Removing ‘36 1/2 ton truck bed

[Rodney_Hamon]

Ah, yes, that was a good read! Thanks for that. I still learn.  

[Rodney_Hamon]

Did more touch up with paint on the cab and now it’s time to put the bed back on. I want the bed and rear fenders in place before I remove the running boards. In the meantime I have started to clean up the rims. Eager to start tire shopping and get that nose bleed from the $$

[Rodney_Hamon]

It’s nice to have a machine around to make things a little easier on the body.  Aligning and bolting dn today. 

[Rodney_Hamon]

Beds come off easier than they go on. The ibuprofen helps and a couple days off from rolling around underneath trying to figure out cushion pad height for the bed alignment. I’ve had well pump and broken water line issues so this has slowed me down. I did clean up the rear bumper and brackets and was wondering if this angle iron with the fancy center spring is original. I’m always fascinated by clever or just modified stuff by necessity for add ons. 

[Rodney_Hamon]

Been awhile and life was in the way. I had to readjust the bed to get the bolt holes lined up better for the drivers side. Nuts loosened and gas tank shifted a bit to get a universal socket up to that last bolt/nut above the tank. It’s close tolerance now. Pain but it’s done. Ordered the proper license plate  side light housing. Got the wire loom on. I ended up cutting 2wire nuts and epoxied them to the rear of the housing so the loom would slip into the fittings better. More weather proof now. Not the best snug fit for the bulbs and I’m wondering how to improve that. 

[Rodney_Hamon]

After trying to heat and straighten the drivers side taillight/license plate bracket I quit while I was ahead. It has a curious angle to it. 1/4” was the best I could manage. I fabricated a bracket to match said angle and set the new lights as evenly as possible. Hooked up. Doing all this and more not feeling very good many weeks. Just as I was about to clean/hook up light switch my  gall bladder acted up. Minor surgery #1.  Rats.  That put a crimp in my progress. Surgery 2 early December.  Double Rats.  Feeling better now but it’s slower go. Went into garage yesterday to start the truck just because. 

[ggdad1951]

1 hour ago, Rodney_Hamon said:

After trying to heat and straighten the drivers side taillight/license plate bracket I quit while I was ahead. It has a curious angle to it. 1/4” was the best I could manage. I fabricated a bracket to match said angle and set the new lights as evenly as possible. Hooked up. Doing all this and more not feeling very good many weeks. Just as I was about to clean/hook up light switch my  gall bladder acted up. Minor surgery #1.  Rats.  That put a crimp in my progress. Surgery 2 early December.  Double Rats.  Feeling better now but it’s slower go. Went into garage yesterday to start the truck just because. 

 

honestly to straighten the bracket, a hammer and anvil is your friend...no need to be gentle, you won't hurt it's feeelings!

 

[Young Ed]

2 hours ago, ggdad1951 said:

 

honestly to straighten the bracket, a hammer and anvil is your friend...no need to be gentle, you won't hurt it's feeelings!

 

Aren't they cast? If so it'll break if you just go hulk on it. 

[Rodney_Hamon]

Ha. That bracket felt like it was cast. I would rather add a third light to the rear for the time being instead of pushing my luck any further. 

[ggdad1951]

look the same to the B seires which are just thicker sheet metal?

[Rodney_Hamon]

I did order a new bracket from Roberts but it didn’t fit. Holes off and smaller. I returned it. I’ll look at catalogs again to see what years fit. Thanks for replying all. 

[Young Ed]

2 hours ago, ggdad1951 said:

look the same to the B seires which are just thicker sheet metal?

The plate part is thick sheet metal but the arm to the frame is cast.

[Rodney_Hamon]

Oh. I get it because my arm is riveted to that plate. I didn’t want to bend the base plate or break/weaken a rivet.  I’ll take a picture to show properly that the assembly doesn’t look that bad. Angle of the dangle fine with me at present. Ha

[ggdad1951]

Ok then!

[Rodney_Hamon]

I took another look at my bracket and it’s one piece with the license plate arm riveted to the main bracket at the top. My memory is off these days. This pix shows that angle is just fine. Any attempt at trying to straighten the license plate put stress on the top rivets. As it was just said, “Ok then”.  Ha

[ggdad1951]

What kind of heat where you using to try and straighten?  Oxy/acc would be needed to get it hot enough to move.

[Rodney_Hamon]

I used propane torch with bracket in place. Yes, I knew it would be better to   unbolt and put in the vise and use proper torch for proper heat. The oxy-acet set up is not working.  I flat ran out of time. Next spring. Ha.    

[ggdad1951]

13 hours ago, Rodney_Hamon said:

I used propane torch with bracket in place. Yes, I knew it would be better to   unbolt and put in the vise and use proper torch for proper heat. The oxy-acet set up is not working.  I flat ran out of time. Next spring. Ha.    

 

yah, propane was just a tickle!

[JBNeal]

Maybe the curved bracket is a safety feature to allow for a wider range of visibility of the tail lights, so that other drivers not directly behind the truck can see the brake light illuminate...also puts more space between bucket and bed...

[Rodney_Hamon]

Been a while and replacing door glass gave me angst so I removed the driver side splash panel for repair. Stress cracks looked horrible and need welding and I want to install the running bds which were sandblasted and powder coated. The running bds are the center pt for me to which front and rear fenders align to and then the bed aligning to all that. I think a total body off chassis restoration would be the best but I could also see it would be a challenge to align everything to each other. I had to remove the 3 bolts (locknut washers all broken anyway) holding the cab, gently jack it up off the frame in order to remove the splash pan and broken metal under the pads.The wood seemed in decent shape. This gives me some space now to clean the chassis and brackets.  

[Rodney_Hamon]

Can’t believe a year and some has passed since pulling the bed off. Just finished fabricating a fender bracket as I lost the originals back in ‘96.  I stumbled onto a pair of bar b que frames from an old Weber and saw they could be bent to shape. A lot of chop saw cutting and drilling and hammering in the vise.  Fits !  

[Rodney_Hamon]

And...just finished hanging the fender. Makes the recent powder coated running bd look nice.  After cleaning electrical connections everywhere and making sure everything lined up after I put the grill, fresh rebuilt radiator back in, I deemed it time to put the fender back on. A lot of cleaning. I noticed a couple stress cracks here and there. Alas.   I’ll need to to drill a pin hole to stop the run on the cracks in the fender.  It’s as far as I can go at this point. After some more misc stuff to do I’m going to put the tires on and back it out of the garage under its own power (with brakes). It hasn’t run and stopped since 1986.  I need to turn the truck around so I can duplicate the bracket/fender/misc process for the passengers side. Currently it’s too cramped up against the wall to work. The garage is a 20 x 22 and it’s cozy.  Ha

[sidevalvepete]

Glad to see your progress. That is a nice looking truck. Very appealing look to the '36. Hope that the startup goes well ?

[Rodney_Hamon]

Thanks for the comment!  I continue to  experience auto archeological issues working on this truck...and the awesome “ah ha” feeling when I find an original bolt that should go someplace...a bolt from a can that is decades old. I am fooling around with the vent at present and working on the rusted area around it on the outside by the windshield. I once had a big orange alley cat (Hank) when it got mad at me for not paying attention to it...it would jump up on the truck and spray the windshield...leaking dn to the vent. The urine of the ‘80’s ate the paint. Alas

[Rodney_Hamon]

I was reluctant to remove the cowl vent but had to address the rust largely due to cat urine. Jeez. Didn’t realize it was that bad.  Decided to loosen the screws from inside/underneath.  Cramped and hot. The chrome on the inside bottom part of the windshield frame is also flaking. Rats