a few years ago I restored a 1951 half ton. Love that truck. Then my dad retired and it seemed like the right thing to do to let him keep the truck at his house as he had more time to appreciate it.
So in May of 2015 I was working in Nebraska and got a wild hair to look for trucks on craigslist. I found a great truck not 2 hours away from where I was working across the border in Kansas. The next day I drove to see the truck. 1948 6400 deluxe cab being used as a wheat truck. Truck reportedly ran last wheat season, had no brakes, burned lots of oil and howled in 3rd gear.
I bought it on the spot for what the guy was asking $900. I had it shipped to my place in the hills east of San Diego for another $1400.
Here is a shot of the truck in Kansas.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lsbum3nw7sntc6r/20150602_175252.jpg?dl=0and here back at my place
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zbbfd7abjcb5ngc/20150608_100707.jpg?dl=0so there she sat. i started bit by bit. first new wheel cyclinders and shoes. then rebuilt the hydrovac. then front tires. new seals on the rear axles. then new rear tires. re upholstered the seat so I had something to sit on while tinkering.
the motor looked to be a 235 from 54. since i wanted a full pressure motor anyway, I purchased a 261 in Santa Cruz from a fellow bolter. Brought it home and put it on a stand in my Dads shop thinking I was going to use it "as is". Well the next weekend I went by his place and found the motor fully torn down on his floor. He had a few choice words for me that included "slacker" and his hand out with receipts for rings, shims, seals, gaskets, tappets, and the head decked / valve job. My $900 engine was now a $2300 job. Luckily I scored a great sm420 from the guy I bought the motor from in great condition.
life got in the way and we took another 6 months to drop the motor in. During that time a friend cut me new glass for the doors, windshield and back glass and I picked up all new rubber from classic parts. luckily the corner glass was in good shape so just changed the moldings. The interior was in pretty good shape so a quick sanding,rattle can "dark bronze metallic", door panels, hood liner and floor mat made it seem like new. In december i completely rewired with a new harness and lights.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ev6hjqvpvc1oyti/20171216_123130.jpg?dl=0https://www.dropbox.com/s/y3urs78a84hl50n/20171216_123141.jpg?dl=0https://www.dropbox.com/s/4ueif6zpj927zz4/20171216_123552.jpg?dl=0i just tackled the 2 speed rear end. The diaphragm clambshell was gutted. no diaphragm and no retainer plates to hold it. I found a diaphragm on ebay and a good friend fabricated the retainer plates for me. After some trial and error it is now fully functional.
truck is now registered and I use it to go to the post office, pick up the kids at school and the odd errand. still need to rebuild the pto driveline for the dump bed and save up some mad money to rebuild the bed and maybe some stake sides.
here it is in the drive way
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jn4t9lk41u04eye/1948%206400%202.jpg?dl=0This truck has been an interesting project. Parts for the big bolt are quite a bit harder to source. I sure enjoy driving it and I look forward to future mini projects now that the big stuff is done.
