OldIHC

I was considering buying a book of the KB shop Talks which is not exactly cheap. I have a shop manual for the truck. Are these shop Talks worth having if you have a shop manual already?

Hard to say, as it is a personal choice. They go into detail on things that are not included in the service manual.
For example, the on hydrovac go into detail on the units how they work and how to work on them, the service manual just goes into replacing them.
A full set of shop talks would be of interest, but they don't come up often and many times are incomplete.
If what you are looking at is complete, I think you could get some of us to chip in if you digitize them and put them on here.
If you are a "parts changer" when dealing with a problem, they wouldn't be of interest, but if you want to repair/rebuild the offending part, they would be worth it.
They were "training" manuals that were used by dealerships to bring their employees up to speed on things.
I have comparable training from GM from my dealership days, on the 1st "computer" cars and TBI Fuel injection.

John posted some shop talks links on this site, D and K/KB info. Hope this helps. i think you can download them.
http://restoringcornelius.com/truck-facts/library/#top

Thanks for the replies. I went ahead and bought it. I'll update with what all it contains. Hopefully can share if anyone is interested.

I have a few binders of shop talks, some are kind of humorous,

complaint about K, KB panel trucks not having an interior handle for the double back doors,

comments included a guy who climbed into a caged cargo area truck, door swung shut and he was locked in, had to beat on the sides hoping to get a passerby attention to let him out.

IHC engineers solution? instead of lengthening shank and installing an interior handle they designed an emergency escape flat stock handle and hung it on a chain in the cargo area,
I've owned 6 of these panels and never saw a emergency handle in any of them or a hole drilled for the chain, so must of been really close to end of production when they finally addressed this issue.

another was complaint inner city delivery trucks weren't going fast enough to charge the 6v. battery,,,,,IHC engineer solution was to makes the crank shaft pulley bigger diameter so that the gen would spin faster? so once I read that I figured out why some 50s trucks I could change fan belt no problem and others I had to remove the fan shroud to do it. I guess a different generator pulley wasn't an option.

I have a Shop Talk for repair/rebuild of the HDS 3 speed transmission. I'll try to get hold of John so he can post on his website.

The escape handle must have been made out of the same thing the left (battery) cover was made from, I haven't seen one of those either!
I don't know about low speed, but my stone stock '48 KB7 has the rare 50 amp genny and ammeter. I can't remember if it charges at idle, but doesn't have to turn as fast to get good current flowing to the battery.

I've had my KB-6 since 1983, and I've been looking for the driver's aide battery cover since then,

a guy advertised one on fleabay and I bought it, turned out to be a passenger side hydrovac access cover panel,

AND guess what, they do Not interchange, I went to put it on and bolt patterns are different, IHC wouldn't want you putting an identical cover panel on the wrong side now.

Yeah, they are the same except for the bolt holes. I need two.
I am thinking about having some made at my local "magic shop" Nelson forge and machine "where miracles are forged". If I do, I'll get a price per unit and try and let you know if you are interested. A good shop with a pan brake shouldn't have much trouble. I would have them made without bolt holes so they could be drilled for either side. I'll have to find out if he is set up with sheet metal tooling, he does about everything else! The labor to make one or four isn't much different
Right now he is making the self-adjuster for a disk caliper for my Saab. It is harvest season and farmers are always popping in needing repairs done a week previous from when they bring it in, so he is busier than a one armed paper hanger right now.

they Seem like they would be easy to make, roll the bottom and stair step the top, fold in edges, I've talked to Jacob Chapin who is currently making lots of parts for KB trucks to consider this.
the second time the farmer had to jump start the truck he threw that cover away after dealing with those rusty bolts