Welcome to the stovebolt SandyL cool
Have you considered what weight the truck might have hauled (or similar trucks) over its lifetime?
I personally know of one early 50s` GMC log truck which had a Spicer aux tranny. I am sure it has hauled its share of weight up steep grades grin
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427,,,, is it a tall deck??? What do you plan to do with the truck?

There is enough good in the worst of us and enough bad in the best of us that it does not behoove any of us to criticize the rest of us.
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Be yourself. If you are ever lost, It will be much easier to find yourself if you know who you are!