The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts 1959 Viking 40 - PNW (Oregon)

I'm located in eastern Oregon (dry side) and I recently acquired a 1959 Viking 40. It was a farm and log truck that been sitting since the early '90's.

The truck is fairly original with a few farmer add on's.

Flatbed model 14' with 235ci 4spd and a 2spd brownie box between the drivelines.

I rewired most of the truck and it's started fairly easily.

I was planning to keep it fairly original, but after driving it a little and deciding what I really want to do with it, some serious mods are in the works. I want to keep it a big bolt but be able to do the speed limit, stop, get tires for it without going broke, things like that.

So the body will be set on a shortened Chevy motorhome chassis with 454/400 with modern brakes and power steering. I'll keep the brownie box even if only it ends up being for show.

Rebuild the flat bed for hauling my other toys is on the list.

Keep and eye in swap meet for original chassis when time comes. It's rust free and pretty clean except for the long gone paint. A few dents in the fenders.

Welcome to the 'Bolt.

Lots of spots here you might be interested in. Besides here in the Big Bolt forum, Hi Po Forum (where you could look for help with chassis swap), and probably more - Paint and Body Shop maybe that should give you ideas and help with getting that truck.

Lots of helpful folks on here.

Again Welcome

Welcome AlwayswrenchN

You have a good sized project on your hands with those goals.

As Kevin said, lots of great places stop and hunt around for help and info.

As your project moves along, should you decide to part with some of that original equipment from the truck, you can also post an ad here: Truck Parts for Sale or here: Swap Meet freebies depending on how you would like to move them along.

There are almost always other "Bolters who may have an interest in what you no longer need.

Again, welcome. Look forward to seeing you in the forums!

A new picture from today. Sitting behind the viking is a 83' Southwind by Fleetwood my donor chassis. 4 corner disk brakes, 19.5 wheels with newer rubber, low mileage drive train, and power steering. Just have to get rid of the coach body.

AlwayswrenchN , Welcome to the "BOLT". Looks like a great project, the doner chassis will go a long way towards finishing your truck. I'm glad to see that you want to keep the look mostly original and looking like a BIG BOLT.

I am starting with a fairly original 59 viking 40 flatbed model. 235ci 4 spd Trans with a detached two spd brownie box. Truck is solid no rust, wood and everything rubber is very dry rotted but we live in the desert. It does run and drive after sitting since early 90's. I removed the factory gas tank from behind seat and some of the other farmer add on's. Rewired everything but the headlights adding a new ignition switch and fuse block.

Why I am changing from this mostly original truck. I plan to use it as a toy hauler and almost everywhere we go is acessed by the interstate. Able to go 70mph and stop is a must, so upgrades are needed.

Planned build so far.
I have acquired a 1983 southwind by Fleetwood motorhome as a donor vehicle. I plan on using the chassis from it and doing a body swap. The frame will have to be shortend and possibly relocate the rear axle, not sure yet. This gives me a independent front suspension, an HD 70 rear axle with disk brakes, 454ci/th400. This setup will provide the heavy duty chassis and some of the more modern convenience of power disk brakes, power steering, a/c and being able to use the interstate to travel. I want to keep the 14ft bed, a roll back would be great, but we will have to see.

Welcome to the 'bolt. that looks like a fun project.. measure 3 times, cut once.

Good find, looks like original GM flat bed too. There are not going to be many factory original examples of these trucks left.

Welcome fellow n.e Oregonian!
Nice rig.
Looks like you're on the other side of the Blues from me here out of La Grande.

To really enjoy these old trucks, that is a course to take. My 54 has the original frame and body but the front suspension is a pacer and the rear is a 70 Nova.

To really enjoy these old trucks to me, is the nice truck height to see stuff you can't see in a low car, and the nice rough ride and steering of a nice old 50's truck, with all factory stock suspension,and with everything else just like it was off the show room floor.

Finally got some time to play with my big bolt. Honed and new kits in the rear wheel cylinders along with new wheel seals. I'll post parts numbers just for reference. Also mounted the tires/wheels from my donor onto the viking. 245/70/R19.5 The southwind motorhome chassis uses the same lug/ hub center pattern as the viking. Now the viking drives much smoother, less shaking and vibration. Down side is that the tire wheel combo is much smaller and the already low geared viking it even lower. I'll have yet to run it down highway and see what the new top speed is, I'm guessing 45mph. I also recycled the side mirrors from the motorhome, which helps improve the rearward visibility and don't look to bad. I did have to modify the brackets so that the mirrors sat level about 18*, but easy enough to accomplish with cutoff wheel and welder.

Rear Wheel seals (2) NAPA. CR 31870
Rear Wheel cylinder kits(4) 1.5" bore. Oriellys WCK 13690
Headlight switch Amazon PY 230

Not much done on the truck till recently, it being winter and all. I have been working on getting my chassis donor stripped out. It's actually quite a bit of work disassembling a motorhome with out heavy equipment, and that is just cutting and ripping things out. The rear wheel cylinder rebuilds on the rear of the truck didn't last, too much pitting. Instead of getting new cylinders I swapped in a 1 ton rear axle I had in my bone yard. It is a temporary swap till I'm able to due the body swap onto the donor motorhome chassis. This at least allows me to drive the truck around with brakes and hopefully use it for dump runs and such. Also managed to order engine parts for the donor 454 to replace the suspected broken parts and wake it up a bit. Cam/lifters, heads, intake, and fuel injection should make it more reliable and peppy. Most of the parts should be in by next week, but time to install them is not looking good. I'm shooting for more progress to be done on this in july-ish, It'll be a slow build, but I'm not really in a big rush anyway as long as I can drive it now and then.

Need more photos

We always want more photos.

Which fuel injection system did you order?

I like those mirror, they look nice.

I got the Holley Sniper EFI. I have installed one on a AMC 304 and was very happy with the out come. As far as pictures it looks the same as above just with a single rear tire, the rest is a pile of parts yet. Hope to get last couple details wrapped up on the axle swap and be able to drive it this weekend.

Got most of the donor motorhome stripped now that the weather is getting warmer. Also started on the motor upgrades/repair, then it started raining so it'll have to wait a few more days.

Hey, AlwayswrenhN, I see you are making steady progress and that’s the important thing: always some forward movement!
I’m curious about your current running gear. It sounds like your final ratio is very low speed, and I was wondering about the 2 speed brownie. Is it a straight through followed by a reduction gear? In other words, low and lower, the way a two speed axle is?
I guess this was put in in lieu of a two speed rear axle? And the size of the original tires/wheels before the motor home wheels ?
Will you be considering taller tire/wheels in the end?
I’m looking at my options on the GMC 450 (3 ton), with 6:80 rear. Considering a swap like you are doing. My large axles seem to have fewer options as far as parts and differentials , brakes etc.
That fuel injected big block should be a dream to run!
C

Is the Brownie a two speed(rare) or three speed? One or two shift rails? OD should be moving left shift rail aft. First two numbers of MN are max. torque rating of ENGINE, I.e. 5531, 5831, 6231, etc. aft end of Brownie might have proper emergency brake attached, if Tru-stop, new pads are available. Easy to switchover to motor home chassis. No parts are available. Another option would be a D-80 disc brake rear axle with that bolt pattern, modern ratios.

Shortening frame is much easier if removing correct amount from frame in front of rear axle than moving axle attach parts forward.

Much discussion here in ‘big bolts’ regarding wheel selection with 5/10 on 7.25” bolt pattern, frame shortening.

Ed

The Brownie is a two speed Hi/Low. The original rear end gears were like 8:1. And the original tires were 20/22.5 but they were in such bad shape i could not get about 40mph without the truck shaking horribly. Swapping in a D70 w/3.55 gears didn't get me anymore top speed. The engine ran out of power at about 50-55mph. But I did manage to get more reliable brakes in the back though. A 4.11 or 4.56 gear ratio would have been a good fit I think with the smaller wheel/tires.

With the summer temp dipping down below the triple digits for a bit I was able to get a little bit done on the swap. The cab and front clip are sitting on the motorhome chassis. They are not mounted yet but they are set for mockup of mounts. I also built a larger hoist for doing this swap and future projects.

Got a little more done.

Old chassis with browie.

Well I finally ignored several other projects and played with the viking today. Got the excess framework cut off and the dovetail tacked on. Still need to finish cab mounts and front end mounts. It's starting to come together. Engine work coming soon, along with brake pedal mounting and firewall reinforcement.

The new chassis is gonna drive real nice. Plus the disc brake and other mod-con homework is done :-) And you now have a variety of rear gear options that you can still buy, to optimize things for the Brownie if you want to.

I did manage to get the heads removed from the donor engine only to find out the the damage was worse than I had hoped. The donor motorhome only had 35K miles on the odometer, but sadly when the engine was overheated the head cracked and sprayed coolant on a very hot #5 piston causing it to break. The block doesn't look bad, but I'll let the machine shop determine what its going to need. So that part of the build is on hold for a while. As time away from work allows I'll finish the rear frame and start building the new bed. Also anyone looking for a original 59' chassis with running 235 let me know. I'll post it in the for sale section when I have time to deal with it, but it will be cheap.

When I repowered my bus back in the '90s, all the big block Chevys had problems like this (at least all the ones I saw in wrecking yards, etc) and they were expensive even as cores, because Big Block Chevy. So I went with the Cadillac V8 instead. Lighter, stronger, meant to be 500cid from the get go. Plus torque and plenty of it.

When I brought my Dad's old Cadillac work car home after he died, the gauges and such didn't work. By the time the STOP ENGINE TEMP light and buzzer came on, two miles before the exit with my wife driving it, there wasn't much coolant left in it. So after I fixed the blown out hose in a McDonald's parking lot in Meridian Idaho, I let it cool down. Then poured new coolant back in it, and drove it home and then for another couple years.

Hello, AlwayswrenchN,

I have to agree with you on taking the motorhome off the frame. It's a ton and a half of work! After reading your forum I feel like we are on similar paths. Hang in there and keep sharing. When we are hauling our other toys down the highway at 65 mph and can stop on a dime it will all be worth it.

COCOE