1946 Chevy 2-Ton Dump Truck

Owned by Wayne Hagopian "46 Chevy 2 Ton" Bolter # 19601 Matlacha, Florida

From Wayne :

Here is my 1946 Chevrolet 2-on. The truck is equipped with a two speed rear axle and a PTO powered dump bed.

My Brother-in-law (Rick Woodbury) and I are in the process of building a length of roadway through the woods on our Arley, Alabama property. While looking on Craigslist for a used dump truck, I came across this '46 (advertised as a '45). I was immediately drawn to it and thought it would work for our road building project.

Last month, we hauled the truck from Central Florida to to my home in Matlacha.

Sometime this month, Rick will come down to help me work on the truck. I located a full pressure 235 on the Stovebolt site in Jacksonville, Florida and hope to pick it up during the first week of January.

So far I’ve removed the engine and transmission along the mirrors and a few other pieces of chrome. Everything has come apart like a new truck. During the winter of 2009, we will replace the engine with the full pressure 235 and go through the brakes. I’ve begun to remove the original 235.

Once the truck is road-worthy, we will sand or sand-blast everything, shoot it with epoxy primer and urethane paint, and put it back together. We plan to paint it red with black fenders and running boards.

The interior is rough but with a little work, we will get it looking acceptable and put this truck back to work.

The truck is in remarkable condition for a 62 year old vehicle. I have yet to find a bolt or screw that is seized in place. The windshield regulator bolts were actually finger tight. After driving the truck, I can tell you it will have no problem moving a few yards of Alabama soil.

When the truck is finished, I plan to trailer it to Alabama and use it on our property near Arley -- hopefully by the end of February. We'll put it to work alongside our JCB Backhoe and our 1949 Ford 8N.

Incidentally, my Grandfather purchased our Ford 8N back in 1969 when I was in high school. The 8N was stored in our family’s barn up in Applegate, Michigan. In 2007 we brought it to Matlacha. In about six weeks, we did a fairly complete restoration. Rick and I are very proud of this old Ford that has been in our family for 40 years. (Here's a photo of me driving the Ford back in 1978 in Applegate and a photo of the restored Ford at my home in Matlacha.)

Thanks for the great web site. I’ve found at least 2 Tons worth of helpful information.

Wayne Hagopian

What a great start to 2009! What a lot of neat stuff you have!! Keep us posted on your progress. ~ Editor

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