Ted,

The 1954 1/2 ton Hydra-Matic throttle up-rod has multiple bends and is completely different from the manual transmission trucks' rod. The foot-pedal throttle rod also looks to be different. What parts do you have?

Here are some quickly-taken photos of the rod assembly for the throttle (and one rod to the transmission). There is another shift-rod assembly for the H-D gear shifting.

http://1954advance-design.com/Web%20images/H-M-throttle-rod/