I just acquired a 1951 GMC 350-24. It was a one owner truck, owned and operated by a late friend of my fathers that owned a concrete/sand and gravel business, and employed my father at 15 years old in 1969/70. The truck was used as a dump truck, however the bed is now missing, and the truck has sat in a yard for 50 years. This will be my build thread, I will post pictures, and ask waaayyy too many questions I’m sure… When cleaning out the truck I found the original title! The truck is patina’d nicely and will stay that way, however all of the inner workings will be gone through to whatever extent needed in order to put this special beast back on the road. I will likely build an old looking flat bed for it, and make it adaptable for a tow boom or something as well. The wheels look like RH5’s however they are 3 piece split ring wheels. I need tires! 8.25-20 if anyone close to West Phoenix area has some! I found out last night that the truck has a 302 in it, original manual trans, and a PTO drive! The engine turns over nicely, and will need a starter and accessory overhaul to test fire… Let the fun begin!
Your front rims are 3-piece, not Firestone RH-5's.
The back rims look like RH-5's...post a better picture of them so we can confirm.
If you're just going to use the truck on the farm and not on the road then used tires are fine, however it you plan on putting it on the road you really should buy new rubber.
Nice truck! If you get really enthused, you can add disc brake front spindles/hubs with that bolt pattern to your existing axle and keep tires inside fenders. D-80 rear disc brake axle, too!
Ed
'37 GMC T-18 w/ DD 4-53T, RTO-610, 6231 aux., '95 GMC running gear, full disc brakes, power steering, 22.5 wheels and tires. '47 GMC 1 ton w/ 302, NP-540, 4wd, full width Blazer front axle. '54 GMC 630 w/ 503 gasser, 5 speed, ex fire truck, shortened WB 4', install 8' bed. '55 GMC 370 w/270, 420 4 speed, grain, dump bed truck from ND. Works OK.
As far as moving your post, it is something for to think about. The Project Journals is:
" The restoblogs! Ongoing projects (restorations, modifications, outright street machines, as well as smaller scale component projects (steering, engines, etc.) -- all in near real time! Blow-by-blow, step-by-step description, commentary and discussion by the project persons themselves ... and you are there! "
It may depend on how much you want to journal your work, including pictures.
You might want to check out a few and see some of the details. HandyAndy is the Moderator for that forum. He made have some insight about this also.
Welcome to the site! Hope the Stovebolt Collective can be of service.
Peggy M Make your words sweet & tender today, for tomorrow you may have to eat them. Share knowledge and communicate it effectively. ~ Elihu
Welcome to the Stovebolt and the Project Journal forum! Your '1951 GMC 350-24 build' will be of great interest to our forum participants. I'm really looking forward to watching your rebuild. Be sure to ask your questions in the appropriate forum(s). There's a wealth of knowledge here on the SB. I recommend that you check into the Welcome Center and introduced yourself, an excellent first step.
I'll send you a PM with some additional Project Journal information for your review. You can just click on the flashing red envelope in the upper righthand corner to open it. Stovebolters love pictures..........
Ed, please tell me more… I’m interested in at least knowing what parts to keep an eye out for to do the conversion with if it’s not a nightmare and isn’t “hard” to do… I’m fairly capable compared to most…
Thanks all! After the thanksgiving holiday I may try to do some minor stuff to see “where” I’m at with the truck and what needs to be rebuilt, what needs replaced, what’s usable, missing, etc…
Yesterday I removed the valve cover, oiled all components on the head with some ATF to revive the ol’ girl… chiseled some antique oil/ grease build up off of it, and started getting it ready to test fire…
Removed and rebuilt the carburetor today! It’s a Holley AA-1 1-1/16 inch marked on the side Holley list 660-1
This thing was black inside from eating the oil from the oil bath air cleaner, but otherwise in PRISTINE condition! I used new gaskets, shot carb cleaner through all of the ports, gave it a general cleaning and reassembled. Pretty simple carburetor to work on. I will reinstall and move on to distributor refurb and starter install soon… Maybe a test start video within a week? We shall see!
Nice protective coating on that coil to points wire.
'57 GMC 102, Original 347 V8, HydraMatic, 3.08 rear gear, added A/C, disk front brakes, HEI, AFB carb, '98 Honda Black Currant paint. T-boned and totaled 10/13 '52 GMC 152 Stake Bed, Original 228, SM420, added A/C, disk front brakes, '67 Chev 3.55 rear gear. Gets used as a real truck.
Installed the rebuilt carb today. Installed new plug wires, new 6v foot pedal starter. Filled the float bowl with fuel and gave it a crank! Fired on the second try, and idles like a dream! I guess this thing is gonna cost me some money, because that means this baby is a runner!!
Now to figure out what all the dang vacuum lines do on this thing…
Gearhead, Moderator for The Swap Meet and General Truck Talk
Workinginprogress,
FWIW, here are some links (none are mine nor do I have any connection to the sellers) for some essential books that you can buy to help you in your project!
All are great reference materials that you can use to help your project along, and should you decide to pass on your truck to family or whoever, would be great additions to whoever might become the next owner.
Dan
1951 Chevy 3 window 3100 (My Grandpa's hunting truck) 1966 Chevelle (Wife's Hot Rod) 2013 Chevy Silverado (Current daily driver) US Army MSG Retired (1977-1998) Com Fac Maint Lead Tech Retired (1998-2021)
Finally time to get to work on my Grandpa's (now mine) truck!
The last couple days I have pulled off the passenger side wheels, chiseled the 50 year old rubber (possibly stone?) off of them, cleaned, painted, and installed new tires. Left the patina on the outside, but the insides were in great shape, and the three piece wheels are super nice to work with!
This side looks tough now that it has tires! Makes you appreciate just how big these 1.5 ton trucks are, not a small truck you’re used to seeing when you think of a 50s truck.
Looks tough! Now for the other side… then it’ll be a roller and easier to move around to work on!
Removed the driver side wheels and tires today. Found out that all the wheels are Kelsey&Hayes 20x6” 3 piece wheels except for one inner dual… what is this wheel? There are no markings on it, and it seems to have a solid ring instead of a split ring… how does it come apart? I don’t think it’s an RH5… any help? Anyone know where I can find one or two matching wheels for this truck? It’d be nice to have the 3 piece wheels and all matching..
Here is some light reading for you. It looks like an RH5 to me, but I am NO EXPERT AT ALL. It would separate in the middle of the rim. I just know where some of this info is hiding.
1970 Chevrolet C10 - Grandpa’s- My first truck.—in progress to shiny 1972 Chevrolet C20- Rusty- the puzzle box lid for the C10. 1950 Chevrolet 1300- in progress to shiny. 1962 AMC Rambler American- my wife’s
Parts trucks- 1951 GMC 9300 1951-GMC 9430 1951- Chevrolet 1300
The article does not seem to discuss this wheel type. According to the picture it is NOT and RH5 wheel either… it does look like it could be similar to some of the Goodyear types though, but I still can’t figure out how to disassemble it!
I don't know the official designation for these, but I do know that they were made by a number of companies including Budd, Firestone and Motor Wheel. One of the wheels on my truck is actually made by Kronprinz, in Germany. It must have found its way on sometime during the truck's time in Europe.
This design was used on many different vehicles.
The wheel in your post looks very similar to these.
There is a write-up here that details the disassembly and reassembly procedure. (Note, there are several posts in this thread that outline the procedure)
Make sure to pay special attention to reassembly procedures - especially inflation. If done incorrectly, or without proper equipment, they can be extremely dangerous. If you are unsure about working on them, you may want to consider taking them to a shop that specializes in large truck tire repair.
I took the wheel apart last night. I finally found a YouTube video explaining that these are called CONTINUOUS RING wheels, not split wheels. It’s a two piece design, and you just use a pry bar to pry one side over the wheel, then the wheel slides towards the other side to release… the actual lip on the continuous ring that catches on the wheel lip has a section on opposing sides that is reduced to the size of the ring face diameter to allow this to slide over the wheel lip. Simple! you can see from these photos how it works! Cool design! I was merely afraid to damage this, not afraid to work on it. Now that it is apart, I am very confident on how to reassemble safely!
1970 Chevrolet C10 - Grandpa’s- My first truck.—in progress to shiny 1972 Chevrolet C20- Rusty- the puzzle box lid for the C10. 1950 Chevrolet 1300- in progress to shiny. 1962 AMC Rambler American- my wife’s
Parts trucks- 1951 GMC 9300 1951-GMC 9430 1951- Chevrolet 1300
All 6 wheels are in really good shape. The truck is an original AZ truck so moisture damage isn’t a big issue… the wheels didn’t have any ugly physical damage either. Now to paint and reassemble them when I get the opportunity.
Haven’t had a chance to work on the truck lately due to having a baby and taking care of the girls for a while. Now back to the fun after I get done building mama some shade for her horses and some stalls… hopefully in June I should be back on the truck…
Does anyone have part numbers lists for the rear axle brake cylinders and hub/axle seals? How about a good source for a hydro vac unit rebuild kit? Brakes will be the next order of business so that it can be moved around the yard and into the garage easily.
Update on the big bolt: Went through the whole cooling system(new hoses, belt, water pump, rebuilt the generator, installed new fuel pump (that currently will not pump) and changed all the fluids front to rear. Rebuilt the driveshafts with new u-joints. Finally cleaned out the cab of all the “furniture” brought in by the desert pack rats that were evicted last year…. ENGINE RUNS well as long as you feed it fuel because the fuel pump is not pumping, I cannot figure out why, may have to install an electric pump but really do not want to. The fuel pump I installed is a Carter M751… is this an ok pump to use with this GMC 302? I’m assuming a 235 fuel pump will work? Here’s a couple progress pictures!
Carter M751 is a proper pump for your 302 (or 228, 236, 248, 256, 270) GMC.
'57 GMC 102, Original 347 V8, HydraMatic, 3.08 rear gear, added A/C, disk front brakes, HEI, AFB carb, '98 Honda Black Currant paint. T-boned and totaled 10/13 '52 GMC 152 Stake Bed, Original 228, SM420, added A/C, disk front brakes, '67 Chev 3.55 rear gear. Gets used as a real truck.
