The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts 1966 GMC 960 from grain truck to tire truck.

this is my gmc 960 (i was told that was a 6500 series in the usa?) that i rescued from a field for $100. i intend to turn it into a tractor tire service truck for my shop.step one was get it running but that took about 5 minutes, so then it was on to other things. the interior was very mousey, as to be expected, so i removed the seat and got out the garden hose. after that was done, i really didnt want to put the worn out bench in, so i found some buckets out of a 94 gmc and it looks like it will fit very well, even with the console.

Nice truck!

Ed

I would say that the US equivalent to what you have would be a 4000 Model.

Nice truck.

You got it for a great price to boot.

Keep us posted on your progress.

Gvw Is 19500 on this truck, changed all the oils yesterday, tried to take if for a drive but it bogs down with any throttle after a block, so I guess I will get rid of the restrictive carb and intake. I'm sure I have some Edelbrock parts laying around somewhere

Another tell-tale sign of a 4000, your 19,500 GVW. I wouldn't give up on the Carb yet. Try to see if you can get a rebuild kit for it. I've had many V-6's and not one gave me any Carb trouble. Although many out there like to switch to a Holley. If all original, it should be a Stromberg. I've had V-6 engines from 305's to a 478. All ran great with the original Carbs.

Have a 327 v8 in this, I'm sure it would be fine with a little bit of adjusting,maybe a good cleaning, but I will be forever in the pursuit of horsepower. Also I can ditch all the engine overspeed stuff that on there as well.

If you're going to have employees driving your truck you may want to keep the governor to prevent over revving the engine when shifting up from the lower gears.

Mike B

Well, I missed that, lol. I didn't even notice that it has no V-6 Emblem. In the US all GMC's of those years had V-6's. A Straight Six may have been possibly ordered, but I don't believe so. A V-8, I believe, was not a possibility. I keep forgetting Canadian made trucks can be very different.

im a one man show out here, and if i get an employee hes going to be the oil change monkey, so i only have to worry about myself for now. as for the 327, it is listed in the plate in the glovebox, but not in the owners manuel as an option. the previous owner must have ordered it special.

Before you change the carb and intake, change the fuel filter, check fuel pressure at the carb, and make sure the ignition is up to snuff. All could contribute to poor running and bogging. I guess I would check the fuel pressure during the bog first.

I am going to put a Q-jet and manifold on my '69 along with an HEI system. It runs fine now, no problems with the governed 2 barrel other than no top end and very poor mileage. Hoping to improve both. I am gonna save all the old parts.

fuel filter was done already, i never checked fuel pressure yet, i feel like im just making an excuse to use some of the parts i have sitting around. plus i wanted to replace the boots on the coolant lines, so i will have it drained already

Hey, it's your truck, please do whatever you like with it. I love that you are saving it and putting it to work. I just like to be sure I have everything in order before I start making modifications, so I have a better idea of what could be wrong when trying to sort out the new stuff. Keep us posted on how it goes!

nice looking truck , especially for 100 bucks! My 58 6400 (Chevy 2-ton) has a 327 in it. The paper inlet filter on the Quadrajet plugs often (ever since I put a used tank in the cab). It will run fine and then I notice a loss of power at the higher RPMs, especially when towing my 35' travel trailer! Once that happens, it just gets worse till I change the filter. Outside, it looks fine, cut it open and there is a lor of real fine rust plugging it up, even though it passes the other 2 inline filters before it!

im going to guess the float is hung up, but i have one more piece in the mail then its go time, on a side note, my new hinges from lmc came in yesterday. ordered them for a c10, looks like they will work, however the shipper lost a spring

Nice score for $100!!! Hope you can get the 327 working well, that would be even cooler to have the truck original. Grandpa had one of these and it wasn't a powerhouse, but it sure did its job very well. Is yours a dump bed?

Sure is a dump bed, I was going to leave that functional but put a valve on the hydraulics so I can mount a hoist/ crane etc on it and use the power pack. I may also want to increase the size of the reservoir.

Ok guys. I got time to work on my truck again, I'm kind of curious as to what these extra hoses are under the hood, they arrear to come out by the thermostat housing and go back into the water pump?

Attached is a picture of the hoses

So I went ahead with my 4 barrel swap, I was a bit concerned that it wouldn't match up near the oil fill tube, but It seems to. Also I did not think about a valve cover, but just happened to have one laying around the shop. Currently waiting on gaskets for that.

The big hose that loops to the driver's side is a thermostat by-pass hose, circulates more water in the block as the engine is warming up to make the temps around the engine more equal. Also I believe it is supposed to help with hot spots under heavy loads, more water movement in the block and heads.

I pulled the oil tube from the old 2 barrel manifold and brazed it into the newer style cover. keeps the old style breather cap and looks more like the original setup. Anyone in the know sees it but that is not many. Looks better than a rubber plug to me.

I'd be curious to see that, I imagine I can find that on here somewhere? Spending more time setting up my tow/ service deck for this, ran back to the shop to get some measurements and forgot the frame width, you wouldn't happen to know that would you?
Coolant. Bypass hose is gone now, I'll just make sure my rad is cleaned out and should be fine

Decided to scrap the deck entirely, here's my plans, it will be made in 2 sections, the first 3 1/2 feet as tool box and KCL tank, with a tow deck behind it. I will be Using the old dual cylinder hoist to lift the boom. I'm still trying to figure out a wheel lift but that can wait.

Check out Vintage Wreckers on FB for ideas. They periodically have items about wheel lift add ons from way back when.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/313214229108650/

The bypass hose has nothing to do with the radiator. It's there to keep coolant circulating within the block when the engine is idling and the thermostat closes flow to the radiator (due to your cold weather climate)...you may want to re-think putting it back in. The t-stat should be a by-pass type, not a regular SBC car type...opens flow to the By-pass when closed (no flow to the radiator) and closes the By-pass when it opens flow to the radiator.

Mike B

Good idea, I was thinking something along the lines of using the pivot on the end of the frame that was for the dump box, putting a ram up to the frame rails on my deck, and some sort of a chain type lock on it, but I have a lot of planning to do, as long as I have my tool boxes and some sort of a lift on it for now it will serve its purpose, towing as well is just a bonus. Go big or go home right?

As for the bypass, maybe. I will put it back on but much much neater. I should be able to hard line it, i try to limit rubber line as much as possible.

As for bypass type, It appeared to be a standard thermostat, would be circulating 100% of the time and only open hot, but would still be bypassing.

finally got back to work on this, i have picked up a 2 ton? picker and started to take the box and lift off. down to the lift and rails on that. also i see i require a new steady bearing, which my local store is having issues sourcing. anyone know of any good places to get part numbers i can give them?

Sorry, I missed your request to see what I had done with the oil filler on my truck.

Maybe you have a solution already but in case you don't, here is a picture of what I did. Mine has a PCV system so the oil filler cap is sealed, I see yours has a breather cap. No reason why that would not work the same way I guess.

This is my '62 pickup, the tube is brazed into the cover with a large fillet. It has been there for 30+ years with no trouble.

i got some more free time to work on the truck, attached are pics. havent got one with the air tank mounted, and took it back apart for paint yesterday. i did however come across the twin to this truck that i can have for free, but with a 5 speed tranny, dayton axles, and was seriously considering taking those for a 22.5 tire upgrade until i heard the rear diff is missing chunks of a ring gear.

If you changed to Dayton's using the other truck parts, I believe you could swap the hubs and use your current housing. You would have to pull the axles to do that after which it would be simple to swap the center sections. That way you would keep your current ratio too.

Someone who knows better will correct me if the hubs cannot be swapped, but I am pretty sure they can be. My 69 T-50 has Daytons and the bearings and hub internals look very standard.

really curious to know if they can be swapped. i think someone told me the axle housing was longer on these other ones

Well it may be time for an update. i found a set of the accuride 22.5 rims, with nearly new tires on a 76 c60, so that solves my 20 inch rim issues. as for my 6.5 swap i have run into an issue with the clutch. it turns out the biggest flywheel i can find is a 13 inch for the 6.5, and the smalleat clutch with my 1.5 inch 10 spline input is also 13 inch. i will have to look into getting one custom made for it. however i am really impatient so i picked up a 366 to get the truck on the road in the meantime.

I hope when you picked up the 366, you had a close place to put it down.

I went to a local clutch place(Denver, CO) a few years back and they put a 1.5”, 10 spline center in a disc that was used, normally, in a smaller clutch.

Perhaps you can find a place near you who does clutches, it is not rocket science.

Ed

that seems to be the avenue im going to have to go down, however my nearest place for something like that is 5 ish hours away. i am still planning on doing it, but will have to stick to the 366 for this year, as i need my picker for air cart tires in the spring.
do you recall roughly what they charge for making the disc?

I don’t remember, but it wasn’t much. Can you just ship a new disc to you?

Ed

That was the plan Ed. if im doing that i should just call the shop where you went, probably save me some explaining here. if i recall i had asked about it when i was looking for a pto gear from the shop up here, and they said no. which is why i was looking for a factory part number to just order one. could you pm me the name of the shop you used?

That shop is no longer there, probably done 20 years ago.

Ed