I've known about this truck for a little over a year, I purchased it several months ago then had to figure out a way to get it home. As of this past Saturday its finally mine Figured I'd hop on it since it was a good price, surprisingly it also has a title and keys! Even though it has the usual rust, its in pretty decent condition!
It has a Ramsey winch, Hobbs bed with fifth wheel, and 29(?) foot long gin poles. The 348 ran about 3 years ago so it shouldn't be too much trouble to get going again.
I plan on using it to haul stuff around once it becomes road worthy, might even do a diesel swap sometime in the future. As for now, it will be set aside and do some minor tinkering on it while I focus on my other current projects.
Just need to think of a name for it...
EDIT: Since Photobucket now plasters a giant watermark on the pictures, I changed out the image links to my Google album. EDIT 2: Decided to attach a few pics.
Hy Possum, thank you very much for the photo's of you latest acquisition, looks like a great start to another restoration or whatever you want to do with it.
That's a great heavy duty truck with rare Budd style wheels. The truck is similar to my 59 firetruck with the same features as yours. I would leave the 348 in the truck it will pull anything you will want. Good luck keep us posted.
Nice find, huge air compressor too. You will have a lot of work ahead of you but it will be the love of your labor, I'm sure.
Last edited by sstock; 12/18/20185:30 PM.
1953 Chevrolet 3100 261 cu inch, sm420, 3.55 rear, torque tube still,omaha orange, still 6 volt, RPO green glass, side carrier spare, all done In the DITY Gallery Video of the 261 running
1964 GMC 1000 305 Big Block V6, sm420, the next cab off restoration
That's a great heavy duty truck with rare Budd style wheels. The truck is similar to my 59 firetruck with the same features as yours. I would leave the 348 in the truck it will pull anything you will want. Good luck keep us posted.
I've heard good things about the 348, this one I believe will need new rings and some freshening up. Had no idea those wheels were rare, that's cool to know! Though with them being split rims, I might swap them out but thats farther down the road
Originally Posted by Mike B
Full Air Brakes! I like it!
Yep! But they don't work at the moment. There was an issue to where the previous owner disconnected the line from the compressor
Originally Posted by EdPruss
Watch out for power lines with those poles.
To be honest I probably won't use those poles, they're just way too long. Might make some shorter ones if i need to
I have exactly the same setup but on a '47. Good to see others have found these rare workhorses! Keep us updated on progress and if your able to get the winch working!
I bought a 1959 Spartan 10 at auction a couple of years ago. About all I have done with it is haul it down here from Colorado. I bought it mainly because they are rare. It is the only Chevrolet I own. The rest are all GMC.
The 10 hole Budd wheels are really not that rare, but more Chevrolet trucks were specced with spoke instead of Budd. Budd wheels were the standard on larger trucks, especilly west of the Rockies. Air brakes are much simpler to fix than hydraulic. I have been running trucks with air brakes for over 55 years, and they haven't changed that much.
I have exactly the same setup but on a '47. Good to see others have found these rare workhorses! Keep us updated on progress and if your able to get the winch working!
I'm sure the winch won't take much to get working, the previous owner actually used this truck to build his workshop
Originally Posted by crenwelge
I bought a 1959 Spartan 10 at auction a couple of years ago. About all I have done with it is haul it down here from Colorado. I bought it mainly because they are rare. It is the only Chevrolet I own. The rest are all GMC.
The 10 hole Budd wheels are really not that rare, but more Chevrolet trucks were specced with spoke instead of Budd. Budd wheels were the standard on larger trucks, especilly west of the Rockies. Air brakes are much simpler to fix than hydraulic. I have been running trucks with air brakes for over 55 years, and they haven't changed that much.
Man I love the look of that truck! The airhorns look pretty cool on it. Though I think yours is a 1958, judging by the emblems And thanks for the clarification on the wheels, they're gonna be coming off anyways.
East of the Mississippi the Budd wheels were rare I think on Chevys and other single axle gas jobs. My dad and his brothers were in the trucking business from the early 40's until the 90's and I don't remember seeing many Budd wheels on Chevys maybe a GMC diesel or a Mack prior to the Kenworth's and Pete's become popular in the east/south. I think out west the Budd wheels were more popular and seen more often.
So what's the deal with the tow bar? Did the PO drag the truck around with a farm tractor using it as a non-operating portable crane to build his shop?
From what I've seen the 6-lug Budd's and Dayton Spoke's were way more common on the big TF Chevy's...
So what's the deal with the tow bar? Did the PO drag the truck around with a farm tractor using it as a non-operating portable crane to build his shop?
Oh no it ran and drove, the winch is PTO driven. As for the tow bar, I'm not sure if he added it or if it was already on the truck when bought the truck 10+ years ago.
Hy Possum, that shift pattern is for the Spicer heavy duty 5 speed synchro-mesh transmission, the model is Spicer 3152. That was the standard transmission for the 90, 100 and W100 tandems, hope that helps.
A small update on the Spartan: I removed the hood and fender emblems and stashed them away in the shed for safe keeping. I was pretty sure this truck had been repainted (was originally yellow, then painted yellow again), and under the emblems showed some decent looking yellow paint. Also took the mirrors off so I could cover the cab in a tarp since every window is broken in some form. https://beta-static.photobucket.com...idth=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds
Man I could use that to pull some red alder out of the swamp. Looks like a real workhorse too.
1953 Chevrolet 3100 261 cu inch, sm420, 3.55 rear, torque tube still,omaha orange, still 6 volt, RPO green glass, side carrier spare, all done In the DITY Gallery Video of the 261 running
1964 GMC 1000 305 Big Block V6, sm420, the next cab off restoration
I haven't really done anything on this truck within the past couple of months. But once the weather gets warmer, I'd like to try and get it to run again. Before I got the truck, the distributor was taken out and placed on the seat and ended up getting a little rusty, at least the distributor hole was plugged with a rag.
Thats a great truck. I have a winch truck that i use about every day in the summer i wanted to find a truck like this one but i got in a hury and bought a newer IH its engine was bad so now it is power buy a 350.It has daytons i realy like the daytons. I also have a towbar on my truck because i dont need to leave the farm very often with it. When you get it runing you need to study how the poles work and how to rig them so they dont come back over and kill you. I crushed the cab on my first winch truck when they came over.
Seems like you were asking about 20" tires, can't find the post now, anyway, 22.5's with 10 bolts are pretty common, it might be worthwhile to switch while you are at it, might even find tires and wheels together for a decent price. It is getting harder to find any tire shops to work on multi-piece rims, especially on the road.
Ed
'37 GMC T-18 w/ DD 4-53T, RTO-610, 6231 aux., '95 GMC running gear, full disc brakes, power steering, 22.5 wheels and tires. '47 GMC 1 ton w/ 302, NP-540, 4wd, full width Blazer front axle. '54 GMC 630 w/ 503 gasser, 5 speed, ex fire truck, shortened WB 4', install 8' bed. '55 GMC 370 w/270, 420 4 speed, grain, dump bed truck from ND. Works OK.
Seems like you were asking about 20" tires, can't find the post now, anyway, 22.5's with 10 bolts are pretty common, it might be worthwhile to switch while you are at it, might even find tires and wheels together for a decent price. It is getting harder to find any tire shops to work on multi-piece rims, especially on the road.
Ed
Yeah my initial plan was to swap the wheels out entirely for the one piece style. I just wanted to see how feasible it would be to run the original wheels. I haven't asked the local truck shops if they'd willing to work on them, but if they say no then I'll revert back to my original plan. Plus, like you mentioned, it would be a lot easier on my wallet to go that route.
