BillyBob Work-in-Progress Log

TRUCK LINKS including vendor sites for old parts, custom parts, and tools as well as sites for classic car and truck organizations

STORE Operating in association with Amazon.com, books, recordings and tools can be purchased.

PLANNING for the restoration including project schedule and cost estimates.

WORK-IN-PROGRESS is the restoration of parts of BillyBob that I can accomplish without a garage.

PRE-RESTORATION includes log entries of minor repairs and and adventures between time of purchase and the time when I started restoration, a piece at a time.

JR'S KORNER JR's Korner is the history of BillyBob before I got him authored by my brother, Wm. C. Kephart.

3. Shifty Behavior

February 21^th 2000 I've been having more frequent problems with the tired three-on-the tree shift linkage locking up on me between 1^st and 2^nd gears. When this happens the solution is to drift to a stop (clutch still disengaged), off the road, if possible. Set the parking brake and turn the engine off. Retrieve a rubber mallet "I keep for just such occasions" from under the seat. Crawl under BillyBob and lightly tap the linkage arms at the transmission. Get back in BillyBob, check gearshift lever movement, start up, and continue on. This is getting tiresome and I dread it happening in four or more lanes of traffic and the abuse I'll get from some of my fellow citizens who inhabit these South Florida city streets (especially the ones with cell phones permanently attached to their ears who don't understand old metal).

I started the shift linkage restoration in motion by calling Jim Carter's a while ago and ordering one of each of the shift linkage parts they have for BillyBob's vintage from a fella named Bill. These include the following:

REME404 Shift Box
ME108 Shift Bellows
ME102 Shift Lever Bushings
ME266 Shift Knuckle or Joint
ME300 Shift Lever Spring plus two Pins

February 24^th 2000 The Fedex guy arrived this morning with all of the above parts except the shift box which is on backorder.

February 26^th 2000 While comparing the parts I got from Jim Carter with the existing ones on BillyBob, I noticed what Jim Carter calls the "ME266 Shift Knuckle or Joint" and the Factory Assembly Manual calls the "3698234 Support" was loose. It attaches to the steering column with two phillips head screws. I tightened the screws for the time being, hopin' that BillyBob won't lock up between shifts quite so much. Every rusted or painted bolt on the linkage between hand lever and transmission was also treated to a few drops of liquid wrench.

February 28^th 2000 Started weeding thru my library materials to get an idea how the linkage assembly goes together. In the "1954 Chevrolet Truck Shop Manual" I found an illustration which I think depicts the various levers in the neutral position, and in the "1947-1954 Truck Factory Assembly Manual" there was a more detailed drawing of the entire assembly. With these two diagrams and the procedure instructions in the shop manual, I think I can stay out of trouble.

March 4^th 2000 Started off by taking photos of the existing linkage, 'cause it's always a good idea to leave as many "breadcrumb trails" as you can so you can get back out of the woods when the situation turns dark. BillyBob is in 1^st gear position in all the camera shots today.

This is a difficult view from the bottom of the tranny (I don't have jackstands or ramps yet). The tranny tailshaft is to the left and the bellhousing to the right. The white object is a rusted out portion of the cab floor. The 1^st/Reverse shift lever is in the foreground (sticking down toward the camera) while the 2^nd/3^rd shift lever is mostly obscured in the backgroung (sticking up away from the camera).

This is a view of the shift box at the bottom of the steering column. It is the only part that is still on backorder from Jim Carter. It has been missing a fitting on the top ever since I've had BillyBob and who knows how long before that. This leaves a 1/2" diameter opening exposing the interior to the open air, dirt, water, etc. The shift bellows at the bottom of the gearshift shaft has also rotted away. This situation can't be good for BillyBob. You can also see the bad wiring here which is high on my list of priorities to fix.

Here is the clamp connecting the two portions of the gearshift shaft together at the junction of the steering column and firewall. It's also a good shot of a previous owner's retro seventies blue shag carpeting which clashes nicely with BillyBob's original green interior paint.

And lastly, here is the knuckle joint/support just below the shift lever that I tightened up last week. BillyBob's shifting is not as loose now and he hasn't locked up between gears since. I'm keeping my fingers crossed but it's too early to tell how much good that action did.

After the photos I spread cardboard under BillyBob with plastic trash bags over the cardboard. I stuffed a rag into the shift box hole and treated that area and the transmission linkage area to a light coating of "Gunk" Engine Degreaser. It took some of the buildup away but even with the cardboard and plastic, the operation was too messy to repeat in my company's parking lot. I'll have to think of another cleaning solution. (After I wrote this, Grant Simmons on the OleTrucks maillist shared the neat idea of placing old carpet under the area you are degreasing "so that afterwards, all the gunk can be rolled up and tossed out".) I also picked up cotter pins during the week and web-ordered a 2-1/4 ton, 20" lift Lincoln floor jack, two 3 ton heavy-duty jack stands, two ramps, four wheel chocks and a creeper from Northern Tool and Equipment Company.

March 6^th 2000 Ordered a spray can each of "Corroless Rust Stabilizer" and "Chassis Black" paint from The Eastwood Company. I'm planning on removing and re-finishing the various linkage parts outside the cab with Corroless, then the Chassis Black. I also intend to refurbish the diamond plate skid plates on Renegade, my jeep, the same way.

March 8^th 2000 The first shipment arrived from Northern Tool and Equipment Company today. It included the floor jack, jack stands, and wheel chocks. I'll be able to get started underneath BillyBob this weekend.

April 1^st 2000 Earlier in the week, the back-ordered Shift box arrived from Jim Carter. Looks great. This photo shows all the shift linkage items ordered from Jim Carter. Top left are the six ME102 Shift Lever Bushings; top right is the ME266 Shift Knuckle or Joint (manufactured in China); middle left is a spare ME108 Shift Bellows (one is already provided on the rebuilt shift box); middle right is the ME300 Shift Lever Spring plus two Pins; and at the bottom is the refurbished REME404 Shift Box. The existing linkage has not jammed since I tightened up the loose shift knuckle mounting screws back in February. It's by no means smooth but working well enuf for the time being. If it keeps behaving, I'll wait until the wheel painting project is finished before tearing too deeply into this project.

April 29^th 2000 Started on the shift-linkage fix this Saturday by removing the shift lever assemblies off the side of the transmission and cleaning them. I also managed to remove one of the rods (3686819 rod in the detailed assembly drawing). I had assembled all the tools I thought I would need in the past several weeks in a trial and error process. Besides the tools you see here, I purchased a small gear puller to remove the levers from their shafts but it was too big to fit in the restricted space under BillyBob. I'm sure I'll have need of it sometime down the road. The rubber mallet, goggles, 9/16" box-end and socket wrenches were already in my inventory. The pickle fork is from a Lisle kit from Sears (the kit includes two handles for manual or impact wrench, and three forks, the smallest fork and manual handle is shown). The long handled bent needle-nose pliers (also from sears) and small side cutters (from one of my computer repair kits) were used, with varying degrees of success, to destroy several pesky cotter pins.

It didn't take long to get things apart (except for the cotter pins). I'd forgotten how much fun is was to lie in a confined space with dirt droppin' in your eyes (I didn't hunt up the goggles at first), and the tangy smell of soft arm flesh as it sizzles in contact with the trouble light every five minutes or so. After removal, the shift levers, bolts, springs and washers were immersed in a gallon of Gunk Carburetor and Parts Cleaner until they were clean. Then they were dumped from the strainer basket into a bucket of water. The parts were pulled out of the bucket one at a time, wiped off, and dried with a hair dryer. The cotter pins I bought some time back are too small, but good for a work-in-progress since you can bend them with your fingers. I also plan to replace the springs and their retaining washers with new parts now that I've got a feeling for their size (the big spring and washer in the photo is an improvization by a previous owner, maybe even JR). I originally thought the Shift Lever Bushings from Jim Carter (shown at top) fit between the rod ends and levers since there are six of them . . . I was wrong.

Reassembly went well . . . too well! The only problem was that now the shift linkage would hang between 1^st and 2^nd gear shifts again, only worse! I went back and studied my "bread crumb trail" pic from March 4^th. Everything seemed in order. In the pic you can see the rod connected to the lever in the foreground passing closely behind the lever in the background. Well, it's more than close . . . It's in contact with the rear lever's bolt head at times! I took things apart again and first checked to see if I had the shift rod in backwards. Finally, I moved the lock washers on the shift lever thru-bolts from the bolt head side to the nut side and this provided enuf clearance for the rod. This operation took twice as long second time around . . . I was running out of time for the day and it looked like Murphy was making an appearance to help me out.

This is a side view over the top of the exhaust pipe. After I got BillyBob down off the jack stands, I took a run thru the parking lot. Reverse, 1^st and 2^nd gear shifts seemed to be OK, but I ran out of parking lot before I got to try 3^rd gear. I got cleaned up and took BillyBob back to his warehouse bay. I made it two blocks before locking up on the 1^st to 2^nd gear shift. I drifted to a stop in front of an outdoor Mexican restaurant. How !@#$%^ embarrassing! By the time I crawled out from under BillyBob, rubber mallet in hand, I had a Boca Raton Police cruiser behind me, lightbar flashing, restaurant patrons looking on. The Police Officer was one of the good guys, there to offer help, not to hassle a retired hippie. He came out of the cruiser with day-glow vest and traffic cones to direct cars around BillyBob while I fixed him. I was already finished, but I felt like crawling under BillyBob again for a few minutes so this guy's good efforts on my behalf didn't go to waste. Darn! One step forward, two steps back. At least I didn't get get grease on the mallet tapping the now clean shift linkage.