Hi Guys. Sorry it's been awhile and I'm not a very good story teller but here goes.
I guess it was probably early spring that I was thinking about the widow maker wheels on my 56 C-500 (Old Ugly) and was looking at some extra wheels and tires I have and to my amazement four of them are the lock ring type. I have four 8.25 x 20 new recaps for the back and two new steering tires so was happy to find these wheels. I was thinking that I would probably have to get three more made up at American Wheel or some such place but put it on the back burner and started working on my 54 M-350.
I pulled the back hubs, the drums, brake lining, bearings and wheel cylinders were all good so all I needed was cylinder kits and seals. The rear end in this truck is out of a Dodge, what year I'm not sure but I think maybe a 52. The cylinders have 1 1/8" cups in one end and 1 1/4" in the other end, odd ball for sure. Pulled the master cylinder and it was rebuild able. Front brake drums, bearings, lining and cylinders were good also. So off to my favorite parts store. They found me kits for the back cylinders and the master cylinder for around $20.00 each. The front cylinders were cheap for new ones so got them also. These guys are very good at finding old parts for me and they are about 50% cheaper than anyone else around here. Pretty lucky so far.
Sorry guys I must go now- to be continued.

 

Sounds like you've saved/made a couple grand on the tire/wheel deal alone. You should take your sweetheart out for dinner : )

Good to hear your update. I like that shade of blue on old ugly!

 

Hi mtflat, good to here from you.
I definitely saved on those four wheels as I only paid $20.00 apiece for them with garbage tires on them. As for the new tires they cost me about $1200.00 for the six tires, tubes and liners. That was about six or seven years ago.
The color of Old Ugly is a 60 or 70's Dodge color called Impact Blue. The fenders will be a Ford Grey color, can't remember exactly what it is called. Painted the M-350 the same, as you will see later. As one always has paint left over it saves a bit of money.

 

Hi again guys . Sorry I have to do this in bits and pieces but I don't seem to get a lot of time for this. By the time I look over the new posts it's bed time, older guys need there sleep you know, but here goes again .
So I rebuilt the rear wheel cylinders and master cylinder then put new wheel cylinders in the front. In the process of bleeding the brakes I discovered the hydro-vac was half full of brake fluid. So now where am I going to find a rebuilt hydro-vac for a 54 M-350? Started looking through my parts book and couldn't find one listed for a 350. Were they not available for the 350's?
Darn, I have to go again, will be back later. Sorry .

 

Back again
While looking through my parts book I realized that the hydro-vac was probably off a 52 F-5 which jogged my memory. My father wrecked a 52 F-5 or 6 and he probably put the hydro-vac on the M-350. At first I thought it was a factory install but know now that it wasn't.
So off to my favorite parts outlet. No luck there, no rebuilds or kits. They sent me on a 45 minute drive to place that specializes in such things. Well that was a waist of time, they weren't very helpful and were very pricey.
So I started searching this site (FTE) and foound that people here were simply using hydro-vacs for 53's and up which are still available from N_ _ _a Auto Parts. So I searched their site and found a part number and phoned my local N_ _ _a store and gave them the part number and told them it was for the company I work for as they have an account there. The guy said yup, we can get one out of Edmonton, Alta., $518.00 plus about $70.00 core charge, plus $20.00 freight. I thought that it was a bit pricey so I said I would get back to them.
So I simply took the hydro-vac off of my 56 C-500 and put it onto the M-350, had to drill a couple of new holes, bled the brakes. Worked great. Really good brakes.
Gotta go now, will be back later

 

Sounds like you've been busy! Is the Cummins all done?

 

Good progress on the brakes. Its good to be able to stop. LOL, thats one thing I never thought of as a kid, I was all about going faster and didn't even think about slowing down. Now, I look at being able to stop first and the going....

Good looking truck
Bobby

 

Hi ALBUQ F-1, good to hear from you.
To answer your question, no.
Every fall I put a one day permit on my 85 F-150 and haul four tons of wood pellets for my pellet stove and a load of garbage to the dump. Three years ago after the dump run I went to get wood pellets, about 14 mi. round trip, and they would only put 1/2 a ton on my truck at once. This meant 8 trips, a lot of extra work and a lot more cost. So I decided to get the M-350 on the road then I can haul 2 tons at once. Good excuse anyway, but it means I had to put Old Ugly on the shelf for awhile. I do a bit on it once in awhile. This last fall a place about a mile from me started selling pellets and they will put a full ton on, I don't even need to go on the main hi-way.
Here's a pic of the 85 with one ton of pellets, handles it quite well.

 

Hi Bobby, . It's good to hear from you too, thank you.
When I was going through the hydro-vac issue I thought about going to a split system but decided not to as the amount I will be using this truck it wouldn't be worth while and i really want to get it road worthy and looking decent as quick as possible. I have no plans of a show piece.

 

Well back again , Hi to all.
While going through the brake issue on the M-350 I heard about an auto wrecker in a small community about 40 miles east of where I life that has some older trucks. So one Monday, my day off, my son and I get in my 91 Firefly and off we go to find this auto wrecker. All there is in this community is a store and houses are spread out over a large area. Had to ask directions and finally found the place at the end of a dead end road, no signs on the high-way or anything. The place is closed on Mondays . So we decide to take a different way home but miss the turn off. Half way threw a u-turn the engine quit, broke the timing belt. Push the car a little ways then coasted about a mile and found an old shut down gas station and got it off the road. I usually pack a tool box, spare timing and fan belt but not this time. Don't know when or why I took it out. No cell service either. We walk down the road to a house phone my wive to come get us, go back home, find the tool box, belts etc. Off we go again, it's 10:15 P.M. when we get back to the car. We put the timing belt in it and were back on the road by 11:00 P.M. Not bad, in the dark using a flashlight.
To be continued.....

 

LOL....what an adventure...

That old 1/2 ton doesn't look too bad with a ton of pellets in it. Years ago I hand loaded a pallet of brick into my brothers 75 F-150 4x4. I didn't even think about it, when you are adding bricks 3 or 4 at a time you don't realise how much weight you are carrying. It sure was an interesting drive back to the brick supplier.....LOL. I swear the front wheels were comming off the ground with every bump in the road.

On a side note: I'm glad I live down here in the desert. I use about a ton of pellets per winter, maybe a ton and a 1/4 if its really cold. Its pretty nice to be able to heat my house all winter for approx $200

Bobby

 

Well here we go again,
So after the disaster trip I phoned the out in the boonies auto wreckers and asked if he might have 3, 20" five stud lock ring wheels for a Ford. He said he was pretty sure he had an old bus that had those wheels on it and I could have 3 of them for $250.00 and he would take them off. At first I thought it was a bit expensive but a lot cheaper and less hassle than having them made up so arranged a day off and went out to see and maybe buy them. Sure enough he had a 53, B-600 sitting there with three 20", 5 stud wheels in really nice shape, the other three were widow makers. The bus also had the hydro-vac I needed for a core to replace the one for my C-500 and a good front bumper. I ended out getting the 3 wheels, the hydro-vac and bumper for $250.00 . I thought this was a pretty good deal.

 

Back again guys .
So now that I had a hydro-vac core for the 56 Merc c.o.e. it was time to get serious about finding a rebuilt replacement. As mentioned before by searching this site I found out that in the U.S. these Hydro-vacs are available from N_ _a for about $250.00 exchange. ( I'm kind of guessing on the cost) N_ _a here wanted $518.00 exchange, which I thought was a way out of line. Sooo off I go to my usual parts supplier with the N_ _a part number and ask them if they can get that particular hydro-vac. He said that number was of no use to them but asked what it was for. I told him it was for a 56 Merc. C-500. He looked it up and said he could get one out of Edmonton, Alta. (Same as N_ _ a said) OK- how much? He said $250.00 exchange. Needless to say I didn't hesitate . Less than half price compared to N_ _a , pays to shop around.
Time to go now, will be back later

 

Hi to all , finally back again (about time).
So now that my wheel and brake issues were taken care of I moved on to body work and paint on the M-350. Painted the inside of the cab and removed the steering column, painted it, added the signal switch from a 55, found my best steering wheel, repaired and painted it and started to put things back together. here are before and after pics.

 

Pics seem to big so run out of room. Here's the after pic.


Then painted the outside.