1941 1/2 ton project Hannah

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thanks fellers! I can almost smell the exhaust

got the running boards done, the passenger board needed quite a bit of support that had rusted away. bolted up all the spacers and wheels and put the truck on the ground to check the rake. its almost perfect! when the bed weight is added and with the wood floor the rear should drop another inch or inch and a half.

IMG_8780 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8778 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8774 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

on the last 41 the bed was a little further away from the cab and that made the gap exaggerated because of the big curve of the back of the cab. so on this one I tucked it right up. all that measuring really paid off, the running boards are level with the frame, level with the cab, level with the front fenders, and the aprons are exactly square with the bed floor and 6" away from the floor. I need to cut the filler hole in the bed side and tomorrow I can get the bed on and welded. (I still need welding gas, the needle is a single hair off the stop!)

IMG_8776 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

popped the boyds on the loudmouth, which I moved up to the on deck circle to start dismantling. the front clip is sold and so are the (s10) wheels, I have to get the parts off now. loudmouth because the PO cut the cat off, last night when I moved it my wife who never swears yelled down the basement stairs "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT"

IMG_8777 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

more to come!
 
today I drilled out the broken bolts on the nose, which actually was only one bolt, two were long enough and poked out the bottom that I got some vice grips on them and was able to turn them out, so the last one needed a drill and when I bore down on the drill bit it popped the whole mounting plate off. I drilled a couple holes and spot welded it back on.

IMG_8855 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8856 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

I checked the fit of the floor in the bed, worked great after I squared up the end cuts.
IMG_8853 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8852 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

then I broke off a bed bolt in the floor. so instead of swearing about it a while I went and sold a bunch more parts off the next donor (shes paying me now), took a sunday drive, and then picked up the kittens my wife had picked out a couple weeks ago.

IMG_8851-3 by Joe Doh, on Flickr


that little black one has a fist full of knives, she is legitimately scary when she stretches. the orange one is just the same temperament and even shade of orange as the old cat that disappeared. my 4 year old is in heaven.
 
yeah measure once and pray that is my motto. :D (careful planning! kidding!)

the upholstery shop that did the seat shined me on the carpet and underlayment and I am sad to say that is the last straw. so went to the Yard Store today, man I love that place. of course they had jute, and they also had some aircraft sound barrier material I didnt pick up but thinking about it I will tomorrow.

IMG_8879 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

also got some drill bits and a 10x1.5 tap to fix my bed bolt problem. drilled out the broken bolt and chased all the threads.

IMG_8872 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

rain dampened my bed ambitions so I went to the next item on the punch list, rebuilding the doors and windows. here is a trick, if you have clutch head screws on a 39-46 truck that are... recalcitrant, I take a cutoff wheel and cut a slot in them, the little bit of heat and vibration lets me take them out with a flat bladed screwdriver instead of that low torque clutch head driver. only had to do that to about 7.

IMG_8873 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

I rebuilt the door latches, here is a how-to if you have-to.

1. remove the door handle, mine was rusted fast to the latch assembly and required some persuasion, namely a hammer and a punch to push the handle out. this actually separated the upper part of the latch assembly but it had to come off anyway.

2. separate the latch assembly from the door support that also holds the window regulator. there are 4 big slotted screws that hold that piece to the door and then two more clutch head screws that hold the latch assembly. picture below is the latch assembly in the vice, you can see the missing parts that fell off when I beat on the door handle, and the four tabs you have to grind off to release the door latch

IMG_8874 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

3. unscrew the inner release rod from the latch, there is a (probably broken) spring on the shaft, this is what holds the outside handle level when latched so it will need replaced. I got a generic stainless spring assortment from home cheapo, and found one with the right tension.

IMG_8875 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

4. clean and free up all the linkages. you dont want to sand on them even though its tempting, they have worn into a comfortable position after almost 80 years and if you clean them up too much they will stick and catch. after that reassembly is reverse of disassembly, and I use a couple tack welds to hold it all shut for the next 80 years.

IMG_8876 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

here is the door handle assembly that was dislodged by the handle removal, reinstalled. it is possible to snap it back in.

IMG_8878 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

lube it all up and work it a few hundred times, this smooths the mechanism, and you can make sure the handle is springing back (this one is)

IMG_8877 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

tomorrow I will rebuild the window felts and the passenger latch, and maybe get the bed together finally.
 
I'm a little punch drunk from all these side tracks but its still moving forward.


I vacuumed out the door today and found most of southwest kansas, but more importantly, the three parts of the original door check mount. so I welded them all together.

IMG_8893 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8892 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

before I could hook it back up though I needed to install the door pins. the PO at some point in history had put a bolt through the top hinge and a nail through the lower. the nail gave me the most grief, the head was small enough to have fallen through the top hole but was too perfect a fit to push back up through. what I ended up doing was staring at it a while and then I pulled it as far through the bottom as I could, then cut as much of the bottom off as I could. this left it just long enough to push up into the center of the hinge, which let the hinge separate and then I got it up from the bottom again. then it was just a matter of course to install new top and bottom pins.

IMG_8881 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8882 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8883 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8884 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

I am trying to decide between the two mirror heads, I think the black one is the best.

IMG_8887 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8888 by Joe Doh, on Flickr


I thought I was done, but a couple decades of the door swinging without a check had tweaked the upper hinge, so the door didnt shut all that well. I thought the hinges had some adjustment so I spent some time drilling out the bolts to find out they werent.

IMG_8889 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

so I have the body and the door jigged with some jacks and I am trying to get the sheet back in line instead of changing the hinge. a little at a time, I have the door propped at the rear with a jack and the frame on the opposite side propped with a jack and every once in a while I will jump on the floorboard.

maybe tomorrow I will get to the passenger side haha.
 
I like the black mirrors too.

Those clutch head screws are hard to get out. I welded nuts onto mine, and they also came out really well. I replaced them with stainless screws to hopefully avoid the problem in the future.

They do sell spring kits for the door latches and window regulators on these. I think the clock springs are always broken in them. The other springs are always worn out or broken. If you can find them in the local store then that's good, but some of them are definitely special springs.

I've had to make my own power steering fittings a few times too. So far so good.

The truck is looking good. Keep it up.
 
Joe,
good description and picts on your door latch repairs.

I really like the idea of using the newer steel bed center into the old, can't wait to see it done.[P[P[P

Dave
 
ha I love cats, especially nice cats.

morris and mabel. mabel is getting the fuzzy capri pants and poof tail my beloved turkish angora had at 2.5 months. I am partial to turks, and its a dominant gene, they are truly beautiful cats, so agile and trim, like a ballerina. maybee prefers me best too, she likes laying on me when others are bothering her, which is awesome.

IMG_8943 by Joe Doh, on Flickr


got the front clip pulled for the next project before the cold front came in, its sold and I needed it off. its super easy to pull a clip when you just cut the rails!

IMG_8945-1 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8946 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

got tired of wishing the bed was on and just tacked the floor in the right spot and put it on. the gas filler worked out perfect, so did the cab alignment. I am pretty freaking happy.

IMG_8948 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8949 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8950-1 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8951 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8952-1 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8953-1 by Joe Doh, on Flickr



but again there is no joy in mudville! I noticed the other day on the door parts that my welds were looking a little weird. I figured it was just rusty old metal but when I was tacking the bed floor today the welds looked really weird, a dark steel color. when I picked up the welding tank they were out of the 3ft bottles I usually get and so they gave me a 4 ft bottle. I didnt pay much attention but noted that the tank was older looking and was painted a light green, normally my tanks are maroon. I am 90% certain the guy at the welding shop has given me a 4ft bottle of OXYGEN and the only reason I havent blown myself up is I am only doing tacks. I suspect this because the guy in front of me was a fireman and was getting oxy, and I hope to heaven he didnt get my argon/CO2 because that would be one (or more!) dead fireman. I will straighten it out monday but I cant do anything else till I do. I hope I am wrong, I dont know enough about cylinder colors to be sure.

glad I got the bed test fit though, time to weld it up and move on. you can see I need to trim the running boards for the fenders, and I am going to move the fenders up on the bed a little too, the wheel would be too far back in the wheel arch in that position.
 
Don't worry about blowing up. Oxygen is not flammable.

If your gas supplier doesn't even label bottles, I'd really be considering my options for gas suppliers. Or are they maybe mislabled?

I'm pretty sure I got a bad argon bottle from Airgas one time. I thought I just forgot how to weld until that bottle was empty, and I hooked up a bottle from a different company. Suddenly I could weld again.
 
Don't worry about blowing up. Oxygen is not flammable.



no, but it makes literally everything else flammable, even stuff that is not ordinarily flammable! [;)

ever throw coffee creamer or even flour over a match? big fireball, increasing the oxygen concentration in the material did that.

welding shop says I have mix. I bet its a bad mix.



got some transfer paper and stuck the chevrolet stickers on the smoothie caps.

IMG_9073 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_9074 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

started working on the running board mod. the fender needed to move back 2" and that helped but doing the cuts in 3d on the multiple stair steps requires chipping away at it. I got within about an inch of the right spot tonight, you can see the bolt sticking out where the fender SHOULD be. I made a pattern of the fender edge and transferred it to get the curve right. one thing is, these are 37-38 fenders so they are slightly narrower than the 41-46, so I will have to fab a nice end for the running board.

IMG_9078 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_9079 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_9080 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

maybe some more tomorrow.
 
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