The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Tons 'o Fun Radiator Core Support

Hello fellow Stovebolters, I have a question regarding radiator core support on my 50 3800. Did the core supports have the wide mounting bolts one on either side, or did they have the bolt, close together at the center of the core support? Thanks in advance....Clint

I have asked this question before and haven’t been able to get a definitive answer. I have seen these core supports mounted both ways on the trucks I have purchased over the years. Some mounted in the middle, some with two bolt holes on either side. Some mounts were definitive hack jobs by previous owners, whilst some looked factory both ways. I’m not sure what to tell you. Hopefully, someone comes along who could give us an answer. Was it single for some years? Two holes and off centre for others?

When I assembled my 1 ton (53 body, 50 frame) I used the center mounting style with rubber cushioning under the core support.

Having now disassembled a few AD trucks over the past years (and reassembled two of them ) ... Every one of them, including the '49 3804 in the garage, had the pair of bolts in the center at the bottom. See the attached photo for their corresponding holes in the front cross member. There are two wider set holes and maybe someone can tell us what those are there for, but I've never seen them used for anything on any of the Chevy AD trucks I've personally dissected.

Picture shows the original spacer and re-enforced rubberized gasket (or whats left of it) sitting next to the holes. The bolts came up from the bottom and threaded into the bottom of the radiator support. This truck had not been disassembled since it was built.

Hope this helps

Just a wild guess, but is it possible that the same core support might have been used on heavy duty trucks with a bigger radiator- - - - -one that might have needed the wider-spaced holes for a different type of support? I seem to remember there being an optional radiator for heavy duty applications like dump trucks, etc.
Jerry

Yes, as Jerry guessed, there were different sizes of radiators for different sizes of trucks.
And, there were "matching" different radiator frames/bases.

hi,
i have several of these trucks as well, attached are two photos of the 1953 1 ton radiator support front and bottom view.
This support is all original and in good condition with no cracks or welds or rework.
the radiator that was bolted to this support (not in the photo, it's behind me where i took it) is the normal size radiator.

This 53 radiator support is nearly identical to the one in my 1950 chevy 1 ton, which does has the oversized radiator option.
Both radiators will fit interchangabley in the same support, the oversized radiator also comes with a shroud to help force the fan air through the radiator.

The only difference from 1950 to 53 that i could see is that there are NO water drain holes in the 50.
If you look closely you can see there are rocks stuck in two little holes on each side of the mounting bolt flange. In 1950 those holes don't exist and this part fills with water and rusts out, sometime between 50 to 53 GM decided to make holes to allow drainage, i have since drilled holes in my 50 to let it drain out too.

This part is slightly different in the GMC trucks, the top is changed to accommodate the much different shaped support for the tins and the GM radiator. So don't pull one from a GM thinking it will fit your Chevy.
-stan

Thanks Stan -- It would seem that your pictures correlate nicely with mine to give the whole idea, then.

Tim/Jerry -- one of the 6400 AD trucks we ... dissected ... at Homecoming a few years back had the HD radiator you speak of (I think TrknGMC ended up with it), but the radiator support was the same as what Stan is showing in his image. In fact, that truck's front clip (with that rad support) is the yard art still at HQ that's about to go to scrap ... I will flip it over tomorrow and double check if you all want me to.

From what I’ve seen radiators from 1/2 ton through about 3 ton are interchangeable in the supports, Chevy and GMC.
They do have different supports for the different size front sheet metal, 1/2 ton through 1 ton, 1.5 through 2 ton and so on.

The original question is about one center radiator mount, which is all I’ve ever seen in use.
Or two mounts spaced about 8-10” apart. I’ve seen radiator supports seemingly intended for this, and holes in front crossmembers that might match, but not sure I’ve ever seen one assembled like this on a truck. Perhaps a special application or less common model truck?

The radiator support from my 51 3100 was fastened to the frame with two bolts spaced 8-10 inches apart, but it had definitely been "tampered with". It had a piece of 1/2-inch thick steel wrapped around the bottom in place of the normal sheet metal standoffs.. The steel wraps about 6 inches up each side and I'd guess it weighs more than the whole original unmolested support. They had a strip of rubber between the support and frame, also about 1/2-inch thick. Definitely overkill on the repair. I've seen pics of the repop supports with the wider bolt spacing for what that's worth..

GM realized that they had a problem with cracking of the radiator supports due to flexing of the front end sheet metal.

Their fix was to switch from the single center mount, to dual mounts to the X member.

At the same time they added the extra X bracing rods across the uprights of the support to make sure that it would not flex.

My original 1950 panel van has a single mount support with no X bracing.

My original 51 truck has the dual mount support with the bracing so, I believe they made the improvements to the radiator support in 1951.

I know it has been months since I asked the question, but thanks everyone for responding, it does clear up any other questions, now, just to find a good used radiator support!

Anyone have literature detailing the change from single to double radiator support mounts?
Like a service bulletin or similar?

I have a 52 and had a 53 both with single mounts.

My 54 3600 has the double. The 54 3800 I use to have, had the single. If you look in the assembly manual, the 3800 and larger have the single.

All my experience is with 3800 and larger, all single.