Okay, so the "Typical" drawing I loaded shows a rear bearing, but that's actually for a '56 or newer generator.

I need the front bearing and rear bushing.

EDIT: I looked up the part numbers in the Text Catalog and now I see that I need a 8BA-10094 bearing and a 78-10128 bushing.

Thanks for your replies, y'all.

 

I have the same exact drawing in my original pre '55 catalog. Engineering number P-1829 in lower right corner. But reading the text, I, too, see that the correct, original generator used a bushing. I guess we should hope it hasn't been swapped for something else.

 

What about switching out to a 6v pos ground alternator?? When I needed to have the generator rebuilt in the 52, the cost of a rebuild and a new 6v pos alternator was about the same. Granted it won't look original and you'd have to fab a mounting bracket, but you'll have better charging.

 

Pretty sure it's the original generator. It looks that way, anyway.

Well, it's about $12 for the bushing and the bearing. Plus $10 for brushes. I don't know yet if I need brushes but since I'll have it apart... So $22 plus shipping. I have no problem charging with the current (see what I did there) generator, so I think I'll keep it stock and be cheap, as usual.

Do places like Napa or AutoZone or O'Reilly's carry these parts? That would save on shipping.

 

Looks like it, although I'm suspicious of the bearing, take your calipers along...

Gosh, no question where the bearing comes from... NAPA shows another one in their upscale line I'd be inclined to get, even at 2x the price.

 

Thanks for looking that up Ross.

I see now why I couldn't find these. I looked on the NAPA website for generator / bearings but found nothing for my truck. I should have searched without listing my vehicle. I'm going to see if they have the bushing as well...

Well, well, well. I couldn't find any specs on the bushing from NAPA or in the Text Catalog. So I went looking elsewhere. RockAuto.com has the brushes, bushing and bearing for $11.09 with $5.12 shipping. For $16.21, I ordered them from RockAuto.

So now I have a Betsy project for my May vacation in three weeks.

 

RockAuto never ceases to amaze with some of the parts they stock. It's just "an online retailer" but they seem to have some truly obscure parts. Summit has gotten loads better in recent years, too. They've deviated from the 'strictly racing' mindset into a lot more areas. I nabbed some liquid-filled engine mounts for my Cummins 4BT conversion from Summit -- at 1/2 the price of the O'Reilly & NAPA and they got here in about 28 hours. Not bad.

Those kingpins look pretty now that they're all churched up again!

 

Yes, and like the tranny that's "all churched up again", no one will ever see them.

But I drove her to Costco this morning to get gas ($4.02/gallon) and I'm quite pleased with the steering now. The only problem is the steering wheel is way off center. But I can deal with that.

I sure wish the roads had less craters though. Man, what a bouncy ride!

 

Have we discussed tire pressure. Betsy will do just fine running tire pressure way less that recommended. Takes a lot of the road shock out.
How about front shocks? The 1956 shocks and brackets will work.

 

I have the tires at 40 psi all around. No shocks on an F4, front or rear. The max rating is 90 psi. And the bad bounce comes from the rear with no weight back there. I try not to drive over 30 mph and slow down if I know a crater is coming. Did I mention I never noticed these "craters" in my car?

But I do have these overload springs which I'm pretty sure never get used nowadays. I can't imagine how much weight would have to be on the bed for the upper springs to be used. Maybe a ton, since she's a 1 ton?



I'm thinking one of these days I'm going to need to refurb the springs. And I'm really not looking forward to that. I like the ride height, so I don't want to remove leaves. But I bet they're all rusted together. The PO just painted them all black when he painted the frame.

It's worse than riding a hardtail Harley. I hit a bump today and the bounce started to pull my pants down from friction on the seat back. Thank goodness for seat belts!

 

Joe,
Its amazing the differences in springs between todays 1 ton trucks and older trucks.

A few years ago I was driving dad's 74 Dodge 1 ton. I think the only suspension is in the seat....LOL. Its like riding in an old buckboard.

Maybe you could add some weight to the truck bed. Maybe do something like find some old wooden barrels and fill them full of sand or something like that

Bobby

 

You've got near a half-ton of unsprung weight back there, no easy solution.

 

And it probably will last forever if I don't do something stupid.

Heck, it's already 63 or 64 years old. But it sometimes feels like it's leaving the ground even when I'm not going fast. And parking lot speed bumps are deadly...

I just don't want to break anything.

 

You can get rid of the aux springs, it will reduce the unsprung weight maybe a hundred lbs, but I really doubt they are in play as far as spring rate. Shocks up front would really help, as Ray suggested. It helps stop the rocking-horse.

 

I guess I can look up these in my Text Catalog? Are the brackets welded to the axle like for rear shocks?

OK I found them. I'll have to do some more research on this. I didn't notice any mount holes in the axle. How do the tops tie into the frame?