1952 International pick-up misc.

[isb cornbinder]

Some time ago, my son and I started to build a Cummins 4bta powered 1952 International Harvester 4x4 short pickup. He lost interest and took up Airsoft. I took the truck apart and put the pieces away in storage where the bits and pieces have remained for more than 5 years.
I would be all in on any father and son project, but I am not going to build a truck and hand the keys over to anyone. Anyway he is so busy with his high paying job and the days off overtime, he needs to sleep when he finally gets home.
I am being encouraged to get back at the project in the near future. Right now, I cannot fit another project into the shop.
I thought I might start this thread and add a little now and then as I rediscover the bits and pieces that almost became a resto-mod truck.

So, I will post this tidbit and from time to time I will add some information and pictures as time and space in the shop allow.

 

[isb cornbinder]

My original plan to use Jeep Grande Wagoneer Dana 44 axles was not a good idea. The axles are too narrow by a few inches. (elastic tape measure)
I thought I had measured correctly. I have put the D44 axles in storage and I will likely post them on CL in the very near future.
I got a good deal on a set of Dana 44 axles from a 1997 Ram 1500. These axles measure much wider. I bought a set of 20 inch Ram 1500 wheels for the project. The positive offset of these wheels should look good and work with the axle length.
This 4bta came with a GM TH475 automatic transmission. I am familiar with this transmissions so I bought new parts and refreshed it as needed.
I was told an NVG 241c transfercase cannot be bolted to the TH475. I agree, but, does it have to be bolted directly to the TH475? I bought a section of 8 inch round bar stock and made an adapter. The GM rear mount fits the TH475 and my adapter fits the GM mount and the NVG241c.
The TH475 output shaft was about 4centimeters too long. The adapter is 4.3 centimeters thick. It all fits and works. Read this as tested.
I made all of the studs on my lathe. The stainless nuts and stainless rod came from Pacific Fasteners.

 

[SGKent]

take ownership and do it for yourself, or sell it and use the proceeds to buy yourself something nice that you want. Cat's in the Cradle story happens to many people. Not wanting to sound like I have no empathy - I do, but it was your dream for a father and son project - not his. What you gave him already he'll remember with fondness someday when it is too late to do anything about it. Right now you can do this for yourself alone, or you can use the money from it to do something you want to do. I am 69. When I retired a year ago I figured I had 0 - 15 years of doing things for me left. Now a year has gone by and there is one less 0 - 14. It goes by really fast at our age.

 

[L5wolvesf]

A lot of years ago I had the possibility of resto moding an Int'l pickup - it looked pretty cool. My idea was to make it very "international"; Saab seats, etc. etc. I occasionally drive past where it was and wish I had gone for it.

 

[isb cornbinder]

I appreciate your thoughts. I am way beyond all of that now.
BTW, this truck build was totally his idea. He helped me load and transport 9 truck losds of old IHC parts from a storage locker. This truck was in the lot. He asked if he could have it and I said yes. Times change and so do persons.
My son and I are great friends. He has an amazing mechanical touch and does really well with some minor supervision. If I call him for help and he is available is arrives in a few minutes. I would never want him to give up his social life time to be in the shop with me.
I have been retired for 14+ years. I retired at 59.
I am doing exactly what I want to do and I have the money to do it after 30 years of doing 100 days a year of maximum overtime. I was called the OT **** at work.
I have another, and more interesting to me, International pickup truck project. I have been holding onto this other project for more than a decade.
The dilemma I face is, which one to do first. I can build this other truck project in a modular way, starting at the fitting grill and radiator then working back. . This would make opening up a large space less important.
Just incase, I have been selling a bunch of stuff on CL. I have opened up much needed floor space. There is more stuff going on CL, soon.
I have over 20,000 IHC L&R truck sheetmetal parts in stock.
I bought a perfect IHC medium truck 224 inch frame, I have the Dana 60 disc brake axles, Cummins 5.9 - 24 valve, NVG4500 and NVG 241dld transfercase in stock, for this truck build. The truck cab is a very rare IHC 1953 crewcab. I have a thread on this crewcab. I will post a picture for reference.

 

[isb cornbinder]

L5wolvesf:
I understand the feelings you have. I have left a few old IHC pickups behind. I did bring 14 of then home and part them out. I had to keep everything in the shop or storage and out of sight so the fussy new neighbours do not get upset. I do not accept many visitors now. The new neighbours appear to be looking for something to be offended over, or they know someone who will share their misery. One of the visiting morons told his tag-a-long daughter my 1940 Ford was an early Volkswagen prototype. I am not here to argue and educate. He will find out soon enough. Oh, and BTW, he is convinced that my Ford Flathead is a hemi. He knows this because of the sparkplugs location.

 

[SGKent]

Ask yourself if you want a hobby working on a truck resto until the day you die, or do you want a vehicle you can drive in this lifetime? If you retired 14 years ago better put down why it isn't already finished if you are looking to drive it around. We tend to focus on the things most important to us.

 

[isb cornbinder]

He wrote" better put down why it isn't already finished."
Cancer

 

[firebirdparts]

Sounds like a cool project! I am surprised the axles were too wide. The old trucks were narrow. I would have through you'd want something small ish.

I like the idea of a 4BT powered rig, but have no experience with them. I guess you need car-like gearing for that.

I have a 1953 Chevrolet that we converted to 4wd in 1980. Still have it. 3.92 Dana gears in that one, so you don't often get in a hurry.

 

[isb cornbinder]

Speaking of car-like gearing. I got a 1982 or so F100 from a neighbour. He had the F100 for a year before the engine refused to start. He had it towed to many repair shops in a 30 mile radius. The truck still refused to start. The guy's wife wanted the truck out of their driveway RFN. She contacted me, I agreed to take it, he signed the registration over to me and we pushed the F100 a half block to my shop. It took less than 5 minutes to find the problem. Someone had put a Vise Grip on a rubber section of the fuel line, next to the tank.
Now to the car-like gearing. The axle was a Ford 9 inch with 2:73 gears. The engine was a Mexican built underpowered V6 with an overheat reputation. This F100 could run all day in second gear and keep up with highway traffic. Third gear was never more than a temporary thing. BTW. the transmission was column shift.
This truck did not have PS, PB or a radio. The rear springs could not support 500 pounds load. The frame mounted axle bumps hit the axle and stayed in contact.

 

[isb cornbinder]

I had NW Diesel, British Columbia, rebuild the injection pump. While they were in the pump, I had them change to governor from 2200rpm to 3200rpm. This increase in available rpm and 275/60-20 tires will help with the road speed.
I asked to have the fuel stay the same or less to help prevent smoking. The Turbo exhaust side and the exhaust manifold will be ceramic coated. Because of the short length of this truck, The 3"exhaust from manifold to exit will be about 183 centimeters. (72 inches).
Most of the work is done, some assembly is required after paint.
I try to get out to the shop as often as I can. I have to steer my life between Doctor's appointments, family and lab tests. This is not as bad as it sounds. I am having a great life.

 

[isb cornbinder]

Sounds like a cool project! I am surprised the axles were too wide. The old trucks were narrow. I would have through you'd want something small ish.

I like the idea of a 4BT powered rig, but have no experience with them. I guess you need car-like gearing for that.

I have a 1953 Chevrolet that we converted to 4wd in 1980. Still have it. 3.92 Dana gears in that one, so you don't often get in a hurry.

I wrote, "the Wagoneer axles are too narrow." These Old IHC were not "narrow" after 1950

 

[Stuart in MN]

Just in case, I have been selling a bunch of stuff on CL. I have opened up much needed floor space. There is more stuff going on CL, soon.

I have over 20,000 IHC L&R truck sheetmetal parts in stock.

20,000! Holy cow! My brother is slowly restoring a 1950 L110 half ton; I think he's got all the body and bed parts in pretty good shape, but I'll check to see if there's any parts he's looking for.

If you have a link to your CL ads, please include them here.

 

[isb cornbinder]

I am in Western Canada.
The 1950 is a one half year truck. There is very little that exchanges. I most likely do not have any 1950 stuff.
I do not ship to the USA. Your border service make this very difficult and expensive for me. Sorry. Join a forum like Old IHC for lots of help.

 

[gearhead1]

The B series Cummins mechanical fuel system engines are hard to beat, they’re about the simplest engines you’ll find.

I understand the neighbor thing. If you do car stuff it just really makes people mad for some reason. I stayed in a starter home neighborhood for a very long time because people weren’t uptight about me having a couple cars. I moved out on 7 acres and I don’t have to worry about it. But it seems like if you’re going to do car stuff you almost have to have complete isolation or somebody’s offended by it.

Everyone of my friends who races or does demolition derbies feels the same way. I don’t have to worry about it, but I’ve often wondered about creating a neighborhood/development that allows it. The covenants could be written to prevent things from being too carried away but specifically allow a couple cars for guys that race and do stuff like that

 

[Man Cave]

Watching with interest. I have a '41 KB1 short bed I'm doing a resto-mod on. Mine is going to be the usual 350 chevy with 700R4. Love the old corn binders.

 

[Stuart in MN]

I am in Western Canada.
The 1950 is a one half year truck. There is very little that exchanges. I most likely do not have any 1950 stuff.
I do not ship to the USA. Your border service make this very difficult and expansive for me. Sorry. Join a forum like Old IHC for lots of help.

Sent you a private message -

Thanks
Stuart

 

[isb cornbinder]

In answer to your question about shipping, I don't ship. Until I know what we need for our projects, nothing is for sale.
Join a forum like Old IHC, http://oldihc.org/phpBB3/index.php?sid=f133d58a0ed5cf5cf20ae5c3163bef13
You could Google for what you are looking for. There may be another old IHC truck in your neighbourhood. Check Craigslist. The OLD IHC forum had diamonds in the rough section. There have been more than a few IHC trucks in your area.
Shipping is expensive, not that this matters here.
I have been giving parts away with a promise to donate an equivalent value to a local charity. I could not get $20 for a completer horn assembly, including the steering wheel. I was called a rip-off and I never sold another part. I should mention that a local body shop offered $400 for a complete driver's door and I accepted the offer. I have 19 doors. 9 left and 10 right. I was able to sell the body shop a faded green door to match their customer's green truck. I was offered another $100 for the match and turned the offer down.
I will attach two future project pictures. These two trucks will need 6 doors. I want to keep a left and right spare. that makes 8 doors. I will keep the best for ourselves.
Did you know a complete old IHC door weighs just over 100 pounds.

 

[isb cornbinder]

I found this picture, today.
This is what a 4X4 conversion will look like. The first view is forward toward the front of the truck, from under the truck.
The replacement cross-member holds the transmission and transfer case. There is room for the front driveshaft to the left and lots of room for the exhaust on the right side.
The project has stalled, temporarily.

 

[Jazz1]

In answer to your question about shipping, I don't ship. Until I know what we need for our projects, nothing is for sale.
Join a forum like Old IHC, http://oldihc.org/phpBB3/index.php?sid=f133d58a0ed5cf5cf20ae5c3163bef13
You could Google for what you are looking for. There may be another old IHC truck in your neighbourhood. Check Craigslist. The OLD IHC forum had diamonds in the rough section. There have been more than a few IHC trucks in your area.
Shipping is expensive, not that this matters here.
I have been giving parts away with a promise to donate an equivalent value to a local charity. I could not get $20 for a completer horn assembly, including the steering wheel. I was called a rip-off and I never sold another part. I should mention that a local body shop offered $400 for a complete driver's door and I accepted the offer. I have 19 doors. 9 left and 10 right. I was able to sell the body shop a faded green door to match their customer's green truck. I was offered another $100 for the match and turned the offer down.
I will attach two future project pictures. These two trucks will need 6 doors. I want to keep a left and right spare. that makes 8 doors. I will keep the best for ourselves.
Did you know a complete old IHC door weighs just over 100 pounds.

Good to see you still getting work done,, little here and there adds up
I pedalling off K model IHC parts. Had a guy balk at $40 for window regulator. FFS, Southland lists used window regulators for $363!
I was surprised when guy offered to buy half this grill to keep shipping to a minimum, I sawed off the bottom half that was severely damaged. A moose hunter dropped by to haul it down to the banana belt as a favour
I like the 4BT conversion, my BIL has done a few, last was in a '79 F250 daily driver

 

[2oolhound]

Ask yourself if you want a hobby working on a truck resto until the day you die, or do you want a vehicle you can drive in this lifetime? If you retired 14 years ago better put down why it isn't already finished if you are looking to drive it around. We tend to focus on the things most important to us.

Ahhh grasshopper, "it is not the destination, but the journey which is most important to us"

I'm not sure why most my friends and relatives want me to get rid of my tools and projects and just twiddle my thumbs watching tv like them. To me there is nothing worse than sitting behind the wheel of a dependable vehicle but not knowing where to drive to. Shop time is quality time.

isb cornbinder I like this small yellow truck the most! Looking forward to following along.

 

[isb cornbinder]

I hope to be able to offer something interesting for you. I am not as reliable as I used to be. Thanks for showing interest. I like "it is not the destination, but the journey which is most important"

 

[isb cornbinder]

A few pictures.

 

[john.k]

I drove IH 130 s/1300 s with Perkins diesels in them for 40 years as my service trucks.........one rusting away in the yard now ........strangely enough,I have no desire to ever drive another Inter.

 

[isb cornbinder]

I drove IH 130 s/1300 s with Perkins diesels in them for 40 years as my service trucks.........one rusting away in the yard now ........strangely enough,I have no desire to ever drive another

I drove IH 130 s/1300 s with Perkins diesels in them for 40 years as my service trucks.........one rusting away in the yard now ........strangely enough,I have no desire to ever drive another Inter.

I understand how you feel. I rather like the shape of the Old Binders, so when I am finished with one of them all that is left is the cab, box and seat. I have installed, Vintage Air, power windows, tilt power steering, 4X4, and Bendix brake booster. and Diesel-automatic. Full air spring suspension adds a good ride. I even built a custom canopy for my R120.
This has been a fantastic journey. I have two IH projects to go. I hope I live long enough to finish them.