I drove my Studebaker truck yesterday, a little more than most days, but a lot less than others. This trip was about 3 hours of total drive time. I found a fellow that advertised a T86 w/overdrive for sale from his dads old truck. It was rebuilt in '99 and never installed. Got it and a new clutch disc, pressure plate, clutch release bearing, resurfaced flywheel with a new starter ring gear installed for $300. Worth a drive for sure. He tossed in the bell housing and clutch linkage, but I did not really need the bell housing. It will find a good home.
Of course the truck ran fine, but it will be nice to have a better transmission in it since this one is OLD and quite worn. It pops out of first going uphill under heavy load and pops out of second if you are going downhill. The OD works great though.
As some of you may remember, I drive my C-cab nearly every day and have done so for the past 36 years. It now has 691,000 miles on it. I got a factory short block 232 that was still in its wooden crate from Studebakers West about 8 months ago and it just purrs. Still have the end panel from the wooden crate and the inspection tag signed in August of 1954 that was hanging on the engine.
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, over near Santa Cruz actually. Next week I will drive the truck from here to Las Vegas to attend a conference, then to LA to visit my wifes parents, then on down toward San Diego to pick up a Honda CB450 race bike that I bought a while back, then home on July 3rd. Should be about 1400 miles or so.
It will look good with my evaporative air cooler on the passenger door when I am down in the desert. I can't figure out how to attach a photo.
By the way, I sure could use new door hinges! I have a pair of hinges, r & l side, but I can not remember if they are tops or bottoms. I think that they are tops. Anyone have some good hinges? I seem to remember someone that would rebuild them or sell rebuilt ones if you provided a core, but can't seem to find any leads to them. Does that sound familiar?
That's the news from here. Keep truckin,
Allen