Los_Control

Thanks Dave, will remember that. And send a message to him soon. Think I need to get the rest of the gauges out and look at the whole picture, then decide . I already know myself well enough, going to hand paint the speedo. Then contact B1B when I cant live with the results

YES! You would need to get rid of the old fluid, I would really wish to have done it before driving it. But that is how life goes. Get out all of the old fluid as much as possible. Add new and then run it a bit, maybe just on jackstands with the rear wheels off the ground, then flush it again. Old oil turns to gunk, You should drop your oil pan and clean out all the sludge in it. I have seen cars that have sat for years, pull the pan and is like 3" of sludge on the bottom. Just the old oil turning into a solid from the years. As you run the engine, this semi solid will soften and plug up oil passages and eventually your engine will starve from lack of lubrication and blow up. The sludge I have seen, You need a putty knife to scrape it out of the bottom of the pan. And this would be my thoughts on your transmission as well. You want to try and get as much as the old stuff out that you can. Give it at least 1/2 a chance to work for you. I bet many have gotten by without dropping the pan, But if you saw what is lying in the bottom, you would take the extra time to clean it out. Who knows, maybe 20 years and it does not turn into a solid, but 30 years it will? But those chunks floating in your transmission will not help it.

Am curious if anyone has taken theirs apart, have any words of wisdom to offer. I have mine apart this far, and all cleaned and believe it will work fine with some use. I blew it out with air, sprayed a little wd 40 in it and worked it and then blew it out again, put in to much atf for a lubricant. Seems a lil sluggish in movement now, but after turning it upside down and let the atf drip out I think it will work. Now the question is, do I put it back together and walk away? Or do I remove the needle and odometer, set it back to zero and hand paint the face? Kinda worried about getting the springs back together as they are, Maybe just paint the face and not take it apart more? I dunno as never taken one apart before. I am happy with the chrome trim ring. It was pitted, hoping to use steel wool and clean it up, the chrome was really thin and ended up just sanding it all off. Seems it is brass underneath, if I had a choice between paint, chrome or brass, I am choosing brass and hope the other gauges and trim rings are also brass.

I plan to go with a flatbed and stake sides. Have to agree with Jeff on the white oak. The first go around though, will be just pine. I have plenty of it used and in good shape. (Use to be a deck) One side does not look great, but the other side is just like new, except it has a little grey patina. And as a carpenter for years, have worked with same wood many times. Will use my random orbital sander just enought to knock the dirt off and bring back a little bit of colour. I want to keep the patina aged look. Then hit all sides with sikkens oil, with cetrol D. natural colour, and it will in my eyes look like a very old original flatbed, ready for work. I have worked in New Mexico as a carpenter for years, sikkens is the only product I found that would hold up to the burning desert sun. And I prefer the natural. If you put it on brand new yellow pine, it looks yellow and not real attractive, you give it 3 years, and it darkens into a beautiful golden brown. You will notice in one year it getting darker and looking better, but 3 years and you have a finish that you wont be able to duplicate. By using used lumber and just cleaning it, I will bypass the waiting step. And since it is a oil, just wash it good and brush on more when needed. If you drag something heavy and scratch/gouge it, sand it out to remove the splinters and put some oil on it. Anyways that is my 2 cents on the finish I will be using. And if any wish to purchase some and try it, remember cetrol D They sell sikkens without it and it is no better then the rest and need replaced in 2 years. Pay the extra and get the can that says with cetrol D.

What I came up with A pillar to A pillar 56 1/4" From latch side to A pillar 30 15/16" The edges are rounded a bit, I measured from the proudest point, to the proudest point. Hope this helps.

power to the starter yet? This is kinda where I am with my truck. My headlights worked, but starter would not turn over. But there was another starter on the seat, and the top starter bolt was out, bottom bolt and wire loose. I believe the starter went out and was the straw that broke the camels back on this truck. Back in the 70's you could buy a good used truck for $100. And molly was already over 20 years old. I really want to spend some time cleaning up the wiring, before connecting the battery again. Lot of bare wires where the old cloth wore off and disintegrated. I think all of my smoke is in good condition, did not see any of it escape from the wiring. But feel kinda lucky after closer inspection of the current wiring. All I want to do is fire it up and see what condition the motor is in, but not worth burning all the wiring up in the process.

years ago I use to retread truck tires, we used lots of glues and solvents. Naturally we would always order the correct solvent through our suppliers. We were told, if we wiped a solvent on a mirror and let it dry, you would see if it left behind a residue, and if you could use it for retreading. For obvious reasons, it was critical to not have contamination left behind. Seems like a simple test you could try and see for yourself what would be left behind after it dried.

I have always liked the black wheel with baby moons and chrome trim rings. Is a option that have used many times over the years, does not cost a lot, easy to take care of and look good to me. some borrowed from the webs.

if someone could confirm measurements from A pillar to A pillar across the cab at the bottom and measurement from A pillar to B pillar at the bottom of the door opening. So we will measure from the bottom of the pillar of drivers door across to passenger door pillar, And then from the latch side to the hinge side on the passenger, again the floor height for measurement? It is dark here now, and truck is down the street at my uncles, so tomorrow will measure and take photos. If you can think of any other measurements that would be helpful, let me know. The 1952 cab is really solid and in good condition, should have good measurements. The doors open and close fine on it.

Just to add, the only reason I am suggesting other places like welding store or a tractor supply store, the heavy 00 cable is a standard item. Cars have not used 00 battery cables in decades. They can get it, but is special order to them, so they will have a special price just for you.

I have little experience with disconnect switches. I can tell you the one time I have dealt with them, it seems to be made a little on the cheesy side, adds confusion to the equation. My Uncle converted a 6 volt international truck to 12 volt. Honestly he also added a amp gauge under the dash to eliminate the idiot light, the 1956 truck had original. Well he used to small of wire to run to the new gauge, This caused the new wire to melt, and short out as it lay on the metal of the steering column, burnt up the regulator in the new 1 wire alternator, basically created a mess. He added a battery disconect switch to the negative terminal on the battery to stop the battery from draining. While trying to sort this mess out and repair it, I removed the fairly new disconnect switch. It was plated metal and the plating had worn off, it looked like it could be causing corrosion issues with the battery cables. I removed it to eliminate possible connection issues while I worked on the truck repairing it. Once repaired I offered to put it back on, but the electrical was now fine and no longer needed it. We left it off. To bad you do not have the welding store close by, auto parts store works also. You might also try a tractor suppl store if you have one close. A lot of the older tractors that are still in use today, are 6 volt.

I have a 1952 B1B that could look at, but think it may be different then a 1953 fargo.

00 would be best, 01 would be fine You can got to welding supply stores usually and order the wire by the foot. Is same wire leads that they sell for welding. And most will have the battery terminal ends available and clamp them on for you. When it comes to batteries, size does matter.

well I may have done it wrong, but I did it well

No idea what issues you could be having, I was totally amazed at how rusted tight my vacuum advance was. Just seems like one of those things one might overlook. Would run fine at lower speeds but if timing is not advancing, it would not reach higher rpm's. For the record, think I want to replace my distributor with a newer model. The one in my 1552 has a better vacuum advance, points plate setup then the 1949. I got mine back together, but afraid if I look at it crossways, the points plate will fall out.

Is a short video, will download first and then open. Or could host it on youtube so it opens like other videos, but it works fine. Just be patient.

Always want to check your grounds. Have you tried the headlights? seems they would work without the key, probably the horn. You could just jump the switch or replace with a toggle switch until you get a key. Be careful to not leave the key on and walk away, will burn out the points. But if you know the battery is charged, clean the ground cables is where I would start For the pro's, does anyone have advice on making a 6 volt positive ground test light?

Do we get to pick the highway?

Dennis, it is in a 1952 B1B parts truck. The truck has everything connected, emergency brake, driveline etc ... but it is missing the top of the transmission, and the floor does not have a hole for a shift lever. This makes me wonder about what Merle has to say. My first thoughts, transmission went bad, so they were going to put in a toploader, they connected everything but did not put the top cover back on. Seems like a few holes in that story to me. Now if the transmission was always in there, gave the owners problems, they took the top off to inspect it and lost interest. To me that sounds pretty plausible and could explain whats going on with it. If in fact they did have a 3 speed column shift with a toploader case.

That's interesting and something will have to keep a eye out for. Maybe it is the original trans after all. I stopped by there a couple days ago, only had a few min. I crawled under the truck to loo for the numbers. Was dark and to greasy to get the numbers. Will be over there on Saturday and get them then. I have a spare top loader i you are looking to buy some parts, Thanks Mark. I do not need any parts at this time, Am more interested in finding out more info on this transmision, and use the info to find a good home for this transmission. Would be better to post in the classified section of this forum, I am on the west coast and shipping would be a huge cost. Also have to wonder what year that came from as it does not have the emergency brake.

be sure and put some oil in the cylinders before turning it over. I bought a rebuilt Datsun 4 cylinder that sat for 2 years. Put it in the truck and fired it up and instantly broke a ring. Ran beautiful as it pumped out the blue smoke. If only I had taken some time to oil it up and turn it over by hand first. That is what we call experience, from the school of hard knocks.

Your fly is open?

I have to admit that it is not original to the truck, but if you remove the brass fittings on the pump and the carb, all inlet sizes are the same. So I thought it should work, dunno. Plan to just install same brass fittings as in the pump to convert to 5/16"

sounds good to me also, put the filter before the pump and one after the pump is what I will run. Something I have been told over the years, and car manufacturers confirm. A electric pump will push a long ways, why it is back in the tank. A mechanical pump will pull a long ways, why it is up front on the engine.. I doubt the current setup with canister on the fender is a issue, but think it would be better to have it before the fuel pump. Just working with my pump to clean it up and prepare it for first startup, is a mall screen in the pump that would not want to get clogged. My pump has a glass bowl, but no filter, so have a filter for between pump and carburetor and will add between tank and pump.