The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Dumb Newbie Questions

Hi guys,

I am looking at buying a '65 C60 but have absolutely zero experience with trucks over 3/4 ton. If you could help me with a couple of extremely entry level questions, I would be very grateful.

1. What is a two speed axle and what purpose does it serve?

2. What size tires do these beasts take? Ineed to price a set of six tires before I consider it any further.

3. I am assuming that the brakes are only on four wheels and not all six.

4. Are any of you fellas crazy enough that you use one as a daily driver? Cause that's what I'm considering.

Many thanks for you replies.

DanBob

Nobody here will think your questions 'dumb' Dan Bob! Everyone has to start at the beginning and if that's where you're at it's no problem. Just ask.

I'll give you my interpretations on your questions and lots more guys will join in I'm sure. There are lots of fellows with more experience than I have.

#1. The two speed axle is just that. It has a 'high' and a 'low' range. Under heavy loads it's normally used in conjunction with the transmission. As an example, you start out in 1st gear and low range in the axle. Accelerating the truck, you shift to 'high' range in the axle. Next shift, to 2nd gear and put the axle back to 'low' and so on through the gears until you reach '4 high'. Under no load driving you probably wouldn't want to use 'high' in the axle until you were in 4th gear. Most placards in the trucks say not to come to a halt with the axle in the 'high' range.

#2. I would imagine that your tires would be 8.25x20. In comparison to other tires, like those on new half tons etc,--they are not too expensive. Depends on what you think expensive is but they'd be somewhere around the $150 mark maybe. See the post below from another site!
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Posts: 203 Posted: Sep 18, 2003 - 04:52 PM Just priced 8.25X20 bias belted for $165 each + $25 mounting (no balancing, will have to go to a truck center) X 6 tires = $1,140 + tax. Price in central Texas.
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Bill Dakin
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SteveMueller

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Posts: 35 Posted: Sep 18, 2003 - 03:11 PM The Junk Yards of the Goldsboro North Carolina area are loaded with 8:25 tires x 20 " they were a standard in the industry for years and are out there with all other sizes of tires and they are cheap at $100.00 for a tire on the wheel and $75.00 off the wheel. These are good take off tires and you can get about any size that you want. I had a 1500 International Truck years ago and it used 17" rubber front and rear and they were some what a challange but they are also availalbe in the Goldsboro area. Hope this helps someone. Steve Mueller
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#3. Yes brakes are on the four wheels. (drums) No brake on the outside dual wheel.

#4. If you want to drive the truck daily! Why not? If you are not in a high traffic area you can do that more easily though. May not be that practical but who cares if you enjoy it.

it would be a fun, but not very practical daily driver unless you only drive short distances. MAYBE 8 mpg. if ya get the truck cheap enough it would make a good workhorse. lot's to think through i guess.

Welcome to the madnees know as Big Bolts.

1. The reply above covers this one really good? You have a higher rearend gear with the two speed, and if driving around empty, you won't need to use low at all.

2. Tire size can vary, it you 20" wheels then it most likely still has the split rims. those are getting harder to find some one willing to change. if it has 22.5" rims it may have one piece replacements. the 22.5 tires are a common size used in bigger trucks, you should have no problem finding them, but you really need to find out what is on the truck first. if you have split rims you may need to buy new rims as well.

3. I guessing all six tires are on the four coners, dual in the rear? yes all six have brakes, but the rear duals share the brakes on the rear axle, so there are only four brakes sets on the truck, well five if you count the park brake.

4. Yep, I have done so in the past when if was all I had to drive, if it's a short wheelbase it not much more than driveing a dually pickup. MY L60 would made a good daily driver as the wheelbase is 121" which is 6" shorter than a long bed pickup of the same year.

I'm sure Burgie will be along shotrly with this link too http://www.chevyc60.com/ . My truck can be seen here: 1960 Chevrolet L60 Viking LCF .

Enjoy.

Welcome to the Stovebolt garage and more particularly the Big Bolts corner of the garage.

Of course, everybody is going to tell you, "Get 'hold of yer Big Bolt! What the heck are you waiting for?"

You are in good company. I have a '46 ton-and-a-half and there's a feller in Round Rock with a ton-and-a-half, also, although Fahr (actually his name is Mike) may not be on the street with his truck yet.

The fellers have covered 2-speed rear end and split shifting. The rest of these old trucks is just common as an old boot.

You will soon become adept at double clutching, if necessary. That is one thing soccer moms couldn't do in a million years, with apologies to Joy, Peg and others). You will enjoy the little quirks common only to old stovebolts, and folks you least expect will start a conversation with something like,"You know, my grandad had a old truck just like that out on the ranch by Llano."

Don't be afraid of tires, brakes, body parts, and such. Around Central Texas there are lots of shops that are glad to work on old trucks, and you can find parts. So far, everyone I have dealt with in the Austin area has been fair, honest and willing to work with me.

I recently had brake shoes relined, and the shop in North Austin re-arced them and gave me some pointers on getting new brake shoes to fit (they WOULD NOT fit, first time around).

There is a shop in Georgetown where I get my annual inspections and a once-in-a-while oil change (givin' the good people my business), and even though they don't let anything slide by on the safety and functioning sides of the annual inspection, they always offer suggestions on any fix needed.

Get to know your local Napa man, take your truck to the same shop every time for an oil change (and find one with a pit so they go over the underside real good), and you will have a lot of fun.

There is a chevy truck club in Austin that caters to old trucks, too. E-mail me and we'll talk.

Wow! Thanks for all the answers! you guys are amazingly helpful. I just have three more questions (besides the flood of em that will come if I buy this thing)

1. What is the ground clearance of this sucker (would want to know if I could park it at work in the parking garage)

2. You don't need a CDL to run one of these in TX, do you?

3. How in the heck do you jack these beasts up off the ground if you need to change a tire?

I tell you what, I am drooling over this thing, even if it has zero wife acceptance factor. The first thing my old lady said when she saw it was "No. Hell no. There is no way you are going to buy that."

my cabover fits (barely) in an 8 foot door.

ya jack the thing up under the axle. most old truck used a screw type jack that worked and looked like a house jack. you COULD use hydraulic, like a bottle jack, but i would sure weld some sort of flat plate on the top of the jack to increase the area that contacts the axle, and run a few beads of weld on it to give it a rough surface to keep it in place. imagine that thing slipping off! then there's the spare tire thing. are ya really gonna wrestle a spare tire???? old guys used to do it, but had little choice. blow a rear? ease to the truck tire store. blow a steer? (tire that is----texas guys calm down) call road service. gonna change and fix yer own? FORGET IT!! unless you are and experianced tire repair dude. if a split rim lets go, you MIGHT get lucky and only lose a finger or hand. there's a few guys here that think nothing of handling split rims. ok. it's nothing to be done by a novice. 22.5 rims and tire are the best way to go if ya ask me. lighter weight, runs cooler, better milage, easier to find replacements in a pinch, and not as many problems finding somebody to change them.

probably more than ya wanted to know, but my medication is working pretty good today and i wanted to spend some quality time typing, so there ya go.

oh yeah. i got NO advise about how to handle yer woman. remember she knows where ya sleep, and where ya don't get to sleep. you could end up being a happy truck owner that chews his fingernails and screams at squirrels to get out of yer yard. it's one of those many tests life throws at you. my wife figures if i'm in the garage i ain't at the sports bar trying to be a sport.

MAN THAT WAS ALOT!!!!

Darn! Darn! Darn! The guy just called me and said he sold it this afternoon. It has been sitting there with a for sale sign on it for 6 months! Out in the middle of nowhere! Well fellas, thanks for all your help and advice. I can't believe I missed out on this one. Hopefully I will find another one.

Don't despair Dan Bob! There will be another one, and with the help of this site you will know more about these trucks.

Good luck in your search. Geo.

Dan Bob, don't puzzle over that truck too much. For some reason you weren't supposed to be the next owner.

Don't git yerself all in a twist and you will come up with something even better.

Meantime, just keep comin' in the garage anytime you feel like it.

You don't have to have a CDL in Texas so long as it is your personal vehicle and the vehicle does not exceed certain gross weight limits, you don't use it for commercial purposes (even though it is considered a commercially rated vehicle, and it ain't got no special stuff like air brakes, bob-tail type trailer capability and such. I don't know too much about this part, so check with DMV and the State regulations.