I removed the engine tonight, it is getting dark early. I had to pull the drive shafts, control levers (for the

bed lift) and transmission. I then had to remove the clutch because the bell housing couldn’t be lifted

over the cross member (unless the cab was off). The clutch was difficult to get off because the engine

was seized, making it difficult to get to all the clutch bolts. My neighbor John and I pushed the truck back

from under the engine after the engine was lifted. I loaded the engine in the back of my jeep to bring the

I was working under the truck by flash light and out of the corner of my eye I saw something moving very

fast, it was a possum heading right for my face at 30mph +, I let out a yell and scooted as fast as I could,

just enough to get my head out of the way as he passed inches away from my face, as he passed I

I removed the fuel tank… oops! look at all the holes. I believe that I will be replacing the fuel tank.

Quotation I just checked out the price of getting this tank repaired @ $150-300. JC Whitney has some replacement tanks for @ $160 (of course not my exact tank). I think I will cut the top off my tank and blast the rest of it and see if there is any metal left. It didn’t seem to leak anywhere else but the top.

I removed all the electrical wiring and instrument cluster and the doors, I removed the door pins, the hinge screws are all stripped.

I removed the fenders and the cab. I also worked on removing the bed wood, the screws are really stuck, I broke two hand impact drivers and several driver bits. I just about have all the screws out.

I bought some clay & plaster of paris so that I can try to replicate the control knobs on the dashboard. The original parts are is such bad shape I need to reproduce a good master part out of plaster of paris then I can make a rubber mold then cast the part with polyurethane resin.

I removed the rest of the bed boards today at lunch time. Those screws were tough.

I mostly cleaned up the worksite today, I put all the parts on pallets and covered them with plastic. I made a cart to put the cab on, so that it could be moved around easily. I power washed the cab to get the gunk out.

I found something carved into the dash board today; "Billy + B" hummm! I wonder who B is?

The following is from Bill/Billy Hammers son of Bill Hammers Sr. (former truck owner);

(P.S. - I now remember carving the Billy + B into the dash when I was in the 4th or 5th grade while we were filling silo - and the B did stand for Beverly, my wife of almost 40 years. (I was focused at a very young age.) I was able to drive the truck long before I had a driver's license because I could drive from the field to the silo without getting on the road by cutting across other fields.)

I finally got the two stuck 14mm (mm bolts on an 1947 international??? I swear!) off the drive shaft, I ended up grinding my el-cheepo 14mm closed in wrench so that it would fit between the drive shaft the the bolt head. I also tried to remove the bed off the frame. I have it unbolted but I need some c-clamps to keep the lift mechanism closed while I lift the bed. I plan to lift the bed and pull the frame from under it. I worked on the engine a bit also. The pistons can only be removed through the top of the cylinder, so I removed the crank shaft and beat the pistons down to the bottom of the stroke, and honed out the cylinders, then I turned the block over and beat the pistons out the top. I broke the piston on the worst cylinder #5, this is the cylinder in which I had a handful of sediment ( I will probably need to replace the pistons anyway if I get the cylinders bored). The top several sets of rings were stuck - compressed on all the cylinders.

I worked on the electrical system tonight, (it has already been removed) I removed all the tape on the wiring so that I could see where everything was connected, then I measured all the wire lengths and sizes... I will be replacing all the wiring, most of the wire insulation just falls off the wire. I am also going to install a small fuse box. There were only 2 inline fuses one went to the horn and the other went to the wipers.

I worked on the instrument cluster tonight, I scanned in all the images of the instruments so that I could reproduce the artwork on the computer. After reproducing the artwork I will make a screen print and repaint the artwork onto the original instrument. There was a small gear box on the speedometer, this is used to change the speedometer gear ratio when the dual speed rear end is changed. The gear box was locked up it just needed cleaning... that's probably why the speedometer cable was broke. I need to find a small dashpot to operate the gear box. I had a time getting the speedometer dial off the gauge... I did manage not to break it. I opened up and checked out/cleaned the ignition switch, starter switch and headlight switch. The ignition switch and headlight switch are going to make it... I just need some new key made. The contacts on the starter switch are worn too bad, I will replace the switch... I have seen these switches at the auto parts store.

I worked on the instrument cluster some more. I sand blasted some of the parts and did some painting.

Darrin came over and helped me remove the flatbed. I then power washed the frame the best I could, there was a lot of gunk on the frame. I also painted painted some of the instrument parts.

Darrin, Hershel and I moved the chassis from the back yard to the drive way. Darrin and I had to construct a rear bumper that my Jeep could push against. Thanks for the help guys!

I also did some more work on the instrument cluster. I found two colors of tan to be used on the cluster, I couldn't find a color that looks as dark as the old face plate, but I think the colors will look ok. The instrument faces will be a lighter tan.

Wow it just took me 5 hours on the computer to layout the artwork for the instrument panel... here is a low res copy of what it looks like, they probably are not in the order that they belong, they will eventually be painted at different times. Some of the lines are for alignment purposes.

I exposed and developed the screen print. I am having troubles getting the print correct. I am going to order a new print screen that will have more resolution.

I cleaned the shop this weekend to get ready for some serious shop work. I am getting a small mill drill machine so I also need to clear a space for it.

I received the Mill Drill today, they delivered it on a lift gate truck. I had to dismantle it into three pieces so that I could get it off the pallet, it weighs 750 pounds. I used the engine hoist to pick up the pieces and re-assemble them on the machine stand.

November 2001