Jump to content

Los_Control

Members
  • Posts

    4,242
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    27

Everything posted by Los_Control

  1. I certainly hope your new tires will be of current age. While I might expect Coker to have maybe 6 month - 1 year .... that would not bother me as they sell to a specialty crowd. I think Keith misread .... it is your existing used tires that were born in 2006. .... My point of my long winded post, maybe your existing tires do look fine .... do not feel bad about replacing them. They will not perform well when you need them. I have been doing a lot of driving the last couple weeks, have a BIL in a hospital 75 miles away in critical condition .... wife has been given full responsibility for his medical/estate decisions. ..... Lots of highway miles this month. Last week a semi truck treated a intersection as a 4 way stop while I had a flashing yellow caution light .... I was 40 mph with no intention of stopping when he pulled out in front of me. I needed every bit of braking power I could get. I stopped in the middle of the intersection about 2-3 feet away from his rear axle ..... I almost spilled my beer! I'm just saying it could have just as easily happened to you at 40 mph, if your old 2006 tires did not grab the road and went into a skid .... you would have hit the truck & spilled your beer Be happy you are replacing your tires .... keep the old ones around for spares or for rollers for another project .... just do not use them on something you drive.
  2. One thing I've noticed over the years .... bias ply tires often were used for trailer tires long after radials were the norm. They just seem to hold up longer to age when you have a small trailer that gets used a few times a year .... Takes longer for them to get the dry rotted sidewalls, even when they do start cracking on the sidewalls, they still good for a few more years for the occasional trip to the dump. Another thing Ive noticed is the rubber gets hard as it ages. Performance tires have a speed rating on the sidewall ... they have a softer rubber compound that will really flex and grab the road. ... softer rubber wears out faster and you get less miles out of the tire for your $$ The average tire has a average rubber compound that is adequate for todays roads and driving/weather conditions. .... as they age though, the rubber gets harder. They will not grip or grab the road like they use to ..... go into a panic stop and they may break into a slide losing braking power. Go around a corner when it is raining, they may lose traction and send you into a spin. They just do not perform as well as they did when new. I had a old 1960 Dodge 1/2 ton I use to drive to work. I was retreading Semi truck tires, we had a retail shop connected to our shop. I would just run free used tires on the truck. Someone would come in and buy a new set, send the old set to the junk pile ..... They were old but no cracking on the sidewall, legal tread .... I would run them. There was a tricky double s curve near my house, every time it rained I got 1/2 way through the curves & I would go into a 180 spin. The tires while they looked good, they simply could no longer perform like originally designed. After 3 times spinning out on the corner, I put a different set of used tires on it and never spun out again. Just my opinion, older tires may look fine, they may or may not explode on you .... they will not perform for you as you might expect or need.
  3. I'm just smart enough to know I'm not smart enough to figure out transmission conversions on my own. I can buy a kit and follow directions, figuring out pilot bearing dimensions, shaft lengths & diameters ..... throw out conversions .... way out of my league. Seems to me, you almost need to have all the pieces at your disposal just to measure & mock up ... just to see if you can make that trans work with your bell housing. Just tossing out my opinion, I love the idea of keeping a truck original and using it as it was designed to be used. I feel I can keep mine original because 90% of my driving is in a small town with population of 2500 people and speed limits up to 50 mph. I can drive to neighboring towns using side roads ..... I can use the stock truck as it was designed to be used. If I were to do all the fabrication to convert it to a 4x4, I think I would want the jeep 4.0 motor to go with the total package. To me it makes it complete. I would probably want to run some mild 31 x 10.50 - 15 tires ... a little taller, wider then stock .... While I would not want to beat it out on the trails, I would like to be able to use 4x4 when I thought I needed it. I'm not saying the flatty will not do the job of turning both axles with taller tires ..... boy it sure will be working hard .... and wearing out twice as fast. The flatty would be a serious weak link if it was left in place. I'm just suggesting in my opinion, the 4.0 needs to go in with the rest of the package. .... It would really change the abilities of the truck and allow you to use your new drive train as it was designed to be used. Freeway driving, trailer towing, lite off road or winter driving in ice & snow .... many trips to the ice cream shop. I will not say you are improving or harming the value of your truck ..... IMHO if you had 2 exact same trucks with the same 4x4 mods and your excellent fabrication skills to build them ..... The truck with the 4.0 would sell faster for more money then the truck with the flatty. If you are going in, go all the way not 1/2 way. Just my opinion.
  4. @ggdad1951 story is just about like mine, I waited my turn in the right lane, when a opening in the left lane came available I moved over. That pissed off the semi truck driver .... they rode my arse flashing their high beams all the way. I suppose the big difference in my case, we were in a construction zone where traffic fines double and we were doing about 45-50 mph. There was no option to change lanes again til after the road construction ended. I wonder what the ticket for the semi truck driver for aggressive driving in a construction zone would be? Last week was coming coming home on HWY 208 going through the outskirts of a small town. At a intersection I had a yellow caution light, opposing traffic had a flashing red light. Speed limit was 40 mph in this area. A dang semi treated the intersection as a 4 way stop and pulled out right in front of me ..... I just barely got stopped and avoided running into his rear axle on the tractor. If I reacted a 1/2 a second slower I would have nailed him and it was 100% the semi drivers fault. ...... Yeah I was laying on the horn watching the kid look out the drivers window as he crawled away. I have the upmost respect for truck drivers and the job they perform that we all need. ..... starting to wonder about the younger generation on the road.
  5. You are 100% correct @Bob Riding and I suspect the Desoto also use the same wheels .... I'm just not sure if all of them use that bolt pattern or just some? @Bingster could easily check by measuring the bolt pattern on one of their wheels. Or somebody else already knows. Really kind of sorta getting off topic here though, Bingster looking for cheap tires, I'm suggesting a different option to just replace the tires & wheels with something used. No idea if they are even open to the suggestion .... it does have other advantages though .... saves on labor cost to mount/dismount new tires. If I wanted to find a used set of tires & wheels. There is 8-10 wrecking yards within a few miles of each other in Abilene TX. I would call them and tell them what I was looking for. A few might be very well organized and have no time for such shenanigans. There will be one though that picked up a car last month that they never got around to taking the wheels/bald tires off of. They will work for you. If you want them for rollers, give me $50 cash and you can have them. ...... Cheaper then the mount/dismount fee of new tires. You just need to know what you are looking for, the counter person can then use that information to tell you all the different vehicles and also used sets they have sitting in inventory. Or just buy a new set of tires .....
  6. I realize this, I know some Chrysler uses the 5 on 5" bolt pattern ..... In this case the wheels from my 1991 chebby would fit. I'm sure other makes would also. I just do not know what the bolt pattern is on any Desoto. Most modern wheels are made from magnesium and have larger center holes for larger hubs on modern vehicles ..... so it is the bolt pattern and the tire height to be concerned with. ....... Naturally width but a stock wheel should not be a issue. I do know of a guy that installed Cadillac wheels on his 3/4 ton B1C pickup with the 5 on 5" bolt pattern.
  7. I think that would be true with some shops, but not all. At the same time, finding used 15" is almost impossible ... certainly rare. All newer vehicles have gone to taller wheels for larger brakes. Even small cars have 17" wheels or larger on them. What would be easier to find, a set of used tires & wheels that share the same bolt pattern as yours. I'm not sure what bolt pattern your Desoto uses. If it was the same 5 on 4.5" like the dodges, plymouths .... then some wheels off of a Ford explorer, Jeep cherokee .... Dodge Dakota ..... many choices. Possibly a wrecking yard would have a set cheap .... If a wrecking yard had a stock set of wheels for a jeep cherokee that has so so tires on it .... low tread & hold air .... they would sell them cheap. They have little chance of selling the wheels, basically scrap metal prices ..... the tires they have to pay a disposal fee to get rid of. Just saying, if you called a wrecking yard and told them you need some rollers while you restore your car, they could probably hook you up. This also leaves your original wheels free so you can restore and paint the wheels, then add new tires to them as you see the need. ..... Just another option.
  8. I have given a little bit of thought to trailer tires ..... Is a good used set local pretty cheap. What I believe is they may be a heavier ply rating for heavier loads, I think they also have a speed rating meaning lower speeds. Trailers drive down the road all the time at 70-75 mph .... how fast will you drive? The heavier ply rating would make them ride rougher. Because they are a cheaper trailer tire ..... I do not think you will get many miles out of them. I think they would be fine to use for awhile .... If I bought a set really cheap used. I think I would rather spend my money on better tires if buying new. My daily driver chebby truck uses the same size tires as my 49 dodge truck. 235-R-75-15. So the Dodge gets the hand me downs from the chebby .... Dodge is currently sitting on dry rotted tires I took off of the chebby when I bought it. I need to put new tires on the Dodge before I can drive it ... The new tires on the chebby are now 5 years old with low miles on them. I'm thinking about putting new tires on the chebby and then put the gently used tires on the dodge. Just an idea if you have another vehicle that uses the same size.
  9. I have a BIL in a hospital. He rode a bus 3 days from Washington to Texas to hang out for the winter. Been here since the 4th of the month. He has been in the hospital for the last 4 days dying. They found tumors on his brain .... transferred him 75 miles away to a larger hospital. Opened his skull and found the brain covered in fungus and closed him up. He is on a heroin drip to control his critical blood pressure. He is confused and combatant .... wants to walk out of ICU naked with a hole in his head so he is strapped in restraints to the bed. Serious hallucinations ... This Dude is really messed up. Hepatitis C, Type 1 diabetic, high blood pressure, fungus, tumors ..... If one does not kill him the other three will. I think it is sad that he burned all his bridges at home and nobody wanted to help him. ..... Go to Texas and see your sister. He has a father, sister, 2 brothers, his daughter, 2 cousins .... all wanting to get the latest updates on his health ..... We cant do the 150 mile drive everyday to go see a guy tied to a bed sleeping. .... It is $35 each trip for gas, 3 times last week, we will go again tomorrow. On a fixed income we simply cant afford it and our bodies do not allow it. Sure gives me a lot to think about and be thankful for. Being married for 40 years, her brother made many bad life choices 40 years ago ... lived life the way he wanted to. Now he is paying for it. Just makes me think how thankful I am to have made the life choices I have. Everybody will die, fact of life. ..... Seems the older we get, the more we see of it. Sorry for my rant ... I am not really sad at all .... just thoughtful of life. Wife and I have been very chatty while both kicking in efforts for our dinner ... Having a great time. I'm going to enjoy a nice quiet turkey dinner today .... jump back on the 150 mile merry go round tomorrow.
  10. Thats a good idea to have a right angle drill .... turns out I used a map gas torch to heat the bolt and it came out using vice grips ... I still pulled the radiator because I forgot to put the pulley on the water pump before installing it. I installed the water pump and was no way to install the pulley after ? I think the JB weld will probably work fine. ... It actually seems to work well as a filler ... for example it works to fill cracks on a steering wheel before painting it .... anytime it is under stress or pressure it will fail quickly. I need to do work on my rail also, sadly it is bent from some sort of collision. Not terrible, but you will sure see it in the gap when the tailgate is closed. Thats a future Fred problem
  11. I would think that will work fine for you. Grandpa had a 1952 Plymouth Suburban that had a extra heater under the drivers seat. I imagine some might have a heater in the rear of a station wagon or a panel van. I had a 1958 chebby panel with a rear heater. Just wondering if those spacers are part of a rear heater package .... to supply extra lines for a extra heater? iirc, Grandpa's suburban had T's in the heater hoses ..... looked pretty sloppy.
  12. I went south last week and picked up a 1970 318 2bbl engine with a 3 on the tree trans. Was in a 1970 Dodge 1/2 ton truck. I know it is nothing special, but these engines are getting harder to find. The owner has owned the truck since 1980 ... he is now going through the truck and added a 1985 front clip for independent suspension & disk brakes. He is installing a 315 Hemi with a 727 overdrive trans. .... Just saying he had no interest in the original 318/3spd and did not want to send it to scrap. So I made a 8 hour drive to pick it up, claims it has about 126K on it... motor runs fine but the trans was noisy or growled when idle in neutral. Shifted fine though. I really have no plans for it .... but it is all pressure washed and tucked into a corner of the garage under a warm blanket
  13. I will only suggest that the quality of the fuel has been going down year after year. 10 years ago the fuel was better and not a issue to most, then a couple years go by and gubment regulations change the fuel, then a couple more years go by and the regulations change again .... just saying this is getting worse & worse as time goes on. We notice it slowly. Modern cars do not have a problem with the lower quality fuel .... so they just keep lowering the bar until they do have a issue. It still can be another issue altogether though.
  14. Sings Hi Ho ... Hi Ho off to San Angelo I go.
  15. What you describe sounds like vapor lock? Seems unlikely in your area at this time of year though. When you shut the car off the cooling system no longer is working and the engine heats up .... modern fuel sitting in the carburetor & the fuel line from the pump to the carb will heat up & turn to vapor. .... Kinda sounds like yours is right on the verge of doing so ... it will run but not smoothly til you get the engine running and the fuel moving through the lines again. Same thing at a long stop light, the engine is running producing heat, the carb is filled so the float is closed .... the fuel just sits in the hot fuel line above the exhaust manifold and turns to vapor. What others have done is add a electric fuel pump near the tank .... when the problem comes up, turn on the electric pump for a few miles until the issue goes away then shut it off. The stock manual pump sucks, it is very good at sucking fuel .... but it can not suck vapor. The electric pump pushes, it sucks at sucking .... but it will push fuel a long ways. So the electric pump mounted near the tank, will push the cool fuel to the carb .... pushing the vapor out of the way. ..... Hope that makes sense. This is only a problem with older vehicles ..... all modern vehicles run electric pumps in the tank and have a return line back to the tank, so the injectors are always getting fresh cool fuel. Doug&Deb also seem to think this is the issue and I agree with them that it is possible something else is causing it .... but it sure sounds like typical vapor lock to me.
  16. Just for basic maintenance after 75 years, I have had my cluster out a few times for cleaning and oiling. And needed repairs.
  17. Sometimes I think it is just the way the past generation raised their kids with no manners. I went on a little road trip Last Thursday. Was a 4 hour drive each way, so I hit the road at 5:00 AM .... Would put me at my destination just after 9:00 AM to load up a engine. Then still get home at a decent hour. While going through some road construction on I20 about 6:00 AM it was still dark and rush hour traffic with people going to work. Traffic was slowed down to stop & go in the right lane .... Not much better in the left lane. Looking in the drivers mirror there was a line a mile long in the left lane .... no chance to move over .... eventually a space appeared and I had room so I took it. All I'm saying is it was stop & go traffic and I pulled in front of a semi truck ..... they left themselves way too much space for the speed we were traveling. So for the next few miles the semi truck driver kept flashing his high beams & driving lights into the back of my truck. .... I get it, he was pissed off. What I walk away with, just a young driver that has no experience .... showing his road rage for such a trivial event at 30 mph or less. Possibly his first run after getting his license, or possibly his last run if he keeps up the childish behavior. Yeah I was pissed at his behavior at the time ..... several days later, I do not feel I'm a better man .... I just feel they were a ignorant man and have a lot of growing up to do.
  18. Do you have a spacer also on top of the water pump? Just saying, I have no spacers, The T-stat housing is 1 piece, same with the bypass unit. All you need is to use the extra outlet to add a nipple & run it to the heater .... then a valve on the back of the block for the other side of the heater.
  19. Same as Ivan here also. I do not understand the spacers ... what there purpose is? I have my heater out right now, so just looping back to the block from the T-stat housing. ... I also added a flushing T in the heater hose ... convenient place to have one. I threw in a gate valve which is very ugly ... but it works until I can find a valve more sexy looking.
  20. I know I suggested to add water to it so you could hear it run and let it warm up .... then if you found any more leaks you could fix them before adding coolant. That was several weeks ago while you still had time to work on it. Seems like that time has passed, I would not be adding antifreeze until after I checked with plain water that there were no more leaks. I would not be adding plain water if the temps are below freezing ...... so I would just leave it dry at this point. I'm in the same boat right now. I've been messing with mine, I had to pull the radiator out ... I put a new water pump on it while I was there .... I pulled the heater out because I need to paint it .... still not done that yet. I needed to move the truck to get access to the carport, driveway .... looks like I have a leak somewhere but cant tell where. I just do not have time to work on it right now, so will be draining the block and let it sit dry, until I do have time to work on it.
  21. While the # looks weird to me also, remember back in this time period it was normal to re-stamp a motor to suit the stampers needs. Seems I have heard you can get new engines with no stamp, then stamp it to match your old engine. Same with installing a used engine .... grind off the old number then stamp the number you want. I wanted to suggest Bannerman but could not find a link to them .... Thanks to @billrigsby for finding it. Bannerman has been collecting & logging motor identification numbers on these engines for years. Possible they know something about yours, I'm sure he would like to have your information either way just for his logs. Just thinking the # in your case only meant something to the re-builder. If you are unsure of the size of the engine. You can measure the stroke without pulling the head. That should tell you something. Also you can pull the head and measure the bore. Then go through a engine manual checking for bore & stroke for different engines .... Why possibly just the stroke will tell you what you need? I do not know the bigger 25" truck engines so I'm no help.
  22. Here is what I consider a rough 1950 Dodge. Straight out of the field it sat in for 20 years..... Really took little work to get it running. The cooling system needed a lot of attention. I feel a experienced person could have gone through it and made it a safe dependable driver in less then 6 months of spare time. Not me though ..... Having never painted a vehicle before .... I just had to try it. ? Seriously, if it had some paint or bad paint ..... I would have been fine. But no paint .... I would feel guilty for being a bad caretaker. So while piddling around learning to weld & paint, I have been going through the undercarriage cleaning & painting everything. Inspected the front end, greased everything ..... upgraded the master cylinder, new wheel cylinders & lines. New fuel tank, lines, carburetor. Wiring was garbage, generator wrong & non working. New GM alternator and a universal wiring harness. I admit I was very lucky that mechanically the truck was in decent condition .... just needed a lot of neglected maintenance. I am not restoring it, just repairing it ..... fixed all the rust, took out the big dents left the little ones. Still a ways to go yet, when I hit the road with it "I" think it will be a dependable driver that is well maintained and have about $4k - $5k into it? She is the official Hound Dog Hauler. I live in a small rural town and expect to daily drive it for everything .... including dump runs when needed.
  23. That crew is awesome. Seems they are having some website issues. ... Couple weeks ago I ordered a parking light lens from them ...... While installing my original glass one, I dropped it on the concrete and broke it I ordered the part and went through the full steps. After the final step I expect to see a page that says order has been placed .... instead I get a 504 error. So thinking I messed up I ordered again .... and got the same 504 error at the end. About 15 minute later DCM calls me on the phone, asked if I wanted 1 or 2 lenses. Explained that the order goes through, just the customer see's the error and they are working on fixing it. I received the lens in a few days, to my surprise it was also glass like the original .... I was expecting plastic. It was also cheapest at $26, on ebay they were selling $35-$40.
  24. I think it really depends on condition of the engine. How much compression, a good working carburetor. Proper tune up. These engines ran in the winter time when they were new .... If in good condition they will run fine now also. I had a 1960 slant 6 truck ..... I sometimes needed to put a heat lamp under it to get the oil warmed up before it would start on very cold mornings. To be fair, the oil was probably closer to sludge then oil ..... I never changed it, just added to it when low. I had a 1951 Ford truck flathead V8. I needed to throw a rag over the top of the carburetor for extra choke to get it to fire up. Carb was Just wore out. Just suggesting that you can get the old beaters started without too much trouble .... I imagine if block heaters are normally used in your area, then use one. Might be a fun project, to have one that you can enjoy and use as you want. Not be so worried about parking lot dings or other normal issues that arrive with a daily driver. That is the whole goal of my truck ..... something safe & dependable to drive.
  25. I like to think the Mopar Engineers designed it to be a self oiler ..... They were just way ahead of their time. They knew the average person would not remove the starter and oil the gear at the recommended intervals.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

Terms of Use