1953 dodge B4-HAJ52 QUESTIONS

[Ray J.]

Hello all,

I have been lurking since September gathering as much info as possible.

It has a 5 speed but cannot find the shift pattern.

Hydrovac unit is shot and is so rusted on the end of the brake cylinder that I cannot determine which Midland it is.

It sat outside for 53 years with slots cut in the sides of the hood but the engine is fine.

Never turned it over until I removed the head and saw that all cylinders were in excellent condition.

Had two stuck exhaust valves which came unstuck easily. Deep Creep and PB blaster are hard to beat.

Will post more as questions arise.

Ray J.

[wallytoo]

rather than "J52", that shouid be "152", which is the nominal wheelbase.  the truck in the picture looks to have a longer than "original" chassis, with a long bit of steel well beyond the rear wheels.

 

can't help with the pattern, but i bet rob (dodgeb4ya) can!

[Ray J.]

Someone in its past added 4 feet to haul more hay. I have since cut that off and made a nice table that can set outside.

It is in my shop minus the front clip and all wheels off. Need to find two 20" 5 on 8 split ring wheels.

Have a great day.

Ray J.

[Ray J.]

Gas tank is out, master cylinder is out, all but two manifold studs are out and they are soaking. Side covers are soaking in evaporust as was the master cylinder and it cleaned it up to look like new. Going to put a bunch of nuts and bolts in the gas tank and strap it to my rear tractor tire and get it cleaned out.

That's all for now.

Ray J.

[JKochis82]

My 53' B4-KA has the 5 speed. The shift pattern is 

 

2  4  R

   N

3  5  1

[Ray J.]

I have the new slant 6 distributor converted and a 5/8" pulley came in for the alternator. Soaking fan, fan pulley, oil filter top, gas tank brackets, air cleaner base, clamp bracket and clamp and carburetor linkages in Evaporust.

Did the head for 3 days in Evaporust and it came out like new.

Only got up to 37 today and my shop is too big for the furnace to get it up to a comfortable temp to work. Maybe tomorrow.

Ray J.

 

or

Edited January 5 by Ray J.

[Ivan_B]

Are there any updates on this project?

[Ray J.]

I have a few pictures to share. As I am keeping this truck I am adding a 2008 Dodge dually bed and single rear tires that are 22.5" rims.. Everything else is remaining stock except brake master cylinder with a booster. Brake drums are 14" front and 16" rear and will remain stock.

Without trying to turn the engine over I removed the head and oil pan. The pan had about 1 inch of thick chocolate pudding and the pickup was totally plugged up.

I started soaking the tranny in Mystery oil and removed the diff cover and it was also chocolate pudding so have flushed it out a couple of times with diesel.

App piston rings are free and verified top rings are free by putting a .002 feeler gauge down beside the piston and it goes down until it touches the top of the top ring all the way around,

More later,

Ray J.

[Ivan_B]

8 minutes ago, Ray J. said:

Without trying to turn the engine over I removed the head and oil pan.

And this is probably the best way to do this - take things apart and make sure you are not damaging anything trying to see whether or not it is stuck. Not many people do so...

Are you sure you want to have the modern bed on it? This will look really awkward, in my opinion. How about finding a used (oem/period correct) bed or even making a simple square DIY one? 🤔

[Ray J.]

I found this bed on Craigslist for cheap and the guy delivered it for $30.00. He also gave me the rear bumper with hitch.

I will just move the rear end and sprint hangers forward. No frame cutting and welding. Just cut off the excess frame after moving.

Ray J.

[Ivan_B]

Are you actually planning to alter the vehicle's wheel base? Make sure that the State will not have issues with it before you do so.

In any event, 1/2 of the car will have the proper retro look, the other 1/2 will be modern. I am not sure whether or not this is a good idea, regardless of the price.

[Ray J.]

I once had a 1950 ford pickup with a 1978 Chevy bed and it looked good to me.

It is an 8 foot bed and does not look that bad. It will be handy.

I just sold my 02 ford super duty crew cab. It had the 6 foot bed and was not handy in certain situations.

I will get a better pix of it tomorrow.

Dropped the clutch cover and had a mouse condo with a pretty good pantry. Cleaned the rear end and removed the last of the pudding.

Also tomorrow is the start of new brakes all around.

Ray J.

[Ray J.]

More work on the truck.

[Ray J.]

Front and rear backing plates cleaned and painted as are the front hubs. Have new shoes and and seals for the front and am waiting for seals and relined shoes to be shipped. Tomorrow is mowing day for me and my wife.

I think I will start wiring until brake stuff comes in.

Ray J.

Edited May 2 by Ray J.
left out pictures

[47 1.5 ton]

Wow— you really move along quickly! Check your seal diameter when the new ones come in. I believe the first set that I ordered were .015 too big. One note that you may want to remove the paint from the bearing seat and seal area before installing. You’ll have it up and running in little time.

[Ray J.]

Howdy, The first seals I bought were too big on the ID. OD was good. Took all four seals to our local bearing store and he had two for the front that fit fine. He gave me Timken part number for the rear seals so they are on order. I gave him the four seals and he gave me the front seals at no cost.

A quick wipe down with acetone will get the paint off.

On to wiring today.

Ray J.

[Ivan_B]

What kind of prep work was done on those parts, before painting?

Edited May 3 by Ivan_B

[Ray J.]

Hello, I used a large cup wire brush on a grinder. Lots of hand sanding and lots of brake cleaner followed by acetone wipe down. Used UPOL etching primer and painted with Rustoleum aluminum spray can paint. The wheel mating surface will be cleaned after the brakes are installed.

Thought about using my sand blaster but that entails a lot of extra careful cleaning.

Just got up from a nice nap (us 81 year olds need those beauty naps) and it is going on noon so up and at'em. Mounting terminal blocks that the main fuse block will feed. Keeping accessories and engine wiring on separate blocks and wiring it from scratch.

Ray J.

Ray j.

[47 1.5 ton]

I meant to ask what engine do you have in there? 
  Also wanted to know your plans on relocating the rear forward. About 30 ish years ago my father and I converted a carnival truck to a dump and moved the rear up about 6’. Used the cut off frame rails to make a hitch. Drilled all the holes with a 1/2” electric drill motor. Took some layout work but turned out fine with no tracking issues. My 76 year old neighbor just replaced the Frame rails on his tri-axle dump and drilled all holes by hand as well(did one rail at a time) and turned out perfect. 

[Ray J.]

I have the 251 engine. I might rent a mag drill or tough it out and drill by hand. It looks like around 5 feet will need to be removed. Only update is I replaced the 6v heater motor with a 12v motor and painted the back of the heater box. I installed the front brake shoes and wheel cylinders Got the relined rear shoes back but waiting for the real oil seals. Tomorrow I will install front oil seals and bearings and put on the front hubs. Need some grease which I will get tomorrow.

Ray J.

[Ray J.]

Hello,

I have the front brake shoes installed and finished welding the oil pan baffle back in. Picked up a cheap light at wally world and had it over the engine but moved it inside the cab so I could see when I removed the seat riser. I have some rust issues to repair and am not using the stock seat. It sets my belly up against the steering wheel so a seat that is not so tall and has a thinner seat back will be located at a later date. Hope to get the front hubs on tomorrow.

Ray J.

[Ray J.]

well the front brakes will not let the hub go on, on either side. On the back burner for now. Did manage to get the outside covers for the heater painted.

Today I removed the pass side rear spring perch rivets out and 5/8" bolts in their place.

Ray J.

[47 1.5 ton]

What diameter do they measure with all (4) adjusters and wheel Cylinder set at minimum. Might could file a little from shoe joint if needed.  I would concentrate on actual full contact diameter of your drums.

[Ray J.]

My plan is to remove the shoes and make sure they have full contact with the drum. I will probably do as you suggest and remove material from the shoes to get a proper fit.

Today is my 81st BD so I will take it easy and just clean and paint some parts.

Cannot take it easy as wife wants her Morris back. Need to get truck shortened and running so I can get the Morris out of the shop. Got all the rivets out of the rear spring mounts and moved bed back where I can work on the front spring mounts.

Found out that if I drilled through the rivet with a 3/16" bit I could finish it with a step bit. Instead of drilling each rivet with 3 different bits, which took about 1/2 hour each, I could finish each rivet in about 10 minutes. The spring is in the way so I cannot drill it out until I remove all of the new bolts and lower the rear end to let the spring perch rotate to where I can get at it.

Ray J.

Edited May 20 by Ray J.

[47 1.5 ton]

  With the adjustments all the way in, I think there should be about 1/4” of diameter difference. My shoes had some lacquer runs where the locating ends were that needed filed. I have a spare set that I can pull measurements from if that will help. Can’t imagine there is that much extra lining  that would cause interference? Good drums are very hard to find so I would hesitate machining them much larger than nominal diameter.

  I’m guessing you tried the new bearings, verified seals on the axle before pressing in the hubs? 
  Happy birthday!

Edited May 21 by 47 1.5 ton