The time has come. We're about to get serious about getting the truck on the road. I want to warn you right out of the gates, this truck will be built in fits and starts. It's nowhere near my only project and it's not pivotal to operations around here so it won't be the first thing to get wrenched on, but it will get wrenched on. I don't think there will be a ton of work required to get it road worthy, but a fair amount of work nonetheless. My wife hasn't named the truck. The folks we got it from called it Old Blue. We already have an Old Blue Chevrolet, so that won't work. Hence my name Older Blue. I don't like Older Blue as a name for the truck, so we'll call it Half Back for obvious reasons until the truck gets an official name. I'm not even sure I like Half Back, but whatever.
So lets get started.
I have what I believe to be a '55 3600. This truck has been in my wife's family for quite sometime, but I'm unsure just exactly how long. It made its way to us and we are going to try to get it back to use.
After sitting since 2004, at the very least, we were able to get it running last night. I use the term "running" loosely as we had to bypass the ignition switch and pour gas in the carb to keep it going. There is no key and the floats don't seem to be stopping the gas flow. There also no fuel tank. You get the picture.
The cab of the truck seems to be almost completely solid. There's nothing rusted through that I've seen, although there's a piece of sheet metal in the drivers floor pan that might be a replacement for a rusted out original.
The hood, fenders and doors are all good, I believe. There is one pretty big problem. Earlier in it's life the truck was converted to a camper. The entire rear of the cab and most of the roof were cut out for access to the camper.
Y'all will know better than anyone, is it worth saving? The truck was free so total investment is $0. I really hate to see the truck sit there unused and since we ripped the camper off, I need to get it drivable fairly soon. Any and all suggestions and advice are appreciated.
That pretty well gets you up to speed to today. The first issue that has to be dealt with is the frame rust. I have a friend that is a good welder and fabricator, he's also extremely picky about his work, so he's the guy I have doing it.
Pictures below. There is also some pretty serious rust on some of the frame cross supports and the last 14 inches of the frame rails. That is getting fixed as well, but I didn't take pictures for some reason. I'm hoping I can rob the cross supports off the '51 frame but I haven't checked it out close enough to be sure.
Since the truck was converted to a camper, there was a lot of extra junk welded to the frame, as well as some reinforcement welded to the rusted out spots. All of this needed to be gone so my man can cut out the trash and make repairs, so that's what we did today. I dropped the axle and springs out from under and took the Metabo to the frame. She's looking factory now. I attached a pic of all the junk I cut off. The differential needs some attention so I'll do that while we wait for the frame repair. I couldn't touch gear oil with my finger and it looks like we very much need a pinion seal, but the truck hasn't run in so long it's hard to tell what else is needed. Once I pull the cover I'll have a better idea of things. It will probably be worth just to replace all the seals. There's basically no slack in it, so I think it's mechanically sound. I also have to do some research to find out just exactly what it is. It's a 10 bolt cover free float axle, and she's a heavy girl.
I don't have any paperwork, only the VIN to go by. The truck does carry enough sentimental value for me to want to save the cab. The welding will definitely be out of my league, but everything else I can handle. The wife was sharing the video of it running with the family that grew up taking trips in it and some where really excited. They even had a picture of it from way back and it was a pretty sharp truck. I floated the idea of replacing the cab, but it didn't feel right. Around here at least, cabs where kind of rare. It could also be that I wasn't looking in the right places. The one I did find was pretty rusted up and there were several holes. There is a local guy who's done some work body work for me before who will probably end up doing the welding. I'm assuming that all the sheet metal is stamped at the same plant overseas and will be of comparable quality. There's a place in Georgia that supposed to be high quality stuff, but I can't remember the company name.
The truck is drivable, but I mean just drivable. With the massive hole in the cab, leaving it out in the weather isn't an option, so I'll need to park it under the barn. I just need to be able to drive it in and out of the barn. The truck tries to pull itself when you put it into gear but feeding gas straight into the carb makes that a little tricky. Goals are to put some tires on tomorrow and get rid of the two piece wheels on the front. Then I'll have to figure out a way to get it to start without a bunch of jumper wires running everywhere.
That's where we are at today. Not sure how long it will be on the frame repair. Dude does it on the side and I told him I wasn't in a hurry. My last build thread was a 6 year ordeal, with a multi year hiatus. Hold tight men, we'll get it done but it might take a while.
Wow, with rust-outs in the frame like that, I'd really consider finding a replacement frame. I had some rust on the rear arch of my frame from the bed wood sitting on it that required a little patching, but nothing like you showed around the rear spring mounts. That's a place of high stress, and if you keep that frame, your guy needs to be real careful about repairing it. I'd hate to see your project fail from a frame failure if you hit a serious bump.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
I’ve got a lot of faith in my boy. I think he can fix it. We’ll see how the repair looks after it’s done, if it’s suspect I won’t be against hunting down another frame.
I’m not too worried about a Grandfather’s Axe situation either. We will save what we can of our original truck, but whatever happens, happens.
That 8-lug rearend likely has 4:56 gears. What is your long range plan for use of the truck?
I got the rear end torn down today. Kind of hard to see the pinion, but I'll figure out a way to count the teeth and we'll know for sure soon.
The truck will have an easy life. I am going to get everything working like it should and then just drive the truck. I'll use it to get feed and stuff at the co-op and other light farm use. Might even use it to pull the old 35 Massey to local tractor shows because I don't think that will be too much for it. I was telling the guy doing the frame that it wouldn't ever be max loaded and worked hard, but he said there was no way he'd let it leave his possession without me being able to load it up heavy and not worry, but I never will. After we can use it for a while one day we'll strip it back down to make a pretty truck. Right now I just want one I can use without worrying about scratches and dings. I might clean and paint the chassis as I go this time around but I'm not committed to that yet.
Got her back from the boys yesterday. I really couldn't be happier with how it turned out. I don't have any concerns about strength of the frame. I know for sure that it's stronger than it was, because there where "reinforcement" plates welded to the bad spots in the frame that had been on the truck while it was being used. I also was trying to learn about frame repair on the YouTubes, and man, some of the stuff on there was abysmal compared to what my boys pulled off. Anyway, he's some pics. Pic 1 is the total job. 2 is the spring hanger area that was rotten, I cut a piece out of another frame I had that is in pretty rough shape for the repair and that's what you see here. 3 is the reinforcement on the spring hanger repair. Also the cross brace that runs between the frame rails had angle braces that ran from cross brace down to the frame. Those were in pretty rough shape, so they cut them out and fabbed new ones. 4 is the new bumper rails? I guess? They were cut and welded and rusty, and the cross brace was bad too, so they put new rails on and fabbed a new cross brace. 5 is the reinforcements on them.
This is the cross brace on the bumper rails. I'm really happy how it turned out, and I think it's going to be just fine.
I started wire wheeling the rear axle housing today to get ready for paint. I'm collecting parts for it as well. It has the 12"x2" drums that I was afraid were going to be elusive, but I found them on RockAuto. Also got shoes, wheel cylinders, hub seals and axle seals. I haven't been able to round up new brake hardware, I'm hoping I can but if I can't I did save the originals. I think.
No more progress as of late, but I was able to add a piece to the puzzle. I don't know if seats are actually rare, but I know I haven't seen any in the aftermarket. I also haven't seen any OEM for sale either. The only one that I found for sale was in Illinois and it was recovered and expensive. This one was not and it needs new foam and recovering but the springs and structure are all in great shape.
The time has come. We're about to get serious about getting the truck on the road. I want to warn you right out of the gates, this truck will be built in fits and starts. It's nowhere near my only project and it's not pivotal to operations around here so it won't be the first thing to get wrenched on, but it will get wrenched on. I don't think there will be a ton of work required to get it road worthy, but a fair amount of work nonetheless. My wife hasn't named the truck. The folks we got it from called it Old Blue. We already have an Old Blue Chevrolet, so that won't work. Hence my name Older Blue. I don't like Older Blue as a name for the truck, so we'll call it Half Back for obvious reasons until the truck gets an official name. I'm not even sure I like Half Back, but whatever.
