Stovebolt.com Forums The Side Lot Midwest Bolters Association WRENCH-O-DE-MAYO - May 13 at KC Mongo's - come one and all!

Finally able to get a window of time in late this afternoon to provide a "report" from Wrench-O-De-Mayo!

We kicked off the event at 9AM sharp with some folks arriving a tad early for truck delivery and shop prep, while others came in a bit later. Work commenced right away as the plan was for the projects to be finished so the truck owners could take them home at the end of the day.

The weather did cooperate nicely. Bright sunshine all day and a light breeze made the very warm temps tolerable. Mongo's shop having a number of large fans, big garage doors open to allow for air circulation, plus a couple of big coolers full of iced down water and sodas kept everyone hydrated and cool.

The planned "wrenching" for the day included 2 projects. First was the replacement of an old 3 speed OD SM319 with a modern T5 OD 5 speed in a Truck Club members 1959 Apache 1/2 ton. The T5 project also included converting from a 23 to 10 spline input shaft so a special clutch plate wouldn't be needed. The second was to reconstruct and install a truck bed on another Truck Club members '52 3100. I peeked in on the "transmission" project long enough to take some notes and snap a few pictures, but actually put my wrenching skills and elbow grease to work with the "bed" project.

First time for me to actually work on bed reassembly and reinstall, so I learned a number of helpful hints and tips from "Dave" (the Truck Club member heading up the project) that has about a dozen bed assemblies under his belt.

Unfortunately, I had to depart before the projects were finished as Grandpa duty called me away. Below and in the next reply are pics of the project work as it progressed from beginning to when I had to depart.

See the next reply for more fun things that happened during the day besides the two wrenching projects.

Dan

PS - T5 Project pics are attached to this post. Bed Project pics are in the next post.

And here is Wrench-O-De-Mayo report - page 2:

As mentioned in the previous post, pictures of the "Bed" project (up until the time I had to leave) are attached here. We did get the truck rolled into the shop from the trailer and the bed placed on the frame prior to my departure, but for some reason those last couple of pics I took are MIA.. The "Bed" project had a few hiccups as we needed some extra welding supplies to reattach the bed board retaining side rails to the side panels and the long length bed mounting carriage bolts for the front mount points were too short (didn't go all the way through the frame).

Hopefully Steve (Mongo) has some end of the day pictures of these two projects to add??? Maybe some follow up commentary on how the projects turned out in the end???

Also want to mention that in addition to the projects, The Genuine Chevy/GMC Truck Club of KC put on both a great feed for all and held their monthly club meeting to boot as the wrench's turned. Lots of Truck Club members provided extra hands to assist with the projects, made essential supply runs, and provide encouragement and/or teasing as was deemed necessary to keep spirits high and the fun flowing.

Many thanks to Steve (KC Mongo) and the members of The Genuine Chevy/GMC Truck Club of KC for inviting me to share in the fun and help me remember how much fun it can be to get together and turn some wrench's. Looking forward to more such events as we can make them happen.

Dan

Great pictures Dan👍 I wish I could’ve been there.

Thanks for posting.

John

Thanks Dan for the update and pictures! Looks like a great group to hang out with.
Please keep us informed about future meetups. I would like to be at the July meeting.

Don

And here is Wrench-O-De-Mayo report - page 3 (The Icing on the Cake):

I was able to reach out to Steve (KC Mongo) knowing that he was having some folks take pictures of the event while in progress. With his permission, I am adding them to our event report for all to enjoy.

Here are Steve's pictures and videos [photos.app.goo.gl] of the whole "Wrench-O-De-Mayo" event for all to view and enjoy at your leisure. Don't forget to pay attention to the shop and surroundings too. You may be surprised to see all the cool and fun stuff nestled in and around KC Mongo's shop!

Sorry there aren't any captions or kind of sequence to them, but you can readily see all the goings on, fun, and successful completion of the two projects goals. At the end of the day, the '59 Apache 1/2 ton, now T5 equipped, was driven home from the shop as originally planned. The '52, which the owner mentioned has been awaiting the bed for almost 2 years, was sent home with the assembled/installed bed too.

Cheers and many more thanks to Steve, The Genuine Chevy/GMC Truck Club of KC and all those who volunteered their time and presence to make it a success.

I hope fellow 'Bolters may have/make the opportunity to do something similar in each of our regions.

Dan

I’m super jealous.