The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts NEED HELP: 1959 Spartan 70

Hi All,

New to this thread but excited to be here. Opportunity to purchase a 1959 Chevy Spartan 70 with dump bed. It ran for years from a local farmer, but then the brakes stopped working on them. Its air over hydraulic im told and ive attached a pic of the parts that im told are needing replaced. Does anyone have ANY idea what parts these are, as well as where to find them? This truck was a firetruck in my hometown 60 years ago so the thought of being able to use it as a farm truck and keep its memory rolling is amazing.

Thank you in advance. Also does anyone have the layout for the braking system? cant seem to find much material online.

-DTG

Welcome to Stovebolt

I answered you in the "Name That Part" forum.

In the future please ask your questions one time on the site in the appropriate forum location so you can have all the comments together and not scattered all over the place.

Lets see some pictures of your LCF!

Mike B

DTG,

See my reply in your other thread too.

More tomorrow.

Dan

DTG,

As I mentioned in last nights reply in your Name that part... thread, here are the pictures of the Air Over Hydraulic Brake (AOHB) equipment diagrams I was able to extract from the Chevrolet Special Information Catalog I have.

I think this provides the majority of info you seek, but if there is something more you need let me know and I can try and locate additional info that I may have missed.

Dan

Thank you guys so much. Just brought her home two days ago. Attached a few photos. They removed the dumpbed on the rear. So excited.

New gas lines & fuel filter, battery and was able to turn her over and move forward and reverse. Next is getting the brakes to work, which I think will be the biggest undertaking.

Let me know your thoughts!

DTG

These are incredible thank you so much!

👍 😁

Bonus for you...you have Dayton wheels, not the dreaded RH-5 widow makers. Your cast spoke hubs will except both 20" tube type and 22.5" tubeless rims giving you lots of options for tires.

The only reproduction parts available will be whatever is common to the pickup trucks (cab interior parts, glass, patch panels etc.). Most of the mechanical parts can be found new at NAPA, Rock Auto, eBay etc.).

Mike B

Thanks Mike, greatly appreciate it. Currently working on lights as well, as there a numerous splices, but no turn signals, headlights, accs lights, etc. When I run a line for power to the light directly no issues, it turns on so I have to imagine either a bad connection/splice or fuse (the question is where would the fuses for lights be?) I saw a small panel under the dash, but it only had 3 fuse tubes in it

Being an ex-fire truck the wiring will be a mess as they cut and spliced everything through the years. Get a shop manual and start tracing wires one at a time and remove anything that's not being used to clean things up. The pickup truck harness will work if you want to start fresh, you just might need to lengthen the wires to the rear taillights, but the dash and engine compartment should all work. I've used American Auto Wire harness on my last three projects. I like having a new fuse panel and wires...it's no fun when the smoke is let out of the wires...lol

Mike B

Many fire trucks are always hot, no one to lose keys!

Ed

Mike,

Since you seem to know so much about this particular series, would you be ok exchanging emails so that I could reach out with questions (I'm sure I will have a ton). If not I completely understand, but wanted to ask.

Will

Will,

Keep asking your questions here that way others can chime in on things I might not have experience with...after all, no one of us is as smart as all of us!

If you really want to talk privately you can PM me here on the Stovebolt site. Click on my name in the header of one of the posts I did, then click on "private message" and fire away! When I reply you'll get a flashing red envelope in the top right corner of the "Forum" page when you open it up showing you have an unread message.

Mike B

Sounds good. So im 33 and have a 65’ F100 and 54 F100 that the work was already done on (mostly). This is my first project truck and loving it. Over the past week I was able to

-Get it running (hadn’t run in 6 years)
-Brand new wiring for all headlights, turn signals, tail lights, etc. The old wiring was a birds nest.

Next is working on the Air over Hydraulic Brakes. Any insight on where to start, what steps to take? Currently there is no pressure to the brakes when I push down on them, but the hand brake works wonderfully. Should I check the master cylinder first for fluid or any other steps?

Also trying to better understand the 2 gear rear. I have a red knob on the dash with a metal line that runs down to the bottom of the transmission. Is this to switch the low vs high transmission? If so there is a lot of slack in the line, is there a way to tighten the line up to ensure that the shift happens?

I have gotten the truck going about 25-30 miles an hour, but didnt shift into high.

Thank you and I appreciate everyone’s help and insight so much. After we can get it to pass inspection, will work on body work and building a wood flat bed for it. Will be my Lowe’s Truck and farm truck.

Before I put any of my big old trucks on the road I've replaced/rebuilt the entire brake system from top to bottom. This would include all new brake lines both steel and rubber. Rebuilt MC (new are no longer available) and new wheel cylinders (Rock Auto or NAPA). Send the booster out and have it rebuilt. Having the shoes relined and the drums turned. When done you'll sleep better knowing everything is in good working order and not 60+ years old waiting to fail.

Get the shop manuals...you need the 1955 manual and then the '56, '57, '58 and '59 Supplement's. They made changes each year and they show up in the supplement's...AOHB is in the '56 manual, by '59 the supplement manual is mostly service info.


The red knob on the dash is more than likely for the PTO (fire pump). If you have a true 2-speed there should be a knob on the gear shift lever, if it's a black knob attached to a cable you have a vacuum shift with a GM Corporate rear, if it's a red knob you have an electric shift with an Eaton rear. Shifting the rear when you don't have a true load will cause the rear gears to grind. The way I drive my 2-speeds is to treat 4th gear HI range like overdrive...start off in 2-lo, 3-lo, 4-lo and then shift to 4-hi (If you have a 5-speed then go up to 5-lo then 5-hi).

Always park the truck in Lo range.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with on the bed design!

Mike B