[QUOTE=fatfenders]Abe

I've been waiting for one of you stockers to do a drive by on me. I'll have you know my door will soon bolt up and function on your truck. You'll have to get rid of my cute little chrome mirror though.

Fenders, thanks for the offer on your door, but won't a red door on a green truck look kinda odd??? Oh and the mirror? I could sell that cute chrome mirror on ebay and buy several of the more manly truck mirrors!! Ha-Ha!!

abe

PS: if you need any more stock stuff let us know

 

question i thought the bear claw latches went inside the door and not bolted from the outside perhaps i missed something.

 

abe

PS: if you need any more stock stuff let us know

I appreciate the offer. I was thinking of converting back to a stock generator next. I want to be cool like you stocker guys and have my headlight output vary with rpm. I'm thinking dual 6Vs so I can keep my audio. We'll have George draw up the schematics. Or maybe I'll just pirate them home from work I guess. Yet another way cool Army innovation.

Nixer

I don't think there are really any rules with bearclaws. They did work well just like there were though. Except for the Dukes of Hazzard mount and dismount requirements. My wife just couldn't get the Bo Duke hood slide perfected. That's the real reason I lowered my truck. We just couldn't get in anymore

FWIW, I was a doubting 'fenders, but you can make a stock latch work every bit as smooth as a bearclaw, but everything better be right. I think some people ditch the stock latches because they have a mini-stroke when they price all the new stock hardware hardware if theirs are shot.

 

A mini-stroke is the standard reaction to the price of both replacing stock parts, and buying rod parts, from my experience.

I freely admit I'm biased, but I have to agree that the first reaction I get from some local friends is "Why bother with that 50-year old crap. It didn't work even when it was new." Then I get it restored and adjusted correctly and they are all "Well, it does seem to work. Guess you found the one thing that isn't crap on that truck." Sometimes I'd like to smack some of them.

Oh, and us stockers use the varying headlight brightness to tell the rate of battery charging. Those old charging gages are crap, and they didn't work even when they were new (according to some local people I know).

 

U know.. I love the stock look.. But Im a techo head.. I will upgrade every thing I can.. But I will try to keep thing like the OEM Block, Body, Frame, so on so forth.. But I will change things I dont like. IE the stock latches.. Mine are New and still work like ****.. So Im planning on putting in a pair of bearclaws... So what that make me???

 

"I freely admit I'm biased, but I have to agree that the first reaction I get from some local friends is "Why bother with that 50-year old crap. It didn't work even when it was new." Then I get it restored and adjusted correctly and they are all "Well, it does seem to work. Guess you found the one thing that isn't crap on that truck." Sometimes I'd like to smack some of them."

I'm sure you would George. Tell them to come back in 50 years and we'll see how well their bearclaws and MIIs held up. The door latches are an area where the $$$ encourage modify though. Add up the cost of latches, the jamb thingies whose name escapes me, outside door handles. We're up over 3 bills. Other options get real tempting, but the shaved door look is the real reason of course.

And I'll believe you when you tell me how nice you got all your stock stuff working. I was real impressed with your column shifter rebuild. It was tight as new. We'll agree right up until you tell me the stock hood hinge system is an engineering marvel. They had a bad day when they thought that one up. It's mediocre at best. And yes I had rebuilt stuff. Granted it was rebuilt. I about wet my pants when that almost new hood spring exploded with me under the hood messing with the carb. I think sheetmetal forgot to tell hinge design team they were going to put a hundred pound hood on the new Effie

 

Mark, that makes you a guy who likes to upgrade certain stuff because it makes you feel good. I can't think of a single thing wrong with that. In fact, everything is exactly right about that! Don't confuse your approach with folks who have never worked with the stock hardware, but still know it doesn't work 'cuz it's old. Heck, I'm old and I still wor ... well, never mind.

And as for you, Dewayne, the stock hood hinges are so an engineering marvel. I just haven't figured out what the marvelous part is yet. It could be that part about you wetting your pants, though.

Don't confuse this good natured jab at the dark side with an all out attack by a nut-case stocker. I'm absolutely a nut-case stocker, but also a firm believer that there's not enough humor on the board lately. A lot of us seem to be taking too many things personally, and we're wound as tight as stock hood springs. So lighten up guys and gals. Go enjoy your trucks before I come out there and redo everything on all your trucks so it's all stock.

It's 4 AM and I can't find that box of original dealer parking lot gravel I bought last week. I gotta go sit in the corner and take my medicine now ...

 

"Mine are New and still work like ****.. So Im planning on putting in a pair of bearclaws... So what that make me???"

Mad

It means we're pulling your stock door latch installation certification. That's what it means buddy.

Anyone else,

What the earl of Earl is tired of, is his somebody pointing to every unrestored component of his 50 year old truck and authoritatively stating.

"look at this, it flops around and doesn't work right anymore, those were always crap.

And George is polite so he doesn't say it. But I bet he's thinking.

"Perhaps it's crap right now because its 50 years old and worked pretty well for the first 30", you ever think about that you big dummy" And in most cases he was right.

I'm not suggesting every part of an Effie is engineered to perfection. But the truck is certainly not just a collection of crappy parts. There are way too many of them around in service. I say they're unCrappy, stock of properly modded.