I haven't yet ordered my wiring harness partly because I'm still doing research on just what I want. I'd like an original style harness but with included turn signals and wires to the back for trailer lights and brake. This was not an option on my model truck but the COE wiring diagram does include most of these features.
In the next few weeks when I get some more literature/diagrams I'll do some comparisons and editing and come up with a mostly original harness diagram with correct/period color codes for the added features.
The wiring harness shop I will be using is www.brillman.com just an hour or so up the road from me.
About 3 weeks ago I readied the truck for it's first long drive and it's first visit to John and Peggy's for the Stovebolt Homecoming. About 190 miles one way in the rain and uphill both ways.. It was actually a very nice drive, Alec gave me some rain-x which worked wonderfully enough to never turn on the wiper (that only works a little bit anyhow).
Alec met me at the local gas station serving real gas, I topped up and we headed out. We/I crested Afton Mountain on Rt250 in 3rd gear no trouble at all. At the bottom of the mountain we got on the highway for a few exits to save a little time and miss Charlottesville before getting off and meeting Jim for breakfast on Rt15 in Gordonsville.
After breakfast I lead them along to another fill up of real gas at the Southern States in Fredericksburg and on over the river on Rt301 to the Homecoming.
Here are two pictures of the trucks at breakfast. PIC. 1 PIC. 2
The drive home was also nice, better with no rain. this time we again crested Afton Mt. on Rt250 but we decended on the interstate. I think we generally traveled at 50-55 although slower climbing and even faster on the interstate. I actually passed a semi truck climbing a hill on I-64 outside of Charlottesville! The little ol'228 that could.
The past two weekends I've been using the truck to transport ice cream fixings to different parties, it does well with a load but it's certianly more nimble empty. Here are two albums with some details of the diesel powered ice cream maker. This one is the original construction as 8 Qt. capacity https://goo.gl/photos/v71bXDjhbEzYAbsV9 The next album of converting it to 20 Qt. capacity https://goo.gl/photos/vYXYQ7pXgzESwiFp8
Next, (in a few weeks or more) probably wiring harness and or back to working on different axles with modern brakes.
I was feeling bad for not having worked on the truck and therefore nothing to update the thread with. Until I remembered that the best part of having an old truck is driving it, which is just what I've been doing! Apparently this running driving truck thing is still new to me after almost 10 years of just having project trucks and "playing with the truck" ment spending time and money working on it.
So I've driven it to work a day here and there when the weather is nice. Few weeks ago drove it around on the weekend including going to an old farm auction. Today I drove it to work and some errands before and after hauling some heavy greasy stuff.
A few weeks ago I almost finished the research on my wiring diagram/harness. The diagrams and discussion about them can be found here https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthread..._GMC_wiring_info/diagra.html#Post1170844 Next I should do some cut and paste to add the couple extra functions I want to the stock diagram and finally talk to the harness maker and order it.
Last week I drove the GMC to work one day and arranged to pick up my now retired (8 years ago) high school shop teacher for a short ride to lunch at the BBQ place in town.
16 or 19 years ago (has it actually been that long?) I didn't have much fun in high school except for perhaps Geometry and my time in small engine repair class taught by Mr. Knick. He owned and operated his own auto repair shop in town which combined with his own tinkering, racing, and general good natured trouble making resulted in an accumulation countless stories and un-measurable knowledge in all things mechanical. By the time I met him he was the long time small engine and auto mechanic shop teacher at the local technical school turned high school.
As part of the first semester we had a partner, a workbench, small tool box, and a B&S engine. We first disassembled the engine, cleaned, measured, checked and eventually reassembled, started and adjusted it. Sounds simple now but was quite the job back then, we even had to read the manual.. and sometimes look up parts on the microfiche machine. At some point he challenged us students to fiddle with a known running engine and make it not run anyway short of causing actual damage to it. Then within some unbelievable short amount of time, like minutes, he bet us he could have it fixed and running again. We did basic stuff like carburetor adjustments, improper spark plug gap, no or sheared flywheel key, and tricky things like draw a pencil line down the porcelain insulator on the spark plug, plug the vent in the gas cap.. and I forget what all else. Sure enough he'd come back in the shop and in quite literally no time he had it running again. It seemed like fun then and little did we know it was a real clever way of helping us understand and learn how engines run, what they need, what symptoms are caused by what problems and what to do about it. Mr. Knick's plethora of stories of fixing and troubleshooting countless mowers and vehicles among other life stories only added to our education. Like the one of driving an old British sports care so low to the ground he could open the door and throw sparks by holding the bottom of a steel beer can to the pavement. You can't even make these sorts of stories up, much less tell them in public school today.
I forget now how many semesters I had with Mr. Knick because even when I didn't have an actual class I'd come in at lunch or any free time and work on my own projects. He usually left the door open but even when he hadn't I could quickly "unlock" it with the 6" steel scale I always had in my pocket (though I never told him that part). Projects included fiddling with some of my old hit and miss type engines and swapping the 235 engine in my 52 Chevy PU for another I had rebuilt.
Took me a several years to realize just how much I had learned from him though I expect he knew at the time. Simple things and good practices like always troubleshoot the easiest and cheapest cause first, remember the basics and and after eliminating the cheap things then look into the more expensive causes/solutions. My second year in HS he held a seemingly informal competition and test and soon enough I was in Richmond competing against students from other regions for the state championship of small engine repair in VICA (now SkillsUSA). That summer he took me to the National competition in KC where I finished 4th. A few years later he had a student finish even higher, first in the nation if I'm not mistaken.
Anyhow I had been thinking how important that time and those experiences were to me and that I ought to tell Mr. Knick as much while possible. He's always been curious what trucks and old stuff I've been playing with and I hadn't yet showed him the GMC so a ride across town and back for a BBQ lunch seemed like the right way to go about all that.
I remember sitting and talking with my 90+ year old grandmother at a family reunion once, for QUITE a while. After she got tired and laid down, my Dad told me that was the nicest thing I could have done for her. She was nearly blind and hard of hearing and just sat most of the time. (She didn't walk well enough to mingle.) So...she couldn't read or watch TV or really hear a room full of people that well, so someone sitting and listening to her stories was about all the entertainment she had. I learned a thing or two I'd bet too.
SWEET Sergeant At Arms: Old Dominion Stovebolt Society BUNS?!?!?!Where we're going, we don't need no buns..... 1950 GMC 450 1951 Chevy 1/2-Ton The GreenMachine In the Stovebolt Gallery
Couple weekends ago I freed up the rusty hinges on the cowl vent. It's a nice thing to have, keeps your feet cooler. My 52 someone had filled in the vent so I never really tried one before.
Recently we attended a community ice cream supper which earlier in the week I had helped to churn about 87 gallons of the total 238 gallons of ice cream served. Here is Pic. 1 of churning. A good friend was visiting so the three of us squished in the GMC and made the 30-40 minute drive that Saturday evening. Brought along the ice cream maker in the back of the truck for show and tell gee-wizz type thing.
While unloading the ice cream maker the cat was checking out the truck. Pic. 2
Drove the GMC to work yesterday because it was a nice day and not terribly hot.
Keep thinking I'll get a chance to work on rear axle(s) for the truck but I keep coming up with other projects and places to go. Not sure when I'll get back to that, perhaps October. In the meantime my regular car will be in the shop for a day or two and a week or two between dropping it off and fetching so I'll get to drive the GMC for a while.
After seeing the ice cream maker, your trailer design makes a lot more sense. Seen them both in pics, but not together. Like you, I think truck progress will continue in October, maybe December. LOL.
This recent Monday, Labor Day, I still had to work (suppose that's how they came up with the name...)
The local fire dept has festivities all day including a flea market, food, music, a car show, and some other good stuff. Last week I helped churn some of the ice cream they served Monday.
I got up early and drove the GMC so I could check out the flea market on my way to work. (Lucked into buying a nice Rockwell drill press for a friend). Later I returned for a long lunch and to sample the ice cream before heading back to work. The car show was forming up so they gave me a front and center parking spot. Pic. 1 I wasn't there long enough for the judging which is OK by me. Though come Wednesday we learn I was apparently there long enough to get a picture in the paper. (editors choice award?) Pic. 2Pic. 3
You may notice I swapped out the square mirrors for some mismatched round ones donated by a fellow Stovebolter, they look better to me and seem to provide a better view of behind. Perhaps they're smaller/lighter and wiggle less, or might be curved slightly. The Drivers side is even tinted which is quite nice.
Been driving the truck a lot this week as I deal with car troubles. That's a good thing because I'm beginning to get the hang of this old truck driving stuff again! I had driven my 52 pretty much exclusively for several years in school and came to quite enjoy the feel of it. However the GMC, though it seemed familiar at first, was kind of awkward and rough around the edges; harder to shift and drive it as smooth as I remembered being able to do. So now 10 or 13 years without having a running driving truck I'm quickly relearning the little peculiarities and tricks to operating such a fine machine, and it's more and more fun!
I'm having such a good time driving this thing that I'm seriously considering it for a 1,200 mile round trip scheduled for next week.
Thanks Grigg! Great to hear that you and the truck are forming a bond!
~ Cosmo 1949 Chevy Half Ton Rocinante, like Don Quixote, he is awkward, past his prime, and engaged in a task beyond his capacities. "...my good horse Rocinante, mine eternal and inseparable companion in all my journeys and courses." ...Don Quixote, Cervantes "If you come to a fork in the road, take it."...Yogi Berra "Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength." ...Eric Hoffer
The past month with the truck has been fun. My car is still in the shop so I've been driving the GMC a few days a week.
Several weeks ago helped some friends split firewood one Saturday, used the truck to haul the splitter. Took a nice picture. PIC 1
Then ice cream for a picnic at work, hauled the ice cream maker in the truck.
Couple weekends ago drove it up to Winchester for the truck show and Stovebolt/ODSS gathering. On the way stopped to visit a junkyard and fetch some 19.5" single wheels. Also visited with and ordered the wiring harness from www.brillman.com I'm looking forward to getting that done this fall/winter. The show was great, the company better, and the food delicious. Thread about the show Couple pictures of some fine AD trucks and a set of 1 tons. PIC 2 PIC 3 The drive up and back was quite nice. Alec followed along and joined and helped at the various stops, like our Friday morning workout at the junkyard, thanks again.
Last weekend was my wife's birthday and she elected to drive/ride to West Virginia for an outing and corned beef sandwiches, and she wanted to take the GMC! (The best corned beef sandwiches ever www.irishpubonwashingtonstreet.com ) We took RT 60, (also the old Rt 60 by various other names) and a fair stretch on the interstate, including mostly interstate home after dark. About 75-80 miles one way and the truck drove and rode well. Tested out the overdrive coming down the mountain on the home stretch, the truck handles quite well at speed, steering is nice and tight. Not sure I believe it but calculated 17-18 MPG after filling up Monday, perhaps I didn't get it entirely full, though it sure seemed like it?
Next, I'd really like to get that 14 bolt axle built...
He jerked my chain too! That's a 'Virginia Overdrive'!
~ Cosmo 1949 Chevy Half Ton Rocinante, like Don Quixote, he is awkward, past his prime, and engaged in a task beyond his capacities. "...my good horse Rocinante, mine eternal and inseparable companion in all my journeys and courses." ...Don Quixote, Cervantes "If you come to a fork in the road, take it."...Yogi Berra "Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength." ...Eric Hoffer
Amounted to almost 3 months with the GMC as my daily driver. Car is all repaired now just in time to tuck the truck safely away in the garage for winter, assuming we get some snow soon and can call it winter.
Seemed to need a lot of gas and only some oil over the past few months.
Had to repair the seat back frame one day after a clip broke off. Some others had been repaired with screws once before. This time I rewelded the busted spot welds on the others and the broken off clip. Not wanting to strip the upholstery or start a fire I used the TIG welder becuse it's clean and neat plus some aluminum foil as a shield to catch any stray sparks, not sure there were any. PIC. 1 PIC. 2
I'd like to swap the pickup bed from my 52 onto the GMC soon. Also prepare a 14 bolt rear axle and assemble a disc brake single wheel front axle. Unfortunately for the GMC I have a growing job/project in the machine shop after recently working out a lot of details and fixtures and now finally into production. Perhaps in the new year that will taper off to a more moderate pace and leave me some time and funds to work on the GMC.
Last weekend I did drive the truck into town for a few errands and to haul some lumber home for a project.
Checked on the somewhat custom wiring harness I'm having made. The shop owner has it started and got busy with other stuff, and I explained from the start I was in no rush... We've agreed that I'll have something to work with before long, still no rush just about time to get it done.
Thinking about driving the truck to visit some friends Saturday, still nice weather and we've had some good rain after the last road salt application a couple weeks ago.
Been thinking lately about doing the bed swap and just not worrying about the rust and crust on the pickup bed at this time.
One week ago today a few friends & Stovebolters left early in the morning for the annual Stovebolt Homecoming in MD.
I led the charge in the 51 GMC and had a reasonable route picked out with the minimum of interstate driving only where much quicker/straighter than the smaller roads. About 40-50 minutes into the drive we're on I-64 headed east just for one exit when Alec calls ahead and says let's just crest the mountain on the interstate... Sure, why not? His reasoning is it's not as steep as the old road. We were moving along at about 55-58 MPH, and sure enough we climbed the mountain without losing any speed. Staid on the highway another 30 miles, no problems.
On the way back home we again took the interstate over the mountain but headed West it's a whole lot more hill. Again the GMC was able to keep up a good pace, but 55ish was all it could do, and did well. Down hill on the other side was a comfortable 60 mph at an idle..
It was nice to drive the GMC on a long trip, makes me think about even longer trips in the future.
Otherwise not much time for the truck lately, and probably not anytime soon
Very inspirational Grigg! Sounds like your 'Virginia Overdrive' did well on the sunset side of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
~ Cosmo 1949 Chevy Half Ton Rocinante, like Don Quixote, he is awkward, past his prime, and engaged in a task beyond his capacities. "...my good horse Rocinante, mine eternal and inseparable companion in all my journeys and courses." ...Don Quixote, Cervantes "If you come to a fork in the road, take it."...Yogi Berra "Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength." ...Eric Hoffer
Just filled the truck up after the trip. From MD back home driving pretty briskly and still managed 14.5 MPG in a 1 ton.
Now I'm curious what mileage it'll get at a more relaxed pace, without any interstate driving.
Also took a good quart of oil for the entire trip to homecoming and back, mostly leaked, don't think it burns much or any.
Using the truck yesterday to fetch big coolers full of ice and today to haul ice cream maker. About to make 4.5 gallons each of Mint chocolate chip, my favorite, and coffee.
Last night removed the rear view mirror and center trim strip from my 52 (now a parts truck) and installed it in the 51. Been meaning to do that for a while and finally did!
Over the weekend took the truck to the drive in movie, that's always fun with chairs setup in the bed.
Back in September I drove it to a show about 120 miles up the road, took the scenic rout up and a different way home, no interstate. Drove it a few other times, and developed a small coolant leak from the radiator. Haven’t really had time to work on it, just backed it in the garage a little earlier for winter. Before spring I’ll try to test and repair this radiator or a spare I already have.
Finally after Christmas and before I go back to work I’ve had some time to work on a new/replacement rear axle. It’s been a year or more ago I bought the parts needed, and probably 5 years ago the axle.
Axle is a 14 bolt from a 1985 RV of some sort. Came with 4.10 gears, same as I have in the original Eaton now. I’d like to try 3.73, and have those gears from another 14 bolt with a bad housing, if necessary later I can go back to 4.10 or any number of other available gear ratios. Brakes will be disc with internal drum parking from a 2005 GM 3/4 or 1 ton. Everything is disassembled and housing is mostly clean, more cleaning to do and some welding, then reassembly.
I’ll post more details and discuss the axle upgrade stuff in the tons of fun section This thread
Grigg
Last edited by Grigg; 01/05/20187:13 PM. Reason: add link
Yesterday a day off work for errands. Dropped off the single wheels at powder coater for blasting, priming, and color. A friend previously steam cleaned and degreased them. I removed the riveted on hubcap clips so a better job can be done blasting and coating. Later I’ll tap for 10-32 helicoil, install thread inserts, and use 1/4” 10-32 stainless button head Allen screws to reattach clips. Original was 3/16x3/8” universal head solid steel rivet, hole in wheel was to large for a #10 screw, #12 is not as common, and 1/4” would be extra large, thus the helicoil to get back to #10 screw. Clips are then removable and replaceable if desired.
Got to pick out a color, the color for the whole truck! GMCs then could have wheels body color and I like that look. Original color was red, (its blue now) and I like red, so one day it’ll be red again, starting with the wheels. To find original color I removed the cowl vent, well protected from the weather and sun on bottom side. Cleaned, polished, and waxed some to reveal the true color. Decided it’d be best to pick a good match to readily available powder coat color and later match paint color (body) to that, and if it’s ever so slightly not original color I’m not bothered.
Not sure what to do about hubcaps, I think white was original for 51, guess I'll see how they look on red wheels, if not a good look perhaps stainless if available.
Last edited by Grigg; 02/03/20183:04 PM. Reason: add pictures
I have a 52 GMC 9430 longbox dump pickup (Canadian version of your 3800). I am trying to locate rear brake cables. Have you found any sources when you where repairing your truck?
Thank you for including the pictures for installing seat belts. I have been trying to figure out how to install them in y 52 one ton. Your truck is a flatbed with duals, mine has a pickup box. Do you think dual wheels will fit on my pickup? Where did you find the dual wheel rims to fit your truck?
Glad you found the seat belt info helpful. Not sure if I mentioned it already but in hindsight I would install shoulder belt, and intend to do so with addition of a mount on the pillar, the other mount locations are unchanged.
Mine will also be a pickup box with single wheels eventually, already running the single wheels. The 18" duals came on my truck. Guess I did switch to 19.5 dual for a while from a GM truck, commonly on 8 lug bread trucks and similar, but somewhat difficult to find these days. likely new 19.5 dual wheels are available if used can't easily be found. Dual wheels do not fit in the original fenders and pickup box. Some have figured out how to do it but lots of sheet metal work, not at all an easy thing to do. Again check the Tons 'o Fun section.
It seems this thread is somewhat out of date with my truck progress.
A couple years ago I did get the freshly powder coated single 19.5" wheels back and installed with slightly used Goodyear 8R19.5 tires.
The right front kingpin appeared to be suddenly become quite sloppy causing wheel shimmy and reduced interest in driving it like it is. Not sure what happened as the king pin and bushings seemed quite snug during previous brake and wheel services. Perhaps it had old crusty grease in there taking up the sloop that I eventually flushed out with fresh grease?
Also the front right brake had one shoe down to the rivets. As a temporary measure I removed the one rivet it was about to contact and reversed the two shoes on that side. That allowed me to drive it a few miles locally to an event a couple years ago. I haven't driven it much now other than in and out of the garage occasionally and to the dumpster around the corner.
I did find some NOS front brake shoes and I could replace king pins and bushings... However long term plans call for a front axle with disc brakes, which I have been gathering parts and doing research for for probably 10-12 years. So I'm more eager to get that sorted out than to replace and repair the original brakes/axle.
To that end I have recently modified a 2 ton axle beam to more or less fit the 1 ton truck and allow using spindles and large disc brakes from a GM P-30 (bread truck and similar). More to come on that as I get it assembled.
Two pictures attached. One from a show probably 2 and a half years ago and I can't remember now if I drove it or hauled it or if that was before or after the kingpin slop issue arose. Second picture of what the truck does these days, sits in the garage.
The updated front axle/brakes project is again taking longer than desired. I got impatient and fixed the original front axle yesterday, it wasn't that big of a deal.
The right front kingpin had worn the axle oversize, thus all the slop, bushings were pretty good. The axle cleaned up about 90% at 0.010" oversize which is all I could find for an oversize kingpin kit, would have used 0.020" of available. NAPA is where I get most of my drivetrain and chassis parts but no luck this time, 1 ton kingpins (from NAPA) are obsolete now, even standard size. I did find a NOS 0.010" oversize kit on ebay thankfully not that far away in Virginia and Cosmo was able to pick it up and meet me Tuesday while he was running other old truck errands.
All I did was replace the right side kingpin and added a little loctite 660 to hopefully help with the little bit of fit that was lacking. Reamed the old bushings to fit the oversize kingpin, cleaned, greased, and reused the thrust bearing. Left side kingpin and bushings are good and tight so I left them alone.
I had previously found a set of NOS front brake shoes which I installed yesterday.
Now I'm ready to drive it Friday to a friend's house an hour or so away, possibly a couple hours if I take some even more remote back roads.
Lately I've been itching for a good long road trip, I really like road trips... Took one for work in the modern car a few weeks ago to and from Michigan. On the return we avoided the highway for 90% of it and that was a lot of fun with all sorts of neat things to look at. I've always enjoyed taking the local roads/non interstate but that recent trip got me thinking I should take a trip and not only avoid the highway but try to take the even smaller roads that still generally point in the direction I want to end up. That kind of trip would be even more interesting and enjoyable in the old truck, thus the renewed enthusiasm for working on the GMC.
