The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts '58 or '59 Big Bolt

Hi all, curious to know what the larger bolts of this era, the 2 1/2 ton "8000 and up" series were/are commonly known as. I thought they were the Spartan while the mid sized were the Viking but Spartan doesn't figure much in any current classified adds. In fact I'm finding most of the bigger bolts for sale if I hunt for Chevrolet and Tandem or Tag axle and 348 powered.

'58-'59 medium duty conventional,(Viking) 40, & 60 series. Heavy Duty conventional (Spartan) 80, & 100 series. medium duty LCF (Viking) 50 series. Heavy Duty LCF (Spartan) 70, & 90 series.

David - as Spanky sez, the series were named for the adverts in the day, but folks today who are more into the light trucks mostly think that "Apache" means deluxe, and that it's a "cool" handle, so use it as a mark of distinction rather than the series designation it really was

I get folks on the street come up and say "is that an Apache?" I look at the emblem on the fender and say "no it's a pickup"

Bill

Thanks all, that's what I thought, but most classified adds say 2 ton 1958 tag axle etc and not many ever mention Spartan or the series.

They were work trucks so most people proably refered to them by their set up as opposed to model designation. Example My first real driving job the boss would tell me to take the trailer or take the tenwheeler depending on the amount produce to pick up never refered to model. On current job they may say to take the day cab no mention of model.So likely if folks grew up refering to a truck by set up or capacity thats the way they would list it. so use Spanky's info to help figure out what the ad is for. Thru the fiftys and in some cases later folks would buy a single axle truck and then add to the frame and install a tag axle to increase capacity. Spanky has or did have a tandem set up called tructor I belive which allows both rear axles to pull befroe the advent of the now common twin screw.

kb3csw, if I'm not mistaken the name you referred to as "tructor" was really Truckstell and was born in the NW Pacific area in the 30's. Your correct in your statement that it was a product to add live power to the newfangled tandem rear. I had a former customer whose father was one of the first dealers of this. It was widely sold in the logging industry before the advent of factory twin screws.

Incidently, tag axles are still manufactured to make a non powered tandem. I've installed many of them.

Trucktor, was a separate Company, from Truckstell. There was also, Truxmore, Grico, Fabco, & Detroit Automotive Products Corp., that supplied Chevrolet, with Tandem Axle Setups, on the Advance Design Trucks. Factory Assembly Line Tandems, were not available from Chevrolet, until 1956. The Trucktor Corporation, was out of, Mountainside, New Jersey. Here's a picture of the 1954 Chevrolet 5400 series COE, I had, that had the Trucktor Chain-Drive Tandem Setup, http://community.webshots.com/photo/115981506/115990817iKfhhf

Thanks Spanky for that info. I had never heard of Tructor and thought perhaps it was a spelling error. I had heard of Fabco and believe there is still a company in business by that name. Since these were dealer installs that may have something to do with regional manufacturers.

Actually the trucks were, ordered, sent to the perspective Co. for the Conversion to take place, then, delivered to the Dealer.

I really hadn't noticed many tag axle set ups lately so interesting to see they are still going. Volvo in the early 90's had a tag axle set up from the factory to get added traction they had a switch on the dash to change the ratio of pressure in the airbags from 50/50 to 60/40 in favor of the live axle don't know how well it worked as just took one trip with it while salesman was trying to talk my boss into it. Any way this is getting far from the original question but the longer the thread the more information comes to light.

Sparky, when I said dealer I was referring to the upfitter, the equipment dealer. Been in this business 38 years so I know how it works.

Yeah, I actually started to begin another Topic, on Tandem Conversions.

have to correct myself. I forgot about all the vocational trucks running tags.dumps etc.