The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts 1952 GMC 9700

I hadn't paid too much attention to this old 1952 GMC 9700 growing up. It belonged to my great uncle, Bruce McDonald. He doesn't remember too much about it. Just a workin' farm truck that he had bought, possibly in the early 70's. By the mid 70's he had sold it to another one of my great uncles, Willie Kowitch. My first memories of this truck are when he had it out on his farm before he sold it to my grandfather in the early 90's. It wasn't until my brother and I both had our trucks (a '40 and a '48) complete before we started chatting about the 1100 Chev and the 9700 GMC. I guess that was about the same time the photo was taken of the 3 trucks (mid 2000's) we figured he would eventually build the GMC, as he had an AD Chev already. He has since headed overseas. The last time I drove it was with my wife to go grab a load of water for the raspberries on my grandpas farm in Brock, Saskatchewan in about August '09.

My grandparents sold the farm a few years ago, and my Grandpa mentioned to the new owner that I wanted the trucks. I didn't make much of a plan, and headed out with my boy after they had sold it, in the summer of '16. I had finished building a rat rod out of a '36 Hayes and the owner was kind enough to loan it to me for the trip. I had different thoughts, trailer rental, car dolly, but nothing firm. Just that I wanted to get these trucks (both the 1100 and 9700) from Saskatchewan back to Vancouver Island. The company I work for hauls parts to Calgary, and often comes home empty. I got lucky and they agreed to backhaul them home for me, for what ended up being a very reasonable 400$. I was very happy not to have to haul them over the mountains, but still needed to get them to Calgary. I ended up buying an 18' car hauler trailer out in Saskatchewan and towing them with the Hayes... Slow and steady! (8700lbs load, between the GMC and the trailer) During the hauling portion of the trip I only managed to pass 2 vehicles the whole time (both of them were combines / farm equipment) Overall the trip was a success, and I'm happy to have them home.

I guess the GMC's been out here a year and a half now. I have a few ideas with what I want to do with it, but nothing carved in stone just yet. From a few of the other boards (mostly in the big bolts) I've had a lot of help with identification. It has a 248ci GMC 6 in it, and the rear is a single reduction 2 speed Eaton. I had the truck re-insured in Saskatchewan before we left to get some fresh paperwork (even with that, our insurance in BC is a royal pain in the ... at the best of times, on a fantastic day) I'll have a fair bit to do before I can insure it here. It will need an out of province inspection, and I know right now my tires aren't going to cut it, and neither are the brakes. Going through the electrical is also very likely...

My plan is to use the truck for occasional light hauling / towing when I get it back on the road, so I've been trying to think of decent options for upgrades there.

There's a great post on the big bolts forum for a P-30 style spindle swap onto the stock I beam, only issue is not being able to find spindles, it's also been said this may be a little on the light side for my truck (though I think it would suit it ok).

I also had a look at putting A Dana 60 up front (I have a spare) which looks like it would work ok, if I narrowed the long tube. That would be a whole pile more work though, as at minimum I would have to add a divorced T case, add driveshafts and change the rear end (which could happen anyway, but may not) if I did go the Dana 60 route, I have a matched 14 bolt, and it looks like the perches are only 1/4" off... One issue is that I would gain a lot of height in the front. Probably enough that I could bolt on my 44" boggers, which would be fun, but not the direction I think I want this to go.

A friend of mine recently gave me a '76 F350 too. It has a Dana 70 in the back, so that may make it's way into one of the projects. It has an electric pump for it's hoist which will may replace my pto unit. I noticed it has the twin I beam setup with 12.5" disks up front... Maybe another possibility for a spindle swap? There was a little bit written about thoughts on this 10 years ago, but I don't remember it going anywhere... I don't know much about these Ford front ends, I think the kingpins are close in diameter though.

I had a look at a few other brake update candidates as well, an '08 international CF600 (looked promising, but it sold) as well as some GM cube vans (that had bolt in IFS) I think I would prefer to keep the straight axle over going the IFS route. The latest thing that could work is a Freightliner front, I haven't had a chance to look at that in any detail just yet, but located one that had a fire in the back (Tiffin RV from '97) looks like it's currently setup with air brakes. I would be curious to hear if anyone else has done anything else different, regarding brakes on the 3 tons.

Another front end possibility. I had a friend drop this off at my house, I've been led to believe it's out of a '97 blue oval. Looks to be well maintained, but I don't think it would be a spindle swap... Maybe narrow the beam. I'll have to figure out what size rims are available for these 10 lug hubs too. Suspect this pattern only fits a 19.5" rim.

That bolt pattern is 5/10 on 7.25. Common GMC up through '90's. 5 bolts used on front
(with large plate on some)the nuts tighten against, 10 bolts used in the rear, no spacer plate, thus the 5/10 notation. Earlier GMC trucks also used this pattern with smaller hub-easy to make hub spacer to use modern wheels on older axle.

Farm trucks in the late '50's used 22.5 tubeless wheels and tires with the advent of tubeless tires(only.). These wheels are somewhat rare in the 'States. Modern use is only 19.5's that look undernourished on large truck.

Ed