The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Things I learned the hard way.

Having completed the restoration of my 46 Chev half ton, I thought there should be a thread for things that we learn the hard way. For me it was the discovery that headlight buckets are not the same on big bolts to half tons. I used buckets off a 2 ton and they fit very poorly, too big a gap between bucket and fender, I now have acquired a front clip off a 3/4 ton. The fenders on a big bolt have a 1/2 inch rise to the buckets, the 1/2 ton fenders are smooth where the buckets sit. So I now need to paint the new buckets and reinstall them. I have sold other headlight buckets to a VW micro bus owner, they install one in the center of the roof to make a cyclops eye.

I know a guy who spent a small fortune on body and high dollar paint on big truck AD fenders for a 1/2 ton truck. He did not realize it until he fought tooth and nail trying fit big fenders on the small front clip. Its bad enough trying to make the right parts work.

In 1998, my dad and I bought our nice solid original patina 1953 1/2 ton, and spent a fortune on bed wood, paint and body work, full interior and reassembly. Beautiful truck...that we can’t really use for much now.

Pretty trucks are nice, but having a nice solid patina truck that I could actually use and not fret over small scuffs and dings sure would be fun....

Well, actually you can use a pretty truck for real work. Not abuse, but use. My '51 was a low mile farm, barn living truck that had been restored and them landed in a small museum in Indiana when I bought it. Since all my vehicles work for their keep (when needed) I have no qualms in hauling hay or fire wood with it or driving it down a muddy gravel road or crossing a creek or the Little Red River when needed. It has picked up a few scratches and scuffs. Paint is pretty much worn away on the deck of the flat bed. The floor mat no longer looks new. But I didn't buy it just to look at but to drive and enjoy. I recommend others do the same, just treat em with respect and use them for what they were intended.

Enjoy,

RonR

I just responded to a PM for Apache1 , it dealt with this very subject for me. My lesson learned, don't get in over your head, I dismantled my truck in 1992 for restoration. Looking back I should have taken the project in small bites that way I could have enjoyed it while working on it. It is FINALLY coming together, it should be a roller by the first of the year. Learned that lesson the VERY hard way.

Elton makes a good point -- Over the years, we've tried to capture those lessons learned in our Tech Tips (see the menu bar at the top of the page). I'm a little behind in getting the recent submissions added (but I will ...), but we'll gladly take more. But as to Elton's case, we knew the post war trucks didn't match, big trucks to little trucks, front clips. Now we know the pre war trucks don't either Thanks for sharing that.

Perhaps one of the big take aways here is .... check out the rest of Stovebolt.com LOTS of lessons learned in the site (in addition to the discussion forum Just sayin' ...)

As to working pretty trucks, I'm with Ron. I work (not abuse) my '49 1-ton from time to time. In fact, you can see the picture of it working in the upper left corner here No "patina" on it -- The black is original paint, the red was applied over top of that. And the bed is (nearly)pristine/unrestored with its original bed wood still almost like new (one board is slightly gouged a bit). I wouldn't throw firewood at it or dump in a yard of gravel, but lumber, hay, appliances, tools, kayaks, canoes, bicycles, produce auction hauling, feed bags and photo/movie shoots are ways "Charlie" has earned his keep around here

I planned on painting mine and making it all pretty (and its still a option down the road) but I actually really enjoy the look of mine with its natural patina and not having to worry about it too much. I have 2 others vehicles that i have painted after doing extensive body work and i gotta say i have definitely learned the hard way that its much easier to keep a naturally “worn or aged” vehicle looking clean and tip top then it is keeping fresh paint that you slave over super clean all the time. My truck gets more look in its natural state now than any of my other restored vehicles get ever. I also use it not just for photo props but to actually pick up stuff. Usually parts haha.

Well, John as given cause to show our trucks doing truck stuff. My advise is to take John's advise and get em out from under the dust covers and into the light of day and let them shine doing honest work. Some will say they're too nice to get dirty. But fact is that's what they are made for. Imagine the memories kids and grandkids will have of loading wood on a cold day or hauling a fresh cut Christmas tree or even the hay ride with friends on a cool fall day in the back of Dads/Grand Dads old truck.

My contribution;

Some of us (and our trucks) will have other memories (doing what our trucks were made for):

Suburban: hauling parents, kids/grandkids, friends, and neighbors, to schools, to parks, to churches, to parties, to picnics, and to weddings.

What I learned the hard way,
Get the truck drivable, and drive it for a while before committing to a full blown restoration. Mine was a fence row pile of parts, so I "restored " it as I went along. With a lot of years on the road now, I still hate the location of the brake pedal and the floor board I put in it. Had I driven it even a little, I would have moved the brake and throttle, and removed some of the hump in the floor for the transmission. I also will never buy a shifter that mounts to the transmission, ( Lokar ), as it transmits noise up through the shift lever as you drive.

Barnfind49, I really like your 3/4-ton Pickup. I have had (3) A-D 3/4-ton pickups, and I prefer 3/4-tons - the longer bed and heavier components - even though they are not as "popular" as 3100's.

Just cause you made it pretty, dont mean its still not a great, functioning , useable tool. Every time you pull out them $20 wrenches, they get dirty and marked. You wipe em off, put em back to where they belong. And guess what??? They still look and function as they always did. Just show signs of being used as they were designed, like the truck you made look "pretty". Its still a tool to use for what it was designed, use it. You'll be glad you did..

The most stupid thing I did was in timing the 235 which was in the '48 when I bought it. I knew there was a hole in the bell housing which was used to time it. But did you realize there's a hole on the driver's side??? See picture.

I aimed the timing light at the driver side bell housing hole and adjusted the distributor to bring in a bolt hole in the flywheel. Yep, it ran. Not well but it ran!

Other less stupid things I've done again and again but the above was done only once.

Thank you sir. When I originally found the truck it was in pieces and the guy said “its a 9’ bed so its kinda long” i was like ohhhhhhhhhhhh. Thinking it was a 1 ton. But once i saw it and started measuring i found it was a 3/4 ton. There were no 150 badges on it so I couldn’t even tell that way. Knowing what i know now i could have just deciphered the vin and figured it out...... WOW i guess i learned that the hard way too hahaha.

@wally.

I did the same thing. I was looking at that hole wondering where the pointer was. I wondered if the pointer was somehow broken off? Went back to the books to see how to set the timing. The books tell you to set the ball on the pointer, but few books bother to tell you that the hole is above the starter!

I had an interesting screw up earlier this year. I was installing our newly restored wheels. As I was torquing the lug nuts, one nut suddenly started turning easier. Oh, the sick feeling you get when you strip threads. I looked at the stud and it looked pretty good, so I grabbed another nut out of the box of nuts and tried again. Same thing! Argg! Fran was going into town, so I asked her to stop at the FLAPS and get a new stud and some nuts to match. While she was gone, I pounded the stud out of the flange - it looked good other than the end was slightly mushroomed from my extraction efforts. What the heck? I looked at the nuts again - hey, there's something embossed on the nut: "METRIC". Oh, no ....

I like the idea of a "what did you mess up on your truck" thread. It would be much more interesting than the "what did you do on your truck today" thread.

I guess no one else has changed oil and forgot to put the drain plug back in.
Then added about three quarts before you realize the oil is going straight thru on the ground.
Please don't ask me how I know.

Don

I think that I did that once, Don. Back in 1969 when I bought my first vehicle (1948 A-D 1/2 ton Panel)

Luckily, it was back when oil only came in 1 qt cans. I caught my error/stupidity on the first can.

How about rebuilding a motor and adding six quarts of oil while on the break-in stand, run it in then wait for the owner to bring the car over. Install said engine in the car add six quarts of oil and new filter. Go for drive only to find it smokes and leaks oil. Pull dipstick, find extra six quarts of oil you forgot to drain out!

Been there, done that. I'm sure there's a bunch of others that has done that also.

I bought an '83 Riviera for the transaxle. The lady said that a friend changed the oil for her and was blowing out everywhere and said she'd take $75 for it. I had it towed home and drained the oil before I puled the engine. I drained 9 quarts. I sold the engine for $350 and $200 for the rest of the car. Not too shabby.
My favorite personal mess up was replacing brake shoes and replacing rear axle seals and bearings. I put the the axles back in, put the pumpkin cover back on, filled it with 90 wt, went to do the brakes and noticed that I neglected to put the backing plates back on before I put the axles in. DOH!
Start over, genius.

I had a friend who put an OD in a Model A Ford, when he put the diff back together, he put the ring gear on the wrong side, 3 speeds in reverse, 1 in direct.

Ed

I think that I will begin all of my "learned the hard way" posts with, "I had a friend who..", from now on.

I spent way too much time and effort on rebuilding a heater for my panel. I tore the whole thing apart, de-rusted and repainted it, put a new 12v motor in it, had the core checked at the rad shop. It was the wrong heater, was for a late 40s Chev car. It's still sitting in my shop, panel is long gone.

Had a very similar thought

You know you are a Stovebolter "IF".