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Got a new project – a 1964 D100 Town Panel. It has not been on the road since 1970 and was in storage since then, so it will take a while to get it road worthy. It has a slant six and three on the tree with 85,000 miles.
After draining and rinsing the fuel tank, changing the oil and adding fuel filters before and after the fuel pump I tried starting it, and after a few tries it fired up and idled great. I actually drove it a few feet into the garage. I plan on replacing most everything rubber (hoses, seals, fuel pump, water pump etc). I plan on doing power disc brake conversion and replacing all the rear brake parts and hard lines.
This brings me to my question, I want to keep the truck as stock as possible with the exception of the disc brakes. The stock wheels will not fit over the calipers so I will need to go to a slightly wider wheel (ie 6.5 inch wide ). I know there are a lot of options that will fit such as 70’s Dodge trucks, full size mopars, Ltd’s etc, but I want to keep the stock hubcaps. The car wheels seem to use a slightly smaller diameter cap. I plan to go to the Pull A Part this weekend and I can just measure lots of wheels , but I thought if anyone knew of where to start it would be helpful.
Also any suggestions about pitfalls on getting a vehicle that has been in storage this long, back in usable condition would be appreciated.
Thanks
Mike

Sorry... I don't have any answers to your questions... but I wanted to say how NICE your panel truck is!! Good Deal!

Jim

wow nice. I'd be tempted to NOT swap to disc brakes and use some vintage reproduction bias plies. You'll be fine in most situations if you have nice soft shoes and good hydraulics in the brake system.

Wow that thing is a time capsule. Very nice. Have you looked into custom made wheels? Or it may be cheapest to find another style dodge dish that you like. Good luck.

Nice original trucks like yours are getting hard to come by. I wouldnt change the brakes or the wheels...I'd keep it as stock as you can. Just completely go through the brake system with new shoes, hardware, wheel cylinders etc etc and the truck will stop just fine. Put the money you were going to spend on disc brakes and wheels into a restoration of the mechanicals of the truck and you will have a really fine original panel truck. "Restored and modified" panels are easily found....original trucks are much more rare.

The stock 15" & 16" 5 lug wheels that take the larger ~10" diameter
dog dish were 5.5" wide and I've never seen one any wider. You might
check into some 5 lug ford wheels. Also, as Doug mentioned,
you might look at Stockton Wheels to see what they could do for you.
John

Nice find!

I'm with the "do as little as possible" crowd. That thing is way too nice the way it is.
That is a very nice find.

That is a beautiful panel !!! I personally would not change the brakes - that thing is clean and original.
- Mike

Thanks for all the replies, I am going to rebuild the drum brakes on all four wheels and see how it stops, I do want to keep it as original as possible.
Mike

I gotta say I don't think you'll regret it. Honestly how often do you plan to drive it at full speed with a load, or in traffic? Plus don't you have a modified one all ready? In that case you can always drive the other one if you want to run with modern traffic. At least that's what I would do...

aqmet wrote:Thanks for all the replies, I am going to rebuild the drum brakes on all four wheels and see how it stops, I do want to keep it as original as possible.
Mike

Geez , how lucky to have lightning strike. A gem for sure and no doubt you will give up some gems to restore her to "new" status. Nice find for sure.

If you're thinking of parting with those hub caps let me know.

Mike,

How do you find these things? That looks great. Not as great as the truck in your sig, but it looks great.

I'm with you on going disc. I went with disc on the front of my truck and am about to go with a larger drum setup in the rears (from a '70 Superbee).

I like original but, and because I live in Atlanta too, when you need to stop around here you need to STOP. These idiots aren't like the idiots you have where you live.

Well I have opted to stay as original as possible with this truck, I went through the brakes and replaced the master, shoes, and all the hardware, hoses and had the drums turned. The brakes work very well and I will give them a try for a while before I decide whether to go with disc brakes. I also decided to stay with the original size 7.00-15 tires I like the old time look of a skinny tire and they also make turning when going slow a lot easier that with a wider tire. I did make a concession and went with a radial tire, after a lot of looking I could only find one 7.00r -15 tire it is made by Yokohama.
I got the tires mounted yesterday and finally got to take the truck for ride of more than two blocks from the house and over 20mph. I drove it about 10 miles and it drove great, hopefully this weekend the weather will be nice and I can get some more miles on it. I’ve been going through lots of polish and wax trying to bring back the original paint, the paint is a little thin on the hood but elsewhere it is shining up well.
The Yokohamas are light truck tire, Load Range D, 8 Ply Rate and have max inflation of 65 psi – any suggestions on what pressure I should run them at, 99% of the time the truck will be empty. I currently have them inflated to 45psi and they ride good until I hit bump or pot hole.attachment=0]IMG_1342.JPG[/attachment]

If you do end up going with discs you may be able to get away with some factory swepty 16" wheels. I've had 'em on several of my past d100's '61-'71 and they have the same bolt pattern as your panel, and accept the original hubcaps currently on your rig. Plus you can run some 235/85/16's which are a bit taller than a 7.00x15, netting you a bit better cruising ability. As for your new yoko's I'd aim for about 32-35 psi. Should improve the ride without losing any handling quality.

Where did u find 16" 5 lug factory swept wheels?

Several of my trucks have had them- I had a '63 D100 long ute with a poly/pusbutton setup with 'em, a '71 short swept /6 4 speed ex-forest service with 'em, and another Lifestyle-era truck with factory 16's on it (these used the later smaller caps). I currently have a set of 4 16x5.5's I snagged off a '64 short ute in a buddy's tow yard, as well as an additional pair from a '68 383 AT D100 from the same yard. IIRC, the '63's were split-rims and used an internal-type clip to retain the poverty caps. The rest have been 1-piece wheels which used the larger dog-dish caps (I ran '65 coronet caps on my '71- they looked real clean). Far as I can tell there was no rhyme or reason for them getting used on certain trucks, just another option. All of these were the 5x4.5" bolt circle (or whatever the "actual" measure is)...

Must be an Oregon thing, or maybe CA prohibits them for some gay reason. Ive had a lot of trucks pass thru my hands and have never seen a set.

PwrWgnDrvr wrote:Where did u find 16" 5 lug factory swept wheels?

I got a couple from Dan [aka "Goldie"]. They came from a
'63 D100 he used as a donor truck for the 413 HPP D100 he owned at the
time.
John