The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts New Member with 45 Ton and a half

Hi,

New to the forum. I just bought a 1945 loadmaster 1-1/2 ton. I am suppose to be the third owner. The second had it for some time in his barn and gave up on the idea of using it.

It is in very nice condition with light surface rust in areas. A lot of the paint still exists and the front grill is half paint half surface rust. I understand the war years trucks had painted grills. The engine is a 235 and runs nice. That leads me to the first question and that is the spark plugs are the small barrel type requiring a 5/8 socket for removal. Has this head been fitted with plugs or helicoils or whatever to take the smaller plug?? I've had them out and they fit nicely.

Second, I had some early spark problems but resolved that with cleaning the points. While looking at that issue I notice two wires comming out of the distributor with both going to a "polarity reversal" switch mounted on the starter. What's the deal with that??

Finally, what oil should I use in it?

I will post some pics this weekend.


Tim (troyaero)

Hy Troy1950, welcome, there were no stock 235/261 heads that I'm aware of that were machined for taper seat spark plugs [5/8" hex], by the way both the washer type and taper seat plugs are 14 mm thread. The polarity reversal switch was a device they came up with to limit metal transfer from one side of the points to the other, every time the engine is started the electrical polarity travelling through the coil/points was reversed. As to the oil, you will get many opinions, the technology of the day was 30 wt. for summer or warm climates, 20 wt. for winter or colder climates. Modern oils are much better lubricants, and most reports I have read say 10/30 is the best lubricant for most applications. However of late most oils have had the zinc level lowered to the extreme, zinc is needed to help lubricate our old flat tappet engines, so you might consider the new oils that have shown up on the market specifically for flat tappet engines, hope that helps.

Hi Tim,

Looking forward to seeing your pictures.

Welcome to the bolt! Toss some pictures up when ya can, we all like to live vicariously through other peoples projects.

I'll leave the ignition Q to others, but oil is an easy one. Like 3B says, Zinc is your friend, yet modern oils are low in Zinc. However, many of your comercial grade diesel engine oils still have fair levels of zinc. Probably the easiest to find would be Shell Rotella T. I run straight 30WT in my old beastie year round, but that's mostly because it's the one that'always in stock.