4WD Diesel KB6

Hey everyone. I was a lurker on the old forum when I got my truck and finally got re-registered and started work on my truck. What I have is a 1949 IH KBS-6 with the BLD 269, 5 speed and 2sp rear axle.

I dunno if everyone likes a little story but here is one. So this truck was my great grandfathers that we used on the farm and my dad remembers using it when he would combine soybeans. He used it and pulled two gravity wagons behind it and said that with the old JD 55 combine it would take all day to fill the truck and the wagons and he would haul them to town in the morning to dump and start over the next day. We bought the truck back in the 50's I believe off of the local gravel pit and just put our name over the old name and put a Midwest dump bed on it and hauled grain with it. It was parked about 25 years ago due to bad brakes and broken leaf spring which had been welded and broke again. But anyway, when I was young my dad and uncle were getting rid of old stuff and took it and another one just like it to auction and sold them. Turns out my neighbor bought it and just pulled it up the road and parked it and never touched it. So it sits outside in town for 10 years and gets both side windows busted out and I buy it back off of him. I put a fuel pump on it, and clean the tank and give it a pull and it fires right up. I drive it around a little bit and park it for another 3 years, in a shed.

So fast forward to a month ago and I finally get my Farmall B done to where I can get workin on this. I had originally planned to just get it running and driving and back to original. After driving my 43 Ford Ton and a half around I really didn't want another big slow truck. So my thoughts were to just swap rear axle for more friendly gears. Well I want better steering and brakes, so what about the front? I don't want IFS and well I decided just to put a driven front axle under the front, thus making it 4wd.

Thing was, what about frame width, spring hangers and what not? Well I took a gamble and just bought a truck before I even measured that had a divorced T-Case so I can use my 2wd tranny and motor that I had rebuilt previously for another project. Well as luck would have it the frames were the exact same width as the '76 Ford F250 4wd that i bought. The Dana 44 bolted right in place of the old solid front axle without any modifications.



The back spring hangers were a little more tricky, my Gpa had welded the old ones on after numerous broken ones so I had to cut them and the old rivets out. I used the springs, and hangers, and axle from the Ford and rolled it under and as luck would have it again, the back hangers bolted right up. Did a little measuring and drilled a few holes and then the front ones bolted up.

And thus thats where I'm at.

I'm currently on the fence about keeping the hoist or not, it sure would be handy but it is going to raise the deck of my bed up higher so I dunno yet how high I want it but its not holding me up yet. My next step is making changes to my engine changing it from side mount to front mount so it will work with my bellhousing and tranny to go in the frame. I'm using a 65 Ford FE 352 and Clark 5 speed tranny. I rebuilt the motor about 4 years ago and had the tranny resealed so after I get the mounts made it should be just a drop in deal. I did a test fit with a same family motor and it will fit and the original steering column will still go in its place. But once I get the motor in I'm gonna see about the steering so I know how to work it. I'd like power steering for sure but dunno if I can make it work with the push/pull style or if I need to go to crossover steering. But yeah, more to come

Without measuring you sure got lucky!
Isn't it a wonderful feeling when things bolt up with little fuss?

Thanks for the great story. I got my K1 from the farm too. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.

rick

I'm really impressed , as will be any body who happens to run into you and that truck when you are done . That will be as cool as it gets . I am likewise looking forward to your progress .

You wouldn't happen to have a lucky rabbit's foot in your pocket, would you? Maybe some lottery tickets would help bolster the project a little!
Great luck!

Little more progress.

Since my engine and tranny were from two different style vehicles. The engine was from a car and the transmission and bell were from a school bus the mounts wouldn't work in a vehicle together. The engine has two mounts on the side but instead of a single rear mount on the rear of the transmission, there are two side mounts on the side of the bellhousing. Well this will work fine on a test stand but in a vehicle where this is always a little bit of frame flex it wont due. Luckily I kept the engine laying around out back that I took the tranny and bell off of which has a single front mount. So I took the timing cover and front mount off of it and with new gasket and seal put it on my rebuilt engine. The new mount will bolt in the same place as the original BLD269 did but I'm gunna have to put a new crossmember in forward a little ways of the old one.

Still doin a little research on steering but with very few viable options I think I have nailed it down to a power steering gearbox mounted inside the frame rail with the pitman arm traveling between the leaf spring and frame the the push pull rod on the axle. I would like to put the steering gearbox in factory location. But with the shock absorber in line with where the rod would travel that wont work. I've thought about moving the shock but I'm trying to balance ease of fabrication with function here.

Pic my gf took while I wasn't looking. You can see the engine in the frame though


Fender and wheel clearance. Remember, those are 38" tires

A little more progress.

I'm wishing I couldve gotten as lucky mounting the engine, transmission, and transfer case as I did the axles.

I found a Power steering gearbox I believe is going to work. Found it in a 78 F250 4x4 Its going to mount right behind the front cross member.

I went out to the F250 and cut the rivets on the transfercase crossmember, and the front axle, rear hanger crossmember and pounded them out hoping I could adapt them to fit my transmission and T-Case but that turned out to be a waste of many evenings. So I had to build the tranny crossmember from scratch out of 2x2 square tubing. It turned out to be pretty straightforward.

The T-Case on the other hand was a little more tricky. The way it was mounted on the F250 was 4 bolts, bolted to two plates, bolted to the crossmember. Those two plates wouldn't work with the way I was going to mount it as they were two short to work with a crossmember I would build or partially attaching to the crossmember that supported the back of the cab. That step held me up for the longest time. I finally just grabbed the torch and hacked out a square in the cab crossmember and welded the new plates I made to that. I drilled two 1/2" holes in the frame and notched a square tube and with two pieces of strap used it to support the back half of the T-case. Sorry this is the only pic I have


I'm still going back and forth on what bed I wanna use. Right now if I kept the frame the same length I would end up with a 10' flatbed with hoist. I've considered cutting it down to an 8' bed and hoist. But part of me wants to cut it down and use a stepside bed. The local pick and pull has a 8' IH stepside bed so there is one available. Granted I really wouldn't be able to use it on the farm like I would like to, but it sure would look a lot better. Plus I wouldn't have to get more springs in the back to hold up a flatbed and whatever load I decide to carry. More food for thought.

It is a Journey isn't it. Looks like you figure out what needs to happen and then make it happen.

Good job Mister and I like the shop also. I am more anxious to get back to our L110 4X4 Cummins 4bta build up after reading this.

Yes it is a journey. When I sat around thinking about this project it all sounded so easy and its easy to get frustrated and lose motivation but I just gotta keep lugging it out and enjoy the small steps I make. |

I took a look at your build thread on the L110, you do some pretty good work. It looks like it'll be a nice truck when its done.