I just bought a 1955 dump truck and had a few questions for you before I put it to work. It runs OK, the previous owner delivered it from 30mi away. He just replaced the rotor, plugs and adjusted the valves - the rotor and plugs are clearly new, the valves I have to take his word on.
Mainly I was wondering about fluids. What should I change or check?
The dump is a little hesistant and doesn't extend fully, I am hopeing it is just low on fluid. There doesn't seem to be a reservoir, but there is a fill plug on the cylinder. Do I need to do anything special or just open it up and top it off?
The previous owner said he had to top off the brake fluid every couple months. Is this something I should track down or not worry about for a while?
How about the rest: rear differential, transmission, etc?
My plan is to use it on our property and for short trips to the sand and gravel pit ~3mi <35mph, but I would like to take decent care of it and I am not familiar with trucks of this size/vintage - closest was a 65 suburban I used to have. Thanks!!!
O' yea, the numbers stamped on the frame are 2550004068. I pluged this into the VIN decoder and it didn't come up with anything other than the year and factory. The plate on the door frame says GVW 18000lbs and 125hp. Is there any other way to figure out the model? Thanks...
