buying price

[5.9diesel]

Hi guys and girls, im new here, obviously, and i have some questions. my neighbor, who i i know pretty well, has a 1950 pickup for sale. he says it is a B1. it was trailerd here (east coast) by his brother and himself from california and has zero rot. it has flawless seats, workable paint and is complete. i have heard it run, but its master cylender is out for a rebuild, so i dont know how it drives.

my main concerns are: the front axle, the rear axle and the smoke.

The front axle is bent up pretty bad, like it hit a rock or something. i heard that they can be straightend. is this true? It does not look like the bend has thrown off the steering alignment, but untill i drive it, i wont know. the rear axle has what looks to be a leak at the pinion seal, but i get the feeling a lot of them do that. the engine does smoke a little at startup, but having seen only one other flathead six run in my lifetime, im guessing this is normal too.

so im just worndering what more experienced people think, for the prelimanary asking price of $2,500 U.S.

[buds truck]

welcome to the forum. too bad you live on the east coast, I am west coast. I have a complete 53 chassis with front suspension and rear suspension that would take care of all the problems this truck has. my 53 does not smoke at startup, but others with more flat head experience will come in with a more experienced answer. You will find the guys here super helpful and great people. Bud

[5.9diesel]

yeah, im like can almost see the atlantic from my house kinda east coast. i dont know if its of any importance, but the truck is a four speed.

thanks for the quick reply!

[JoelOkie]

I guess it will boil down to what the truck would be worth to you personally.

If you like it, have the spare money, and want it, I guess that's what ultimately matters. I have owned several Plymouth cars for a number of years, and they are very do-it-yourselfer friendly, and a pleasure to drive.

I have messed with flathead engines for a while, and if it is smoking at start up it might be for a number of various reasons. As Bud stated, you will find plenty of knowledgable help here on this forum to address issues such as that. (I am a new member also, but have looked at this site and the P-15 site for several years for good advice and tech support)

I have recently bought a 1949 B-1-b (1/2 ton 108 " wheelbase) The truck I just bought I found in Kansas, near where I live in Northern Oklahoma. Over-all, it has a very good body, fair interior, and runs/ steers/drives very good. The regular service brakes were not working at all, but the hand brake stops the truck for now. According to paper work in the glove box the motor was rebuilt at 66 k miles by Ace Motor Rebuilders in Oklahoma City, and the odometer is showing 73 k and is working. The wood bed was totally gone. This engine, although having not been started in several years, was fairly easy to get started, and does not smoke, or miss at all in spite of having sat. The tranny nor rearend has any leaks at all that I have seen, and it has been sitting over concrete. I have the truck apart doing the body/paint work. For you to compare by, I gave $865.00 for the truck. Obviously, this is not the East Coast, and farm trucks of this ilk are not so very hard to come by here, so there would have to be some allowence for locality, perhaps. That truck may be nicer than the one I bought, also, but I was looking for something to tinker with (body and paint mostly) so mine fit my particular want and desires. This truck is a pleasure to work on.

Good Luck, Joel

[Reg Evans]

Hi guys and girls, im new here, obviously, and i have some questions. my neighbor, who i i know pretty well, has a 1950 pickup for sale. he says it is a B1. it was trailerd here (east coast) by his brother and himself from california and has zero rot. it has flawless seats, workable paint and is complete. i have heard it run, but its master cylender is out for a rebuild, so i dont know how it drives.

my main concerns are: the front axle, the rear axle and the smoke.

The front axle is bent up pretty bad, like it hit a rock or something. i heard that they can be straightend. is this true? It does not look like the bend has thrown off the steering alignment, but untill i drive it, i wont know. the rear axle has what looks to be a leak at the pinion seal, but i get the feeling a lot of them do that. the engine does smoke a little at startup, but having seen only one other flathead six run in my lifetime, im guessing this is normal too.

so im just worndering what more experienced people think, for the prelimanary asking price of $2,500 U.S.

If the front axle looks like this it isn't bent. They were made that way. I remembering thinking the same thing when I dragged my 1st old Pilot House home too. $2500 isn't really out of line if the body and interior are good. The truck will have a 4 speed "crash box" with granny low if it's original to the truck. You'll have to learn to double clutch which becomes second nature eventually. Welcome to the forum and old Dodge trucks !

[5.9diesel]

thanks joel.

the truck is very tight, has great glass and zero rust. the diff is not losing all its oil in a puddle, but it is damp. it is not smoking bad, just a little haze for the first 10 or 15 seconds. the bed wood is all there in fine shape, but from reading around this site, im thinking 2500 is a bit high.

there is a master cylender kit with the truck, along with new rear spring shackles.

[5.9diesel]

thanks much for the pic Reg! that is the bend, however the one im looking at still does look a little more tweaked than yours.

ive been around old cars for most of my life, and i have to say this is the cleanest, in terms of rust. the floors, doors, hood, frame, and bed are completely solid. no cancer at all. i am not much of a bodywork guy, so i was figuring that one with a good body was ok. the guy who owns it never drove it far but said the clutch and tranny seemed fine.

Im gonna go out on a limb and say these engines are not that hard to re build (worst case scenario) the truck is missing the passenger side wiper blade and one parking lamp lens. the heater seriously needs re wireing.

Thank you for the pic, and the replys!!

[greg g]

the leading cause of pinion leaks is a plugged vent on the top of the diffy. The bolt that hold the brake line spliter fitting, is hollow with a bobble head top. If the top don't bobble it isn't venting and the pressure build up from running temp needs to get out some were. If it finds a weal seal it will go there and push lub with it. Find tha sucker clean it up and I bet that the problem lessens considerably.

[Tony WestOZ]

Here is a top view of one out of the truck. They do have quiet a curve in them.

These I beams are the same part on all trucks up to 1 1/2 ton (in Australia), its just the stub axle and brakes that are different.

I cannot see how you could bend one without wrecking the rest of the truck.

Reg I just noticed the rubber bump stop on your truck. Is that standard? It is about twice the hight as the ones we use in Australia.

[5.9diesel]

greg g and tony:

thank you!!! that is the information i needed! that axle bend looks right, and there is a lot of caked on dirt around the diff and axle, so i will check the breather!

thank you very much!!

[Tony WestOZ]

No worries 5.9diesel glad to help.

With the diff seal, if its a original it will be a leather seal. These can dry out a bit if not used for long periods of time. I have found even good ones can show signs of dampness. I would not be botherd to much untill it starts to drip. They are not to hard to replace with a modern rubber seal type.

My old truck use to smoke a bit on start up but was still a good daily driver. It did not use a lot of oil between oil changes. If your worried about it see if you can do a compression test.

How heaverly is the engine breathing out of the rear road (breather) pipe.

[5.9diesel]

Im not sure about the breather pipe, but im going over to his house tommarow, so i might be able to check it out. the oil looks pretty bad on the dipstick if i remember, so that could be part of the problem.

i have another question, on a different note. there is a speaker located in the dash next to the glovebox. it does not appear to be connected to anything. was there an optional radio or something?

[Tony WestOZ]

Yes there was.

Someone here will fill you in on what the exact one was ( different to the ones used in Australia) but from my understanding the originals are rare.

[5.9diesel]

its funny. theres a speaker, but no radio, and no empty hole.

[Merle Coggins]

Might not even be a speaker there, just the grill. All trucks have a speaker grill, but most have only a piece of cardboard behind them.

From what you are describing, $2500 seems reasonable. If I had the $$$ I'd probably jump on it.

Master cylinders, and other brake parts, are readily available through Napa and other sources. Good brakes are a must, but not that difficult to repair. You'll want (NEED) a good brake drum puller for the rears if you need to get them off for any reason.

The smoke you describe doesn't sound like anything to worry about. The way you describe smoke for only a few seconds after start up would normally indicate bad valve stem seals or guides, if it were an overhead valve engine. For a flattie I'm not sure what could cause that, unless it's coolant. What color is the smoke, white? Does it have a sweet smell? I'm wondering if the head gasket may be letting a little coolant seep into one cylinder. If it's a very small amount it would burn off quite fast and you'd probably not notice it after that.

Get that truck and enjoy it.

Merle

[Reg Evans]

If the truck is a 1950 model there should be a radio delete plate on the dash to the left of the steering column. The optional radio for the truck was a Mopar model 602 but other similar Mopar radios will fit there too such as the 802. Here's an 802 on eBay now.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1946-47-48-DODGE-PLYMOUTH-7-PUSH-BUTTON-MOPAR-802-RADIO_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ80741QQihZ012QQitemZ220257795085QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

Tony, Yes, that's a stock rubber bumper under there. From my photo you'll also see that my engine is equipped with the rare rust preventative exuder.

[Young Ed]

The axle on my 46 was quite bent when I got it. I believe they got bent from hitting tree stumps on farms etc. Mine was so bent the shocks wouldn't line up with both mounting points. They can be straightened but I believe that requires removing them from the trunk. I just switched so an extra that had come with my truck but for dads 40 ply pickup we had his straightened.

[5.9diesel]

merle, there is a speaker behind the grill, and a radio delete plate like you said. its blue oil smoke, not white coolant smoke.

dodgepu1946 thats kind of what i thought happened here. its not very bad. it looks like the pics here

[5.9diesel]

i did a compression test, and its great. Cyls 1,2,3,4,6 are 95psi, and cyl5 is 89psi. it only has a teensy little whiff coming out the breather pipe. the first time i saw it run was a cold damp day, and only for a minute, but i just stated it the other day and no smoke, at least for about five minutes of fast idle. after five minutes, it started to bellow smoke in huge quantities. all blue smoke, but it did not smell like an engine burning oil. it smelled like hot oil. after shuting it off and leting things cool down, i got underneath on a hunch and tapped the muffler. it seems to be full of some kind of liquid. i asked my friend who owns the truck what he thought, and he said it migh have gotten filled with oil when his brother pre lubed the engine before he started it the first time. (hes pretty sure his brother dumped a bunch of oil down the carb.) does this sound possible? it takes a few minutes for the exhaust to heat up then start burning the oil off? it seems to me that if the engine was burning that much oil, it wouldnt run nearly as well as it did.

sorry for the long post, and thanks for all the help guys! its really appreciated!

[Reg Evans]

Was the compression check done after the engine was warmed up or when cold? Either way those numbers aren't too bad but if the engine was cold those numbers are real good. Can you remove the muffler to see if the smoke goes away ?

[5.9diesel]

the engine was stone cold for the test. we removed the old muffler (which definately has some kind of liquid in it), and the new muffler should be ready for install tommarow.