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1949 KB6 4x4

shortbus4x4

shortbus4x4

Junk collector
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
202
Messages
920
Loc
Post Falls ID
Scout, Scout, Scout. That's all everyone posts about on this forum.:flipoff2:
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Time for something a bit different on here.

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I found this KB6 quite by accident last summer. I'd been working in Mansfield WA on a bus and was headed home for the day. I went to stop at the store on the main drag for a cold NON alcoholic beverage but had to go around the block. Saw this beautiful 1975 International D200 4x4 1 ton service truck with a For Sale sign in the window.
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The price was right so I called the number and made arrangements to look at it when I was working in the area a few days later.
 
Swung by and looked at it on my way home a few days later and told him I wanted it. The old farmer is in his 80s I think but sure doesn't act like it. He asked me if I had time to run out to his farm a few miles away and he would show me his other Internationals. That's like asking an alcoholic if he wants a drink, of course I have time!:lmao:
He told me on the way out to his farm that he has to get rid of some of his old vehicles because the government is paying him to get rid of some of the old broken down rigs. Got there and he was showing me stuff he had to get rid of.
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The KB6 pictures are when I drug it out of the line it was in.

I immediately spotted this KB6 and asked him about it. He said when he moved to his current farm in 1978 I think it was he brought it with him. He told me the ladies that used to drive it during harvest really liked it. He got it in the 1960s, the license plate says 1963. I asked him how much and we finally settled on $3500 for both the 75 D200 and the 49 KB6. I tell people my 75 D200 was $2k but cost me $3500.:lmao:
Paid him for the service truck and took it away in August 2022. Finally had time to come back out in October 2022 and took this beauty home, he was helping with harvest or it would've been sooner.
 
SB4X4, No offense but you have a strange attraction to POS trucks, fugly comes to mind but YouDoYou I think is the term.

Yeah I know what you're gonna say, I like Burma Jeeps.
 
So it sat in my backyard all winter long. I picked up this Loadstar chassis a few years ago with a Coleman front axle and I kept looking at it and the KB.
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I actually cut some old brackets and such off of it this winter thinking I was going to use it under the KB. I really really wanted to use this chassis because the Coleman front axle is very cool looking. Never mind getting parts for it.:homer:

This month in the spirit of cleaning up my yard to appease the wife, actually it's because it's pretty full and I have a few more rigs to drag home, but she doesn't know that...........yet.:lmao:
I pulled the KB up to the work area along with the Loadstar chassis and decided to combine the two, making more room, errr getting rid of some junk. After going over the two multiple times with a tape measure I came to the conclusion that there is no way to keep the fenders stock, not widened, if I put the KB cab on the Loadstar chassis. I swapped the big Duplex 19.5 wheels and tires to 900x20 on dually wheels and still too wide. Dang, time for plan B.
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PAE said:
SB4X4, No offense but you have a strange attraction to POS trucks, fugly comes to mind but YouDoYou I think is the term.

Yeah I know what you're gonna say, I like Burma Jeeps.
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KBs are not ugly!!:flipoff2:

The L and A series in the pictures I think are a bit homely but that's why I didn't get them.

I happen to know where there is a Ford GTB for sale. It came off a farm and looks like the bed is MIA, looks pretty rough. I saw two on a car hauler heading through Spokane on I90 a few weeks ago.

And PAE thinks Internationals are fugly!:flipoff2:
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I actually really would like a Burma Jeep but at 6'6" and size 15 boots I don't fit so well. I've looked at a couple for sale locally but never got them because of fitment issues.
 
So which one of you assholes are mcfartymcpewpew's father? :flipoff2:
 
You would look like Tom Selleck in the red Ferrari from magnum PI.
 
Plan B.
Picked up a 1993 Ford Fsuperduty 4x4 conversion chassis last fall. It is an old Davey Tree truck with a 9' chip dump body. The cab, engine, and trans were removed by seller so I got the rolling chassis which is a Dana 70 front, Dana 80 rear and NP205. It's a dually with 10x7.25" wheel pattern and 16" wheels. The front axles fit under the KB fenders nicely but those fenders were made to cover 8.25x20 tires so anything under about 40" looks tiny and out of place. Looked into adapters and converting the rear into singles but decided it was too much work and money to make this chassis what I want.
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So Plan B didn't work out so Plan C is next.
 
KB6Chris said:
Looks like a solid start! Big fan of KB-6's myself
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Kind of a moving target but starting to gradually come into focus. I'll be all caught up to date by the end of the week, so stand by.

I want it to be able to do normal truck stuff while looking cool. It's got to be able to tow a little, make dump runs, weekend Forest Service road drives, light 4 wheeling, car camping(overlanding to the younger generation), International club parades, drive to some International shows a few states away, get firewood, etc, etc, etc.
 
Jblack6527 said:
Cool project!
I may have a mild erection over that D200.
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I had a picture of it in the background of my 1957 S180 4x4 over on Binderplanet and someone recognized the colors and started talking about it to me. See Post 39. 1957 S180 4x4 on Craigslist
Here's a picture of Denis at the Binder Bash this year and based on his recollections there is a good chance this was his truck back in 1975 out of Pendleton OR.
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As I'm sitting here waiting on a school bus to finish its aftertreatment regen analyzer test I'll tell you about Plan C and how I came to get the chassis for this build.
It was a dark night the end of July 2021, I was southbound doing 70 on Highway 97 a bit north of Madras OR. I decided truck hunting deer season had just opened, I had my sights set on a big full bodied 6 point buck. And I got him with the left front of my 01 Dodge 2500 24 valve, NV5600, 4X2, only 140k miles on it truck.
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To be continued.................
 
I hauled it into a body shop in Madras OR and filed an insurance claim. I thought it would get totalled because it's a 20 year old truck but after about a month the insurance company told me it was worth $15k and the repairs were just under $10k so it wasn't totalled. I had already replaced it so told the body shop to fix it and then planned on selling it. After 8 months I called to see if it was done and they hadn't even started on it, said they were having a hard time finding parts for it. I took the check from the insurance and went and picked it up May 2022.

So I was planning on using the engine and trans for something and parting the rest out but after Plans A and B didn't work out I threw a tape measure on it and decided it would make a good donor for the KB6 4x4. Just need to convert it to 4x4. I think there's a website that starts with a P and rhymes with Irate4x4 that has info on doing a 4x4 conversion.:flipoff2:
 
Grendel said:
Need pics of the buck and the chili you made out of him.
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Didn't get pictures of him. I think he pretty much blew up, I know I had quite a few pieces of him hanging off the underside of the truck and the next day I only saw big chunks of deer on the side of the road where I hit him, no body.
 
Debating to keep the flatbed on the Dodge or do a stepside longbed? If I keep the flatbed it will need to be raised for tire clearance. Had issues with the stock 265/75/16 tires hitting the flatbed fully loaded.
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And I'm putting bigger tires than that on it. A 37/12.50/16.5 in the front, it's a wee bit smaller than the stock 8.25x20 that came stock with the KB.
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No, the Humvee tires too small. Need something bigger still. Stand by..............
 
Gots_a_sol said:
Nice.

It angers me to see how many Internationals there are out that side of the country compared to the east coast. Guess the east coast trucks just rotted away faster :flipoff2:
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I grew up on the west coast near the ocean, they rotted away there too. I'm a mobile mechanic for the International dealer in Spokane WA and do thousands of miles a year in eastern WA and northern ID, lots of farm country that has tons and tons of old iron parked in the back 40, no longer used. It's good but also bad because there's so much I could drag home.:grinpimp:
 
Spent a few short hours this afternoon working on the KB. Drug the Dodge out where I could pull my Jeep up and charge the batteries a bit so it would start. Don't think the flatbed and 40s are going to work too well without a lift and I'm keeping it as low as possible.
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Posed a 40 in the front fender, looks much better.
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The WFO spring hanger I ordered for the Dodge 4x4 conversion arrived Friday. Only complaint I have about it is the welds look too pretty and will make mine look like crap.
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Going with a Chevy Dana 60 front, hoping SRW hubs on it will be the right width to fit the tires under the front fenders because it will match the WMS of the Dodge Dana 80 rear.
 
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