Finally getting very close to firing up the engine. Waiting on a pair of Kat's inline lower hose heaters (for our Northern winters), some stuff to come back from sandblasting and paint, and a few bits and pieces here and there.
Drained all the fluids, and glad I did. some moisture separated out from the gear oils, but pretty good overall.


with the transmission drained, took the blanking plate off to see about bolting up the PTO. Engaged the PTO so it mated up with the driving gear, and there's a 5/16" gap between the housings. I'll see about one of the local machine shops to make up a spacer. Then I'll have to start thinking about linkage and a lever. going to be pretty busy in the cab once it's all done.



should have it fired up in the next two weeks, then can get on to the body and wiring.

 

I dont think the starter under the left front
corner will work for ya Bud. But maybe.

 

I think I have a crashbox with a power take off. If you want it I will trade it with you for your cover plate and shipping cost. Before you get too interested, let me make sure what I have is usable.

Great looking progress on the truck.

 

It's been a while, little bits and pieces done with large ones coming soon.

Fred, that is mighty generous of you. Shoot me a PM and we can send some e-mails to sort details out.

So finally heard back from the sandblaster, everything is done, but they forgot to paint the battery tray. So that will all have to wait until next week. But got some of my money from the government so got a bunch of stuff that I needed finally.

Got the brake booster back from rebuilding at John Stewart Power Brake in Ontario. Looks really nice.too bad I'll never see it under the back of the cab.






Got a new master cylinder and tubing to do new lines (also required a few tools to go with it all).
My first attempt at making my own lines was the oil return line for the filter canister I got off eBay. Came out pretty good.




And finally got my spacer for the PTO. 3/8" steel and some black RTV and we are in business. Gear lash seemed pretty good, not excessive, but not tight either. Filled the transmission up while I still have easy access (but a 5 gal pail and pump make easy work of it too)


now to made a shifter and some linkages...


Waiting on a goody bag from Chuck, but in the mean time, I've stripped all the old undercoat off the bottom of the cab. Some pin holes, and small spots I'll have to fix at the front cab mounts, but in really good shape otherwise.

 

Well made some good progress this weekend. Just shy of firing it up.

Got a box of goodies from Chuck to fix a few seals, brake hoses, and all the suspension pins and bushings. Also got all of my parts back from blasting and paint finally.



Got the rad installed finally now that I had the cradle. Bought a box of NOS 7/16 carriage bolts off EBay since no one carries anything like them anymore for the cradle mount. If anyone needs some let me know. I can either send them as blanks that you cut to size and thread yourself or I can get them to the size they have to be and threaded.

battery tray went on before the bumper, as the front slips under the 1/2" doubler plate. Optima red top waiting patiently. Used some 1" stock to fill in the top of the stock hold down to fit the slightly smaller battery. Fits like a glove now.





Had to go to the nearest big town (1.5 hrs away) that actually had a spring shop. All of my U bolts were badly mangled on the threads and bent in all sorts of weird shapes. Young kid bent them up in about 10 min once he figured out what sizes they were. I'll leave about 1" above the nut and cut the rest off.

All of the spring pin bushings were replaced along with the pins. front end is done, just the rear to do now.



Rad finally on and all hooked up. Using Kat's hose heaters on both of the lower for our chilly winter weather. Had to use a longer belt than what is listed in the parts book to line up properly with the shroud.

Front brake lines are done, just need to run lines to the booster and rear.

Front output seal on the Aux Trans was replaced. Was amazed at the thought MH put into parts. There were two drift holes in the seal retainer so you could punch out the old one.

My only question is, where is a good ground point on the engine? It's been os long since I took it apart I've forgotten where to attach my battery lead?


I was thinking the 5/16" bolt near the starter would be the best spot for the ground, but the cable that came with the Vintage Auto kit is too short to reach there. Also need to run a ground off the Powermaster Alternator to somewhere on the block too.

Snowing here today so I'll make up more of the brake lines and work on the rear end until I can run into town to get a few more things I need.

 

Your M-H is looking very nice! Your doing a great job. The steering box looks different than my Ford box.
Mark

 

I read your whole thread. You are definitely building a very cool truck. I enjoy looking at all of the pictures.

 

Any bolt on the engine block should be a good ground if you scrape the paint first.

You are doing a great job!

 

Mark, you are correct.
It's a Ross Cam & Lever box which was an option from M-H by the looks of their parts list. The horn button assembly is really different too, but has a very worn and faded "Ross cam & lever" center. I'll be lucky if I remember how it goes back together and didn't loose anything in the move

 

Thanks for the explanation. I thought the steering box looked different, but wasn't sure if I was seeing something else.

 

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well got the flathead running yesterday. Love the sound with the straight pipe. With that milestone out of the way, just need to finish the rear end and get some bodywork done....

 

Beautiful sound. Very nice work.

 

Sounds good! Gotta like that feeling when you get to hear it run for the first time. .
Looks like my 51 M5.

 

Well made a big push and got the other rear oil seal done, brake lines finished up and bled and hooked up the vacuum line to the brake booster.
Used some 3/4" ply and a milk crate (worked not too bad).
Nice to have the shop back (just in time for spring equipment maintenance). Now to get some of this metal repair done on the cab and fenders.

 

Well calving season is almost at an end for us, so I finally have time to update on how things are going and do some work finally.

Got my tires back in April. Cost a small fortune for them, but they will do the job year round here and look the part too. Mounting them took a while. As only one guy had ever worked on that style of rim before (happened to be the manager, which is why it took a while, just busy otherwise).
Also heard back from the Fernie and Sparwood BC museums as to the history of the cab. Turns out that William "*****" Rothel was the owner of the Triteswood Company store in Natal (now a part of Sparwood and no longer exists). An old fella remembers him using it for delivery runs. So my truck will have a name after all. ***** kind of suits it I think.

Also got all of the bits and pieces to rebuild the rear suspension since it has the Truxmore torsion bar setup on it. It's a little different than stock and a hodge podge of older BB truck bits. I'll make a separate thread on that to make it easy to find for the future.



With that done, the Cab needed a bit of attention. Had to make some patches at the rear of the cab mounts and fill some pin holes in other areas. Took care of a few stress cracks I found while I was at it. They weren't the prettiest repairs, but farm functional. If I ever get around to painting it properly, will clean up everything then I figure.



Passenger rear cab mount patch




All done and painted inside and out to last a while longer I hope.

So with the cab all ready to go, time to finally get the cab back on the chassis. Lucky for me we have a backhoe with forks, so put some slings the through the and hoisted it up. Had a few helpers push it into place when lowering it down. Would have been easier with the steering column out, but made it work by pushing it back just enough, then sliding it forward when we were close.




So now I'm on to putting my sound deadening an insulation kit in, wiring it up with my EZ wire harness, and putting the new weather stripping in. Oh, and put the doors back together, and repair the fenders and paint them, and....

But progress none the less!