'41 Ford COE questions

[26 lakes]

I hate to butt in on a thread, but I need the wisdom of the COE scholars out there. I went out to a mans property today to look at two old COE trucks. He is in the process of removing a handful of vehicles off of his property. He was {is} planning on taking them to the crusher. I am going to negotiate with him and try and salvage what I can. My question is what parts other than sheet metal and motor and transmission have value to the guys trying to rescue these old relics. I am posting some pictures. One is the 1941 up era. The other is a 1956.

 

[alanwoodieman]

two speed rear end, front axle, springs, steering gear and linkage, rimas if they are good

 

[alanwoodieman]

forgot to mention, I would like the 4 spoke steering whell

 

[47COE]

Get the glove box door. One recently came up on eBay and there were quite a few bidders. So all the people that didn't win that auction would be interested in another one.

Also, get the gas tank. They are unique to the COE and reproductions aren't available.

Tom

 

[COE Dan]

cwh...good progress on your '41 refurb...tell us how it goes...

Also, on the derelict COE, how does the 2-speed rear axle shifter work. Normally I've seen a large vacuum diaphragm and vacuum lines run from a knob actuating a cable to the vacuum valve. This truck appears to have a third lever in the cab (hand brake, transmission, and rear axle???) Is there a mechanical linkage to the rear axle? It appears that way from the rear axle photos.

Can you confirm? I'd be interested in the mechanical linkage and lever if it's complete. My truck is locked in high because the vacuum assembly leaks and I think a mechanical shift would be more reliable (but might be harder time the shift).

COE Dan

 

[47COE]

This truck appears to have a third lever in the cab (hand brake, transmission, and rear axle???) Is there a mechanical linkage to the rear axle? It appears that way from the rear axle photos.

COE Dan

The extra shift lever might be to a second transmission behind the 4 speed. That's what I have: 4 speed, followed by a 3 speed. Each with its own shift lever.

He can easily check this by looking to see if there is a second transmission.

If there are two transmissions, then that truck has a lot of options with 4, 3, and two speed rear end for a total of 24 speeds forward and 6 reverse.

Edit: looking at the first photo, there doesn't appear to be a second transmission. If present it would probably be visible in that photo.


Tom

 

[26 lakes]

I will continue to keep pictures in front of you guys. I should be back out to take more pictures this week. Thanks for the knowledge.

 

[cwh]

26 Lakes,

Looks like a good find. If you end up with that early Ford I'd love to have that heater in the drivers footwell. It's COLD up here.

Chris

 

[cwh]

The old flattie is back in and begging to make noise. Slowly but surely putting everything back together. Not sure about the new motor mounts. I can't get the cotter pins back in with all the washers in place. I spent WAY too much time getting them figured out tonight. Probably should have walked away and looked at them tomorrow. Anyway, here's my progress so far.

 

[alanwoodieman]

a lot of us have had the same problem with the new mounts, pull out an old one and I will bet it is not as tall or thick as the new ones. I sanded down mine a bit to get the cotter pin in or just use a locking nut.

 

[cwh]

Got my oldest boy working with me in the garage last night. He's the third generation with the initials cwh that's worked these tools. It was awesome. He did great and showed a lot of interest for working on the truck.

cwh

On another note. That's a snowblower in the background. It moves mass amounts of snow out of the driveway. If you've never seen one up close your not missing anything. If you take a drive from a warmer climate and you come across one you've gone WAY too far.

 

[alanwoodieman]

Looking good, cwh the 3 rd is busy learning about old trucks and spending time with Dad, could not be better. my sister-in-law just moved to Canada, Ft MacMurry, she moved there from the middle east, husband works for shell oil. Going from hot to cold must be an experience!!

 

[alanwoodieman]

OK CWH time for an update. On the road yet? Has CWH3 learned to double clutch. Rode around in my 41 small truck today with the 38 cabover right behind me. I think I could be carrying naked ladies in the stakebed and the curious people would rather look at his cabover!! They sure gather the gawkers and the talkers.

 

[Mike in AZ]

great thread....thanks for sharing....Mike

 

[cwh]

Sorry. I've been out of town and working a bunch lately. No, it's not on the road but it's getting close. I've been working on the wiring lately. This time I had my 9 year old son Brayden out in the garage with me. He was helping me with the massive job of wiring the truck. The COE didn't have any wiring or electrical devices when I bought it so I had to start from scratch. Thanks to some generous "Barn" members, I received by email some very nice simplified wiring diagrams to get started. I'm an electronics/electrical technician by trade but this project was surprisingly intimidating. I wanted to get it right the first time so I've taken my time in planning every circuit out. The new fuse/distribution block has been installed under the passenger seat and all new circuits have been terminated. All the new wiring was run in the original style cloth loom. The truck turns over now, the horn and lighting all work. I need to wire up the new fuel pump. I ordered a new distributor this week and will finish that up when I get home in a week or so. After that I'll be able to drive it to the muffler shop and have a new exhaust system built. Any suggestions on the exhaust. I'm leaning towards deleting the mufflers and running 2" exhaust that dumps out on both sides behind the steps.

I'll post a few pics later this week.

Chris

 

[Graeme / New Zealand]

Neat truck. We don't see a lot of these in New Zealand now but I'm sure they plied the roads here many moons ago. When I was a kid in the 60's our local fire station had a Heavy duty 41 same grill but a conventional nose. They had a jailbar as well. Loved the sound of those big beasts. I was sad to see them replaced by an English Dennis and a Commer.

GB

 

[cwh]

A few progress pics.

 

[alanwoodieman]

CWH-very neat looking circuit board. Looks like you will br ready for the road soon. Alan

 

[cwh]

She's alive. Fired right up without turning a full rotation. She purred like a kitten. More pics and status to follow.

 

[47COE]

Congratulations!