The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Really short truck

Hello,

I'm so excited to have a truck to work on I'll get right to my question.

What type of truck is this since I cannot find an exact "google researched" picture?

shorty

I acquired a 1951 that was advertised as a 1.5 ton with a 216 and a 4 speed that runs. I liked it so I bought it. I was told that it originally had a water tank on it but no matter how I wordsmith in the google machine I cannot find any pictures that match.

When I got it home started to search the serial numbers and that where I found the Stovebolt and what a world of help it has been!!

So here is the vin number 5UW D 3839 which I found as a Chevy 6400 2 ton built April 1951 in Kansas City, MO

Cool!! then the engine serial 0370817 F56Y which didn't match up but again the Stovebolt had the answer as to why.

It has a wheel base of a jeep but its supposed to have a 161 in wheel base.

If someone who has seen this before can share their knowledge I'd appreciate it so I have the entire story.

Braxton, welcome. Not sure if it is just me but the picture won't open. Look forward to seeing your shorty truck.

No '47-'53 Chevrolet 2 ton trucks came with 216 engines in them. They were all equipped with 235ci. engines. The chassis has probably been shortened, for some reason. could have been a Trailer Tot once.

Let me try this pic post again

shorty truck pics

Hopefully it works this time. It helps when people can see what I mean by short

It won't open for me either. Without seeing it I was also going to suggest maybe for towing trailer houses.

I re-submitted the link, I'm a new guy so it has to be approved first

There's still something screwy with the link.

Disregard the first link, the second one is working

That's funny,I got your second link to work. The funny part is it takes me to pictures of my truck!Lol. Did you do that on purpose or is a computer glitch on my end?

Same here. The second link takes me to my photobucket page and not his. I have the same problem posting a link to my PB page on this forum so members can see pics of my truck.

All I got was the "Welcome to Photobucket" page.

Figured it out, these both should work now.

Shorty #3

Shorty Slide Show

Pictures finally worked for me. Wow, the word "shorty" certainly applies for your new truck. It looks that the frame sectioning was done relatively well.

It does look like it could have been modified as a trailer toter, as Spanky suggested. There were companies that specialized in those types of conversions including sliding frames on some models so you could stretch them back out when not up against length laws.

That's even shorter than my rig! What are your plans for the bed? Are you going to leave it the same, turn it into a big pick=up,stretch it back out?

Once all the mechanical is cleaned up and running smoothly I was either going to attempt to make a honest trailer toter / toy hauler out of it or have a REALLY short bed truck. Fortunately the body is nearly rust free and it has nearly all of its parts, its just short.

As Paul_WNC said the frame cut job looks well done but as I clean things up if it looks sketchy I have a truck in need of a frame and would then find a frame needing a truck.

I would agree that it probably was a trailer toter. I would get the mechanicals to work and then drive it before you really make a decision of what to do with it. A short wheelbase like that will be very rough riding, and not very stable on slick pavement. Something that short can switch ends before you know what happened.