1950 B-2-D Wiring questions

[buck0wens]

I just picked up this truck which I'm pretty excited about. It's been sitting for about 10 years and I got the 'ol "it was running when I parked it" routine from the owner but a quick look under the hood told me someone tried to get it running and gave up. I'm a little concerned about just cleaning the carb, changing the battery, oil, and gas, dropping some oil in the cylinders and firing her up because of said work by by the last guy. I'm mostly concerned about the voltage of the truck. It has a 6v battery sitting in it and what looks to be a stock starter but there's an alternator installed and some new ignition parts including a ballast resistor. I didn't get much time with her but I grabbed a few pictures of the mess. I have a  67 Cadillac but I've never worked on something this old ... or 6v. It seems weird to me that there is a ballast resistor on a 6v system. It was clearly added later because the wires are new and spliced into the harness and the coil also looks pretty new and in a weird spot (I think). If anyone has an opinion on how I should move forward, I'd love to hear it. Also looking for a place to get tubes for my tires (265/75/16) ... I can't find any the right size with the 90 degree valve stem.

[P15-D24]

Well you have 1 ton model, with a later Plymouth engine. Usually they are 230 ci but that engine may be a 218 ( I don't have my reference book near by). Looks like someone started a 6 to 12 conversion but didn't really finish the job. Is the battery in it a 6 or 12?  It should be under the drivers side floor panel.

[JBNeal]

According to Eric's research, that appears to be a 1955 Plymouth 230

additional information - flathead identification 

 

Those appear to be dually rims, which were originally for 6.50-16 tires...tubes with bendable stems are preferred for mounting reasons as those rims were not really designed for the 90° stems.

additional information - 1-ton rim comparison

 

That wiring does appear to be a hodgepodge, more than likely somebody opted to take the shortcut of upgrading to 12V rather than replace the original wiring that was falling apart.  On my '48, I replaced the wiring, one wire at a time, with the correct gage but not with correct colors as I had plenty of scrap wire and just wanted to get the old beast that was running when parked back on the road after 25 years.  I also replaced the battery cables with 0 AWG and grounded to a starter battery rather than the original transmission mounting point nor the frame, as an upgrade.  If retaining the 6V system,  ya might want to go through that wiring entirely.

additional information - wiring diagram with turn signals and headlight relays 

 

About the engine, ya might want to put the Marvel Mystery Oil in the bores for a few days then try to rotate crank manually.  A torque wrench on the crank nut should take about 40 lb-ft to rotate...more than that, and there could be internal issues with the engine.  Also could use the prybar on the flywheel ring gear to rotate crank.

additional information - links to build threads

[buck0wens]

OK thanks for the info guys. There is currently a 6v battery in the box so I'll probably just try to get it going with 6 volts to the starter and ignition and go from there. Stock wiring actually looks pretty good as supposedly this was a desert car all its life buy who knows what's under that loom insulation. My 67 Cadillac that is an AZ native still has great original wires.

 

As far as the tires. The shop I took them to decided it was too much work and gave me everything back so I'm back to square one. I had a suspicion that those back rims were only 1/2 of a dually setup. I need to make a decision on what to do. Ideally I'd like to put it back to rear duallys but is it going to be easy for me to get the other 2 matching rims? I'm thinking I might just get something from a junkyard that fit just to roll it around if I can and deal with the whole stock tire situation later ... if it's not going to be easy for me to get the new rear rims working and matching in a timely manner. Do you think that's wise? Does anyone know if there's rims that are readily available and abundant enough to get me up and going quick? ... those rear brakes look awfully big and I'm worried about clearance. I don't have regulars access to the truck so I can't go out and measure everything so if someone has used different rims on a 1 ton, I'd love to hear about it.

 

THX for all the comments, I really appreciate any help I get.

Edited November 13, 2022 by buck0wens

[MBF]

IH and Ford both used those 6 lug Budd rims up through the late 60’s.  They also made a 17.5” drop center rims with that bolt pattern.  I’ve  got a 1 ton that has 16.5” lock ring Budds.  The .5” tires are hard to find.

[ggdad1951]

On 11/13/2022 at 1:00 PM, buck0wens said:

OK thanks for the info guys. There is currently a 6v battery in the box so I'll probably just try to get it going with 6 volts to the starter and ignition and go from there. Stock wiring actually looks pretty good as supposedly this was a desert car all its life buy who knows what's under that loom insulation. My 67 Cadillac that is an AZ native still has great original wires.

 

As far as the tires. The shop I took them to decided it was too much work and gave me everything back so I'm back to square one. I had a suspicion that those back rims were only 1/2 of a dually setup. I need to make a decision on what to do. Ideally I'd like to put it back to rear duallys but is it going to be easy for me to get the other 2 matching rims? I'm thinking I might just get something from a junkyard that fit just to roll it around if I can and deal with the whole stock tire situation later ... if it's not going to be easy for me to get the new rear rims working and matching in a timely manner. Do you think that's wise? Does anyone know if there's rims that are readily available and abundant enough to get me up and going quick? ... those rear brakes look awfully big and I'm worried about clearance. I don't have regulars access to the truck so I can't go out and measure everything so if someone has used different rims on a 1 ton, I'd love to hear about it.

 

THX for all the comments, I really appreciate any help I get.

 

Where are you located?  I might be able to help with dually rims.  Drop me a PM.