The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts 47-53 school bus

does anyone know if the rear end is a 2 speed, im looking at this in a junk yard and can get the whole frame for 200$ i have a 2 ton someone cut the frame on and i need to put it on this... by the way the school bus is a 6800

Welcome to the Stovebolt!

My understanding is that the 2-speed rear was an option on 2-ton trucks. My 6400 does not have one and I would not expect a 2-speed on a school bus.

If you have 100 50-lb bodies the cargo load is only 5,000 lbs. As the bodies get heavier the number you can fit on the bus shrinks. Plus bus drivers aren't as sophisticated as truck drivers and may not use the 2-speed at all, or may shift it incorrectly.

I don't know what bus buyers in the 50's actually did, but if it were my money I would not have spent it on 2-speed axles.

So this is all just my opinion, I hope its of some help!

Josh, 2 speed rear axles were an option in the '47-'53 Chevrolet school buses. They were not standard equipment. I happen to be a school bus mechanic in North Carolina, & in my years working on them here, none have been equipted with 2 spd. axles. I remember hearing some of the old timers, at the garage, speak of a Activity Bus that they experimented with once, installing a 2 spd. axle, but no school bus, had ever come there, with this option. But anything is possible. There is a '49 Chevrolet 6700 school bus, where I keep my parts trucks. I saw it yesterday. It has a Thomas Body.

Josh, Where are you located in N.C. I have a couple of parts trucks, that have good frames.

thanks for all the help you guys, im in winston salem, but would be willing to travel for any parts. id love to be able to save this old truck and use it to drag some more of them in.. thanks guys

im not going to buy the bus, just the frame, someone cut the frame on my two ton and i need a donor, the bus is in awful shape not sure you could do anything with it...

by the way thats a sharpe one there. looks good and sittin right

i have a question why do people cut the frame when they put a box and hoist on there should be enough room to tilt the box without cutting the frame.

You cut the frame just behind the pivot to allow the rear of the bed to drop closer to the ground and to limit how high the front of the bed must go. Cutting the frame at the pivot also means you don't have to raise the pivot.

A heavily loaded truck with the bed in the air can tip and fall. The lower you keep the load the less likely the truck is to become unstable.

Also in many cases, you have better control of where your load goes if the load is coming off the truck nearer the ground.

There may be other reasons, but these are the ones that come to mind. I've never put a dump bed on a truck and certainly can't claim to know all.

But twenty-some years ago I was a mechanic for a small trucking firm with a bunch of little trucks. I remember that the beds all pivotted just behind the rear axle and the frames were cut at that point.

Better weight distribution is another reason to cut the frame. A shorter, taller grain box will get more weight on the front axle.