The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts The Stovebolt Volunteer Fire Department 59 spartan firetruck

Hey everyone, ive done it again, buying another project and this time I think im going to need some help so ive signed up here. I got a 59 chevy spartan 100 with a 348, spicer 5 speed, and two speed rear.
I have the 55-59 chevy assembly manual as well as the 55 service manual but they do not help much with the big bolt stuff. I also have the manuals for my 63 which does do some big stuff but with the new design they changed a lot of things. How much will the 58-59 manuals help if I bought those?
The immediate problems are im petty sure its missing the parking brake assembly (besides the lever) but its connected to a rod that goes halfway back under the bed? There are also a bunh of things not hooked up and random steel plumbing pipes to nowhere.
Any help is appreciated!

Welcome! Looks like a nice truck. Being a former fire truck, I assume the mileage is quite low?
At least some of your questions appear to be general truck type questions, and not specific to fire trucks. I'd recommend dropping down one forum and posting in the regular Big Bolt forum. More people visit that one and you're more likely to get the answers you need.
Be sure to tell us more about your truck.

Hy MattMck, welcome, MikeB, a member here had a complete firetruck like yours for many years, I'm sure when he sees this he will chime in. There is always a lot of extra equipment on firetrucks, depending on how diligent they were when they removed the fire body there may be unnecessary equipment still left on the truck. Some firetrucks even tapped into the engines vacuum system to assist in priming the pump. As to the maintenance manuals, there is lots of good information in them, just make sure you get a full manual and not a supplement. Happy Independence Day!

Your truck had a Mid-Mount pump with a transfer case that would disengage the rear and engage the pump for stationary pumping. The parking brake had to be on the back side of the transfer case so the transmission could still turn when pumping. You'll need to find all of the parking brake parts to reinstall on the tail end of your Spicer.

As 3B said, the extra lines under the hood were pump primer lines...just trace them back to the source, remove and cap. Your 2-speed rear is more than likely an electric shift Eaton, so there won't be any vacuum lines needed for it.

Looks like a big Leece Neville Generator...does it also have the large Diode Rectifier mounted behind the grille?

Post some more pics of the engine compartment for further review.

Mike B

If I may: I'm so glad to see this sub-forum is still alive and well. Always had a special admiration for folks who have such unique pieces of equipment.

Thanks for the responses! Based on the service logs I found, I think the truck has 16770 original miles! Im hoping the fire department it was used at has original pictures of the truck so I will know what it looked like and have a better idea of that is original. If it had a mid transfer case, im guessing that pto pump isnt the original and neither is any of the dump bed stuff?
Generator says its a delco remy and I dont see anything behind the grill.
Ill do another post on the general big bolts too but keep the firetruck stuff coming!

Thanks

Got in touch with the guy who did all the maintenance on the truck and got some pictures from when they sold it in '99! Hopefully these pictures show up, otherwise ill work on converting them. Hopefully I can clean up the paint some and do this old thing justice!

Looks like large PTO in there. No driveshaft mounted pump. GM direct trans., not a Spicer 540 series. Best to ID the trans., then search for matching brake. If geared low, get ratios figured out, might be easy to find a higher diff. ratio. Otherwise can insert Brownie OD trans in middle of driveline. I have done several. Make sure and find one with TruStop brake attached.

Lots of info on 348/409 engines in hot rod circle.

Ed

It currently has that pto/pump combo which says edbro on it. Originally it had the driveline pump but it got taken out when it got converted to a dump bed. It is an eaton 2 speed rear with the low ratios and dash sticker for help! I believe its 9.17-7.17.
A brownie could be in its future down the road depending on how much i use it.

Where could I find a replacement gasket for under the light on top? Its splitting pretty bad and i dont want water getting in the roof.

What kinds of radios could this truck have had? There are holes in the dash from one(or more) as well as stickers about radio use.

Is there a surefire and easy way to tell if i have the gm or spicer trans? I thought it was a spicer. Im working on getting a parking brake from an old international that looks like it will fit.

Matt,

Can't answer for the light gasket issue (others will probably chime in).

Also can't help with the radio questions (sorry).

However, concerning the transmission ID, looking at the picture you attached, if you look above and left of the 3 threaded mounting studs on that side there appears to be a very dirty "data plate" riveted to the case of the transmission.

Some gentle cleaning of the plate area to remove the oil and grime should reveal the ID info your are trying to pin down.

Let us know what you find.

I believe you have 7.17/9.77:1 gears.


I got my gaskets from Dcaptian...

http://www.dcaptain.com/beaconray_gasket_kit.htm


Ask the fire company what radio they used.


The standard issue trans for Spartan 100's was the New Process 540 (NP-540)...it's shift pattern was 1st is left and up, 2, 3, 4 & 5 as an H in the middle and R is to the right and up.

I'm betting that's the original transmission in your truck and believe it's the optional Spicer, either model 3152 (standard ratio) or model 3152A (close ratio). Their shift pattern is just like your gear shift knob shows with R and 1st to the left.

Mike B

Radios ᠁᠁. I don’t know how it is in your neck of the woods but here in central Oklahoma, the communication radios are not mounted in the dash. They are mounted along with the siren box and toggle switch panel in brackets, either shop made or purchased from emergency equipment suppliers. These brackets were mounted from the floor, bottom of the dash or overhead depending on the Department’s preference. The holes in your dash may have been for a standard factory radio or a creative installation of the service radio. Firetrucks, especially those owned by smaller departments had very creative ways to mount all sorts of equipment, usually done by the firemen themselves.

The transmission is as I suspected, a spicer 3152.

When I talked to the guy who did most of this trucks maintenance, he said it was possible it had multiple radios over its life. It has two holes near where a rear view would go, as well as a few on the dash. He also believed it had a whip antenna on one of the doors which is no longer there, maybe the factory mirror mount location? What kinds of radios might they have used?

If anyone knows of an old federal siren that would fit the 4 holes in my fender, I would love to stick one back on.

The holes above the windshield could have held a speaker like this...

A radio head like this would have been mounted below the dash, the main radio box would have been very large (approximately 16"L x 12"w x 4"d) and could have been under or behind the seat.

Check out these web sites to see all the different sirens. If you can't find a vintage picture of your truck you'll need to measure you base holes and see what might have been bolted on the fender as the bolt patterns are all different. Small local fire companies didn't have money for big Federal "Q" sirens, they used something smaller or made by another manufacturer like Sterling or Sireno.

http://dcaptain.com/vintagesirens.html

http://www.sirenman.com/

Mike B

Interesting bit I found out at a show yesterday, my truck is on its third engine! Apparently the 348 couldnt handle all the pumping.(still a 348 now)

It's always fun to learn more of the history on our vehicles!

Mike B