mattb73lt

Went up and checked on the B73 this afternoon and take some measurements to order some underframe storage boxes for my equipment. All is well with it. Hopefully, it'll be back home in about two more months

If you notice the spacing between the brake and accelerator, you can see it would be easy to work both pedals with your right foot by rolling it while pushing in the brake and rolling it to the right. That pedal spacing is not stock but of my own design. I use the same technique in both my trucks. I know of the technique you speak of, but never had a need to do it in a truck. I mostly use the heel to toe method for down shifts, while braking and using the Jake.

I just usually "heel to toe" it when I need to. Left foot for the clutch and the ball of my right foot for the brake pedal. Then roll my right foot to the right for the accelerator or pivot my heel over, depending on the pedal spacing.

Damn, he's getting big!!

Age mostly. As plastic ages it becomes brittle and actually shrinks. Then add the UV's, solar heating, hot and cold cycles and someone wrenching on it all day, cracks will form. If you watch some, you'll see gaps opening up where it's cracked. Plastic is a petroleum product and "off gasses" as it dries and cures. Hence the PVC smog that forms on the inside of you cars windows and the New Car smell it has when new. Then it smells like sweaty man ass, fuel, oils and exhaust after a while.

Fiberglass is pretty easy to work with and as JoeH just said, adding strength and reinforcements to the underside can bring back integrity to the overall structure. However, you need to really evaluate the overall condition and the efforts to bring it back as you dig into it. The man hours you expend may be better spent elsewhere, at some point. I had several items on my restoration that I worked on and then found better replacements as I progressed. The fuel tanks were one item. The cab was the other huge one. But, not finding any reasonable replacements, I was forced to proceed on fixing it. Several friends thought it was beyond hope. Just a little food for thought.

You've got your work cut out for you with that hood. I agree with Mean Green with removing the bondo and any other foreign materiel that's been used to repair it in the past. Some of those cracks look pretty significant and my concern there would be loss of strength and rigidity, causing it to flex and deform. I would do the bigger repairs right on the truck like it is to keep it's shape. Then tackle one repair at a time, with the larger ones first to build some strength back into it. It's been a while since I did fiberglass repairs but it's not too hard to do. Do you know anyone who repairs boats or has experience with fiberglass? It couldn't hurt to bend someone's ear to gain some knowledge or some good techniques about how to get it done.

And progress on the little one, too!! He's going to remember all this time spent helping his Grandpa for the rest of his life.

It's looking great. Lot's of progress on it for the last few years.

If you think the bumper, bumper to frame extensions and the frame are all straight, I would look to the front radiator mount as the next point to check. There are two rubber mounts in there that support the entire front clip. They are on the bottom of the radiator support frame to which everything mounts and bears down on. If one has failed it can throw the whole front end off. You can use the same rubber mounts for the cab and transmission there. The originals were slightly different as the back side was cupped and made for a softer mount for the radiator. There's less weight there than on the cab or transmission. You can also shim those mounts with large fender washers to adjust if some thing is bent. Pctures would help to see where your alignment is off, as we're all guessing where things are off.

Wow, you really tore into that quickly!! If you’re that deep into it now, may is a very strong possibility.

Berlin Steel Construction. They were still big when I moved to town, 30 years ago. They’re still in business, but seemed to downsize the yard here.

I always liked those hard nosed R's. There was a steel company in my town that used to run two, long wheelbase, single axles flatbeds with a grapple crane mounted between thw cab and bed. Your's looks clean. You'll probably run right through quickly and have it done. Good Luck!!

Cool family story and what a history with that truck. It must've been quite the trip up and down Route 1 back then!!

Here was a really cool gift my wife and I received from two of her aunts this Christmas. A gingerbread version of our house and barn!! They're non-edible, but highly detailed and accurate. Even if they were edible, could you eat them? Now I have a gingerbread B73 for the collection! I put in two pics of the real ones.

Excellent work!! Merry Christmas!!

Drive line swaps are usually the easiest way to make an older truck more "roadworthy". A lot of more modern components will bolt right up to an original frame. Switching to a single axle arrangement can be done, but you're not going to split a tandem/bogie arrangement into a single axle. You'll need four spring perches and parallel leaf springs and a different axle. A complete frame swap can be another way to go, like putting an entire 1 1/2 ton GMC dually frame under it. Another benefit of a modern drivetrain is if you are far from home and you happen to breakdown fixing it is a lot easier than something that's vintage. Bringing modern amenities (A/C ,Power steering/brakes, cruise control) can be a lot easier to do. Sheetmetal can be another issue. The cabs usually aren't too bad, as they were all pretty small back then. The front end is usually the hard part. Re-scaling the sheetmetal to look right is a task. Resizing fenders to fit smaller diameter wheels, shortening hoods, shrinking radiator shrouds. As you can see from some of the pictures offered above, some get it right and some don't. It's really up to you and your resources as to what you can do. Talk to people, go to truck shows, internet searches can all help you develop a plan to move forward with to built what you want.

Chuck Roser, kingofsalvage.com. He has them and some other B Model parts, too. Same parts for the cab and engine, $135 a set(4).

That's looking pretty good! Really complete and relatively rust free. The areas I always look at seem solid from the photos. Sills, floor and cab back look real good. If that's all going if the price is right, I don't think you'll go wrong. Is this for the B81 or just to have?

I was just hunting around on Ebay Motors and came across an ad for a NOS 90's DM cab for.........$12,000.00!!!! I mean it's beautiful, but $12K???? It's just the shell. Wasn't like it was fully dressed out and ready for paint.

Depends on a lot-general condition(dents, rot?), complete(doors, glass, seats, glovebox door, instrument panel, ashtray). I would think a good, complete cab needing minimal repair for paint and use might go $2K. Needing work and parts $1k. Pictures of what you're looking at would be a big help. A lot also depends on you and your abilities. If you can do the work yourself, it'll save you a lot. If you're going to send it out to a shop and have someone else do the work that could get really expensive and lead to issues of it not satisfying your expectations when done. If it is nice it could save you a lot of time and money, helping your project along. You also might get a good deal if the owner knows it's going to a good project and is friendly with you and needs to get rid of it?

I believe they’ve found the newer gas doesn’t cause the valve and seat wear they thought it would. I’ve run older engines and haven’t had issues due to it. The engines I have had rebuilt, I did specify new valves with hardened seats. Mostly because they were worn and I wanted them to last. That’s been several Model T’s, flathead V8 and the ‘41 Cadillac I run. I’ve driven all extensively. There have been recommendations about adding Marvel Mystery Oil or 2 stroke oil when you fill up your tank I’ve read about.

That looks fantastic!! Don't forget the little rubber bumpers in the upper corners for the glove box door.

You should be able to get those pretty easily. Mack, NAPA, Fleetpride. Several Mack engines use those, END-673, ENDT-673, ENDT-675. I don't have a part number for you, but they shouldn't be to hard to track down. Mack 573GB257A, 573GB260 maybe?

There you go, progress!!!