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With my time in command drawing to a close I have now been able to start planing in detail my way ahead for Nellybell. This is a 6400 that my Grandpa bought used 1958ish and has had ever since. He used her to haul grain and any other random things that needed to be moved and made sure to park her in the shed every night. About 30 years ago the master cylinder failed making him park her in the back of the shed and forget about her.

My goal for her is to do a frame off resto mod in order to turn her into a daily driver esk vehicle that I can use to transport my T6 to tractor shows with.

The first order of business is to get her running in order to make movement easier. To stop her I have the ebrake hence the no rush for fixed brakes. So far she has fought me tooth and nail on this even though she ran when parked. I have replaced the condensor, plug wires, plugs, and coil. I took a file to the points and set the gap to .016. Despite these efforts I still have no spark at the plug. Tomorrow im going to sift through it with a volt meter and try to find the problem, any suggestions on where to start?

Start tracing all the wiring associated with the ignition. Bet somewhere your little grey 4 legged creatures have been nibbling on wire causing a short. Since you didn’t replace the points, that would be my next suggestion.🛠

Thats an awful large gap in the points to be .016. also theres no hold down screw on the points.And the rotor is missing.

Delux my bad for not specifying the point of the distributor picture was to show the model. Right after I took the pic I put the screw in and set the time. Justhor you called it, the points was bad even though I filled the ends it wasn't good enough to transfer current. I changed the points and got spark. I didn't do so the first time around as I wasn't sure how it was supposed to come off and didn't want to break anything. Put the distributor back together and sprayed a shot of either into the carb and she stuttered to life!!!!! A added surprise was the mechanical fuel pump still worked. I know because it dumped 30 year old gas on the exhaust (I disconnected the fuel line to get better access to the carb.)

For now that is good enough for me, she runs and has a good fuel pump so I just need to drain the fuel tank and put in good gas. I will do that when I come up mid September. At that point I will load her onto my trailer and take her home to begin restoring/modifying her!!!

Thanks for the ideas, I will post more pics when I come back up and take her home with me.

Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together.🛠

Woot she is home safe and sound. It took a lot of doing to get her out of her resting place, the 30 plus years of sitting caused her to sink into the ground several inches. We used some bumper jacks that are older than I am to lift the gran box up and moved 55 GAL drums under it. Once it was up I had to crawl under it with a cutting tourch and take care of some bolts that didn't want to cooperate. One burned butt check latter, all the bolts were off and we were ready to pull her out from under the grain box. It took a IH 700 series tractor to get her out and even then the tractor struggled to pull her out. With that complete I backed my trailer into the shed and unhooked my truck from it. We blocked the wells and put jack stands under the back of it in order to prevent the trailer from tilting as we pulled Nellybell onto it. I turned my truck around and put the tonge of the trailer against my trucks bumper. Unwound the winch and hooked up to her bumper. Once hooked up and all fingers and toes cleared we began pulling. We ended up having to take one of the duel tires off in order to get it to fit onto the trailer, and now she is residing at her new residence in Fort Sill, OK. The link will take you to my google photos that has pictures of the shenanigans. https://photos.app.goo.gl/nvEn63JQHEnqNnXC8

So now that I have her in the day light and have been able to get a good look at her there is some cosmetic work that needs to be done. My Grandpa spit for years and his aim wasn't always the best, as a result the inside panel that goes in the back of the cab is rusted through and needs to be replaced. Correct me if im wrong but the cab on the truck is the same used in the half tons and the parts are interchangeable correct? Same question for the grill on the front.

No better place than Oklahoma to find salvage parts for a Big Bolt. Every farm has one or two old grain haulers stashed around back of the barn. The cab should be the same as for the grill I don't know for sure. If you need a 3 window cab PM me.

Got most of the dirt out of the truck and discovered the floor boards where rusted through. Can't win them all I guess but hopefully I can find replacement panels.

search: 47-54 truck parts - floor pan
https://www.classicparts.com/searchprods.asp

Okay after lots of not so gentle persuasion I was able to get both rear break drums off. The LR fought me tooth and nail, I knew it would be a issue when the tire refused to spin when me and my grandpa loaded it onto my trailer. This was further reinforced when I had to use my truck to pull it off and push it into my garage. I used the "heat" wrench to soften the drum up as well as remove the bolts from the wheel cylinders. I then drilled out the back of the brake shoe retaining pins. After all this I was finally able to get the drum off, as you can see in the pictures the cause of my issue was a improperly worn shoe and drum causing them to grab each other even though they wheel cylinders where not engaged.

I plan on taking a hard look at the wheel cylinders tomorrow and try to determine if they need to be rebuilt or replaced, once I figure that out ill start looking around for the parts. Anyone have a recommended place to start looking?

New cylinders are so inexpensive, it is not worth the labor to fool with old ones.

Ed

So I have been clicking around and have gathered that the new replacement cylinders don't hold up as well as a re-sleeved stainless. Is this a correct assessment? Also where can I find a rebuild kit I have seen traffic about finding them on napcos website but have had no luck when I try. I am going to try to use Gregg's recommendation for resleeving but still need help finding rebuild kits.
The guy to have stainless sleeve your cylinders is:
Mark "the machinist" Frappier
82 Mountianview St.
Agawam, MA 01001
413-789-4588, or 800-528-5235

So just wanted to throw a staus update and ask for a little help. Yesterday I got to spend a little father daughter time and took my daughter all over town while sourcing for parts. Found a tire dealership that is pretty certain they can swap out my split rims and tire with modern equivalents, found a part store that will reline my brake shoes, and a machine shop that will machine my drums. So hopefully in a few weeks ill have all those parts back and I can start reassembling the rear brakes.

The only issue im still having is finding rebuild kits for the cylinders. I have gotten 3 so far from NAPCO and apparently they are the last 3 in the US. I have called about ten different companies but each one has had no luck. I really don't want to buy a new one as they go for $123. Anyone know of a place that has them?

Tanker, first let me say what a great way to spend a father daughter day. Second you should ask your questions in the appropriate garage forum, in this case "Driveline" for quick answers. Third try using the search icon at the top of every forum. There are hundreds if not thousands of previous discussions on Big Bolt brake parts, listing many different places to round up wheel cylinder kits. Someone will probably answer your question here but it may take some time. Keep plugging away at it.

Yea wasn't sure if I was supposed to make a separate thread for questions/issues I have run into, I will make a post about brakes in drive line I have sifted through several posts and all the folks mentioned either didn't have the kit or no longer exist.

Hy Tanker916, do you know if you are looking for rebuild kits with ring type cups or solid type cups? Complete wheel cylinders are available from RockAuto, Raybestos p/n WC18196 and WC18197 each $28.79 USD. The ring type cups are available under Raybestos p/n WK147 $10.08. A word of caution on your brake work, your wheel cylinder crossover line, the nuts have a special pitch so do not lose them or throw them away, you can recreate the lines using standard brake line, but you will have to use the original nuts. Hope that helps.

My hat is off to you sir I tried the part numbers mentioned and other posts and got no results those numbers are exactly what I need. Thank you for the warning on the cross over line warning, I will now clean the lines instead of disposing and see if they can be saved.

Okay so been a while since I posted any updates. The wheel cylinders have been rebuilt, used "The Machinist" and I have to say his quality of work is amazing. While waiting on those to get rebuilt I took on the carburetor, I rebuilt it using a kit from Orielys and while im not overly impressed with the quality of materials they seem to get the job done.

However I have now run into a few new problems, how does the saying go, for every one step forward you take two steps back? I wanted to start the engine and check the generator prior to doing that I replaced all the cooling rubber hoses to prevent a hose bust. Filled it 3/4 up with water to check for leaks, worst case I would just have water on the ground. Held water no issue, so I added antifreeze, guess where not one but two cracks are located on the radiator? Clean up on ile 5 latter and nashing of teeth I cranked the engine. Priming the fuel line was festive but got it full got the old gas out and filled the carb. Here in lies my other new problem.

If the engine sits for a while and is then started it will run strong and then die after 5 seconds. You can see in the attached picture the lowed carburetor is seeping fuel where the throttle butterfly exits the housing. It does this when we start and run it, just sitting there no issue. Also to prevent fuel from seeping out I have a 5 gal fuel can sitting above the carburetor. The linked video shows what is occurring, I think it is a flooding carburetor and have adjusted the float but have not have a chance to start it again to verify. If that doesn't work any ideas on what else could be causing the issue.

First Start

Starts, runs and dies is 99% of the time a fuel issue. Probably the carb as you suspect but could be a fuel delivery issue. Ain't this stuff fun!

I would check the fuel pump. Mine has done that in the past. I switched pumps to a parts pump and it ran. Eventually, the same problem reoccurred. I tried new gaskets in the pump and in ran fine after that. Later on, I put a new pump in and I haven’t had that issue since.

Phooy, went to try to start the engine and it wouldn't crank. Took a look at the carb and noticed the gasket was still wet, on a whim I looked down the carb into the intake and saw fuel sitting there in a puddle. Pulled the spark plugs and had fuel flow out. So lesson learned the float is still not adjusted correctly and I have since moved the gas can so it sits above the pump but below the carb to prevent another time bomb scenario. Sigh o the joys of working with old equipment.

MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA She Lives!
After much gnashing of teeth, a rebuilt carb that didn't work, and a variety of other issues, my self and a garage mechanic finally got her to run. Down side is there is no power generation occuring so I may use this as a reason to pull the trigger and convert everything to 12 Volts.

Congratulations.

Did you polarize the voltage-regulator/generator?

Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together!

I have no idea what that is so im going with no, and yes I do love it muhahahahaha

Wow it has been a while since I updated this thread. I guess ill start talking about the back of the truck and work my way to the front. The one rear drum that came off easily has been rebuilt and put back together with no issues. The other is going to need some more tinkering as I haven't really been able to find a new brake pad retaining pin for the back plate.


Working my way towards the front of the truck I got the cab cleaned out of all the dead animals and less than fun to find fecal matter. The springs in the seats where surprisingly still good so I had the frame sand blasted and powder coated (mainly to get ride of any left over dead animal and fecal matter) and then reupholstered. They came out great!!


I also bit the bullet and converted it over to 12 V. Changed out all the bulbs and bot what a difference it made. Only issue is I need to replace one of the cab lights, the metal housing was broken into pieces and couldn't be saved.

And now onto the main event. I decided to go the P30 axle route in order to get disc brakes. I took the front axle to a machine shop so they could ream it to the right size for the P30 king pin. I also had the rotors turned and got rebuilt calibers. The only issue im having right now is connecting the steering knuckle to the pit man arm. Currently trying to find correct sized tie rods that will allow me to create a custom drag link.

Also forgot to throw this up. Last summer I took her back up to Kansas and surprised my grandpa at a local truck show. At the time the only brakes she had was the ebrake on the drive shaft so he wasn't able to go very fast but he was still smiling ear to ear.

Tanker, you do not need to post links to photos. We changed the process about a year ago. Follow the instructions in the left margin of every page unless you are using a phone instead of a real computer. If so you’re on your own.

Interesting I was trying to get the pictures to be in the body of the post itself, learn something new every day.

SHE LIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!

My mechanic has two lifts, a normal vehicle and big boy. The normal vehicle has a nova on it that can't be moved and Nelleybell that was on the cusp of being able to move under her own power, guess who got the most love!!!!

The original draglink was bent a decent amount so we decided to have a new one made, holy crap are the side walls thick and durable. That got the driver and passenger wheel connected to each other with no issue.

With that done we began to bleed the brakes and ran into a unexpected issue. We bench bleed the master cylinder with no issues (other than smashed fingers) and then mounted it to the truck. We then power bleed the front tires (he had a special toy that sucked the brake fluid through the line without having to pump the brake pedal) with no issue. However when we tried to bleed the rear drums we got nothing. We built up so much negative pressure in the line that when we disconnected the toy from the line you could hear air rush back into the line. We cracked the line at the cylinder and had brake fluid leak out and we discounted the line at the rubber junction and were able to pull fluid to that point in the line. This is making me think the T splitting that sits on the top of the axle is clogged and needs to be replaced. Is this a correct assumption or am I missing a step somewhere?

After realizing it was 1730 on a Friday we decided to call it a day and move her outside so she would be out of his way this weekend. Well I thought I would take advantage of this little jaunt and asked my mechanic to listen to the rear end as I moved her from low to high. Whelp he heard a loud K-chunk sound and she moved with a good quickness so the rebuild I did on her actuator worked!!!!! She has both high and low gear ranges in the rear axle.

And now onto the best finding of the entire day. The lift we used lifted her by the frame, no big deal as this is one of the safest ways to lift a vehicle. What we didn't realize is this would cause a massive amount of sag in the suspension. While in the air we needed a good inch of travel in order for the steering knuckle tie rod to be able to connect to the pitman arm correctly. When she was on the ground and had the weight of the truck pushing down on the axle we went from needing a full inch of movement to the arm itself sitting parallel to the ground. My mechanic had this apiffeny after I was able to maneuver her into a parking spot and thought to take a look just for craps and giggles. To make sure what we where seeing wasn't a fluke we got a floor jack under the front axle and turned the wheels lock to lock and had no bindings or resistance!!!!

With all that said there are only a few things keeping her from being able to drive down the street under her own power.
1. Solve the mystery of no brake fluid at the rear drums.
2. Have a rod made that will connect the brake pedal to the master cylinder (tried some all thread and it just bent like a banjo wire when we pressed on the brake)
3. Lift the front axle off the ground and actually align the center of the steering wheel to the front wheels being pointed in the forward direction

I almost forgot I have also started on her turn signals and cab lighting. I got some new old stock cab lights and a bunch of 12V bulbs. Those will go on after I fix the previously mentioned issues.

If you have not replaced ALL your brake lines it is likely you are collapsing a rubber line or have a plugged steel line going to the rear. Brake lines deteriorate from the inside out.🛠

All the of metal and rubber lines are brand new, the only old still on the truck are the two banjos on the rear drums and the T fitting at the top of the axle. We hooked the vacuum up to one drum and cracked the other open and had air moving through that section. Leaving the T fitting as the only other thing that could be clogged. Hadn't thought about the rubber line collapsing, will also take a much closer look at it next week. Thanks for the tip.

SHE LIVES!!!!!!!!!

We attached the brake pedal and used it to dial in the front discs. Went to the back and was pleasantly surprised to find fluid in the lines, guess the master cylinder was able to blow out what ever was causing the stoppage. As a result the entire brake system is bleed and the brakes work. She had a vacuum supply problem, if you where driving hard and stomped on the brakes you could feel the vacuum build and slowly apply more and more force to the brakes. To solve this problem we put in a vacuum reservoir that also had the convenience of coming with a built in gauge. She builds up to -16 PSI and brakes nicely although I still cant lock up the front tires if I stand on the brake pedal.

Changed the engine oil, checked the trans oil, and refilled the rear diff to make sure she was ready for a VIP visit. My grandpa came down for a few days and was able to take her for a spin. I haven't seen him smile that much and that long and a very very long time!!!!

Now its onto all the ankle bitter stuff to get her street legal, first thing being the mirrors. My mechanic gave me a spare socket set he didn't need on condition I give it to my oldest. I did as instructed and he used them to help me put the mirrors on. My dad held the mirrors in place so he could tighten the bolts.

You just can’t beat good quality family time. Progress being made is always a good thing.