Yes I am older than dirt - at least this broken down body feels that way. Free advice is usually what you want to do the opposite of. But "yes dear " has worked for me for 47 years. Have fun

 

Hey Dave, we're celebrating 47 years together next week. I guess that makes me older than dirt too. I also like Studebakers. My brother has 2 trucks and a car. The car is a customized Lark with a supercharger and some Hawk attitude--very cool.

Jim

 

So, this is the new look:











I only have about 15 miles on the new tires, but my initial reaction is positive. Steering seems easier and tracking is good. My speedometer is disconnected, so I'm not sure of the speed, but I think I felt more "secure" at higher speeds. Were all my wife's issues with ride quality and comfort level magically solved with the new tires? No! Are the new tires an improvement over what I had? Yes, I think so.

Actually as far as appearance goes, I don't think the new tires look a whole lot different from my old ones. It was my decision though not to go with wide white walls and the real classic bias tire look. I like that look, but in the end, I didn't think it was right for a truck like mine built for work.

Jim

 

Looks good Jim. Now don't only use it for WORK have some FUN too!

 

Dave, our "working" days are pretty much over. At our age, even having fun sometimes feels a little like work. LOL.

Kidding aside, I'm not doing much with the interior. I've been using my truck to make the weekly dump run, and should the need arise, I'll be ok hauling some gravel for my drive-way with it. Now if it comes to having to Sleep in the back, well then a little sprucing up will be required.

Jim

 

I like the look. The shiny caps and to be look OK. And you go to a military vehicle type show takemthe shiny stuff off.

 

Ross, I talked today with the couple working on the military door insignia. They have the letter size and style pretty well figured out. They are just finishing up the pattern for the red, white, and blue CG shields with the 3 little stars. They said they should have the doors done in a few weeks. I need to work on the bumpers. I'm painting them caution yellow and black. I haven't really looked for paint yet, but I want something that is not going to be real shiny.

As far as military shows go, I probably won't be going to many events like that. I may do parades though. Our local parades usually have a few military vehicles at the front with the honor guard and veterans. My truck would look good up there with the army jeeps.

There's a good chance my truck was in parades when it was new. The parades in the Soo in the 1950's always had a huge military presence. There were Army, Air Force, and Coast Guard installations in the area, and they all participated in the parades. Among other things, I remember seeing veterans from the Spanish American War, and the CG always had one of their boats on a trailer for parades. I probably saw my truck too rolling down the street with Coast Guardsmen marching behind it. My Dad sometimes marched in the parades, and it made me feel proud. We always went to ALL the parades.

Jim

 

The truck looks great, Jim. Anxiously awaiting the CG insignia and bumpers. Real trucks never wore white walls.

 

Amen to that.

 

Once the insignia gets put on and with a truck looking that good we should start calling him ADMIRAL JAMES.

 

Jim , it is beautiful . You have done a splendid job so far .How far away are you from Park Falls , Wi. ? Will be up that way mid Oct on the " Great 2017 Parts Safari".
The OCD in me says "Fix that sagging door handle ."

 

Thanks for the kind words Denny. Pictures are very forgiving. Up close and in person, my truck still has some fairly serious issues. Sagging door handles are just one of many things still needing to be addressed. I think when I first starting posting here, you said it would take 5 years and $20K to get my truck back in shape. I couldn't imagine it at the time, but you were absolutely right. I haven't quite reached either number yet, but I'm getting closer everyday. One of these days we'll have to talk again about heaters. Mine hasn't worked in probably 60 years.

Park Falls is about 2 hours away. I go through there at least once a year on my way to Hayward and the American Birkiebeiner cross country ski race. Maybe I could catch up with you on your Parts Safari. You could take my heater back to Florida and restore it for me, or maybe we could work out a swap (my core for an already restored unit).

I greatly admire your trucks! They are kind of the gold standard for what a finished restoration can look like when the proper amounts of skill, patience, and money are brought to the table. In my case, some of these key ingredients weren't quite present in the amounts needed to "bake" a blue ribbon winner at the fair. LOL.


Jim

 

I recently made a 1400 mile trip with my new bias ply tires. Wind and road condition had a significant affect on handling characteristics, but bottom line, driving over 50 mph was difficult and dangerous. Constant vigilance was requires to keep from wandering all over the road. Dealing with the wind currents created by big trucks out on the interstates was down right scary. And yes, the thought that I should have bought radials was running constantly through my head.

Upon returning, I took my truck in to have the steering and alignment checked. It turned out the tie rod had a significant bend in it and the toe-in adjustment was way off. This was surprising because the same shop did an alignment for me a month or two before the new tires were put on. The caster readings were out of spec too--1.7 and .7 degrees respectively. One side apparently has a 1.0 degree shim.

With the toe-in adjustment corrected, my truck seemed to handle much better on the way home from the shop--I was able to go 55-60 without too much difficulty. I even ventured up to 72 or so and survived. I haven't really had a chance to drive my truck very much since the trip back from the alignment shop, but I'm going to try caster shims next. Maybe my steering and handling will improve even more.

From my experience, I guess the jury is still out on the bias vs radial tire question. If I could run comfortably down the road at 60 mph with one hand on the wheel, I would be very happy with my choice. We'll have to see what caster shims can do. My original unrestored springs, steering box, drag link, and pitman arm could also have been negatively impacting the performance of my tires on my trip.

BTW. I had one flat tire and another tire had to be repaired on my trip. In both cases, there were holes in the inner tubes.

Jim

 

Caster shims only work if the same amount is used on both sides. And really the correct way is it bend the axle beam.

See below pic of hows it's done.

Yes it is for the TIB suspension but beam axles are the same.

.7° and 1.7° is no where near enough caster and there should only be no more than .5° differance in caster side to side. Ideally you want 3° or more
3.5 - 4° is about ideal on a beam axle with manual steering.

I would suggest trying to find a shop that bend the beam to correct your caster especially since you have a full degree of difference side to side.

Your best bet in today's world is a heavy truck shop, most all of them can bend beam axles.

 

Good to know that a proper alignment helped with higher speed handling. That is on the list for the next couple of weeks of road testing, and it just moved up a notch or two of priority.