Desperately seeking Light Truck help

I have a 1953 International Harvester R series 112 Light Truck. It is a six volt all original and at all possible I would like to keep it that way. The problem is it will not stay started. we have tried everything we can possibly think of doing to get it going again. My Husband has rebuilt the carburetor twice it is a Holley by the way. Had the timing done professionally, changed the spark plugs and wires, changed rotor cap and condenser rebuilt generator new fuel filters and fuel pump, new ignition coil and changed out bad wiring.

The Truck was running last summer.I could not drive it because it had no brakes at the time. It now has new brakes.The one thing that did happen was my Husband let the gas tank go dry which was stupid. We had problems ever since. Will I have to get a totally new carburetor because of the crud that got sucked up from the tank? Now it is backfiring again and I don't know why.

Could use some expert advice

Sounds like you got crud in your fuel system. You may need to flush out your tank and check the filter screen in your fuel pump if you have the type with the glass sediment bowl. Depending on how much dirt got into your carburator it may need to be disassembled and cleaned also.
Goose

I will second cleaning the tank, then the filters. Once you clean the tank, make sure to seal it.

It may seem like the extra work is a lot, but it may be a good thing the system needs to be cleaned out. Imagine being out somewhere, maybe a long way from home, and some of that crud found it's way into the carb and you started having this trouble out there. It's better to trouble shoot the problem at home than to have to do it on a trip or under extreme circumstances.

I can remember having fuel line starvation problems while on a trip down the Alcan & Haines Highways (Canada) in 1973, in the cold and snow of April. I'd much rather have been able to wring that problem out in more hospitable surroundings. A replacement rebuilt fuel pump was 150 miles away and I was trying to make a ferry in Haines, Alaska, the opposite way. Be grateful for the little problems.

I have a 52 112 and I had that problem as well it was a combination of a worn out 61 year old fuelpump (i thought it was amazing that thing lasted that long) and some garbage in my fuel lines, my tank only had a little bit of trash so i just drained it, i cleaned the lines rebuilt the carb and replaced the fuelpump and added a in-line fuel filter (highly suggest you add one they work well) I prefer to have one before the fuel pump and before the carb i have a second one I still need to put in at the pump, just another opinion

ETHAN, you are right on the money. I would not put too much importance on letting the tank run dry because it really would not matter. Full tank or empty your tank and fuel system is a victim of particulate that should not be there. ETHAN has suggested that several well placed fuel filter should be used. It is not reasonable to expect a 60 year old fuel pump to work the way that it was designed to back in the day. A fuel pump can leak fuel into the engine and thin out the oil. This will reduce the ability of the oil to keep the metal parts from touching and the engine could fail. I am almost certain that the flex lines between the hard steel fuel lines will have deteriorated and may be causing some of your problem. REPLACE THEM. There should be one before the pump and one after the tank and before the fuel line. This will be a good place to add the first fuel filter. The fuel pickup tube could be rusted through and even a very small pinhole will let enough air in to cause a hard start or no start situation.
You took a shot at the truck running reliably with a bunch of time compromised parts and it failed. Now, follow the good suggestions that were posted by ETHAN, IBESQ and others. There is no shortcut to a proper fix.
While you are in the fix-it mode, check and refasten all of the electric grounds. These areas are subject to extra corrosion. Remove and clean the connection on the starter. If you do not know how, ask someone or Goggle it and find out how the ignition resister should work. Is the resister wire broken and making intermittent connections? The first sign of the resister failure is the engine starting and running then stopping when the key is returned to the run circuit. Just buy a new one. It is likely that you will need one sooner than later.
Resist the urge to rev the dickens out of the engine when it finally starts. This bad practice is destructive. My cousin finally got his 1936 GMC 1-1/2 ton started and they really revved it up and the engine lost a bearing. The bearings were dry after sitting for 35 or more years. Their silly dance and YAHOO's turned to BOO HOO in a few seconds. Their plan to keep it all original came to a pounding halt.
Please read the postings in fuel line in the R-L and S section.

One correction: the L and R-series trucks didn't use any rubber fuel lines at the tank; it was metal line all the way. The MT-63 parts book shows a flexible line at the fuel pump, but it's not illustrated. I would guess that, to allow for flex of the engine mounts, it would be at the fuel pump inlet. Other than that, the line down the frame to the tank is all metal [since, in theory, there should be no flexing of the tank, the tank mounts, or the frame], as is the line from the fuel pump to the carb.

On my '51, the line was badly rotted, and I replaced all the line from the tank to the pump with rubber hose [probably neoprene, actually] by converting to brass hose barbs at each end. So far it seems to be working well.

Good for you B72.
This is a good time to make the changes and add the flexible hose connection ,at the tank, and add in line fuel filter. Don't forget to use hose clamps and don't over tighten them. The rules for tight used to be, stop tightening when the hose rubber just starts bulging in the clamp grooves.

6 Volt 6 cyl trucks didn't use a ballest resistor. So you can rule that out as the problem.

I had my KB-6 tank rebuilt, and once in a while the truck would putter out then run OK,

well the tank had about an inch of old gas molasses in it before it got rebuilt.

I pulled the original steel fuel line, from tank to fuel pump, and it dripped molasses from the end, I have no idea how ANY fuel was getting thru it,

I stood it on end and dribbled starting fluid, carb cleaner, and any other nasty stuff I could into the top end, cause I thought I needed the "stock pre-bent line"

after about a week of watching it drip slowly, I went and bought a length of rubber fuel line,

never had gas issues since, well, at least out of the cab gas issues.