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NO NO NO! I never suggested you do that. Thats what I'm doing because I'm cheap and lazy. .... My seat came in terrible condition and missing springs, kid a block over from me advertised the chebby seats for $50. I would rather drive 1.5 hours one way to a wrecking yard and choose better seats with seat belts built in ..... Simple fact, I'm to lazy to drive 3 hours and spend the time to shop for better seats. Then because I'm cheap, when the $50 seats came up 1 block over .... I said I can make those work ..... I'm not saying it is my first choice. It is obvious I pulled my seat base out a few years ago knowing I would do something different .... it was pretty bad. Used a cutoff wheel and a grinder to cut the brazed welds loose from the floor. ... I had to repair some rust holes on the floor where the seat goes, and a complete new lower floor where your feet go ..... I had reason to pull the seat base out. I have 10' of 1.5" x 3/16" angle iron welded in place for the new seats to mount to. .... I still have 3' leftover but that will be for the console. I decided I liked flipping the seat base over, it was wider and flatter and more surface to weld to the floor. The seat base is sloped & sits higher in front then the rear ... lays you back. But the Chebby seats also have the same slope .... when you combine the 2, the front of the seats are too far off the floor to be comfortable. So I had to cut my welds loose then remove 1" off the front of the base to level it out ...... (Dear Lord please teach me to tack weld before finish welding ... Amen) There was still a slight angle but it was ok, I learned if I switched the base from left to right & upside down it is just right for my chebby seats. As a bonus, I will use the wider base flange to bolt the base down .... I have 10, 3'8" grade 5 bolts holding it to the floor, same 4 bolts holding each seat .... It all unbolts for removal if needed in the future .... right now I need them out to run a new wire harness under the dash. ..... It is handy to have a flat floor to lay on. All I'm saying is I did a fair amount of fabrication to make the chebby seats work with the original base. The console will be very interesting. The base of the seats are 15" apart, when you get to the base of the seat cushions, it is 7" apart. The seats have arm rest, all we really need now is cup holders ..... there is a lot of space between the seats ..... .......You get where I'm going? My suggestion was, you can remove your existing seats then add support to the seat base to mount your lap belts. Then mount your original seat back in, snake the lap belts up between the crack of the seat and call it a day ..... You do what you want.

Ok .... never mind .... your issue is internal. I specifically wanted a 1949 because it was the last year of the 3spd floor shift, 1950 they were moved to the column. I was a bit upset when I bought my 1949 and it had a column shift .... Turns out mine was a early 1950 for the dealers to show off next years models .... still titled as a 1949. Same time the companies were known to use the leftover parts from last year and push them out the door anyways. Or someone swapped in a different transmission in the past 70 years .... you can swap the top cover converting a column shift to a floor shift .... who knows what happened. A typical 1950 was a column shift.

My linkage seems to work fine while moving the truck in the driveway .... I have messed with it a couple times for different reasons. I quickly learned to be sure the 2 shift arms on transmission are in neutral along with the gear shift. All 3 work together like a well trained dance trio. If one gets out of sync then the others can not move like they should. One lever lifts up & down to switch shift rails between 1rst,reverse or 2nd, 3rd gear rails .... the other lever moves the rails back and forth to select the gear on that rail. Does that make any sense? If the linkage is not adjusted properly, you are in 2nd gear and want to move to 1rst gear, the linkage does not move together as it should .... WHAM! you are stuck in 2nd gear. You can not lift up to switch rails or you can not get enough throw to pull it back into 3rd. When this happens, move the gear selector to neutral, crawl under the truck and move both levers to neutral. If this corrects the problem .... you know it is linkage out of sync. If no change, then probably internal problems. ...... This is where I would start to diagnose the problem. This has happened to me on my truck twice, both times self inflicted. .... I remember as a kid my buddy had one of those white camaros with the blue stripes ... 327/4spd. We got ran off the road on a very dangerous curve ... 1/2 on the road 1/2 in the ditch the linkage got moved out of sync. We were dead in the water and could not move. We had to jack up the car to get under it to put the transmission levers back into neutral in order to drive away. .... The whole time thinking we were going to die with the next car to come around the corner ..... We did not want to be there.

The 1950 3spd would be a column shift. In this case improper linkage adjustment will cause the shifting issues that you describe .... assuming you do not have loose parts in the transmission. Even if the linkage looks good and correct, bad motor mounts, cab mounts etc.... can shrink and move and throw linkage adjustments off. I'm sure you have looked at it already, you might want to spend some time and look it over really good including all the things that can affect the adjustment. Just my 2 cents.

Today was the day to work on changing the rear end oil. ..... I really had a tough time removing the fill plug. Looks as is it was wood and a beaver gnawed off most of it .... I finally got it using a cold chisel to knock it loose. Just saying it must have been a gorilla that last put them on .... the drain plug came out after I made a tool for it .... it was way tighter then it should have been. Either way, nice to have spare parts. I stole the fill plug off my trailer out back and replaced it with my crappy plug. I filled the rear end with 5-30 motor oil, then I tossed in some ATF on top of that ... was low on motor oil. The transmission is 5-30 motor oil also. My plan tomorrow is to start it and raise the rpm, I want to be able to put it in 2nd gear and let the drive train rotate at about 700-800 rpm for about a 1/2 hour or more while on jack stands. Same time I'm going to add anti freeze and get it all mixed in correctly. Then while the oils are warm I'm going to drain them and add correct gear lubricant. .... The old oils came out like tar, I just want to flush them. Never done this before, seems like a good idea .... who knows.

I do not know about the cars, our trucks have a seat base that is brazed to the floor. It is mounted pretty solid to the cab. Then the lower seat tracks will unbolt from the base. I'm suggesting that a guy could remove the seat, then reinforce the 18 gauge base with some 3/16" metal. then attach the lap belts to the base. It would be just about the same as a factory installation with the belts bolted to a reinforced floor? Now my base is already modified some for installing bucket seats. It would not be a big deal to add lap belts to it also. The belts would work the same for a factory bench seat or buckets. In my case I have mid 90's Chebby Silvarado seats, if you get into the 2000's, they come with 3 point shoulder harness built into the buckets. They should bolt right into place as my existing seats .... so I'm not spending a lot of time yet on them ... just replace the seats when I find some.

Sniper has schooled me on this also .... I too was concerned and considering running a shunt. The wiring diagram I saved from the internet and plan to use, you can see the + side of the Ammeter is fed by the battery, the main power or charging wire from the alternator is going to the - side of the gauge .... The amp gauge is not reading the charging system, it is just showing the state of the battery. As the charging system charges the battery, you will see the amp gauge show a positive charge as the battery gets charged .... My 65 amp alternator will not be going through the amp gauge though. If the power from the alternator was going to the + side of the amp gauge .... Which is wrong! Then I would need a shunt to try and correct the mistake. At least this is my understanding what I have been taught from here at the forum.

My neighbor has a 53 Ford sedan with original seats. He has just lap belts installed in it. And fine with them. I did some work on his car awhile back, one of the things was moving the bench seat back a few inches .... He's a big boy. I did not re-install the seat belts right away because I wanted him to drive it and see if the seat would work for him or if it needed to be moved some more. He is a EMT and has been to many car accidents over the years, he was very insistent on wanting the belts put back in. I think it would be very doable to anchor a lap belt to the seat base.

I'm only assuming you are just using the standard round coil that mounts on top of the engine .... Some vehicles mount elsewhere and use a special shaped coil. You wont need anything special, just a 6 volt coil. What you are looking for now is quality .... Really is hit & miss with the available aftermarket parts today .... Most are made overseas. I have been hearing some good reports from Standard. It is a company in Mexico making automotive products ..... My 1991 Chebby Cheyenne truck ... base model to a Silverado was made in Mexico. .... Just pointing out Mexico has been making automotive products for some time now. So My new coil I chose to buy a standard ... I'm switching to 12 volt though .... still sitting on the shelf as I not got to wiring yet ... No review how well it works. If I needed to buy a new 6 volt coil, I would probably choose this one ...... just my choice, others may have better choices. https://www.amazon.com/Standard-Motor-Products-UC14T-Ignition/dp/B00809W7WC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=29T7NS4LD7FTA&keywords=6+volt+ignition+coil+uc-14&qid=1696721909&sprefix=6+volt+ignition+coil+uc-14%2Caps%2C395&sr=8-1

Best advice I can give for welding, as I'm a noob myself. I bought my welder about 5 years ago and have been practicing with it on everything but my truck. Maybe I'm a slow learner .... maybe I bought more machine then I needed which makes it more complicated to learn how it works. Life gets in the way sometimes ... I took almost a year off from working on my truck. Either way I just kept working at it until I built my confidence up to know I can weld in patch panels on my truck & come out satisfactory. You will learn what you can and can not get away with, welding on rusty metal. You will have to be able to clean your metal with a grinder & get shiny good metal to weld to. Basically, you are going to make a lot of mistakes while you are learning. I knew this and did not want to use my truck to learn on. For youtube, I like to watch fitzee. He shows how he can take large complex jobs and break them down into several smaller jobs to complete the over all process. He also uses basic tools and shows my tricks on making your own tools and jigs to get things done. ... Well worth watching. I also agree Carl on make it custom is worth watching, he is very talented .... Carl has a lot of specialty tools I do not think I will ever have. Why watch him teach how to use a power hammer, when I'm never going to own one. Just watch what you like .... the learning comes from doing.

Well I think the farmer side of me is coming out again ? I needed to fix the typical dent in the door. I still need to spend some more time on it, but was pretty easy to get it this close in about 5 minute. I was hesitant to go any further though ..... The rubber stop is missing and why the door got dented in the first place. I need to fix this first or it will just happen again. Took 1/2 hour to actually find the door stop I removed 5 years ago ? Then cleaned it for paint. .... then on the table next to the grinder I spotted these 1/2" spacers cut from 3/4" water pipe. All cleaned up and hanging in the paint booth. .... The other is on the drivers door for testing, this is passenger. The result is, this is as far as I can open the door without bending the inner door structure metal. Would be nice to have soft flexible rubber .... I have heard the trick is to add two sets of rubbers on each door to prevent the future dent. Wheeel, Farmer Fred is here to tell you, a 1/2" long piece of 3/4" water pipe will work also. This is as far as the door will open and I'm using my leg to apply pressure ..... There is some flex but it is the metal structure flexing .... the door does not touch the fender. It goes this far and stops.

The trucks have same issue, there is a sheet metal cover for upholstery purposes .... not qualified for seat belt duty. My plan is to build a anchor point then weld it to the cab itself. Will have a captured nut welded into it so that a anchor bolt can attach the seat belt. Good weld penetration will damage the exterior paint .... so yes, I need it before paint. I feel like the proper engineering has been built into the seat belts by the mid 90's anyways. Proper installation to make them effective will be our job as the installer. In my experience, seat belts will flat out F***K you up! ..... While saving your life .... Pick your poison. I spent a month in hospitals, I did not exactly walk away from it. All my injuries were from seat belt damage. Broken pelvic, ribs,collar bone, internal injuries. Everything was caused from seat belts ..... I can only imagine what damages I would have if I did not have a seat belt on. A seat belt would not have helped a passenger in this case, the dash was over the seat ... their legs would have been cut off and bled to death at least. Pissed me off because I wanted my laptop while recovering, the dashboard had pinned it to the seat and wife could not get it. To be honest, if we get hit this hard in one of our old cars ..... were going to die with or without seat belts. I personally will feel better with them. Modern cars are engineered for crash safety better. At the very least they will hold me in place while the 6' long spear the steering wheel is attached to impales me in the chest

I wonder what the laws are in Canada, if they are the same as in USA? My plans as I get my truck ready to be a daily driver, I do have to go through a safety inspection for registration ... yearly. Since seat belts and turn signals are not required, I will leave them out for now. Just get the basics done thats needed to be a legal driver. Now when I install my new wiring I will include the turn signal wiring also ... I can install everything else at a later date. Same with seat belts, I think I would prefer to have them just to keep me from bouncing around in the seat too much ..... My wife will insist on them. I will add them at a later date. Just to keep things simple and get going, I'm not spending anytime on them now. Although I have been working all day on the seat base and installation, I am thinking ahead on where & how I will install the seat belts. Making sure I leave provisions for them for future use.

Sounds like fuel in the oil is not a issue in your case ..... I also would not feel comfortable thinking it was a non issue. In case you did. Sounds to me you need to keep searching to find the real issue. ..... The joys of being a mechanic & testing your detective skills.

Another vote for pulling the distributor when servicing it .... otherwise you standing on your head while bent over the fender trying to very patiently work on it. @Kilgore47 posted a link to those points awhile back .... I have a set on the way I want to try them. Also a rotor & condenser from same manufacturer. My engine runs ok as it is, but I want spares in the glove box just in case. So I'm installing new, but putting known working as spares in the glove box if ever needed. I'm really sold on doing a slant 6 distributor conversion down the road, run electronic ignition .... I'm now 12v instead of 6v, but I will try these new points, condenser to see what I think. I just do not trust modern replacement parts, my current rotor I bought a few years ago is already needing replacement .... I only drive it in the yard during paint, never long drives on the road yet .... and already wore out. Anywho, my tuneup parts will be here in a few days, I'm pulling the distributor to install them, also give everything a quick once over, proper oil etc...

IMHO, comparing Diesel/kerosene to gasoline is like comparing apples to oranges. Diesel has oil in it, it is a lubricant. Gasoline is a cleaner and cleans oil up. I understand in Alaska why they would want to thin the oil in winter, but the diesel still brings a certain amount of lubrication with it. Too much gasoline in a cylinder could be bad as all of it will not burn and it could "wash out" the cylinder .... meaning clean away all the oil on it the rings need for lubrication. Same as if it gets in the oil, the oil loses effectiveness and the bearings do not get the same protection they should be getting. I never ever heard gasoline will burn off from the oil. I only know it is bad and problem should be corrected as soon as possible. Story time When I was 22 years old, I hooked up with a divorced girl with a child .... we have now been married 35 years. ? First I bought a single wide mobile home, then I made a deal on some property, then I bought a old county 2 ton 1961 Dodge truck to move the mobile home. Typical 22 year old with no brains. The truck was overloaded with the mobile home .... could not drive over 35 mph .... front tires were barely touching the ground. I had no trip permit or license to pull the trailer .... pulled it 30 miles on the freeway and all went smoothly .... Wife following behind me in the Hot Rod with the 4 ways on. Just saying I bought the truck for a purpose, later it was used to clean up the property, at times it was our only running vehicle and hauled me to work every day and to the grocery store. My wife drove it all the time, the old slant 6/4spd. ...... The carburetor was always junk on it and leaked gas into the oil. Idled And accelerated fine .... but leaked gas into the oil. One day while driving it on the freeway, it was payday and wife was coming to meet me at lunch to get my check and go shopping. She heard a loud explosion. She pulled over right away thinking a tire blew. The truck was idling fine, she walked around the truck and all looked fine. So she went on her way. I told her I would look at it this weekend .... What happened is the excess gasoline in the crank case ignited and it exploded. The dipstick was 1" short & all curled up. I had to stand on the fender and uncurl the dipstick as I pulled it out. It was 1" shorter then before the explosion. I must have been 24 or 25 years old and much wiser, so I changed the oil & installed a used dipstick ... then drove it another year or so before trading it off. Thats my only real life experience with a engine with gasoline in the oil, it did not kill that slant 6, but it was not pretty either.

I know with a 12 volt battery you can go to almost any auto parts store & they have a battery tester they will bring out to the parking lot and test your battery. I like these because they also load test them, not just measure the amount of charge they have in them. Do these work on a 6 volt battery? .... I have no idea. Also as others suggested, it could be the charger is not working .... have you tried it on other batteries?

Depends what you are using for photos .... I use a basic android phone, I simply open the camera then go into settings and I resize the photos there .... they usually have 3 or 4 different settings and always largest settings for best photo when shipped. Now when you take photos they will be the correct size for forum. Then I have a desktop computer I use for everything, I have a few different programs I can edit & resize photos if needed. Just far easier to go to camera settings and take them the correct size in the first place.

I think it depends on circumstances, if the engine has been sitting for awhile & want to start it up .... Anything over 60psi should fire. So If you have a 6 cylinder engine that has over 60 psi on 4 cylinders and a few others are less then that .... It should run kinda ok on 4 cylinders and as it warms up and things get oiled ..... they all should loosen up and start improving compression. In my mind all the cylinders being close to each other, means all the cylinders are worn equally and behaving normal. Low compression across the board means a worn out engine and needs refreshed. If you have decent compression on some cylinders but really low on others, those individual cylinders have issue and needs investigated. Could be valve adjustment or worn valves ... just have to figure out whats going on. I know some here have pretty low compression across the board, around 70-75? ... their engines run fine .... little short on horse power but running good.

There is a factory carrier available, may have been a option as not all have them have one ..... My 1991 chebby truck has the same thing. Thinking you could get a different carrier and adapt it to work.

I think what Ken says about metal generating more heat makes a lot of sense. I had to sleep on it, I realized it is almost 15 years since I worked professionally, So the tools I had were probably at least 5 years or older then ...... So the Makita sander I bought a few years ago, I'm comparing to tools I bought well over 20 years ago. ..... Times are a changing for sure. Was not a big deal since I needed to order a few things from Amazon anyways. While my truck runs fine as is, I wanted to order a new set of the points others were talking about ... so I can keep my known good ones as spares. When I removed the cap to look at my points to verify fitment, I found the new rotor I installed a couple years ago was really sloppy. .... I could rotate it at least 1/8" either direction which will throw the timing off. .... might explain a slight hesitation I noticed lately. ..... More cheap inferior parts from overseas. Then today I need to take the wife shopping, I need bolts from tractor supply, the lawn needs mowed .... be a few days before I get back to the hound dog anyways so no big deal waiting for delivery.

Sad we lost a couple of the major distributors in the past year or so, scarebird & rustyhope .... seems like those were the top 2 choices, are others out there but no idea who they are.

No work today, seemed I was too active on it yesterday. I did prep the passenger door for welding the holes. I put a 2nd coat of putty on the other spots .... did a slight adjustment or two with a hammer. I started sanding and son of a ***** seems the hook & loop pad on my sander needs replaced, had to stop and order more. No big deal I guess to some. As a retired finish carpenter I have used hook & loop orbital sanders for decades. I have wore out a couple and replaced the sanders with new. I have never needed to replace the pad in the past. While ordering a new pad, I ordered a 2 pack of them .... while looking at a 4 pack and wondering if I should get it. Seems the modern sander the replaceable pad is just built into them .... a consumable product. Took the wind out of my sails today.

The engines can vary, possibly a 24" motor or a 25" motor .... many have been changed over the years & no longer original. On the drivers side of the engine in front is a stamped pad above the soft plug. That number should tell you the year and size of the engine. Go here to this site and look up the number you have. https://www.t137.com/registry/help/otherengines/otherengines.php The carburetor number is stamped on a angled piece on top of it. Easy to spot. You can get a rebuild kit for it at many places, ebay, amazon, rockauto .... pick your choice. Mikes sells some good stuff and he puts out a good video of how to do what you want to do.

The wheelbase is measured from the center of front axle to center of rear axle. You get a buddy to hold the tape measure in the center of the wheel bearing dust cover, then drag it back to the rear axle and eyeball the center of it ..... That will be your wheel base. I know a little bit about the 1/2 ton, 3/4 ton trucks but nothing of the larger trucks. I imagine they have a standard length for the 1 tons that get a pickup bed. .... Did they change for flatbeds? Was it a option to order the longer length? I have no clue. I saw this photo today on facebook, I know nothing about it .... obvious they have stretched the bed and sitting on a different frame. The fenders and running board just sitting on blocks for mock up ..... I'm only suggesting you could build your bed to fit your truck, but use stock frame, stock fenders .... make it look like it came that way.