The Stovebolt Site Forums The Forum Gallery 1936-1940 Trucks 1940 Chevy 3/4-ton Pickup

So I've posted in other spots here, but now I can give more details of the fun so far. My son and I bought this truck just over a year ago. Originally from North Dakota. The truck is very rust free on the body. We think it may have been yard art since it has a new front axle and had a replacement 41 drive train. It has a 41 216 in it and came with a 3 sp colum shift trans bolted in with a half assed floor shifter attached . So it had 1st and reverse and that was it. To make up for the longer 3/4 wheel base, the previous owner cut the tube and driveshaft and welded a 10 inch patch to it. Obvious to say, it no longer rotated smoothly. We have a guy an hour away that buys and sells these old trucks for parts. we got a 4spd crash box from him that was full of rust. 2 weeks of pounding on the gears with a cold chisel and hammer and it came loose. ( it runs perfect now, indestructable ) So now my 17 spline drive shaft doesn't match to the 11 spline trans shaft, and no way to make them work, so back to our new truck friend for a replacement diff and 2 pc drive shaft. A few more weekends and we have it all installed ready to drive, NOT, Fuel pump leaks and no rebuilds available. Carb gives us trouble and it overheats. We do a carb rebuild and fuel pump rebuild as the parts become available. We put in an aluminum radiator, and low and behold it finally runs. It was a real dog to start, so we put in higher octane gas and it slowly improved in performance.. We drove it to a local car show 6 times, where it got a lot of attention. I think it runs similar to how they did originally. We rebuilt the rear fenders out of pcs from the originals and 2 others and some fabricated parts. Not bad for 2 guys who never welded before . We put in new door glass and tracks and they go up n down great. We've re done the bed wood and just got a 46 OEM gas tank and put that in. We done a tremendous amount of work in just over a year, and driving it is a total gas, rumbles creaks and everything that goes with these old trucks. Sorry to drag on, but it's been quite an adventure.

Chuck N Pat Pasakarnis

Looking good Chuck N Pat. Keep at it you will have it ironed out before you know it. I went through the same process only I had the benefit of three additional trucks for reference and parts. I'll keep an eye out for some running boards for your truck but 3/4 ton boards are hard to find.