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My first Pilothouse


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I bought it! After a minor accident at the gas station first thing this morning, icy roads, 600+ miles and 15 hours later, I got myself a 51 Dodge 1 ton. It's currently still on the trailer at a friend's house, too tired to deal with it tonight in the cold and dark. She's got a few unexpected issues, but the price was right and the truck is awesome. We got a lot of looks and thumbs up on the way home with it. I'm looking forward to warmer temps and getting to know this thing better. For now, here's a couple pics from today.

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That is great, very happy for you!

and I know that tired feeling as well from a 600mile tow. But always worth it. 
congrats! 
 

 

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Sweet!  Text me when you get it home and I'll stop on over to check it over!  Another 1 ton within 30 minutes of my place!

 

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12 hours ago, JBNeal said:

Has the beast already drawn 1st blood?  That's a true bonding experience  :cool:

LOL, sounds like he is taking him off the trailer today.... shouldn’t be too much longer ?

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21 hours ago, Frank Elder said:

patina?.....?

 

Lovin' it!  ?

 

DJ

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Well, it's going to have stay on the trailer another day or two. With schedules (pesky gainful employment), time is a bit short right now. I want to rinse the 300 miles of salty road spray off it at the car wash, but the warm weather has everyone flocking to the carwashes. Waiting will work out well since it will allow the roads to dry up. In the meantime, here's another pic of it. Makes that 1 ton Chev look little! (with some help from the proper perspective) A game of patience now. 

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I was able to make it to the car wash today and get all the salt spray and dust washed off it. Then brought it home and got the left rear brake free. I spent some time looking things over. It's a 4 speed (from what I gather from the forum it's non synchro) with fluid drive. Engine serial number matches up to what should be in the truck, 230cid. After that we drug it off the trailer and tucked into the pole barn where it will stay until I'm done with some projects on my 50 Meadowbrook. Not sure why the picture loaded upside down, don't know how to fix it.

20210304_184237.jpg

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She’s a beaut, clark!

i was figuring you hung it from the ceiling like a model airplane. 
iphone,volume buttons down when taking a pic. 
try opening photos, edit without changing it and copy to your photos. I think then it will stay downside down. 

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On 3/2/2021 at 5:39 PM, Frank Elder said:

"Small rear window, ......"

 

With or without the corner windows, the rear window is the same size thru 48-53.

Corner windows and door vents were part of the Deluxe package.

 

I believe that's a Chevy term from the late 60's, standard rear window vs an option to go bigger.

Those guys always seem to argue about which one is better.

Please correct me if I'm wrong...def not a Chevy guy. lol

 

48D

Edited by 48Dodger
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1 hour ago, 48Dodger said:

 

With or without the corner windows, the rear window is the same size thru 48-53.

Corner windows and door vents were part of the Deluxe package.

 

I believe that's a Chevy term from the late 60's, standard rear window vs an option to go bigger.

Those guys always seem to argue about which one is better.

Please correct me if I'm wrong...def not a Chevy guy. lol

 

48D

Thank you Tim, I meant for it to infer that as 3 window but it didn’t come out right. I can’t correct you seeings how I will never be a chivvy man....lol. 

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9 hours ago, TravisL17 said:

...Not sure why the picture loaded upside down, don't know how to fix it.

20210304_184237.jpg

I haven't been too interested to investigate why this happens, but this forum has not been the only platform that I use where pics get rotated involuntarily.  What seems to work consistently for me is that the original pic needs to be rotated 90° in an editor or viewer and saved, then rotated back 90° and saved, then the pic loads as desired.  I have noticed in older posts that my pics have rotated, but I haven't gotten around to performing this procedure to correct that yet, what with all the ditches I gotta dig and whatnot :rolleyes:

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4 hours ago, 48Dodger said:

 

With or without the corner windows, the rear window is the same size thru 48-53.

Corner windows and door vents were part of the Deluxe package.

 

I believe that's a Chevy term from the late 60's, standard rear window vs an option to go bigger.

Those guys always seem to argue about which one is better.

Please correct me if I'm wrong...def not a Chevy guy. lol

 

48D

I think when you get into the later 50s trucks there were small and large windows for a while. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Travis, great meeting you yesterday and very odd we are from the same home town!  ?

 

Super solid truck!  You made a great purchase!

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4 hours ago, ggdad1951 said:

Travis, great meeting you yesterday and very odd we are from the same home town!  ?

 

Super solid truck!  You made a great purchase!

Thanks again for taking time to stop by. I learned a ton from you, it's much appreciated. I'm excited to start working on it, should be within a month or so. You can count on me using your restored truck as a reference!

And yes, it's crazy how small the world really is!

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  • 3 months later...

After being sidetracked with a different project, I finally got to work on the truck for the first time since bringing it home. Disconnected fuel lines from the pump so the crap in the tank didn't get into the pump or carb. Checked engine oil and spun the engine by hand for several revolutions and it felt smooth. No tight spots or binding. Hooked up a battery and watched for smoke for a couple minutes, so far so good. Popped the dist cap off, found newer points and condenser. One of the many signs that someone spent some time tinkering with this thing before i bought it. Ran the starter with the key off and it cranked, but sounded odd. Seemed to have one cylinder that didn't offer much resistance to the starter. Cleaned the debris from the spark plug wells and pulled the plugs. All look the same, not worn and black. Had the kid run the starter while I put a thumb over each plug hole. Number 6 offers no compression. Time to investigate. Think I'll pull the headand get a good look at things, see what shape the holes and valves are in. First thing is to get it from the pole barn to the garage where I have better working conditions, more light, more tools and compressed air.

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