black. When you buy paint in this sort of small volume, you can afford one or two hundred bucks for the good quality stuff. When you consider the amount of lbor and work necessary to get a vehicle ready to paint - body work, sanding, rust repair, etc., in muy thinking it makes sense to use a goopd quiality product on the frinish. Once you own a vehicke with the two-part finish on it, you will never go back to the cheap air-dry stuff, IMHO. Good Luck

This spring I finished restoring a Ford 8N tractor. Spent a buncha' time lurking on their forum threads and learned the merits of JD Corn Head grease. I drained my tractor steering box and installed a zerk in an opening towards the top end of the casting and began to pump this green slime in. Took two complete tubes of the stuff before grease came out at the top of the steering column. Man, but this stuff is slick. Almost like power steering. Must have a lot of friction modifier additives in it. I'm tickled, and it's not too expwnsive - think I spent about three bucks a tube for the stuff. I doubt your steering box will leak this stuff out very soon. Good Luck

Yup, lesson learned is that one can never safely assume a new part is going to work properly. In my case, the gaskets were almost right - and as Greg mentioned, they probably originated in the "land of aomost-right." *Asia) Of course, once they began leakkng air into the intake system, it ran lean and stumbled around while on the main metering circuit. On acceleration, the power valve overcame this small air leak and it pulled okay. It was just on steady throttle cruise speeds above idle where the problem reared its ugly head. I have learned to look carburetor parts over more carefully, and will never again assume that the kit parts I buy will be an exact fit. Fortunately for me, in this case I had extra gaskets I had saved from previous carb overhauls that I was able to scrounge up and use. Now this old Dodge is a pleasure to drive. Can't wait to get the new transmission installed and have a working synchronizer once again . . . Good Luck

Merle, Since my last posts on this issue - more than a year ago - I have suffered through another sorta' identical issue to what you described. The motor accelerated well and started and idles just fine, hut at a steady medium throttle speed it broke up and hucked a lot on the road in high gear at cruise speed. Accelerated just fine but would not run smoothly at medium throttle. My air cleaner it the large variety with a hrace that runs across the head to the drivers' side of the head. I had the carb off three times and finally ran it withj the air cleaner off - ran better. When I installed the air cleaner it broke up on cruise. Pulled the carh off again - those screws come out real easy afrter about a dozen trip apart and gack together. Anyhow, a close inspection revealed the wrong - read too big - gaskets on the carb aluminum spacer between the base and the main body. These taskets came in a new kit I boughr at great price - just installed 'em and figured they were correct. WRONG! Gasklets were tpp hig at the hole. New gaskets rixed the cruise problem. Now it runs and cruises jsut fine.

According to Mr. Bunn's B Seried Dodge Bible and the enclosed factory pics, 49 thru 50 models all had the same hood ram as standard equipment . The hood ornament became optyonal after that point, but remained the same one used earlier. Those spread-horm versions you fellers are showing are all from V8 automobiles. I know they look cute, but they were never put on trucks from the factrory, IMHO. Check out Mr. Bunn!

The door weatherstrip pieces begin at the rear of your win vent and go down along the hinge side to the bottom. The rest of the door opening weatherstrip goes onto the cab side and overlaps the door piece by an inch or so. It also goes to the bottom. A third (different) strip goes on the door lower panel just at floor height, and seals the bottom at that point. If you read the archives and use the search function, you can find some very good photos of this installation. Make sure you glue the proper edge to the metal 0- they're easy to get on wrong. Good Luck

Paul, Those brake lines typically rust through from the INSIDE because of the hygroscopic nature of brake fluid. They may look okay on the outside, but I would strongly suggest you replace them. I bought a 25-foot roll of steel tubing and had some left over when I was finished. Just pull each old line off carefully. If you don't have them, buy a set of three fitting wrenches - they look like a box end with a hole in the rim - and use these to break the old fittings loose. There are two short lines on your rear axle, a long line from the master cylinder back to the flex line abovce the rear axle, and two medium length lines going to the two front wheels. A special junction fitting is on the frame near the master cylinder, and one short line from the master cylinder to the junction block is the only one that is one size larger - 3/8-inch, I believe. You can do the whole job in one day, if you first learn how to make proper double flares on the line ends. If you are unsure of this, ask someone locally who inws how to show you - it's quire easy once you've seen it done. The only other tool you will need is a double flare kit -Haebor Freight sells 'em. Use youre old lines as patterns for lengtrh and bends. Put two big deep sockets in your vise and use them as a bendng mandrel to form your tubing bends, so it will not kink. I'd also recommend you replace all three rubber flex lines. Then your brakes will be safe and dependable. You'll be glad you did. Good Luck

Mike, I'm hoping to be there Friday, weather permitting. If it rais then, I may try for Saturday. I remember last year and all the mud . . . This is my all-time favorite show of the year. I always look forward to it. Just wish there were more Dodges there. Looking forward to seeing you again. Good Luck

Big, If'n ya want a truck what'cha can pick up a catalog and order any part you want/need, sell yer Dodge and buy a Chebbie or Ferd. They're like that. Dodges ain't. Dodge trucks are a little less common and are a lot more difficult to find parts for. Most of us who have spent time with them have come to enjoy and accept the fact that the hunt is part of the old truck adventure. My truck is finished, and there are parts on it from many states and from many forum members who have been helpful - either in steering me to good source vendors or in offering parts I need that they have extras of. It's sort of a fraternity. If this idea appeals to you, welcome aboard. My next suggestion is that you take a few minutres and fill out yer profile, so we can see where all'y'all are from and what you do, etc. Then, if you are serious about restoring the truck, spend about fifty bucks and buy repro shop and parts manuals. Thjese two books will get used more often than you might imagine. Remember, we're all here for you. Post your questions and problems as you progress through things, and you may be amazed at the help you find here. One last thought. Go to the Pilothouse.com home page of this web site and read over the Pilot's Knowledge, Tech Tips, and all the other goodies available to you for helping you get smarter about Dodge trucks. Lastly, if you're really serious aboutr learnng all this stuff, do what I did and read all the old forum threads from the last several years. There's lots'a chatter and foolishness there, along with some amazng information. Good Luck. Welcome Aboard, Pilot!

My tailgate was rusted completely through at the lower tube for at least eighteen inches in from the outer edges. After it was sand blasted, I bopught a piece of 3/4-inch galvanized pipe at my local ACE hardware, cut it six inches shorter than the tailgate width - so there was room for the hinges at each end - and drove that puppy into the tube with a BFH - big fat hammer. Then I mig welded the remaining sheetmetal to the pipe and fixed the rest with DuraGlass waterproof fiberglass repair. Looks good now. When I trook my tailgate off, it was bowed outward so badly that I had to straighten it by driving over it wiith my E150 van front wheel. Then I put a 2 x 4 under each side and drove over it again. Finally got it straight enough to start doing body work on it. Spent two weeks' time on just this one panel. Im pretty happy with the way it looks now. Good Luck.

paul, Go to your local friendly auto hody supply store and ask for 3M Strip-Caulk, part number 051135-08578. The hox you will get has twenty yards of the stuff - enough to do a dozen Pilothouses. This stuff smushes down into the seams and makes 'em waterproof. AND, next time you need to pull those screws out and take things apart, it is user friendly, and easy to get apart. This is the same sturf you will want to use to seal your headlight buckets into your header panel and your grille header panel to the front seam of your front fenders. You need somehing in all those seams to keep muddy water from dripping outr onto your fresh paint and making a mess. After you've tithtened everything down, just take a rag with some lacquer thinner on it and wipe off the seam and all the excess caulk will be gone. Neat, what? Good Ludk

If you are a regular reader of this forum, you may have read this rant before. I have a strong belief that the largest majority of our flathead lubrication problems come from engines running too COLD. I have read countless threads on these forums from guys who say they started up their ride and let it warm up for ten minutes, then shut it down again. Our MoPar flathead blocks - even my small 218 - weighs in around 750 pounds. Now folks, that's almost 250 pounds MORE than a belly button - read Chebby small block - V8. Because of their mass and their in-line configuration, it tales quite a while for the entire block to warm up. Who cares about this? You, if you want your engine to stay clean. I have pulled several of these flatties apart in the last rive years. Every one of them had lots of caked uo sludge and coke in the valve chambers. This may have been from lousy oil, or poor maintenance or a combination of other stuff, but it speaks volumes about how these engines respond to lots of use. When you start up a cold engine and let it run till the dash temp gauge reads normal, the oil sump is likely still room temperature. It takes some hard work - or a lot of time - to get these engines up to a temperature where they are warm enough to evaporate condensation from the cranikcase. Period. Here's a simple quick-and-dirty test ror any unbelievers among us. Run your engine till you think it's warm, then put your hand on top of the oil filter. If it's just warm, you're only half way there. If you had a lazer thermometer and shot the oil pan, you'd find it is still only luke warm. When the oil is up to operating temperature, you will not be able to keep your hand on the top of the frilter very long. Oil must reach nearly 200 degrees F beforee condensation will evaporate. Unless you have a PCV system - I have one on mine - and you are relying on the old road draft tube to evacuate the crankcase, this condensation builds up inside the block. Since it is heavier than oil, it lays on the bottom and creates sludge. Here's how to fight this problem. First, eliminate short runs. Only start your ride up if you are going to keep it going for thirty minutes or more. This is hard to do with old vehicles, but you can do it if you try. Install a 180 degree stat. Those old 160's were made for alcohol based antifrreeze and have no place in any vehicles today. Get it warm as quickly as you can, and keep it warm. It will live longer and stay cleaner. Finally, find or build a PCV system. They're simlicity, itself. This combination will help keep your old heavy flathead cleaner longer than any oil you can buy. Oh, by the way, those bypass oil filters only operate when the oil pressure is not too high or too low - only part of the time, because the pressure regulator shuts off the flow on wide open throttle and low oil pressure situations, so all that gallons-per-minute math may need a few weasel words in the equation. LOL Good Luck

I just used 3M dum-dum-ty-e string putty. Seals well and cleans up quickly. Udsed it on the seam for my grille shell-to-fender area as well. Comes in gray and black. Good Luck

Once opon a time I used to think I was fairly good at communicating my thoughts. Now I'm beginning to wonder . . . Hank, pleasee re-read my entire thread over again from the top. Pulling the four bolts and nuts off of the front Yoke LOOKS like it should do the trick, but sadly such is not the case. Pleasee trust me on this, I've just soent quite a few hours working through this thing on a bench. In the truck it would be a nightmare, unless you are truly gifted as a contortonist. Going back together, the same -lousy order or progression were necessary. First the drum goes on the back of the tranny, loose. Then the front yoke goes on and the big nut and washer, plus the cotter pin. Then the U-joint goes back onto the front yoke. Finally, the drum can be rebolted back onto the front yoke, but only after the joint has been reinstalled. If any of you guys can pull your front companion flange off the transmission without first splitting the front joint, please let me know what I've been a'missin'. Good Luck

Merle, If you look carefully at your own photo of your rear trans output area, the front U-joint yoke is splined to the output shaft and held in place with a large nut. The only way to get the yoke off the trans is to separate the joint. It looks like it unbolts, but it does not. It's a real bummer to get off. On top of all that, the e-brake drum is held to the front yoke with four 3.8-inch bolts that come in from the front, and they have nuts on the back sides. The nuts are fine thread and the bolts have special shoulders on them where they pass through the drum and yoke. This all means that the only way to get the front companion flange off is to separate the front joint. Once the cross is out of the way, you have access to the big nut. I checked the parts book and the three and four-soeed boxes even use the same yoke and rear bearing retainer, so yours is just like mine. It's hard for me to believe anyone could design somethig this hard to service. My next job is relacing the top half if the rear main seal, behind the flywheel. As I remember, this is a fun job too, because there are nuts on those bolts on the crank that have a very tight fit. I'll be glad when the job is finished.

Merle, If you check the parts book illustrations, the three speed front yoke is retained to the output shaft by the big nut. Yes, you can remove the nuts on the brake drum that go through the fl[ange, but the U-joint must still be separated from the front yoke to get the nut off, which then allows the front yoke to come off. The nasty part of this issue is that the drum covers nearlyhalf of the U-joint, making it difficult to get to it. My new joint went in with just my fingers - seemed almost too loose, until I realized that there are two surclips that must go on eac side of each cap, wich snugh the whole thing up jicely. I still used the old cross-boltec locks and bolts, even theough they are not necessary on this new joint. Mine is now fready to go back into the truck. Anxious to drive it, but I['ve also got two rear mounts and an upper main sewal behind the flywheel to change while the box swap is going on. Lots to do befire the Macungie PA show in two weeis. . . . . .

I don't mean to go natteing on about something no one else is nterested in, but here's jow this job fell out, finally. The new U-joints that fit our trucks are a Chicago Rawhid numger 1-1612BF. I realize your mileage may vary, but for a benchmark to shoot at in your home area, my cost for this part was $36.00, exactly one half the price our friendly Massachusetts Bandits want for the same part in a plastic bag with no number on it. Go figure. If you have access to a torch, it is best to cut the old U-joint cross out, as opposed to banging or pressing it apart. This saves considerable stress on the old yoke. Once the old joint is out, polish up the yoke and the new joint caps press together just fine using a bench vise and a few properly-ized sockets. Bernbumm has the gasket set. if you go to all this work, might as well have the right gaskets. I glued them all in with the same Aviation cement. This baby should never leak a drop, if I have anything to say about it. TThese rear seals are a bear to get in. I tried a large socket, a press, a vise anf finally wound up just banging it in by hand with a soft-faced hamjer. DO use sealer on the outside perimiter of the seal. I used Permatex Aviation gasket cement. Good Luck

Way to go, Ed. Congratulations May your children be acrobats . . . . . .

Well, Freind Paul, You've come a long way, baby . . . . . . Congrats! (grin)

No, no, a thousand times NO! Shock rubbers are made to do their job with benefit of no external lubrication. Generally, any lubrication on rubber - other than silicone - makes it swell up and deform - the last thing any of us want to happen to our shock reubbers. Just make sure you have a good flat washer on each side and torque 'em up gutt und tight. JMHO

I went to Lowes and bought a roll of "Peel'nSeall" butyl rubber roofing for valleeys and gutters. Makes fine sound deadener and seam sealer. Easy to install, too - just cut pieces to size and peel the paper off and stick it down. I used 3M upholstery adhesive under it, as well, especially on the cab inner roof. It'llnever come down. Then put a layer of bubble-wrap duct lnsulation on top of the rubber, the stuff with foil on both sides. Nice and cool and quiet and cheap - my favorite mix. Good Luck

If any of you are interested in this stuff, the speedy sleeve that fits our Pilothouse transmission yokes is a Chicago Raw2hide part number 99159. This sleeve repairs the groove that gets worn in the old yoke from the seal lip and saves buying a new yoke. Good Luck

Changing Transmission Rear Seals My Pilothouse is like an old dog, and marks its territory with oil leaks. The main leak is from the rear of the transmission. The seal had to be replaced. This is not a fun job. Please do not attempt to do this unless you are an experienced wrench-type person. I have a shop manual and a parts book, none of which were much help for this job. It is almost impossible to change this seal with the transmission in the truck. I have no experience with MoPar automobiles, so I cannot speak to whether or not they are the same in this respect. The transmission on which I changed this seal was sitting on my bench, or I would not have been able to do the job. First, the drive shaft must be removed. The rear U-joint comes off of the differential in the conventional manner. It’s up front that things get interesting. Pilothouse drive shafts have a splined slip joint in the drive shaft. On some units this spline just pulls apart. On others it is necessary to remove a threaded lock ring from the rear end of the female spline. Once the main drive shaft is off, you still have the shorter female splined slip coupler, which is also a part of the front universal joint. This front U-joint must be pressed apart. I’m sure there is a special service tool for this job, but I do not have one. The usual way to get these joints apart is to beat on the cross area with a BFH – big fat hemmer. However, almost half of the U-joint is hidden inside the emergency brake drum. So the drum must be removed. First you must remove the emergency brake band. This involves five bolts, four springs and some linkage. Watch out for the small coil spring between the band and the case on the left (driver’s) side. The bolts that hold the drum to the transmission are screwed into the U-joint yoke from front to the rear. There is only one spot on the transmission where you can see these bolt heads, and this is at about one o’clock, looking at the brake drum from the rear. You look into the drum from the front side, so that you can get a wrench in the drum from the top to remove four 3/8-inch bolts. You must first turn the drum to the proper spot where you can get access to them from the front top side. This is why I say the job is nearly impossible to do in the vehicle. The shop manual simply tells you to remove the U-joint and the brake drum. Good luck! Once the brake band and drum are out of the way, you now have access to the front U-joint. The drum is still held by the U-joint, although it is free to turn and move back and forth about a half inch. This is far enough to get access to the U-joint caps to remove them. Had this joint been replaced somewhere in the past sixty years, it might have come apart more easily, but this one was a bear. I had to use a four-pound cross pien hammer and all my considerable lard on it to get this joint to come apart. I had full access to all this, lying on my work bench. In the truck, it would have been impossible to do. Now remove the 1¼-inch castellated bolt that holds the front half of the U-joint to the output shaft. You pull a largish cotter pin and use an impact gun to get the bolt off. Then the front half of the U-joint yoke slides off. Next you remove the speedometer drive gear and pull four 3/8-inch bolts that hold the bearing retainer to the main transmission case. Once this retainer plate is off, it is then possible to hammer the old seal out from the inside and to install the new one. My front yoke has a groove worn into the surface from the old seal lip. Putting a new seal onto this arrangement would guarantee another leak, so my next job will be to hunt down a speedy sleeve to fit the old yoke. When the parts are put back together, the rear bearing retainer goes on with the new seal and gasket installed, and then the rear yoke and nut go on, with the drum on loose, in front of it. Then the U-joint goes back together before the drum can be bolted in place. You can put the bolts back into each hole with a needle-nose pliers and turn them in with a wrench from the top. There is also enough room here to put the bolts back with a ¼-inch drive socket and ratchet, but a wrench will be needed for final tightening. Then the brake band and linkage go back in place, and the gear box is ready to go back into the chassis. The biggest part of this job is getting the front universal joint apart and back together. I have seen a special service tool for this job that looks like a heavy C-clamp. One of these would simplify the job considerably. If it allowed separation of the joint with the drum attached, it would save several hours’ labor. Now I know why so many of these transmissions still leak at the back. I would never tackle one of these in the frame. Good Luck