The Stovebolt Site Forums The Side Lot Old Dominion Stovebolt Society (MD, VA, West VA, DC, DE and PA) Wrenchfest 2026

Well, by the end of April if his truck isn't running on its own, then yes I will drag it down so we can bring it back to life.......

Hopefully we can meet near Richmond and convoy down. Or perhaps the Southern MD contingent can meet me here in FB and we all head down.

Well, The Southern Maryland contingent consists of only one person. Me, I am the only person left in Southern Maryland.

Then SoMD is in good hands! Hopefully the NAST Chapter of the ODSS will be able to lay north for the event.

(Northern Alabama/Southern Tennessee)

We await one and all to make the venture to the SEVA Chapter sponsored WFAH.
(South East Virginia Chapter Wrench Fest and Hootenanny.)

Ahhhh a blast from the PAST! Back when you wore your Sunday best to show after spending the week working on your old truck. Even John had his shirt tucked in for the photo! That was a large car show in Clifton VA. They were surprised to see so many trucks at one time.

Sounds like a wonderful plan fellas. I miss seeing everyone! I'll plan to be there! I will strive to finally replace a tranny before then !

Well, thanks, Mike! I'm probably going to be here in Southern Maryland till I die, trying to get my truck back on the road!

S2

If you run out if time, throw the replacement transmission in the bed. Oh wait, ease transmission onto the bed with clean cardboard on it with a piece of plywood on top of the cardboard. (I almost forgot about you walnut bed,)
We can pull that old one out and slip that new one in no time. It is Wrenchfest after all.

Hell yes Jim, that's a project we can knock out in two days.

With beer

And three days without beer!!

Lugnutz checking in . . . .
I have THE NED ready for the event. I’ve been practicing some new magic tricks. Carl should bring a priest with him since he usually accuses me of dark powers.

The Honorable Reverend Jethro will have to do. He will surely need to dust off his preacher suit.

Gosh, I hope the snakes are out by then! If I'll be preaching then I gotta come up with a snake or two!

Once a snake handla, always a snake handla.

I can bring snakes ...

Well with a day of rain and the great snow melt of 2026 underway, I have put the skis down for the day - at least long enough to catch up on my administrative duties. Late April at Jethros? Maybe I should consider? On the calendar. Some other stuff should not get too much in the way so consider it mostly in ink.

If someone is shopping for a T5 transmission, I can bring it to the Wrenchfest. We need to discuss details ahead of time so you get what you want. I have a few that need a good home. However, none available with a cable speedo connection at this time.

We have a couple three projects lined up so far for the Wrenchfest. We welcome any others if you bring them.
1) Pull a 261 from a big Task Force truck.
2) Install a headliner in an AD.
3) Adjusting the front clip of an AD.

There will be a "Swap Meet table" for you to display any of you extra unneeded parts.
There will also be a free section on said table for getting rid of the parts which you are tired of tripping over.
A few years back, I bartered a '52 3 speed transmission with Hardshell for a handle J Beam. Skint him, I did.
I offered to even it up by helping him to finally install it in his truck. Hope he shows up so that my conscience can be eased.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend this glorious event this year!
Looks like it will be a great event and I’m bummed!

Unless there’s some significant changes in my health, I will also not be able to make it this year.

I always look forward to seeing you guys but guess it’s not in the cards this time

Have the fun I know you will and see you down the road.

Victor

Update! My parts order arrived. I have several T5s available and now ALL of them have cable speedometer capabilities. Let me know if you need one.

Lugnuts are these overdrive units?

Yes. These are 5 speed floor shift transmissions with an overdrive gear. They were widely used in Chevy S10 and GMC Sonoma pickup truck trucks in the 1980s through the mid 1990s and are capable of bolting to a Chevy bell housing with a Muncie bolt pattern. The main appeal is that they’re fully synchronized and have an overdrive gear. The other nice thing is that you can keep your original floor stomp starter, and original clutch package. You can also keep your cable operated speedometer!!! I have these transmissions in both of my half ton pick ups. I have been rebuilding them for about 10 years and have a surplus at this time. I fully inspect, service, and rebuild these transmissions, depending on what they need. Some need a full rebuild. Others just need cleaning and are fit for immediate service without the need for a rebuild.

Lugnutz,
I recently purchased a T5 but it came with a digital speedo. I am fine with that but can it be converted to a cable?
Thanks in advance,
Jim

Jim,
I grew up in Montgomery County, PA. Ever hear of Souderton?
Yes, you can convert your T5 with the VSS style speedometer connection to a cable speedometer connection. I will assume you have an S10 T5, but the necessary modification is also possible with the Camaro T5.
Allstate Gear is a vendor that sells an aftermarket S10 T5 tail housing that has the cable speedometer style connection. The tail housing costs $250 plus shipping. You will also need a TH350 speedometer housing and the correct driven gear and drive gear. The tooth count on the drive gear and driven gear will depend on your rear axle gear and tire diameter. There are calculators on the Internet that can help you figure that out.
You will need to make a metal shim for the transmission main shaft so that the drive gear fits properly on the main shaft at the right location. A piece of 20 gauge steel is usually the correct thickness for the shim.
We did this modification on Papa Joe’s AD truck. Here’s a video from the day he came to my shop. It’s not an instructional video. However, it does show the basics of what we did.VIDEO LINK
Let me know if you need more details.

Yes Lugnutz, I worked in Souderton for 20 years. I appreciate you sharing that information with me!
Take care!
Jim

All of you are missing out!Pic

pic

We have cruised this 600 acre farm. Enjoyed the gorgeous views and had a magic show that was purely unbelievable!

Met a new bolter this evening as well

Looks beautiful there. More pictures!!

Lugnutz and Al Hill arrived in style. 1963 C10.
Plenty of stories told.

Thanks for the pics. Wish I could have joined you! Have fun and be safe!

Me too.

Well, a good time was had by all.
I took the cover off of the tranny that Hardshell got from Carl and found gnarly teeth on the counter gear where it mates with the the slider in first gear. Nooooo.... I'm not putting THIS transmission in there. I had a spare transmission that I got from Carl last year and it was good, so we used mine instead. Now I have two bad trannys that I can mix 'n match a good one from.
His offshore brand throwout bearing spun wobbly off-center and Hardshell thought maybe that was the cause for the vibration he had been feeling. I had a lightly used vintage original equipment New Dimention bearing that I had cleaned and repacked... we put that in. Finally we discovered he had a seriously worn bell crank shifter linkage. Oh well, after some adjustment tweaking it would shift satisfactorily. Couldn't fix that. We all took a 40 mile cruise to get groceries and "refreshments" and shake-down the trans swap with no issues.
BUT... my 54 started to sputter and the fuel pump lasted long enough to get us home and quit.
Then the rain came. Carl pulled into the shop and adjusted his clutch while supper was cooked. We changed out my fuel pump Sunday morning.

All ended well. Wish you were here. Jethro.

Thanks for the report Jethro. Glad all went well and I hope to make the next gathering.

Durnit... they left the Ned in the shop.

Jethro -- Thanks for the report. And congrats on the Ned!

Jethro, will we get to see a picture of it, please?