I felt really excited a couple of years ago when my dad said that I could
have the old '51 AD that he had planned to use as a daily driver. After my
brother got hold of the truck dad lost interest in it and said that it was
no longer worth fixing. My brother had taken the cab off its original
frame and mounted it on a 85 Silverado - a really bad fit. The original
frame, running gear, motor, etc. was hauled to the junk yard and
subsequently crushed. That was too bad because the motor was still running
and the truck was in decent shape.
I thought that the truck was still salvagable and brought it home recently
for a frame up restoration/updating. In a way I felt kind of bad because I
really thought that it would be great if dad could have the truck that he
originally wanted. I was considering the possibility of restoring the
pickup and giving it to dad, but when I talked with him last night he told
me that he had traded a shotgun for another 1951 1/2 ton pickup (mom does
not know about this yet, and probably won't know until the truck is brought
home). This one also runs, but the PO said that they had started it with
something wrong with the carb linkage and the motor had revved to max RPM
and may have loosened a rod.
My Question! - We are not sure what size motor this pickup has (or even if
it is the original) but are wondering if it has babbit bearings? What year
was the last for babbit bearings? I'm guessing that it will be easier to
overhaul if it has more modern bearings (?). Hopefully I will have motor
numbers, etc tomorrow, but for now was just wondering.
Thanks for any help.
BobK
51 3600 5-window project
Arnaudville, LA
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