A 'virtual garage' of antique Chevy & GMC trucks from around the World

1952 Chevy 6100 2-Ton Grain Truck

23 January 2008
# 2185

From Daniel :

          Hi! Here is my 1952 Chevy 2-ton grain truck which I purchased a little over a month ago. I found it in southwest Missouri, about 95 miles west of where I live.

          From the VIN code “VV” it tells me that this is a 6100 series 2-ton utility truck that came out of the Kansas City Plant in October of 1956.  It was then outfitted with a hydraulic lift grain box.

          The truck has the optional 2-speed rear axle driven by a 235 ci under the hood.  With only 98K miles on it and the odometer still working, I was amazed at how little serious rust I found on this rig. The brakes were marginal and needed pumping to get them working and it had no working rear lights.

          With the help of a friend and his semi low boy, we loaded it up and brought it to his place which is 17 miles from my location. We then bled the brakes, put in a new battery, and looked it over to make sure it could handle the big 17 mile drive to my place down all the back roads, which meant forging a big creek.

          We chose an early Sunday morning to make the move because of very little traffic. The drive went well, although it was slow because the axle would not flip into high range -- 35 to 40 mph is slow isn’t it?

          Driving an old truck, down some old roads made me feel like I had dropped back in time about 50 years. I have since found out the problem with failing to flip to high range was due to a broken vacuum hose on the differential. The brakes need more attention and the former residents (mice) had to be evicted.

          I then changed the oil, put in new points, plugs and wires. I popped the valve cover and adjusted the valves and now this 235 really purrs. Hard to believe something this old could run so well.

           As for the rest of the truck, I can see a paint job coming this summer.

Daniel Jurs
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