The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline 1937 GMC bellhousing cover

Hi - I have a '37 GMC 1/2 ton that has the original oldsmobile 230 engine. The bellhousing has a small 5cmX5cmX3cm (approx. ) triangular hole on the passenger side through which the grease cup arm comes out. There is a wire and canvas dust cover that fills this space with a slit in the middle that the arm goes through. I have the cover and the wire is in good shape, but the canvas needs to be replaced. Does anyone know what colour the canvas was? it looks like it was probably the natural brownish colour, but not sure if it just has been washed out after so many years. Was there a similar one on the clutch fork side that has since been lost?
Thanks!
Matt

Matt, I have a '36 GMC with the 213 engine and my bellhousing has the openings like you mentioned. I hadn't heard of this cover before and was wondering how it attached?

Hi Dunfire - I figured you would either know all about it or be interested. Here's a link to a couple pictures I took of it.
http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j374/mattf3/Snapbucket/E39D33F7-CECA-417E-AEF3-60F0E0C3FB78.jpg
http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j374/mattf3/Snapbucket/73779297-3A4A-41E4-8A95-1E4E29129E9B.jpg
Hopefully those links work. The first one is the underside which would be facing into the bell housing.
It fits in by the spring of the wire. I figure they've been mostly lost because of this type of fit. Cant seem to find them mentioned in the manual.

Matt, you have really peaked my interest on this. It makes sense that some sort of cover would be installed to keep the grit and grim out. I have reviewed my 36 and 37 GMC parts manuals and will pour over them tomorrow, but so far I have found nothing that references this cover. Since the turn down grease cap never moved I can see why the cover would be in place there. The clutch fork, with its constant movement probably would necessitate that no cover would be installed there. I will contact some 36 GMC owners that I know and see if they had any remnants of this cover on their bellhouseings. Thanks for bringing this to light, Matt.