- [Davin] In this episode of the Wrenchmen,
we're here with Jill with her 1948 Ford F1 pickup truck.
(lively bluesy rock)
The brakes went out on the truck a few months ago,
and it's been sitting since.
Jill says the truck needs a good tune-up as well.
So Matt and I drop by to take a look,
and see how we can help.
(edgy bluesy rock)
Ever had a project that stuck, stalled
or over your head?
- [Matt] Sometimes it just takes an extra set of eyes
or an extra set of hands.
- [Devin] Enter the Wrenchmen.
- [Matt] Follow along as we travel the country
getting classic cars back on the road.
(atmospheric guitar music)
- When I got it, I was kind of driving
around the neighborhood,
just trying to get comfortable with it.
And after a couple of times,
my son wanted to jump in.
And I said, yep, come on, I'm getting it, jump on in.
We're coming down the hill
and I put my foot down on the brake
and there is nothing.
And I'm like, oh (bleep).
And James is like, Mom!
And so then that's when I just, I parked it.
I managed to get it up into my driveway again,
and that was it.
I was not going to drive it anymore,
until I knew I had safe brakes in it.
- Good morning. - Good morning.
- Good morning Jill, how are you?
- Good, glad you guys are here.
- Yeah.
- Here's my truck.
- This is it, eh?
- Yeah.
- You got a bed full of stuff.
- Looks like brake parts back there.
- Yeah, drums.
- Well get this thing back on the road
and safe, and feel good about driving it,
next time you take it out.
- That's awesome.
- Cool, let's get to work.
- [Matt] Yeah.
Rear cylinder left hand.
- I think I was about 12 years old,
and I had ridden my bike down to the point.
And they've got a little candy store there.
And I was down there hanging out
and they delivered this truck.
And I was like, that is a really cool truck.
And then all of a sudden Dave the neighbor was there,
and he's like, I just bought this truck,
do you want to go for a ride?
And I was like yeah.
And I've admired it ever since.
(lively atmospheric music)
- Okay.
- In the beginning of the summer,
he said that he was gonna sell it.
And I asked if he would sell it to me,
and here we are today.
- [Devin] Alright, so we started on the brakes.
We got of our brake parts.
Front line came off, back line's having troubles,
broke it or broke.
So, no big deal, we're running fresh hard line anyway.
So we're in good shape so far.
- Yeah.
- So if we can get this down and leave that,
that would be fine.
- [Matt] Take it off here.
- Yep.
(upbeat rock music)
(wrench cranking)
- That'll be this episode,
me just sitting here cleaning stuff.
♫ Hey
(knocking metal)
(hammering metal)
(hamming metal)
- Alright, so we gotta get some hard lines
for the rear brakes and the front brakes.
We'll get all that freshly plumbed.
- I got this off.
- Alright.
- You're looking at what represents
the last three hours of my day.
- Excellent.
- Alright?
- Good deal.
Well, we got a lot done today.
We'll get more done tomorrow.
Then get you rollin'.
(lively bluesy rock)
- It's a new day, we got some new parts.
I feel like I'm gonna be able
to finish up a couple of the things
that I started yesterday.
- Isn't it nerveracking when you can't tidy up
that last little bit because you're missing the clip?
- Walk about from a project right
before you're done with it.
- It's horrible.
And I brought you a spring tool too.
- Fantastic.
- And then it's run fresh brake lines all the way around.
- Nice.
Dave's a good family friend.
He has the cottage next to my grandparents
and parents' cottage.
And we've been neighbors since way before I was born.
And so I think he was excited to see the truck
go to somebody that was at least close to him?
Him and his wife have a book of all the pictures
of when they bought the truck,
everything that they've done to it.
And so the last picture I think that they have in it,
is of me and Dave shaking hands in the front of the truck
as he's passing off the keys to me.
So I'm honored that he sold it to me.
It's really special to me.
(lively bluesy rock)
- I'm gonna redo all of the ignition stuff that I can.
I'm gonna do a new coil,
new distributor cap, a new rotor,
new points, new condenser,
new vacuum advance.
- Made a lot of progress again.
- Yeah.
I got the battery in.
The new holder's down.
All the ignition stuff is set,
except for the points and the
- [Devin] Coil?
- The coil bracket.
We got speedometer cables ran now.
- Alright.
- You've been working on the brake hydraulics.
- Yes, I got fresh lines, all four corners,
everything's sealed up.
It's ready for bleeding the brakes.
Jill, you and I are going to change
tranny fluids still today.
- Okay.
- Probably drop the oil out of the engine,
and potentially the gear lube out of the back end.
That way everything's fresh from a fluid standpoint.
- Cool.
- Yeah, so literally, I just take that out,
And all the oil's gonna start coming out of that
just as soon as you
That is potentially instant.
- Thunk.
- There you go.
That works too.
- Or we could just do that.
- Or do it that way.
(laughing)
- Let me show you my way to do this.
(wrench cranking)
(bluesy rock music)
- Morning of day three, couple big things to wrap up.
I see as the bleeding the brakes,
and getting the tires mounted.
And a couple of little things on the suspension.
- I'm going to be putting in these turn signals
and getting these little lights up here
to blink here pretty soon.
- Perfect.
Jill and I changed all the fluids last night, so
- Fantastic.
- or at least drained all the fluids last night.
- Note to self, fill.
(laughing)
- Yes.
- Alright.
- Alright?
Cool, let's wrap it up.
- Okie doke.
(upbeat music)
It's almost impossible to bleed the brakes,
if it's got a foamy fluid in there,
as opposed to pockets of air.
So you just kind of push it down nice and even,
and let it up nice and even.
And that's why I'm telling him when I'm all the way down
and when I'm all the way up.
So he knows when to crack that bleeder
and when to close it.
Down.
- Okay, brakes are bled and feel good
from the driver's side.
- Had good pedal pressure, yeah.
- Park brake is working.
- It is.
- That's a blessing.
Turn signals are working.
- All four.
- So that's good.
I think we're ready to fire this up.
- Alright, let's do it
- Let's see if I put the spark plugs on
in the right order.
- They're in an order.
- [Matt] That's right.
(laughs)
Looks good from here.
- Looks great from here.
(engine revs)
- Almost.
(engine turns over)
Ah, there we go.
- It sounds good.
- [Devin] Sounds nice, doesn't it?
- [Matt] Yes it does.
(truck idling)
- [Jill] I have two kids, they love the truck.
You know, I'll be able to pass it on to them.
Someday, I think my daughter would like it.
In the state that it's in,
she's more of an artist.
And my son is young and he loves to ride in it.
He always wants to take it, like right now,
out to go get pumpkins or just go for cruises,
or go to school, all that kind of stuff in it.
(lively music)
- Well here you go Devin.
She's made it to Cars and Caffeine,
here at Hagerty.
- Yep, Jill looks like she's having fun
talking to everybody and showing off her truck, so.
- It's certainly getting some attention.
- So, success.
- Good job, man.
- Alright thank you, let's roll on.
- Back to work.
(truck motoring)
(lively music)