Jeff Lauber's

1947 Chevy 2-Ton and 1952 Chevy 3/4-Ton


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13 June 2007 Update
# 1364 and # 1365

From Jeff :

         Hi guys! We finally got the 1947 Chevy 2-ton on the road last Saturday. We went 14 miles round trip at 40 to 50 mph. The 2 speed wouldn't work. Later, I found out some dummy (me) had hooked up the lines backwards.

         We got it home, shut it off and it wouldn't start again. Had to put in a new set of points and condenser. We had been having some trouble with it not wanting to fire up on the first or second spin, but it's fine again now.

         All the new parts seem to be working out well. I'm having some trouble with the right brake drum rubbing on its backing plate. I'm not sure what's up with that yet but it has got the to be a small problem some place.

         Still don't have platform blasted and paint yet but who really needs a bed anyway.

         I bolted on a free set of mud flaps from the shop where I started working at this year. They have been helping us out with things like king pins, carrier bearing, and  rebuilt the hydro-vac.

         Check out the way cool factory spare tire mount.

Jeff Lauber
"Iowa trucks 59"
Bolter # 9494
Columbus Junction, Iowa

          Jeff has a 1953 Chevy 3/4-ton, with a little something *extra* ~~ Editor [an error occurred while processing this directive]

05 January 2007 Update
# 1364 and # 1365

From Jeff :

         Hello. Here are some updated pictures of the 2-ton, hopefully to inspire the masses. I know it can be discouraging when you see someone's truck in the finished stage -- but that also shows you where you can end up!

         We're now at 14 months into the project, and should be finished with the larger end before Christmas. This will leave smaller things like the bed, heater and anything we decide to redo, that we didn't like the first time around.

         We now have the front fenders on and one door. We tried to do the left door but it didn't fit right and will have to have the hinges worked over.

         The grille should be back and with it, the hood can be put together and mounted. We are fortunate that the body guys (see photo of them installing the right door) came to my shop and installed the doors and will help to align the hood.

         Once it's ready for the road, they get it back to rebuff it and touch up a couple of injured spots.

         I figure the bed will take me at least a month of weekends to blast, weld, repair and install the tongue and groove flooring. Hopefully it will be done for the spring thaw we get here in the last of January.

Jeff Lauber
"Iowa trucks 59"
Bolter # 9494
Columbus Junction, Iowa

          Jeff has a 1953 Chevy 3/4-ton, with a little something *extra* ~~ Editor


12 October 2006 Update
# 1364 and # 1365

From Jeff :

          Been a while since I sent you anything. Well, that's mostly because of that nasty thing called work getting in the road.

          Anyway here is an update of the progress on the 2-ton. We have almost the entire truck's parts done and painted. The only big items left are the grille and the bumper. Speaking of the grille, we learn something cool. Grille bars come marked from the factory. I don't know how many others were aware of it, but they are. If you look on the right hand back side, near the center, you will see little notches. There are two in the second bar, three in the third bar, and four in the fourth one. These notches are on both the front half and the back half of the bar. The top and bottom bars can only go in one place. Make sense that the factory needed some way to keep it straight at assembly.

          I've looked at several of our big and little trucks, they all have them. Also did you know there are nearly 140 rivets / bolts that hold a grille together. Isn't any wonder that they went to a different grille on the '54 and up. Just thought I would pass this along to the masses.

          So, we put the cab on in mid-September and it fit pretty good considering all the floor and mounts we had to replace.

          The interior is mostly in and we are ready to start hooking up the life-giving parts. After I get the chassis running on it own power, we can take it to the muffler shop and have an exhaust system built for it.

          Not too many parts around for a big bolt in this area.

Jeff Lauber
"Iowa trucks 59"
Bolter # 9494
Columbus Junction, Iowa

          Jeff has a 1953 Chevy 3/4-ton, with a little something *extra* ~~ Editor


12 June 2006
# 1364 and # 1365

From Jeff:

          Hi. I'm sending you a pic of the frame and engine. We got it, on the ground, with four new wheels on it and outside Saturday for the first time since October '05. The body guys are still holding us up, so no sheet metal yet. They did promise to have the cab in the paint booth some time this coming week. We are sitting on boxes of new parts just waiting to be installed. This is kind of like a factory with the line shut down. Guess we will have to work on one of the lesser trucks sitting out back. If we can stay on track, we should be out the door mid August. I cant wait.

                             

          We got the engine running and in the frame on our '47 truck. I still need to go back and repaint a few parts, but that always happens. The engine is a 261, of the '54 vintage. We bought it from a truck in Kansas and hoped that we didn't buy a lemon. It runs great and looks great sitting there.

          We also got the first four tires and wheels done for the truck. I still have some little issues in the back brake drums, so I only got the front pair on so far. I found 7 of the 7.50x20 tires at the tire dealer. He said they had been there a while and nobody ran that small a tire, so he sold them to us for a good price.

          We did drive the 3800 yesterday but its got troubles. I rebuilt the carb, cleaned out the tank and lines, but it still don't act right. The steering box is bad, the brakes don't brake, and the clutch only works when it feels like it, which aint often. On the brighter part, the horn worked excellent.

          I was given a new shirt the other day. It says "I couldn't fix your brakes, so I made your horn louder" -- this is true at so many levels.

Jeff Lauber
"Iowa trucks 59"
Bolter # 9494
Columbus Junction, Iowa

          Jeff has a 1953 Chevy 3/4-ton, with a little something *extra* ~~ Editor


29 May 2006 Update -- Happy Memorial Day. Let us all remember those who have gone before ...

# 1364 and # 1365

From Jeff:

The Fallen

          In the lives of trucks, there comes a time when one has given its all. So we have here, what you find today, I find it sad but a fitting end with some dignity still intact.

          Two of my truck are now on the Fallen list and have given up there quest for adventure by becoming donors so others may live. The first is a '54 2-ton. This truck is now mostly stripped, but its complete dash panel was sold to another Bolter in Utah, for instillation in his '54 3100. Some of the door parts have gone to another gentleman, who mislaid his. Now both these trucks can be completed to roam once more.

          The six rims went to our own Scott "48bigtrucks" Ward for use on his '55 First series COE. The front bumper and splash pan will go on our '47 2-ton. There are still several good parts to go out to new owners, as we carefully sorted out the junk from the salvageable ones.

          The second truck is a 50 1.5-ton. This truck started out its life as a 161" wheel base but was cut and shortened by several feet by a previous owner. Its hoist went to Scott and its dash will become part of Bradb's '47 panel truck soon. Also removed were its rear motor mount cross member and rear most cross member. Those will also become a part of the panel. We used the door hinges, for our '47 and some other small clips and brackets.

          The remaining parts are stored in my sheds for the next group of guys that are needing something to bring there trucks back from the brink. Although they are now fallen flags, they live on in a different form.

          On the '47 itself, I've got an annual tractor show near Chicago to go to in about 30 days. So the clock is ticking to have something new and exciting done for that!  The '47 now has its motor (261) and is about to get its new tires put on. We are about two months behind -- waiting on others to get their stuff done. We are shooting for August to put it on the road now. Its first show is about the middle of August, and I'd hate to be a no-show at the bosses home show! He's also the mayor of his town, so it adds a little pressure to it all.

Jeff Lauber
"Iowa trucks 59"
Bolter # 9494
Columbus Junction, Iowa


12 January 2006
# 1364 and # 1365

From Jeff:

          Hi. I thought I would send you pictures of two of our six 'Bolts.

          The first is a '47 2-ton. We purchased this truck from its original owner's son. It was bought in Nebraska, came to Iowa a couple month later, and stayed there its whole life.

          We currently have this truck down to its frame and are rebuilding it from the ground up. It is in surprisingly fair shape for a farm truck. For some reason, it has the tranny of the Deco style trucks in it. This truck's serial number is 1101. We believe that it is the 100th or 101st one built. This may be why it has that tranny.

          Somewhere it lost its original 235 and was repowered with a 216 (stuck). It also came with a 2 speed, hydo-vac, factory radio and a spotlight. Nice package for hauling cows.

          We plan the repower it with a 261. The truck will be used for parades and is sponsored by Builders World Lumber of Muscatine Iowa. Dennis Dixon (D & J Truck Garage on this site) is the yard owner. (He owns three lumber yards) and my partner in crime. So far we have managed to remain married (not to each other, we both like girls) and collect several trucks and many parts.

          The second truck here is a '52 3/4-ton. This truck came from Table Rock, Nebraska and is in excellent shape other than a couple small floor holes and a bad cab corner.

          While doing a title search, it appears to have had only three owners and was originally sold very close to where we found it. It's a completely untouched truck with all its original parts (at least as far as I can tell) .

          The truck was originally a flat bed. Someone added the box and whacked off the rear fenders.

          The truck will be put to work around the lumber yard after we check out all its drive train. We don't plan at this time to restore it. We just want to make it sound and drivable.

          And here are some pictures and the story of trucks we used to have. Sorry about the quality of the pictures, they're old. The first is the house where I was born and lived for about 27 years. In the corner of the picture, you see a '53 5-window 3100 -- that was my Grandfathers truck. He bought it new and kept until the early '80s, when he thought he had to have a new S-10.

          He gave this truck to my Father, who kept it until 1994 when it was sold to a collector in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. You will notice the truck is green. My Grandfather hated the color green. He wouldn't even eat a veggie if it was green. His Son (my uncle), came home from the Air Force one day, and out of the blue, he brush painted the faded red truck ... green. Grandpa never did get mad or show any sign that he was upset. Several years later after my Dad had repainted it blue (without a brush), Grandpa stated, "I should still kick his butt."

          This was a great running truck, always got 20 mpg, and still has its original untouched engine in it when it was sold.

          The second truck belonged to my Great Uncle (Grandpa's brother). I don't know for sure the year, but the back of this photo says it was their "new" truck and dated 1952. I would guess that it was also a '53 5-window 3100. I do know that it was a dark blue one. Standing in this picture with my Great Uncle, is my Great Grandfather, who I never met, as he died a year before I was born.

          I don't know what became of this truck. My Uncle had a short bed Fleetside Chevy of the TF vintage. I'm not good at trucks of those years, but I remember it had a neat curved windshield and was red and white. It was sold on his farm sale, after he passed in 1969.

          We have had over 30 of these AD trucks since I was born. My brother and I used to buy them for $25 dollars or so and put 348 V-8's in them. They would last about a year or less, before that big engine would rip out the cross members and we would just get another one. We had two big bolts also. One was a 1.5-ton that never did run. The other was a '50 2-ton, that we hauled grain with. If I can find a picture of it, I'll send it to the site.

Thanks,

Jeff Lauber
"Iowa trucks 59"
Bolter # 9494
Columbus Junction, Iowa

          Jeff added another one of his Bolt collections to the Gallery -- a 1953 Chevy 3/4-ton, with a little something *extra* ~~ Editor


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